2016 Valentine Mantle

Last weekend we finally put the Christmas back in the little red barn and got the Valentine and Easter out.  I sure do wish I had room to store it all in the house but I just don't.

  So....sure does make for some family exercise at least!!

I bought this cute artwork last year after Valentine's Day from Ross. I pulled the chalkboard heart and flowers together and had one side done. Then I went to the Dollar Tree and found the black square frame that I simply put a piece of scrapbook paper in and then found the '&' in the Target Spot. Doily hearts came from Dollar Tree too. ☺  Cute, simple, black, pink, floral mantle!

Played with angles with  my new camera!!

So now we are ready for V Day!

Happy Thursday lovelies! 

{Home} Updated Coffee Station

It has been a year since I made myself a little coffee station in my kitchen.  Gosh how time has whizzed by! I don't know about you but I have to rearrange my counter clutter.... I mean decor....ever now and then.  Well I just wasn't happy with what I had done a year ago and I added some tea mixes and needed to reorganize a bit. 

BEFORE

AFTER

 I put the cute creamer up since I wasn't using it. The new basket provides a space for filters and then enough room to hold my coffee canister, Orange Spiced Tea and Chai Tea mixes and my sugar.  Found the new basket at Ross for about $14!

Sooo much better I think!!

Now if I cave and get a Keurig then that'll be more arranging to have fun with! Ha!!

Happy Thursday lovelies!

{See my Link Parties page for the shares!}

Laundry Room Tips For A Brilliant HE Clean & A Giveaway!

I'm excited, as always, to offer you lovelies a giveaway today!

 But before we get to that let's talk about something we all dread but have to do on a regular basis....the laundry. Did you know that the average family does about 400 loads of laundry a year? Well we know who does the majority of that! If you're like me and have a hubby who wears uniforms to work then your above average more than likely!  And let me just tell you....he gets dirty! So dirty that we have tried all kinds of laundry soap and what we've found to be tried and true is Tide. With color safe bleach! He gets that dirty!

Well Tide has teamed up with Maytag, Home Depot and Jenny from The Little Green Notebook to offer laundry room tips to make doing the laundry a little more of a happy job! 

Here's my laundry room view.....

I realize this isn't a normal view! And it's also my craft room! Which I did decorate it as such but having a cute room to do laundry in truly makes a difference! And that's my first tip:  just because it's the laundry room doesn't mean it shouldn't be decorated. If you have to do the work then you might as well have an enjoyable work space!

And my second tip is a cost effective storage solution. The space to the left of the washer was just right for a Closetmaid Pantry cabinet and was about $65 at Target. Much less than cabinets that I wouldn't be able to reach (I'm a shorty!).

Jenny from The Little Green Notebook has more tips too!

Jenny’s tips for overhauling and organizing your laundry room:

Tip #1: 

Dealing with a dark, cave-like laundry room is a chore in and of itself! By taking off the doors on a few of your upper cabinets, you'll open up the space and create a place to store baskets. In this laundry room, we assigned baskets for every member of the house, which makes sorting a breeze! 

Tip #2: 

Why not decoupage or paint insides of cabinets for a fun pop of color? It's a guaranteed smile each and every time you reach for your detergent.

Tip #3: 

Don't like the cabinets, floors and countertops in your laundry room? Every surface can be painted or resurfaced! For less than $30 in materials, the outdated linoleum, brick pavers and old, dark cabinets were updated in this laundry room with paint and with a concrete overlay product.

Tip #4

A rolling laundry butler can be your best friend, doing triple duty with a hanging bar, a rolling basket and a drying rack. It's the perfect choice for a laundry room with limited space that hasn't been updated in a few decades.

Tip #5: 

Don't neglect your laundry room walls! Hanging interesting art and mirrors will elevate your room and make it feel less utilitarian and more “homey”. Suddenly those 400 loads of laundry most of us will do this year might actually be enjoyable!

Tip #6: 

Use a slab of stone or a simple piece of painted MDF on top of the washer/dryer units to create a folding station and to prevent socks from slipping in between the appliances.

Check out Jenny's laundry makeover HERE!

Now to the good part....the giveaway! 

Win a $50 Home Depot gift card and a Tide sample here at Vintage Gwen. 

Then head over to the Brilliant HE Clean site and enter to win the Sweepstakes Prize! One person will be chosen at random to win the following: an e-design consultation by Jenny, a Maytag Washer and Dryer, a year’s supply of Tide and $5,000! Ten runners up will receive a year’s supply of Tide.

Entering is easy with Rafflecopter below!

My giveaway will end Sunday July 28th and I will announce my winner on Monday July 29th!

Happy Entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This post is sponsored by Proctor & Gamble and Home Depot. They provided me with a prize pack to review and a prize pack to giveaway.  All opinions are 100% mine.

{Home} Coffee Station

2 weeks ago Natasha of Natasha In Oz linked up her at home coffee station to Show & Share. It was awesome! And inspiring! I am the only coffee drinker in my house and until now I've always been a seasonal drinker....hot in cold weather and cold in hot weather.  Here lately though I've been drinking hot........which in my mind means I might be getting old. Nah! So if I'm going to drink year round then why not fix up a station?

Having limited space for a station, I wanted some type of tray to hold a sugar and creamer set and a coffee canister.  And I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money doing this either.  So of course this meant a trip to Goodwill.  I had in my mind of what sugar/creamer set to get but thought maybe Goodwill might have something cool. Didn't find a set but I did find a wire basket ($1.50) and a cute scalloped dish ($2.00).  I figured the dish wouldn't be big enough but it was so unique that I couldn't pass it up and I wound up having the perfect use for it that I'll get to in a minute!

So after Goodwill off to Pier 1 for a sugar and creamer set I went.  I first saw a similar set at Crate and Barrel but like the Pier 1's just as well. They were $5 each.  Next Target for the coffee canister, which I decided on just so I could be done with creating a station.  It was about $12 which was a little more than I wanted to spend but it's a cool little canister! And that's it!

As you can see....not much space. The wire basket was a perfect fit!!

Filters and mugs are in cabinet above so now everything is on the same side of the kitchen!

So this station is not the only thing I've added to my kitchen.  About a month ago I found a plate stand at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $6 and wanted to use it on the counter.  Well so I needed some plates for it and found some on clearance ($2 each) at Walmart that fit perfect!

And here's my scalloped dish!  I've been wanting something for this purpose!!

I'm loving these additions and the coffee station!

Anyone else have a coffee station?

Happy Thursday!!

{See my Link Parties Page for the shares!}

Ramsign Giveaway

Happy Friday!

Excited to bring you an awesome giveaway today!

With Spring lingering it's time to think about freshening up our homes.  And we can't forget about the outside! One way to do that is displaying your house numbers.  Ever heard of Ramsign? Well they make classic, porcelain enamel signs. Take a look...

Style: Engelhardt

Style: Arrowhead 

Style: Highlander 

Style: Lighthouse 

Style: Metropolitan 

Love them all!

Want your own?

 One lucky person will have their choice of any house number sign with 1-5 digits (not name signs or address plaques)! Use the form below and be sure and check out Ramsign on Facebook and Twitter!

Happy Entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{Home} DIY Closet With Sheets From The Ceiling

Today's post is not pretty.  There's nothing glamorous about what I'm going to share.  

It's just my solution to lack of closet space.  Our house was built in 1975 and even though it's been totally upgraded on fixtures, flooring, etc. it still lacks closet space in the master bedroom.  

{My dream some day would be to add a master suite complete with a spacious closet and true master bath! Someday....}

I'm used to not sharing a closet with my husband and while there is a 3rd bedroom's closet I could use I still need more space!  So with the help of one of my best friends and my good ole' dad I gave myself some breathing room!

See that sheet? There's 3 of them that extend to the opposite wall!

This room is our den/office/music room and now closet/storage space!

It's not all the way done, I still need more shelving....

Here's a before...actually right before we hung the hardware from the ceiling!

 Ahem...can you tell that someone was playing with easter eggs? And boxes? And cords?

What I used:

2 10 ft electrical conduit poles 

{can't remember the specific price but they were less than $1.50 a piece!}

5 Universal Brackets

1 coupler

3 Queen size sheets

About 4 packs of drapery rings

{had some already}

Estimate of cost:  $125

Then added a $90 Closetmaid closet kit and a $80 dresser! 

My dad did all the hanging of hardware....yes he used a pencil!  He did have to trim the poles but only by a few inches. We put a bracket in the middle of the ceiling.  Then measured each side, found the middle and added another on each side making 3 total. Then finished by putting a bracket at each end...basically by each wall for 5 total.  Then my friend came and helped me hang the sheets.  Again starting with the center of each sheet she was able to evenly space the drapery rings, using 9 per sheet.  

Dresser holds my socks, scarves and comfy, lounge clothes.  I have all my sweaters in a grey tote.  I still need to make room for shoes and purses on the right side after adding more shelving.

See? It isn't pretty but look at the space!  

It gives me the space I need without spending a wad or involving lots of construction!

This room still needs work besides finishing off the closet...I have plans for a comfy chair and side table.  And the love seat needs a slipcover!  I've kinda taken a break on general home decorating right now though, since the holidays are coming...Lil' Hunkie has already been talking about a Christmas tree!

And I have no idea where to put one!

Happy Thursday!

See my Links Parties Page for where I'll be at!

DIY Family Sign Using PicMonkey

One home decor trend that I'm loving right now is the gallery wall.  Did you see mine?  When I started gathering up things to go with what I had already I knew I wanted a Family Established sign of some kind.  So I played around in PicMonkey and this is what I came up with!

Supplies:

Computer

Printer

Paper

Frame

Let's get started!

Step 1:  open PicMonkey and choose the make a collage square, it will take you to this screen.  Resize the collage to 500 x 700 so it will be the photo size 5 x 7.  You will have to unhighlight the lock graphic. Hit enter.

And it will adjust the collage to the 5 x 7.  Hit save and name it whatever you'd like....blank5x7 for example. Click on the X in the upper right hand corner to go back to the main screen.

Step 2:  click on the edit a photo square.  It will bring up your pictures, find your blank 5 x 7 and upload it, it will take you to the above screen.  

Step 3:  click on the "P" to go to Text. Choose your preferred font and add your last name.  Simply click on it to move it where you'd like.

Step 4:  add another text box with "est. year you were married" or became a family.  Again, move where you'd like.  

Step 5:  click on the Overlays icons, it's under the P, and choose the Floral section. Choose the one you like and add between your text boxes.

Step 6:  now click on the Textures icon, it's the very bottom one, and go to the Papyrus section.  Or choose what ever texture you'd like, it's basically a background.  Hit save! You're done! Print it out and frame it!

Note:  you can print this like a photo where ever you do your printing! Just make sure and do it as a 5 x 7 or smaller. 

I had the frame already...it was an antique gold and I simply painted it black to match the rest of my frames! So if you're like me and have extra frames around then this can be a zero cost project!
And here is my gallery wall....

Happy Thursday!!

See my Link Parties Page for where I like to party at!

P.S.!
Did you see the fun at Pick Your Plum today?
Go check it out!! HERE!

{Home} Entryway

Why yes I have decorated the entryway!! And guess what? It was a goal to complete before hosting Bunco this month!  Yippee!! I am happily excited!!

Here's a before picture...see to the right? Nothing!

And here's an IG from a different angle...

And now.....

Ahem...don't mind the dust!

Cost breakdown:

Sofa table was a $25 Craiglist find! Half moon benches were 1/2 off at Garden Ridge so I paid a total of $60 for them! Rug was an Overstock.com purchase for $73. (Rugs are expensive! And if  you need a long one like I did then they can get very pricey!)  The two decor pieces to the right were Hobby Lobby clearance items...one was $3 and one was $2!! Copper tray was from our wedding and the glass bell was a gift from a friend a while back.  The flower arrangement was bought at Hobby Lobby with a gift card I got from my Pastor for my birthday just this week!  And I had most of the items for the gallery wall...the Established sign I made (tutorial coming soon!), the two small subway prints were from Walmart of all places and were $3.97 each! And the key was a clearance item from Hobby Lobby  too, about $5. All the pictures I had! Just framed the 2 biggest ones of Lil' Hunkie with the cheapest frames from Walmart to keep from spending a boo coo!  

I love how this turned out and I still have room to add to it!! 

{Once again one of my very good friends and her daughter came and helped me arrange & put the gallery wall up! I don't know what I'd do without them!!}

So how did I do cost wise?  I really worked hard at trying to find good deals! I've recently added curtains to the living room too and am now done decorating it!! It really feels like a home now!

(Both boys were napping in the living room while I snapped these pictures so I couldn't take any of the new curtains! I promise to show you soon!)

Ahhhhh, home sweet home!

Hey! Time is running out to enter my August Bash Giveaway!!

Go HERE!

Happy Thursday!

{Linking up to the fun parties on my Link Parties Page.}