NESTING TABLE FACELIFT

Hey y'all! So, I have been pretty busy with redecorating our apartment. I am doing it one room at a time and our living room is pretty much done! HALLELUJAH! The last piece I need is a coffee table. I am learning to be picky when it comes to what we get. I mean why wouldn't I be? I don't want to get something just to not like it and then have to get something else. I have a past history of doing that and I am trying to turn over a new leaf because frankly it is a waste of money and time and energy etc.!

Today, for some crazy reason I decided to brave the crowds and go out on Black Friday. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I ran to the mall to return a sweater I bought the other day and I wanted to cry. Seriously, there were just so many cars, so many people, so much craziness! But I returned my sweater and got a cute hat so whatevs!

Then I went thrifting, and even that was a bit of a circus! I had no idea that Goodwill was having a sale for Black Friday but the whole store was 50% OFF! I scored this 2x3 turkish rug for (DRUM ROLL) $1.61 

It is not perfect. It is missing some of the fringe, but I L-O-V-E it!

So after scoring this awesome rug for our kitchen, I headed next door to one of my favorite thrift stores, in search for some records and a coffee table. I didn't see the coffee table I have had in my mind BUT I did find this nesting table set for $15

Not the prettiest things but they were screaming "BUY ME! MAKE ME PRETTY, PHOEBE!" How could I say no to them?

Because they were missing tops I had to figure out what I wanted to do about that. I could get glass cut, but I did' t want to spend that type of money, and I didn't feel like waiting to get that done. I wanted to tackle this project immediately. So a light bulb went off in my head and I saw the picture frame section and thought, "why don't I just find frames that have glass that is the same shape and size as the table tops and take the glass out and attach it on top?!" I thought that was a pretty genius idea if I say so myself ;)

The woman that was working in the picture section was so helpful. She helped me sort through the whole section to find just the right frames to get the job done. THANK YOU MA'AM!

I got three for $8! Here are two of the frames! I took apart the other one before I could get a photo of it, whoops! But y'all get the idea

NEXT, it was time to spray paint! 

I love Rust-Oleum's Metallic spray paint and always have some on hand! I gave all three tables a light coat of gold spray paint. Once the first coat dried I added a second and let that dry.

you can already see how much of a difference the gold paint makes!

After I let the tables dry it was time to attach the glass to the table tops. I took my trusty hot glue gun and put a little in all four corners of the table tops and quickly placed the glass on top. *MAKE SURE TO MOVE QUICKLY BECAUSE HOT GLUE DRIES FAST!*

Once the glue dried it was time to place the tables in our living room and make them look pretty (which wasn't very hard. I mean come on their gold, obviously they are fabulous!)

YASSSSSS!

I love how they came out! SO much better than before. And now we finally have a place to proudly display my husbands crystal Bourbon set!

I just can't stop looking at them! I am so proud of myself lol and how fabulous is that tapestry? My amazing friend got it for me for a Christmas gift and I just ADORE it and HER!

And there you have it beautiful people, a nesting table set transformed for under $30! It may be a bit more or possibly even less depending on how much you find your nesting table set for! But I can promise you, you will find it cheaper at a Goodwill or thrift store compared to buying it at a name brand store!  I saw a similar set at Luxe DECOR on sale for $372.50 but I love mine much more because I was able to create it myself (and its cheaper hehe)

happy decorating

Thrifting For Dummies

THRIFTING! What a beautiful and amazing experience. I absolutely love being able to go into a shop and find something old or quirky. It makes me happy to know that I will give something a second chance within our home decor. THEN, I look at the price tag and I am even happier. 

Within the past few years thrifting has become more and more popular because antiques are coming back into style when it comes to decor.Years ago, thrift stores were a place that people with low income could go to to buy things second hand at an extremely low price. Now, EVERYONE goes to thrift shops to find all types of goodies.

Through my experience second hand shopping I have come up with five simple rules in order to get the most our of your thrift store experience.

1. RESEARCH

I have wasted many trips to "thrift stores" because I did not do my research on the store prior to going. One instance comes to mind. I was searching for a particular piece and I went to one shop and come to find out they specialized in very expensive antiques and home decor. I walked in and was in shocked when looking at some of the price tags. Needless to say I got annoyed and sad all at the same time. Now, I always do my research before I go to a thrift store. I go onto YELP or GOOGLE and type the stores name in and see what others have to say about it. How big is it? Do they have good products? What is their turn over rate like? What are their prices like? This will save you time and a visit. For me, I want a store that has consistent reviews regarding the products they sell. I also want to know they have great prices, I mean that is the point of thrifting right? Great prices!

2. GO TO NICE NEIGHBORHOODS

It really does matter what neighborhood you are in when it comes to thrifting. I have been to PLENTY of thrift stores, all in different neighborhoods. I went to one in an OK part of Charlotte and they had some pretty cool things but they were not the best. Then I went to a Goodwill in the nicer part of Charlotte, and OH MY GOSH yes! I scored an awesome Turkish rug for 15$. I then went to a Habitat Restore towards the city and I was in absolute awe of how amazing their inventory was. When you think about it, it makes sense. People who have money live in nicer parts of town and when they are ready to get rid of their beautiful stuff, they will go to the closest thrift store. More than likely the shelves will be stocked with awesome finds. BUT make sure to check the thrift store daily because people will catch onto this tip and items will not last long, especially if they are great items at great prices.

3. FIND OUT THEIR DONATING DAYS

Some thrift stores have designated days that they take in donations. Some may be so filled that they limit their donation days to Monday-Wednesday. If this is the case you would want to go to the thrift store either Tuesday or Thursday. These are the days you are most likely to find the newest items out on the floor and get first dibs on them! If the thrift store takes donations everyday then a good rule of thumb is to go check out their inventory every other day. This way you won't miss out on new items!

4. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE BROKEN

This took me a few visits to the thrift store in order to learn this lesson. In my early days of thrifting I would find items and they would have a chip on them or a broken leg or a rip in the fabric and I would put it back down because it was "no good". I then learned those are SIMPLE fixes. And the good news is when things have obvious imperfections in/on them you can bargain the price down a bit! So do not be afraid of that beautiful dresser that has a chipped drawer or broken hardware. Those are quick and easy cosmetic fixes AND you could get a few bucks knocked off the price tag in the process ;)

5.DO NOT BUY JUST TO BUY

Oh my word do I wish someone told me this when I first started going to thrift stores. I would see these amazing prices and just buy everything even if I was not in love with it. Now I have a pile of stuff I don't use and I actually gave a customer a bunch of stuff for free when they came to pick up their order. It was such a waste of money, but hey if I had to go through that in order to gain wisdom and tell y'all, then I would do it all over again! Only buy things that you need and LOVE don't get things that you don't have a purpose for or are not completely sold on they will just collect dust and take up space!

So get to thrifting beautiful people! Have fun, and don't be afraid of the diamonds in the rough. Sometimes the biggest and prettiest diamonds are covered in the most dirt!

happy decorating

You Will See Changes

Good morning beautiful people! I woke up this morning to go to work and my car had ice on the windshield....ummmmm WHY?! I feel like it went from summer to winter and completely skipped fall. This is not ok, but hey it gives me an excuse to go buy this bomber jacket I have had my eyes on hehe.

So I have not posted photos on my blog in a few days. I'm sorry. I'm a bit bummed that I have not done so BUT I will very soon and they will be beautiful photos BECAUSE my husband got me a new camera for my birthday! I am sooooo excited to get this camera! Since I am new to the blogging world I realized in order to catch peoples attention and keep it I needed to make sure not only my content but my photos are on point. So, thank you Hubby for blessing me with a birthday gift that I will be able to use daily :)

So I have been debating whether or not I want to write this post for a few days now and this morning I finally decided, "alright lets just do it!" So here is a little venting post. Mostly because you will be seeing changes to our home and I do not want people to think I am not living by what I have said Rebely Decor is, and that is; showing y'all that you can make your home beautiful with the hand-me-downs, unloved, thrifted, old items, and DIY's.

Someone made a comment to me that I was changing things I claimed to "love" in my home. Well first, to you who said that I know that you were throwing a little shade at me, and boo thang, I can take a little shade ;) and second I do love our home. I love all the pieces within our home HOWEVER what y'all need to know is literally 90% of our home is decorated and furnished with things that were given to us when we first got married. My parents, in-laws, and grandparents gave us stuff that they were getting rid of to help us out while we began our new lives together (thank you guys, you ROCK!) Was it our style? No, not everything we got we would pick out for ourselves, but we made it work and we were so thankful for it all! Now that my business is starting to do well I don't see an issue with taking parts of my earnings and putting them towards getting stuff that my husband and I like. Stuff that we would choose for ourselves. We talked about how half of my earnings will go into our savings that we both contribute to for our future house and the other half will go into my business account that my husband set up for me to use to get more inventory or what ever I'd like.

My husband busts his butt at work and makes the majority of our household income, and I am beyond grateful to have such an awesome provider; yet I know I am not alone when I say this, but I sometimes feel guilty using the money he works hard for to buy stuff for our home when we don't necessarily NEED it, but I just WANT it to make our home beautiful. I know it is OUR money and I bring a portion to the table as well but I don't know, I just feel bad sometimes going out and buying a new rug or a new chair with money that he earned. Ugh that sounds so silly when I say it :/ I know with time I will start to accept and be comfortable with the fact that what we make separately is still OURS as a couple, it may just take a little longer than a year of marriage to completely embrace it. 

So, to the person who made that comment to me, our "new" couch, it was given to us by our amazing friends. Our new rug, I got for extremely cheap from a seller I buy rugs from for customers. My "new" turkish rug, I found at Goodwill for $15. When I get "new" things for our home the majority of it is from thrift stores or Goodwill and I transform it into something "new". My new ghost chair, well that is brand new cause shoot ghost chairs are SEXY! I am finally understanding what our style is and I am now buying and creating things to exemplify that style. 

There is nothing wrong with getting new things, especially if you are looking to have things that are actually chosen by you and not chosen by others then given to you. I still do love our  home. I still do buy most of our stuff that is budget friendly. I am just now getting things that showcase OUR taste and not our parents or grandparents and I am not going to apologize for that!

THAT Post

SO for all of you who follow my blog, THANK YOU! I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and support I have received especially over the past month! I have noticed that as time goes on more and more of you are stumbling across my tiny corner of cyber world!

You might have notice that my blog looks different. Well, it is! I decided to give my page a new look because, well I am finally starting to understand what I want from this blog and my old page was not in line with my vision. How something looks is what draws people in, right? I know it sounds superficial but it is true. When I first saw my husband I was like "DANGGGGG, you are HOT!!!" his looks are what initially drew me in, and then his love for the Lord and killer personality was what kept me around. Well that same concept is applied to the blogging community. I can't tell you how many blogs I passed by because they just didn't look pretty :/ I feel guilty even admitting that but I am a visual learner and how something looks is vital for what I give my attention to. And I know there are many of you out there that are like me in that aspect.

I want to inspire others. I want to help others be daring when it comes decorating their homes and eclectifying (totally not a word) their lifestyle. I want to show people that they are capable of creating beautiful things and not everything needs to be bought at a high price. The original look of Rebely Decor was FUN. I mean come on, gold pineapples! Who doesn't love a chic gold pineapple? But I realized as fun as the image of my blog was, it was taking away from my work. The photos that I was displaying were competing with my loud background and I didn't want that.

I want people to be drawn into my art, I want their eyes to be fixated on my work and that just wasn't happening with my old page.

So I decided to switch things up. It's more black and white, it's a bit more edgy, but I like it. It's ME. I love the look of the hand drawn arrows. I love that they aren't perfect because well, neither is my work or my life. But that is what Rebely Decor is about. Using imperfect things and making them look beautiful. Taking my crazy and random ideas for decor and turning them into something that exemplifies my family's lifestyle.

This post is boring, I know. But I just wanted to let my readers know that this is still MY page. My vision for Rebely Decor has not changed, I am just now perfecting and understanding how to display what I love to do...DESIGN and DIY! 

I hope you guys like the new look...if not please let me know! I care what you think and want to please my readers! 

*I am working on a COOL and FUNKY accent wall in our bedroom which I am thrilled to share with you all this weekend, so be on the look out for that*

happy decorating