Adorable Knit Headband!

This is what I have been up to while watching It's Always Sunny this weekend... knitting this precious headband!  I knit a few headbands for people last winter, but never got around to making one for myself- I think this is going to be one of my favorite fall/winter accessories :)

To make the headband I followed a super easy pattern I found online last winter. This morning I stumbled across an even easier pattern to make the bow to go on top. I'm in love with how it came out!

Isn't the mustard color cute?

Design on a Dime

My job with PwC didn't begin until July 25, so for the first 2 months Zac and I were married, we were living on just one income!  I definitely didn't want to wait 2 months to decorate our house, so I decided to get creative outfitting our home.  We have two living areas and only had hand-me-down furniture for one of the two rooms so I had a big project on my plate.

The first addition to the room was an old coffee table from Zac's mom.  Zac and his roommates used it during college and the table had the scratches, stains, and burns (yes. burns.) to prove it. I sanded it down and restained the table with Minwax Dark Walnut  stain, and it came out looking like a new table!

Next I bought:

• estate sale couch for $120 (it looks new and is super comfy!)
• accent pillows for $10 at JCPenney (duh.)
• curtains on sale at JCP for $20
• a 5' x 8' rug on clearance at JCP for $55
• random frames from Hobby Lobby and around the house for $10
• one can of gold spray paint for $3

And for those $218 spent the room came out looking like this:

 Not bad for such a small investment, huh?

I was definitely satisfied with the outcome but knew I wanted a chair for the room, so I began searching for the perfect chair on Craigslist!  I looked every day for a few weeks until I came across this baby for only $60:

I found essentially the same chair on Amazon for $353.74!

So for a grand total of $278, we have a lovely front room that gives our home a bit of personality... all for LESS than the price of the new chair! That's what I call design on a dime.

One thing I have learned from Zac is that patience pays off.  Being on a budget certainly does not mean you have to sacrifice style. I was able to create a room that mirrored my unique appetite for design at a price within our budget... with a little patience, you can too!

DIY Fall Wreath

It has finally happened... I decided to make my debut in the blogging world.  Once I said "I do", the clock started ticking... I knew it wouldn't be long before I joined the ranks of blogger wives!  Here goes...

The fall weather preview that graced Dallas last week really put me in the mood to begin transforming our house for Fall!  The first thing on the list was to put up a cute fall wreath so, as a newlywed on a budget, I decided to get ideas of what I liked on Etsy then head to Hobby Lobby to get some inexpensive supplies!  Here are a few of the wreaths I really liked:




I love all the fall berries on this wonderful wreath from Etsy vendor twoinspireyou



I like how the burlap on this wreath by Etsy vendor LittleBigNest makes it look more modern and earthy!

After getting some good ideas, I decided to invite my mom, sister, and best friend over to join me in the wreath-making fun!  We all went to Hobby Lobby together and came back with very different supplies... can't wait to show you our finished products- but first, I will walk you through the steps to make a cute, earthy, autumn wreath (not to mention super easy!).

At HL I purchased:

• a small hay wreath for $2.00
• a package of wreath pins for $1.44 (I used about 1/100 of the pins)
• some fall berry stems for $4.50, and
• a roll of ribbon to coordinate for $2.00 (I only used about 12"-15" of the roll)

I already had a few yards of burlap at home leftover from another project, so I got it out and cut a few strips about 1"-2" wide.  Using a floral pin to secure the first strip, I began wrapping the burlap strips around the wreath, securing the burlap periodically with floral pins, until the whole wreath was covered.

Once the wreath was entirely covered in burlap, I cut the berry stems into individual "branches" and began to arrange them.  To get the berry branches to sit the way you want them to, use floral pins to secure them.

Fall berry stems.  I only used 2 stems to make this wreath so I have one left for another project... coming soon!

Once I covered the area I wanted with berry stems, I tied a bow around the side of the wreath opposite the berries so the bow would be asymmetrical when I hung it up.  This wreath took less than 20 minutes to make. Here is the finished product!

How do you like the finished product?  What would you add or change?