One of the most difficult things for me about my Hubby being stationed in Southern California is the lack of seasons. Yes, it’s sunny 90% of the time. And yes, it never dips below 65 degrees. But we also never have the coming season to look forward to! When it’s hot and sunny and humid, I can’t wait for the cool, crisp days of fall. And as fall begins to turn into winter, I can’t WAIT for that first snow. But here in SoCal. It’s the same. All the time. And it’s very boring. So to counteract this, I’ve turned to decorating for the seasons in a big way. I’m leaving my summer decor up for a few more weeks, but then I’m busting about the fall decor (well…just for a few weeks and then it’s the Halloween decor, but that’s a whole separate blog post).

I’ve been cruising my favorite decorating blogs the last few days looking for ways to add to my fall decor, and I found this fabulous post from the Nester on how to make this $5.00 fall wreath!

Nesting Place

This guy is bound to be a fantastic addition to my fall decor!

Right now I’m in a decorating lull. I’m not doing much for a few reasons:

1. First of all, I have a couple of large projects in the planning stages, so I’m trying to bank my decorating budget for a bit to save up for those.

2. I’m leaving our summer decor up for a bridal shower I’m hosting mid-August, which I’ll tell you all about in a few days!

3. And thirdly, we’re starting to gear up for Halloween (yes, already…you just wait!), so a fair amount of my creative energy  is going towards planning everything that will be involved there. (P.S. I think “creative energy” makes me sound like a crazy hippie dance instructor or something…)

This all means I’ve been doing a lot of looking lately and not much actual decorating. But the great thing about this activity? It’s FREE! The hubby, in particular, loves this aspect. Today, I’ve been particularly fixated on mantels. The mantel in our living room is my favorite spot to decorate. I remember watching my mom decorate our mantel with the seasons when I was a little girl, so it only makes sense that it’s now my favorite. I espeically love the mantel in our house. It’s this big stone thing that isn’t square, but is kind of tucked in a corner. It’s very unique. This is what it looks like empty, just waiting for me to get my hands on it:

Disclaimer: Please ignore the yellow walls. I hate them and hope to paint them VERY soon.

After trolling the web for a bit, these are some of the things I’ve found that I really like:

The Lettered Cottage

This first one (above) is from Layla at The Lettered Cottage. If you haven’t checked her out yet, do so NOW! I love the solid white with the pops of green. Simple and homey, but not overdone. Just my style!

The Lettered Cottage

Okay, this one is from The Lettered Cottage, too. Clearly I’m a bit obsessed. But once again, it’s simple, but fun. Dare I say “spunky”? Wait. Can a mantel be spunky? I’ll let you ponder that one while I move on.

Country Living

I just love the oversized letters on this mantel. I bet you could do this look for $20!

Centsational Girl

Here’s a Halloween-y take on mantel decor from Centsational Girl. Love it!

Thrifty Decor Chick

Okay, one more Halloween mantel, this time from Thrifty Decor Chick. Can you tell I’m getting excited for Halloween?!?

Nesting Place

And last, but not least, is this one from Nesting Place. Lovely, lovely. And her kiddos helped her decorate (they painted the canvases on either side).

Okay, I think I am properly inspired! Now…what to mentally decorate next…

Can we all just think back to yesterday? Remember the post I did about the fabulous touches I made to my guest room. And how I’m soooo amazing and thrifty and I spruced up a room for $25? Well…as my sister Caroline pointed out to me today. I am a big, fat liar! And the evidence of my liar-ness is right there in the post!  Remember this picture:

Well I talked all about the desk. And how it was FREE. But did I ever, even once mention that saucy little chair? Nope. AND…that chair was a craiglist find…for $20. Still pretty cheap, but the fact of the matter is that it nearly doubled the amount I told you yesterday! Yikes. So much for Twenty Dollar Tuesdays!

Frankly though, I really can’t believe I forgot to tell you about this chair, because it really is my favorite thing in that guest room. Like I said, I bought it on craiglist from a little old lady who lived in a trailer. It looked something like this when I bought it:

Dark wood, fancy floral-y seat pad. Not exactly my style. But a quick spray paint job and a new piece of fabric covering the floral pattern and Ta Da!:

I just think it’s so gosh darn cute now! I really do smile almost every time I look at it! And I think it goes with that little desk so nicely. So blog readers, please forgive me for lying to you. And Chair, please forgive me for omitting you. To show my penitence, I’ve written you this limerick:

There once was an ugly brown chair.
That sat in an old lady’s lair.
One lucky day, I took you away.
Now beautiful. (After a spray.)

So sometimes you can’t put $1000 into fixing up a room, sometimes you can’t even afford to put $100 to fix up a room. Sometimes all you have is $20.  But what’s a girl to do to spruce up a bedroom for $20?!?

Well, say you have a cast off piece of furniture from another room…

Use a $5 can of spray pain to transform it into a brand new piece!

Search craigslist for inexpensive pieces of furniture. I scored this end table for $10.00.

And then I used the same paint I used on the desk to give it a fresh look as well. Then I added a lamp I found at Goodwill (for $2.50!) and painted teal. I added a few books in colors that coordinate with the room and a little clock I found at a garage sale for $3.00.

I’d love to invest more money in this room. But it’s our second guest room that we hope to one day make a nursery, so I don’t really think it’s a great plan to invest cash here right now. But these little touches make it more than just a bleh room with a bed in it! Here’s the price breakdown:

Desk: Free (It was a cast off from my Man Cave redecoration.)

Spray Paint: $10.00 (I used two cans)

End Table: $10.00

Lamp: $2.50

Books: Free (I already had these on my bookcase.)

Clock: $3.00

Total: $25.50

Okay, this was a little more than $20, but not much! And I got a whole lotta bang for my buck!!!  What do you think?

Rather than showing you something I’ve done for $20 or less today, I’ve decided to share with you a list of some of my favorite thrifty bloggers. They CONSTANTLY amaze me with their drive to decorate on a dime.

1. Nesting Place. First of all The Nester’s motto is “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.” How great is that line? Sometimes when I’m covered from head to toe in spray paint and I feel like a project isn’t going to turn out the way I see it in my head, I just think of The Nester and repeat that little line to myself and breath deeply (unless I’m still spray painting and wearing a mask…and then I hold my breath and say that line to myself).

Nesting Place

2. Centsational Girl. The Centsational Girl is actually a brunette named Kate living in California who loves DIY projects and a good bargin. Need I say more?

Centsational Girl

3. Beneath My Heart. Traci is a mother of four boys and an amazing, thrifty decorator. I especially love her obsession with burlap (Have I mentioned that I had burlap on all the tables at our wedding?).

Beneath My Heart

4. Living with Lindsay. Lindsay’s tagline is “Creating a beautiful home one glue gun burn at a time.” I just love her. She’s getting ready to give birth to her second bebe, and she recently put together a simply beautiful nursery. I hope she doesn’t stop blogging when she goes into labor!

Living with Lindsay

5. Thrifty Decor Chick. This is a fairly new addition to my daily dose of blogs, but I really like her. Just read today’s post about making her bed and you’ll see why!

Thrifty Decor Chick

So there you have it folks, my favorite thrifty bloggers. Who do you follow?

A few days ago, I shared with you a picture of the cow table that lives in the kitchen at my mom and dad’s house:

Well…it’s undergone a change!

My sister Caroline is in St. Louis at a summer internship and my sister Sydney is here in California with me…so apparently all my mom needed to inspire her to paint the cow table was an empty nest! It makes me wonder what kind of changes she’ll make to the house when my littlest sister Sydney goes off to college next fall!!!

Are you working on any projects this holiday weekend?

Okay, maybe it’s not actually summer…but here in our house it sure feels like it!  I decorated for Spring a few months ago. And it was lovely then–so fresh and inviting. But that decor has been up for a few months now, and I was definitely ready for a change!  Here’s what I had to work with:

(Do you see my faux coral in there?!?)  I started by taking all the Spring decor down and putting it away.  This is what my mantel looked like ne-ked. It’s so empty!

Then I decorated the mantel. It took me a while to finally settle on this:

I love how it turned out!

Next I started working on the bookshelves:

Here a few of the details up-close:

And here’s me as the Fourth of July Fairy… I may have been a bit slap-happy and this point. Just maybe.

And there you have it! My Fourth of July Decor. I’m now officially in summer mode!  How about you? Do you change up your home decor with the seasons?

Last summer, I decided I wanted to go for a beachy theme with my summer decor.  My favorite store was selling gorgeous coral pieces, but they were a bit pricey, so even though I wanted to buy five, I could only afford one small piece. So what’s a girl to do? Improvise!  I found some great branches in my backyard, and spray painted them a reddish-coral color. Cost? A $3.50 can of spray paint (and I have lots left over for future projects!). I just love how they turned out!

Sorry this isn’t the greatest picture…but you’ll see a better shot of these in my post tomorrow!

So usually I showcase my own twenty dollar projects here on Twenty Dollar Tuesdays, but I saw this amazing transformation today over at Mustard Seed Creations, and I just HAD to share it with you!  If you have an old piece of furniture tucked in a corner that needs a breath of fresh air, this is a great way to spruce it up, all you’ll need is paint.  If you want to try this project, but don’t have a piece of furniture that fits the bill, you can always check out my favorite place.

So without further ado…check this out: A Record Cabinet Gone to the Birds

Don’t you just love it?!? I’m dying to try something like this myself.  What about you? Does it strike your fancy?

One of the women I work with asked me to put together a graduation card for her to give to her granddaughter. It needed to be extra special, as she is taking her granddaughter to HAWAII for her graduation gift!  Of course, I was up to the challenge…and this is what I came up with:

I was so happy with how it turned out!  I hope her granddaughter likes it, too!  Happy Thursday!