Dollar store outdoor accents :)

So a few days ago I bought a "faux" iron planter (meaning, it's resin and looks nice, but was only $7.50 on sale at Canadian Tire as opposed to the $50-$100 variety for real iron). I really loved it and wanted to put it out with some pretty flowers...but the flower stock isn't really there yet. So I decided to do something my Mom does quite often, put some "faux" grass in them! I will eventually get some flowers in there too, but at least it doesn't look like an empty pot sitting outside.

I went to Dollarama and bought two sprigs of their "faux" grass for $1 each. Love them!! They are going to hold their colour and stay nice and fresh all summer long! low maintenance gardening...ahhh....

While I was at the Dollarama, I found potting soil, 2/$1 which I was happy with and a really nice ceramic wind chime, $2.

Oh, and COMPLETELY off topic, but I found that Dollarama now sells OVULATION tests along with their pregnancy tests for $1.25! great deal! Not that I'm going to be using them any time soon...or ever.

Budget friendly Nursery!

So, baby #3...but our FIRST boy! After everything pink, clearly our nursery needing adjusting. With our first two being girls, it was easy to transition from baby #1 to baby #2 as their wasn't much to do at all! Now expecting a boy...we had to find ways to be creative and budget friendly. I repeat...3rd baby! Not really wanting to "invest" in what could be our final round.

Luckily, we had the basics: a crib (white, but we'll work with it for a boy!), a change table, and an Ikea Poang chair that we were able to move up into the nursery when my parents so kindly passed down a loveseat to us, giving us the ability to repurpose our chair :)

So where do you go from there? First of all...I'm a big pink fan. Not so much into boy stuff. But about 1/2 way through my pregnancy it hit me that I could implement some of my true loves into this nursery. Sharks, crabs & lobsters. I've been really into them since I was a pre-teen. I had some stuffed animals to get me started, and then I just had to pull it together. I will continue accessorizing after the baby arrives and we see where our needs lie.

Here's the breakout of my spending:

-Pottery Barn "Laguna" crib set (with shark sheets, woo!) $75, Kijiji I actually never planned to buy any crib sets, because you can get sheets in a 2-pk from Ikea for $14.99 and buy just a blanket from a crib set for a fraction of the price of the whole set...but after my Mom found a Pottery Barn set on Kijiji, I went hunting too. This deal worked out WAY better. I'll also be able to re-sell it if I keep it well (and Pottery Barn is high quality so it does hold up!)

-2 white canvases for custom artwork $4.99 for a 2-pk, Michaels (already had loads of acrylic paint, but they go for about $1 a bottle) I'm NO artist. So I went onto Etsy.com to look for ideas on how a cute crab & shark would look, then did a bit of sketching and went to work. The great thing about acrylic paint on a canvas is how forgiving it is. If you totally hate it when you've finished, repaint it and start again! that easy!

-Nautical/Barn stars (3), repurposed from my Mom's Christmas decorations, but reg $4.99 ea

-Hanging Picture frames (set of 3) $2 from Target yet to be filled with pics of our boy!

-Wall Decal, gift from Mom & Dad

-Side table & Ikea chair, repurposed from other places in the house. (but if pricing, it would be around $150 for both).

Filling your vases on a dime...I mean bean...

So one of my home decor heroes is actually just a really close friend. Becky is one of those women with a natural eye for great ideas and she implements them well in their home. When I first met Becky, her and her husband were living in a small apartment, then a townhouse, and now in a beautiful detached home, (with a cute little baby to boot!).
In each home, the space was very welcoming and I was always impressed with her ability to stretch a budget, and wanted to steal her ideas. This last visit was no different. I was SO in love this this idea, I asked her if I could blog it (thanks Bex!).

So the steps are simple. Buy coffee beans (Becky got hers from Bulk Barn) and fill your hurricane lamps, vases or whatever else you can think of instead of stones or marbles. It's cheaper. The colour is bang-on "espresso brown" and of course, you get the aroma for however long it lasts (hmm...maybe french vanilla flavoured beans?).

I totally believe you could make the coffee beans work anywhere in a house, but especially in a kitchen or dining room to give it that interesting relatibility to the room.
Becky, love this...love you :)