Woo hooo! Great link...

My friend Christina showed me this site...have to say, I love it!

http://www.garancedore.fr/en/

Bad Blogger

Okay, so it's been quite a while since I've bothered to update anything here. However, I have a valid excuse. After nine years of working (on and off) on my bachelors degree, I FINALLY graduated...well, pending my last tuition payment.

Anyway, I've updated a few things in my super tiny/frenchy apartment.




I thought the "scattered" look would fit well on this wall, situated between two huge windows. It's not exactly complete...and needs a bit of rearranging, etc. My dear, 92 year old Grandma makes two appearances on this wall. That's her Senior photo from 1934 on the left in the large frame. And, although you can barely see it, that's her as well on the upper right in the small white frame. The other frames are random findings from thrift stores and Michael's Craft store. All in all, this "wall" cost about $ 15.00.



I've also updated my "Paris Shelf". Stay tuned for some more detailed photos. This one doesn't exactly cut it, I know.




I FINALLY reorganized this bookshelf. It sat for many months in a complete clusterf*c& of a mess. Grandma makes another appearance in this image. Can you spot her? I love my Grandma, can you tell? She's the bestest ever! Anyway, this bookshelf is full of my art books...both the coffee-table cheapies from Borders as well as the expensive art history books and supplements from all those fabulous art history courses. Also thrown in there are some trashy romance novels, which I intend to turn into smutty laminated coasters and magnets, and some other random novels. Whatever the case, books make you look, if nothing else, mildly intelligent.




Bathroom: This is just one tiny angle of my bathroom. The wall sconce is from Marshall's (I think I paid $ 7.00 for it). The small Art Nouveau poster / picture resting on it is from Michael's (I think). The elephant candle and golden religious icon candle are from the dollar store, and the candle in the middle is from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

So, I have a thing for big sunglasses. For one, I wear regular glasses and am not ashamed to go "Grannie-Style" by putting my sunglasses right over them. So, the bigger the sunglasses the better, right? Anyway, they are all from Forever 21 and super cheap. I don't have too many pieces of "real jewelry", but I have a bit of an obsession for costume jewelry. I blame Forever 21 and Target for that obsession. There are six nails holing about 40 necklaces...not including the ones scattered about my apartment.




This is where the lack of action happens: My bedroom. I finally got a headboard, thanks to Christina! I traded an antique glass doorknob for the headboard...best deal ever! You can't see much of it behind my pillows, but it's a simple cream-colored (painted aluminum?) headboard. I've also added the Tour Eiffel picture. The store "Papyrus" sells all types of specialty paper. I bought the Eiffel Tower paper for $ 4.00. The frame was a throw away at the gallery I work at, so that was FREE. Combine the two together for fancy looking decor. See close up below:






World Market stores in Michigan closed! BOOOO! I loved that store's clearance racks. I found this fabulous Eiffel Tower wine rack during their closing sales. I think I paid about $ 15.00 for it.

Sorry for my lack of sarcasm in the above post. I'll be working on this blog a bit more over the next few weeks as my apartment gets back to normal cleanliness. It's suffered major messiness over the past few months while I was desperately trying to pass my last college course.

Royal Oak, MI Flea Market Find

Very shabby, but oh so FRENCHY! Vintage Rococo style wall hanging. 24" x 20"
I purchased this at the Royal Oak, MI flea market a few weeks ago. It was priced at $60, I paid $15. I rock.
It took quite a bit of scrubbing, but look at her now...still tacky, but it totally ties the room together! And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

Creations Craved

I thought I should give a bit of insight into what I do and would like to do regarding this whole "blog" thing...

I'll be posting images and descriptions of items; where I found them, how I recreated them, what I paid, what I didn't pay, what ideas I totally stole from my friends (yes, I'll give them credit) and ideas they totally stole from me

Also, I will occasionally post items for sale. I have a lot of them. I don't need all of them and frankly, my shabby-chic Frenchy apartment is also a shabby-chic tiny Frenchy size. I need to make room for more creations. So, if you want what I have, it can be yours for the right price. Stuff will be posted on ebay and I will post the links on the blog.

So, back to what Haley likes best...and what this blog is all about:

Furniture: Repainted, refinished, using furniture in creative ways (i.e. not for its original intent)

Jewelry: I LOVE shopping for antique and vintage costume jewelry. Some of which I will sell via ebay and post the links here.

Books: Not only do they make you look smart, but they also make your apartment look super chic! And, if you open some of them you might actually learn something cool!

Picture Frames: These are SO easy to come across and you can make a ton of things from them!!

Clothing: I'm super tall and not so slender, so I often have to come up with creative, yet classy ways of making typical Target clearance rack findings look fab!

Accessories: See above. I ALWAYS hit the clearance accessories and nine times out of ten come up with ways of making casual attire fit for the office, fancy for ladies night out, or if I'm lucky...classy-sexy for a hot date.

Note: I'll be using the words "Creative, recreate, re-this, re-that...blah blah blah". If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. My "Widgets" Thesaurus can't seem to come up with enough synonyms.

And the list will continue to grow!

My Shabby Chic Frenchy Apartment

Nearly everything you see here (in my living room) is either from a garage sale, flea-market, garbage-picked, from a resale store or a hand-me-down from a friend. By the way, I'm totally obsessed with all things French...if you haven't already noticed!



Living room area: 6' Shelving unit is from a garage sale: $ 10, Framed drawings are post cards from an art show: $3 each, frames are Target clearance: $2 each. Two hanging lamps (you can see the bottoms) are from Ikea: $ 10 each. Misc. items on the shelves were gifts, random finds at TJ Maxx and from resale stores. My television is cropped out under the framed drawings...there's not really anything shabby chic about a television.




Living room area: Curtains...I LOVE these curtains. I purchased them at a yard sale in Birminham, MI. I paid $5 for the set, and they were brand new in fancy packaging! The full length mirror was a gift from my friend's Christina and Courtney (not sure where they found it). The framed image leaning next to the mirror was a garage sale find: $1 (and it's a nice frame). The ledge below the window is an unfinished wood board placed atop an iron radiator (my apartment is 120 years old)...and the ceramic pieces were hand made by me! Bamboo is cheap from Ikea!



Bedroom area: I really need a great headboard and many, many more pillows. I know it's hard to make out the bed spread, it's a Damask patterned duvet cover (queen) from Kohls. I believe I paid about $40 for it, also came with two shams. The long, round pillow (sorry, blanking on the technical term) is from Target clearance: $ 7. The two tiny pillows on the nightstand are from World Market (clearance): $4 each. The bamboo nightstand is from a garage sale: $5. The lamp was a gift from Cera: Fratz Consignment in Fenton, MI; price unknown :) Window curtain is stolen from an old roommate: Free.

The Economy May Be Tanking, But That's No Reason For Style To Suffer!

My Mother always told me "do with what you have". Great. Fabulous. Whatever.

Many of us are already creative in some way shape or form, doing with what we have, creating new out of the old. Blah Blah Blah.

Well, I'm in my late twenties. I'm in the same financial situation as most single, twenty-somethings. And, I often find myself trying to reinvent my shabby-chic apartment in some little way.

Through the creation of this blog I am hoping to create a forum for the exchange of fabulously inexpensive ways to recreate.

I think I use the word "create" way too much. Oh well.