A Designer At Home

Ornate Wicker Trunk

December 17, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey guys! If I didn’t have to work today, it would be my all time favorite day of the week. I love rescuing pieces through craigslist, thrift stores, inheritance and other outlets. And I love even more that through #thriftscorethursday, I get to glimpse into your treasures and we cheer each other on. You all are awesome.

Today we have the final #thriftscorethursday post for 2015. We’ll all be taking a break to enjoy time with our families and just deplug a bit. So I wanted to share something bigger since I don’t think I will be able to hold off my excitement for a few more weeks.

I will regularly send craigslist listings to my husband while I’m up late or on lunch break. Normally he just flat out ignores it. Other times he will tell me to give them a call. Earlier this week I sent him a listing for a trunk. I’ve been on the hunt for a trunk because my son has a ton of toys. Especially big trucks. And Christmas is here so there’s going to be even more toys. I’ve been using baskets lately, but I have so many baskets with toys right now and it’s becoming a little overwhelming.

He ignored the text. But that didn’t bother me much. I wasn’t really in the market for a wicker trunk, I was just drawn to this one because of the interesting brass details. I was really just searching for a brass trunk.

I came home from work on Monday and it was sitting in my living room. I was so happy, it was such a surprise!

This trunk is huge and it’s in pretty great used condition. I did a tiny bit of digging around and found this hamper with very similar hardware and the same wicker for $260. And this appears to be the same exact trunk for $300! We paid $40 for the trunk and it’s huge! 3 feet wide and tall! It’ll hold all my kids garbage and recycling trucks perfectly (it’s his obsession ;))

Now that I’m finished boasting, I want to share some gorgeousness from the #thriftscorethursday feed on Instagram. Always tag your photos so we can see and possibly feature them! And be sure to stop by and give these guys some love.

@secondhandglam Thursday Thrift finds. I went to Goodwill and got a cute candle and a wood platform box. I love carved wood and this made my day! I'm thinking of using for tall white candles or a planter. I found some nice brass at St. Vincent. #brass #thriftscorethursday #goodwill#thriftedhomedecor #thrifter — @secondhandglam Thursday Thrift finds. I went to Goodwill and got a cute candle and a wood platform box. I love carved wood and this made my day! I’m thinking of using for tall white candles or a planter. I found some nice brass at St. Vincent. #brass #thriftscorethursday #goodwill#thriftedhomedecor #thrifter

@erin_coleen We have this funky little addition off the back of our kitchen that we call the Log Cabin Nook. We use it as a mud room, pantry and indoor garden. Today, in an effort to make it lightly festive, I hung some "garland" that I made with pompoms that kept falling off of an old #thrifted bedspread (that now serves as out tree skirt). I ripped off all the remaining pompoms, strung them on some embroidery floss and called it a day. NO NEED to actually buy decorations! #thrifting #thriftscorethursday — @erin_coleen We have this funky little addition off the back of our kitchen that we call the Log Cabin Nook. We use it as a mud room, pantry and indoor garden. Today, in an effort to make it lightly festive, I hung some “garland” that I made with pompoms that kept falling off of an old #thrifted bedspread (that now serves as out tree skirt). I ripped off all the remaining pompoms, strung them on some embroidery floss and called it a day. NO NEED to actually buy decorations! #thrifting #thriftscorethursday

@mariaski63 Trunk up, buttercup. ??✨ The ever so kind & radiant, @lovetybee, asked #whatmakesmehappy ? ??Well after a very tough few years, in addition to my friends & family (including my furry babies ??), it is truly you beautiful souls within the IG community that I've "met" ? & mutually shared favorite snapshots, stories, hearts & life moments with! You make me smile, without a doubt, everyday. And I'm so thankful & enriched because of you. ??? — @mariaski63 Trunk up, buttercup. ??✨ The ever so kind & radiant, @lovetybee, asked #whatmakesmehappy ? ??Well after a very tough few years, in addition to my friends & family (including my furry babies ??), it is truly you beautiful souls within the IG community that I’ve “met” ? & mutually shared favorite snapshots, stories, hearts & life moments with! You make me smile, without a doubt, everyday. And I’m so thankful & enriched because of you. ???

@diana_donjuan I saw it, I loved it, I grabbed it. And since its #christmastime I slapped a Pom Pom on it. Life was not complete until this #thriftscorethursday found us. I'm dramatic about it. Oh and if you guys don't know @mmvintage59 already, maybe you should because girl gots style, fab shit to sell, and she's an oakcliffian! Bing, bam, boom!!! #oakcliffhomes #oakcliff #uohome — @diana_donjuan I saw it, I loved it, I grabbed it. And since its #christmastime I slapped a Pom Pom on it. Life was not complete until this #thriftscorethursday found us. I’m dramatic about it. Oh and if you guys don’t know @mmvintage59 already, maybe you should because girl gots style, fab shit to sell, and she’s an oakcliffian! Bing, bam, boom!!! #oakcliffhomes #oakcliff #uohome

Be sure to stop by Maggie and Brynne today, click on their pretty faces below to head over to their blogs. Trisha is taking a bit of a break for work and Cassie is still being punished by Instagram :/ But they’ll be back soon!

Want To Join In? Here’s The Rules!

Want to host? Got an Instagram and Blog? We want to hear from you! Fill out this form for details.
We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
Don’t feel like you need to save those finds for Thursdays! Yes, features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it!
Each week, Trisha from Black and White Obsession, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home, Myself (A Designer At Home) and occassionally a guest co-host will pick a favorite thrift score or two to feature! So please note that by linking up with #thriftscorethursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.
Please remember that we can only share love for photos shared on public accounts. If your profile is private, we can’t see your finds.

GlobeIN December Artisan Subscription

December 16, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

I simply cannot believe Christmas is next week. It’s crept up so fast. With the mild weather we’ve been having, it doesn’t feel like Christmas should be here. But I’m loving the mild weather and I love Christmas. One thing I did for myself this year was sign up for a couple subscription services. If you saw my Gift Guide for the Homebody, I highlighted a brand called GlobeIN and their artisan subscription box.

[Read more…]

Last Minute Free Printable Christmas Cards

December 15, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey Guys!

Have you procrastinated any in preparation for the holidays? I know I’ve chatted recently about Holiday cards and I want you to know that you do not have to fret. I love you guys so I sat down and created cards that you can print last minute. Need to leave in 20 minutes for a Holiday Cookie exchange? No worries! These high resolution card images resize and still look beautiful. I had fun creating them and I hope you have fun printing Christmas cards for free at home.

This is an email newsletter subscriber perk, so if you’re not yet signed up, I’ll leave a form right here. And if you’re already signed up, no worries. Fill out the form again to get the special link to the downloads. You won’t receive any extra emails, just the ones to get you to the free printable christmas cards. (and if you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to email me. I want to make sure you have access to these so email me if you don’t receive the link)

Hot Water Heater Moved & Installed

December 14, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

One of the single biggest struggles we’ve had since moving into our house in 2012 is having hot water from anywhere in the house. That’s because our hot water heater had always been located in our garage. Our garage is not insulated, it’s not attached to the house, and the temperature is not regulated.

So for most of the cooler months, showers and baths are unbearable. I have arthritis so a hot shower does a lot to help loosen up my joints and so I’ve spent most of the past few winters feeling crippled and curled up in bed.

And even during the warm months, the lines were so far from the house that we would have to waste quite a bit of water before warm water was coming out.

So at the end of last winter, I decided I’d had enough. If nothing else but one things got done in 2015, we needed to move that damned hot water heater into the house.

We have a large pantry and we don’t utilize well so the space was there.

So over the summer we began the process of a bathroom renovation. And part of this renovation involved rerouting lines for the hot water heater (as well as doing some electrical upgrades to accomidate the unit in the house). The joke was on us though, apparently at one point in time the hot water heater was exactly where we requested it be moved- go figure (thank you whoever blew up our budget having that moved back into a sane place).

We are now in December. We’ve been working on this project for 5 months. We are finally finished with the work (minus some storage and decorative stuff in the bathroom, but that’s for another day).

And we have hot water! So not only will we be wasting less water, but I imagine our utility costs are going to lower, too. The unit won’t have to work so hard in the winter and because we’ve upgraded to a newer, more efficient hot water heater, it’s going to run more efficiently on the power it draws.

We’ve installed the Performance Platinum 40 Gal. Medium 12 Year 5500/5500-Watt Elements Electric Water Heater with LCD Touch Control Display (it’s a mouthfull, but with so many different models I wanted to make sure I included the full name) and we have the EcoNet Home Comfort WiFi Module for Select RheemPerformance Platinum Electric Water Heaters. Both are available at The Home Depot.

I couldn’t be a happier person right now. I aim to be a fairly earth friendly person so this situation is ticking off a lot of boxes on my checklist.

I am proud to bring you a collaboration between A Designer At Home and Rheem to bring you real time numbers on whether or not upgrading to a high efficiency unit (and even making the investment to moving a unit to a better suited location) will make a difference in your utility costs.

Over the next 12 months you’ll see a post here on A Designer At Home covering reports of my utility costs versus last year, as well as details about the unit we’re using and the econet system and collaborative initiatives to bring you information on ways to lower your utility costs.

rheem hot water heater tucked into right side of underutilized pantry — There’s even still space above the unit for bulk storage- so it’s a triple win!

I hope you find this collaboration a source of helpful information and that it helps you make decisions on everything as big as units to small changes you can make around your house to make the comfort in your home top notch.

We’re falling right into winter and I won’t be chatting with you much more until after the new year so I wanted to get a head start and share this infographic with you so we can start preparing for the cooler season.

Twig & Glitter Christmas Ornaments

December 12, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey guys!
I have one more ornament tutorial for Christmas Week here at A Designer At Home. And it’s by far my favorite tutorial because it’s free if you’re an avid crafter. It was for me, at least! For a lot of us, a touch of rustic makes it way into our holiday decor and it’s just fitting for the season. There’s probably a lot of dead sticks lying about. At least here in Virginia there’s a plethora of them as the greenery dies off. I scoured the yard for sticks that had a bit of chunk to them but that would still be easy to cut by hand.

Combined with a little glitter I had on hand, spare ribbon, hot glue and spray adhesive, I was able to create ornaments that sparkle and add that rustic factor. Want a break down of how I made them? Here you go-

Twig & Glitter Christmas Ornaments

To start you’ll need a small tree branch or several twigs. Cut them down into smaller pieces.

Start assembling the designs you want. I kept things simple by choosing a basic snowflake shape and picture frame shape. Hot glue your designs in place once you’re happy with them. *You can use dollar store super glues if you don’t already own and don’t want to buy a glue gun (you can get one for less than $5 though!)

Lay your ornaments onto newspaper or any surface that can be sprayed onto freely. Coat the ornaments with a spray adhesive and sprinkle your favorite glitters onto the wet adhesive, allow to dry. *Most dollar stores have a glitter glue than you can spread onto the ornaments (the glitter is fine though and clings to a brush so you may have to do layers)

Personally, I prefer silver, metal ornament hangers versus the green ones on my tree. I always keep at least 1 pack on hand in our Christmas supplies. I pick them up from the dollar store (that’s the third dollar!). Straighten one of the ends into an “L” shape and hot glue it to the back of your ornaments.

Use loops of a pretty ribbon as hangers for the ornaments. Just hot glue the ribbon into a hoop and hot glue it to the back of an ornaments.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. It’s very easy, but they end up looking so pretty up on the tree! If you like this tutorial, or think someone you know will, please share it via your favorite social media networks!

Gilded Agate Slice Ornament Tutorial

December 11, 2015 by CORINNA HENDERSON

It’s another ornament tutorial today for Christmas week here on the blog. I made these ornaments last year when everyone and their mom was crushing on agate. I think it’s safe to say most of us are still crushing on agate so it felt natural to share that one, especially since it’s one of the handmade ornaments that have landed on my tree this year.

Agate is beautiful hung in front of lights. The rings and colors really light up (no pun intended) and are a really interesting addition to a Christmas tree. And with the variety of sizes and colors available nowadays, they can blend in with the other decor of the season.

Want to know how to make them for your tree? Let’s dive into it.

How To Make Gold Leaf Agate Ornaments

Supplies:

Prepare the agate slices by ensuring they’re clean. A little bit of soapy water should be sufficient. Once completely dry, paint a thin layer of adhesive onto the outer edge of the slice.

Give it a second and fairly quickly press the gold leaf onto it. I think with the edges being rough and a bit porous, the adhesive dried much quicker than it ever has in previous uses. I worked one ornament at a time to prevent the adhesive from drying completely (this happened to me). This is also why I have no during photos, sorry guys!

After getting the gold leaf on one, you can let it sit while you finish up the others. Paint a layer of sealer over top the gold leaf.

Once the sealer has had time to dry, you can go back in and scrape off any sealer and gold leaf that ended up on the face or back of the slice. Most importantly the face, but I set mine in front of lights in the tree and it mattered to me that the back be clear of debris.

Loop an ornament hook through the pre-drilled hole and slide beads onto the hook. You could secure them with a tiny bit of glue, but I left them loose on mine.

If you can place them strategically to hang in front of lights on the tree, you’ll really get some of the veining to pop and the color to stand out more. Our tree is very colorful and gathered this year with no particular theme. So mine are spaced sporadically throughout the tree for a touch of eclectic.

They’re quite fun! Thanks so much for reading and for taking the time to be here today. I’d love to see you make some! If you do, please comment or tag me in the photo on social media.

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Twig & Glitter Christmas Ornaments

How To Make Gold Leaf Agate Ornaments

Supplies: