Pallet table

Have you been hit by pallet love?  I am intrigued for sure.  I was inspired by  this picture from Homedit.com found on Pinterest one day.  It has (21) great ideas for turning pallets into unique pieces of furniture.  I knew there was something on here I could make.  I like this deck table immediately!

So my sister and I visited the local lumber yard and found two nice size pallets that would be great for this project.  So far so good.  I don't have wheels and they cost a fortune to purchase new, so that will be a later addition once they're found at bargain prices somewhere. 

I also asked the nice young man at the lumber yard if there was any scrap wood available.  He found a piece of 4x4 all warped up.  He said I could have any amount I wanted.  HA!  I asked him if he could cut it into the pieces I needed.  He said sure thing.  Now that's awesome service!!   I asked for 4 four-inch pieces and 4 six-inch pieces.  And before we could run to the car and drive it by for pick-up, he was done cutting.  Beautiful!

I don't have any pictures of the construction, but it's pretty straight forward.  Plus it was about 100 degrees that day and I wasn't gonna fool around with much more that the assembly.  We used a drill and found some screws in my garage and came up with a plan that proved to be pretty sturdy.  We simply screwed the legs onto the pallets in the corners.  

We hauled it to my back deck and put it in place.  I had a typical rectangle poly-top table with 4 chairs around it, the kind an umbrella fits in.  Only we didn't have an umbrella cuz our lower deck is pretty shady.  We never used the table, so it was time to replace it with something a little more unique and funky. 

I found the two chairs at a garage sale for $2 each.  Couldn't pass them up.  One needed a bit of TLC and some wood glue, but really I just tightened up all the screws and they were good to go.  I found 8 12x12 pieces of creamy white tile for $2 at another sale.  (Shopping at garage sales never gets old!)  I planted some flowers in a planter for my centerpiece and there you have it.  (I plan to replace the blue pillows with real chair cushions and some pretty red leafy outdoor fabric, but they're not sewn yet.) 

It's a whole new look for my deck at the stellar price of $6.  Yeah, I can really enjoy that!

  

Old Spring Mattress

I have two neices, Gretta and Shiloh, who were throwing a party to celebrate their high school graduation.  As with most parties of this magnitude, many home improvements were completed. 

Their mom (and my sister), Sandy, was in charge of the master list of improvements.  She did a bang up job keeping us on our toes in preparation for this party.  Here's one of her ideas that we put together.  

We found two old spring mattresses at a garage sale last summer for $2 each.  We didn't have a specific use for them, but we had some cool ideas.  This was not one of them at the time.  But, look how great it is!!

Sandy happens to buy koozies all the time and has quite a collection of them.  She thought it would be great fun and look so appealing to hang the koozies with a clothes pin on these spring mattresses.  Her guests could pick which ever one they wanted to use and replace it when they were finished with it.  It turned out to be a fun conversation piece and added a funky look to the party, not to mention its functionality. 

The next time you see a spring mattress (or another great piece) for a bargain, pick it up and take it home with you. 

A great idea might strike when you need it most, and you'll be ready!   

Chic chandelier

It isn't everyday that all the stars align and you find yourself pinching yourself to be sure the day is real.  While most of Sarah's bedroom is completed, there are a few small changes that we are still working on.  One of these changes is the lighting.  Sarah's been saying for months that she would L.O.V.E. a chandelier-type ceiling fixture.  The ceiling fixture there now is the generic light that the builder installed 12 years ago.  So we've been on the lookout. 

I was told one day by my sister, Sandy, that I needed to visit the Young Life garage sale in town to check out a really cute red lamp for my living room.  (She knows I'm trying to accent my living room with orange and/or red.)  So, I made a visit to the garage sale and found the lamp and loved it!!  I wondered around the space to see if there was anything else I couldn't live without.  Low and behold, I looked down and saw this fixture that has golden yellow glass, held it up and saw to my amazement that it was a chandelier; probably from someone's dining room.  The price tag: $3.  So that came home with me too.  When I showed it to Sarah, she fell in love with it instantly.

My husband did the rewiring work and after about 1/2 hour, it was hanging beautifully in Sarah's room.  It's gorgeous!  It gives this charming underwater-like effect to the ceiling.  It really changes the whole look of the room.  In fact, I'd say it completes it.  We laid on her bed for a few minutes admiring it, welcoming it, celebrating it. 

Yes, I love those days when things fall into place so nicely. 

 Here's a new look at her bedroom with the chandelier. 

So pretty. 

So perfect.