The Wow Factor...

(my girlie wearing glittered glasses and chatting on the phone...oblivious to me!)

As you may know, I love to take the ordinary, and inexpensive, and make it extra special. I glean inspiration from magazines and decorating books, and often look at the ideas and think: a) how can I duplicate that on my budget and/or accessibility from my small town and b) how can I tweak it and make it better, or just my own?

Like many of you, I scour the Dollar Store, department stores, hardware stores and thrift shops to see what calls out to me as a potential project. Typically, I don't make things all that much, but what I do do, is wield a can of spray paint and glitter things with aplomb! As I type this, I have Martha Stewart's lovely silver glitter stuck between my fingers...a side-effect of my latest adventure with my two favourite mediums!

I spied this crown early in the summer at Winners/Homesense. I absolutely love the image of the crown, almost as much as the chandelier! Looking at it in its original form, it didn't hold a lot of appeal to me; however, visions of it sparkling with regal purpose inspired me to add it to my cart, for the royal price of $16.99. After carefully smuggling it inside (my dear husband would not have shared my enthusiasm for it), I hid it in my usual spot, and promptly forgot about it...until yesterday!! Out onto my ugly gravel front path I went, and added yet another colour to the stones. A finishing dusting of glitter, and this is the beauty I ended up with:

Another project I just completed was this drum shade. I also purchased it at Winners, for the grand price of $14.99. Now, it was pretty handsome to begin with, but like most women, I figured I could change it into something even better! So, after poking around in my crafting supplies kit (my junk drawer), I found what I was looking for: the fun, and always whimsical, pom pom fringe!! Just about everything looks better with that, so while I was cooking dinner, I was also heating up the glue gun, and embellishing...too bad dinner didn't turn out as fancy!!

Speaking of cooking, I made pancakes last Sunday (as I always do); and because I had spent part of the previous evening flipping through Matthew Mead's new book, Entertaining Simple, which he had just sent me (thanks Matthew!), I was inspired to try one of the many great ideas in the book. Now, I have to tell you, there are so many easy and creative ideas in this book, you'll be instantly party planning and making to-do lists!! I won't get into too many details yet, as the book won't officially be released until September 30 (mark your calendars, ladies!!), however, I will show you what Matthew inspired me to do with my pancakes that morning:

Seriously, who would have ever thought of that? Pancakes on a pedestal!!

How pretty is that??!! When you think about it, isn't that where a pancake should be? I mean, doesn't everyone love a delicious, moist pancake...dripping in maple syrup and butter...with yummy add-ins like tart blueberries, fresh apple slices, and chocolatey chips?? FYI: those are the kinds of pancakes I make each Sunday, the apple being my favourite.

Now, has anyone ever priced the Silver Sage silk drapes at Restoration Hardware? Well, they are a pretty penny indeed. But look what I found at our local Zellers (Cdn) store! They may be faux silk, but the package said colour: Silver Sage, and they are a perfect match to the wall colour in my dining area! And since I was due to take my summer curtains down, the price couldn't have been better either: I spent only $14 a panel! Made my heart do a flip-flop, I tell you!!

So, in case you need reminding, hunt, root, search, scour the most unexpected places for what you are looking for. If you find something that will almost do, think of ways to repurpose it and make it work for your home. Oh, and stock up on a little spray paint and glitter while you are at it. Now, I'm off to work some bargain magic in someone else's home!!

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***Look forward to another great, BIG giveaway involving Matthew Mead next week. It is bigger and better than the previous give-away with even more chances to win!!

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Now, what projects have you done lately on a dime??