Habitat ReStore Brain Exercises and Being on Channel 11 in Atlanta, GA

Special thanks to Becky from Organizing Made Fun for taking these photos.

For some reason, I like to spend my birthday at a Habitat ReStore. In 2010, I spent the morning wandering the aisles at the Raleigh ReStore. And this year, I gave a talk at the Atlanta ReStore.

During my talk at the Atlanta ReStore, there was a rogue cameraman who started following me around after the talk. I saw him ducking in and videoing while I was touring the store and sharing what I see in my mind when I look at gently used donations. Next thing I knew, he was interviewing me for the Ways to Save segment on 11Alive. There is a little article on their website about Easy Home Improvement Projects for Women, but as you know I believe that there isn’t a home improvement project that is too hard for women (so I cringed a little at the title.)

One of my readers, happened to capture the video segment when it aired and uploaded it to YouTube so y’all can see it here. A BIG thank you to Lori!

Being at the ReStore is one of my favorite things to do. Not only can you get some good deals, but I like to think of it as brain exercises. I love to challenge my brain to come up with some creative re-uses for the items. Do you want to see what I see? Here are two posts I created to help you see what’s in my head.

Re-imagining at the Habitat ReStore

What Do I See at the Habitat ReStore

I hope you have a great rest of your weekend. I’m not sure about your locale, but it has been hot, hot, hot here! Today is supposed to be up to 102F again.

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Hanging Beaded Glass Flower Vases


Happy Independence Day America!

A few weeks ago I attended a birthday party for my niece at The Scrap Exchange in Durham. My kids had to drag me kicking and screaming out of there because I was in creative nirvana. There were all kinds of little gems of creativity. Bottlecaps, rolls of paper, extra tiles, scraps of fabric, stencils, etc. It was like being a kid in a candy store! One of the many things that caught my eye were these little glass vases. I brought a few of them to the register and the lady asked if I really only wanted three of them. Then she explained that they cost $1 each or $10 for the whole case!

So, I bought the whole case (it was a no brainer.)

But, what the heck would I do with 48 teeny glass bottles? I ended up using some to make these beauties. Read more

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Dressing Up a Patio Table – A Lowe’s Creative Idea

patio setting on porch

Do you dream of sitting outside at a Parisian café sipping your caffé mocha and reading the paper? The sound of the birds twittering in the background and the screaming and whining sounds of your offspring are non-existent. And that’s when you come back to reality and realize that you aren’t in Paris and panic as you realize that quiet kids means they are up to no good!

I can day dream once in a while about this little café in Paris. But sometimes I need a little help with those fantasies. I decided to create my own little café spot on our back deck using the table and chairs we already had and then add a few items to boost the charm factor.

With a little help from Lowe’s, my patio table went from drab to fab within an afternoon. I created this little retreat for coffee, dining or Mommy’s time out chair. 😉

My Shopping List: Read more

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One Project Closer – Before & After Weekly Winner

There was some tough competition in this week’s One Project Closer Before & After competition. I read through every single entry and tried to leave a comment on as many as I could. (Psssst: Several of you still had word verification turned on. This made it harder for me to get through the security codes. If you are on blogger, this setting is defaulted to ON. Please double check your settings. I promise you’ll get more comments and won’t get more spam.)

It was such a bummer that I had to choose just one winner, but I promised to be a fair judge and stick to the rules (picking half a dozen winners was not in the Tightly Wound White Wig rule book.)

Read more

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No Sew Patio Tablecloth with Umbrella Hole

no sew patio tablecloth


This is one of the easiest tutorials I’ve every written. As a bonus, it is a no sew table cloth perfect for updating your outdoor table that has an umbrella.

While shopping at Target I stumbled across beautiful green link patterned table cloths. But, the sizes wouldn’t fit our square patio table. I was hanging my head in clear disappointment when I walked through the bath aisle and spotted the same pattern on a shower curtain! After using a shower curtain for a tablecloth on our screen porch, I knew this would be a great option for the patio table. I grabbed the shower curtain, did a fist pump, and sprinted to the register. As I neared the cashier, I wondered if I would finally beat the impossible game of “Can you buy less than $100 at Target?” (coming to a store near you.) Read more

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