A SCENTED IDEA FOR THE BATHROOM

Want a fresh scent in your bathroom each time you walk in it? I'm sharing a storage idea with you that will free up some space in your cabinets, but also make your room smell good. :-) It's really simple and can be fairly inexpensive. 

Use an open glass bowl to store your bars of soap.

I usually buy our soap at Sam's or Target. Soap is one of those items you can really save on when you buy it in bulk. So, instead of it taking up half a shelf in our small linen closet, I open the boxes and put them in this glass bowl. Of course any color bowl would work, but I like using glass and being able to see the soap. It adds a decorative look.

I'm not sure where my soap bowl originally came from, so I've found some others for you that will work just as well.

one  //  two  //  three

four  //  five  //  six  //  seven

Of course the key to picking out your decorative soap bowl is to be sure your hand will fit in it to grab the last bar--if you happen to let it get that low. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Kathryn

BUY IT FOR LESS: SHOWER CURTAIN EDITION

Company is coming this weekend for the game. Y'all know what that means. Lots of cleaning and straightening, and finishing up last minute things I've been putting off.

I'd been looking for a shower curtain for the boys' bathroom for a while. The shower has doors, so a curtain isn't mandatory, but it will make the room look complete and hide the tub when it's not "company ready."

The theme of the bathroom is Alabama football--white, crimson, and gray. The curtain I originally liked is this one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Bed, Bath and Beyond

It's cloth and has a waffle pattern. Really pretty and substantial. It's $40.00. I wasn't crazy about the rods they had, so I headed to Lowe's.

And, while looking for a curtain rod, I happened upon this Allen + Roth gray, waffle fabric shower curtain. It's $20.00--half the price of the first one! My lucky day.  :-)

Lowe's

The Allen + Roth material isn't as heavy at the Escondido from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but it's the look I was going for and the price is right. It also comes in white and cream if you could use one, too!

What do you think? Is the look close enough to "buy it for less?"

Kathryn

Two Tips for Tuesday...

Tip #1 - If you have trouble growing your nails, be on the look out for this Sally Hansen nail product the next time you are in your local drug store. Look for the one that has Retinol and Nylon in it. I think the nylon is the miracle worker. After you paint your nails, look closely. The tiny protective fibers are visible. I put it on clean nails and in three or four days put on another coat, making sure to get the edges of the nail. Then start over in about ten days or when you notice the polish wearing off. Read a little more from Sally Hansen. It really does work (Too bad they're not paying me to say that!). I usually buy mine from Walgreens.

Tip #2 - Do you have a pretty soap dish? Wash off all that gooey soap and re-purpose it.

Old soap dish = new jewelry holder.

I hope today is good for you. This is my last week at home before the 2015-16 school year kicks off. I'll be heading back to the classroom pretty soon for my 19th year of teaching.  :-)

Kathryn

Gallery walls...

One of my favorite things to see put together by the bloggers I follow is a gallery wall. The possibilities for displaying your favorite things on a gallery wall are endless - pictures of children, their artwork, family mementos, symbolic objects, a framed piece of nature. It all looks good in a creative grouping. I decided to give it a try myself on one of our snow days back in March.

I was using these two pictures in my half bath - the art work of my two older children. My mom originally had these framed and she was using them in her house. She gave them to me a while back when she changed up some of her space.

I had several white, inexpensive frames that I wasn't using stuck in a box in my hall closet. They came with mats to match the frames. I also had left over black spray paint from some other project. The only thing missing was the pictures. So, to create my gallery wall, I did what I had been putting off for years - I went through ALL of my kids' artwork that I was keeping on a shelf in my laundry room. It had been piling up for, oh, about twenty years. I only cried a little (OK, a lot) as I searched for the perfect pieces to create my first gallery wall.

Here are two gallery walls I love. The first one is from Emily A Clark. The gold and black frames with the black and white prints mix perfectly - sweet simplicity.

emilyaclark

The next one I really like turns the corner...literally. This one is from the Little Black Door blog.

little black door

Using their examples, I decided on an animal/nature theme for my wall. So, as I was digging through the years of preschool, kindergarten, primary, and elementary school memories, I pulled out all of the pictures that fit the theme.

The giraffe from above and the frog here are by my oldest son. He's twenty-one and a senior in college. (Um, did I just say senior in college?)

The flower picture from above and this flower are by my daughter. She's nineteen, and this fall she will be a sophomore in college.

And the tree and the small flowers are by my youngest son. He's fourteen and starts high school in the fall.

I found the "Live Thankfully" sign at Hobby Lobby ($9.99) - not really sure what I planned to do with it months ago when I bought it. I just really liked it.

The blog at the time of this project was just an idea, so I don't have step-by-step directions photographed. But there really wasn't much to it. I spray painted the white frames with the left over black paint. I used the mats as my guide and simply cut the pictures to fit, taped them to the mat, and put them all back together. I arranged the pictures multiple ways on the floor until I liked what I saw. Then hammered them up.

Here's how it turned out...

Definitely a productive snow day. And I didn't spend a dime. Hard to imagine a day cold enough for snow in this July heat!

Kathryn

Thrifty finds...

I love feeling like I've found a little something special. Although I appreciate the new, I'm kind of partial to the items around my house that have been enjoyed by someone other than just me, the things I've picked up here and there at thrift stores or consignment shops. I thought I'd show you some of the practical things I've rustled up over the years. Sometimes I find things when I'm intentionally looking for them, but other times I'm out treasure hunting and I happen upon items that just can't be left on a random shelf or sitting on some table. In other words, they're now on my shelf or sitting on one of my tables.

The first one is a staple in Alabama. The hound's tooth pillow... I found two of these. They were in perfect shape when I decided they were going home with me. They're made with goose down inserts and zip on covers. SCORE!

ROLL TIDE!

This metal basket would be great to store tons of things. Magazines, books, towels or even small blankets are just a few of the items I would consider letting it hold.

It came to rest in my bathroom. Score again! Who doesn't like pretty storage?

The last goody for this post of thrifty finds is this chair I found for my daughter's room.

We had just added the coral color to her chocolate brown and blue room. So this was perfect! The thrift store had six. I guess someone was getting new dining room furniture and said goodbye to these. Later on I was a little sad I didn't buy two. They were only $19.99.

She uses it as her catch-all and it's rarely (who am I kidding), it's never clean like this picture.

Do you like to go thrifting? Have you found some treasures of your own?

Kathryn