So. When we last met, I was sharing my most recent second hand finds. And it was a quite a haul. There were so many fabulous treasures that honestly, I had a hard time picking a true favorite. However. If you forced me, I'd have to say that this hand painted floral picture is definitely right up there at the top of that thrifted list . You may recall, that I left shop without it, due to its $40 price tag. Of course, the nagging pit in my stomach forced me to go back and as fate - and the really sweet kid at the register - would have it, I scored it for half price. Unfortunately, white the painting was perfect, the frame was not. That orange toned wood was all wrong for my cottage style decor.

Shopping in thrift stores always brings me great joy. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it's the thrill of the hunt, the bargain prices or the really interesting things you can find on those crowded and (sometimes) dusty shelves. I think I like that part best, especially since everything in the retail stores looks so similar today. Um...boring. However. While I'm always up for a visit to one of my local shops, finding treasure is never guaranteed.

It's no secret that I love summer. I'm an islander, I live in a beach cottage a few blocks from the sea. So it just makes sense...summer is best at the beach. However, for some odd reason, this year, for the first time ever, I'm not really all that upset about the end of the season. In fact, I'm slightly confused, because I find myself looking a bit forward to fall. And I have no idea why.

I took an old wooden decoy I picked up at the thrift store and gave it a makeover with some paint and vinyl transfers. From trash to treasure in no time and now I have a custom floral decor accessory for my home. I've never been a big fan of birds.  Oh, I love animals, but for some reason, birds just aren't my favorite. When I was little I had a parakeet and he bit me all the time. At the beach...let's just say that seagulls are notorious for dive bombing when they see lunch. And that old movie, The Birds, was creepy, no matter what my kids say .  So that could be the root cause. Well, that and you can't really hug a bird.

So you decided to jump on the wallpaper trend, but turns out it's just not for you.  Well, if your new wallpaper is Sure Strip, that's not a problem. I removed mine in about an hour with soap and water and almost no damage to my wall. Ok, so here's a post I never expected to write. You see, when I decided to wallpaper the family room , about two years ago, my husband was not excited about it. The guy who has no problem with all the crazy DIYs I dream up said, We've taken wallpaper down before and I'm not doing that again. I didn't blame him, it was a nightmare. But. I knew - without a doubt - that I would never, ever want to remove those gorgeous flowers . So I was safe. Until I wasn't.

I thrifted an old frosted glass vase and turned it into a charming showstopper with a little bit of chalk paint. It was a simple and inexpensive DIY way to get a high end decor accessory for less. This past weekend was a rainy one. The drops came down in buckets. You know the kind...rain that bounced when it hit the ground and prevented me from seeing clearly out my windows. It was definitely not an outside sort of day. And with nothing to do and nowhere to go, I stayed in. With paint.

Looking for a quick and easy way to transform or update an old table? Why not paint the legs? It's a super simple makeover process and if you use chalk paint there's almost no prep involved. Ever since the new rug arrived in the family room, I've been smitten with the space. That one change gave me some clarity that I couldn't seem to find before I swapped it out. Of course now it's prompted me to make some other alterations in the room. For example, on Tuesday, the rain showed up. So I grabbed a paint brush and decided to paint the legs on the small end table, that has served as our coffee table in this tiny room for over 20 years.