It's Done & Ready for Guests!

I am done!  but things didn't turn out the way I thought on the last page - instead when I got to Suncoast Paints, Manhattan Bl, Tampa, FL (a great store) to pick up my border - they only had 1 left in the colors I had chosen.  So what did I do, got the next darker border - I LOVE IT!  It is just as pretty, if not prettier than the first one. (The border on this page is it!!!!)

I also picked up a few things at Wacamaw - a rag rug which I am using as a picture frame and some greeting cards with water scenes. IMAGE GOES HERE   I had looked at a framed picture and just didn't like the feel it gave off.   (It looked tacky!)  So let's look at what this make over costs me (please someone write the host of Decorating Cents on HGTV and let her know what you can really do in the real world!):

1 gallon Glidden Interior Satin Paint - $ 3.00
3 rolls border ($13.95 each) - 42.00
    (Seabrook Designs Border Pattern CTC241B)
1 paint roller/pan - 2.98
1 rag rug - 12.99
   (I thought it was on sale, but it didn't ring up that way)
4 greeting cards ($1.75 each) - 7.00
brass closet door knob - 9.00
2 plastic frames ($1.60 each) - $3.20

Everything else was taken from what I already had, either put away or in other rooms.  I looked around at the flea market and didn't see anything, but I am still looking for other items. 

The About the Rag Rug Frame - how did she do that?  I hung the rug at an angle.  Use an Exacto knife and a straight edge and cut of the backing of the card.  Using dry mount spray (at craft store) outside, lay your cards on a piece of cardboard and spray the dry mount on the BACKS of the cards - read the directions.  By the time you walk back inside and line the cards up they are ready to stick to the rug.  Do just that - level them with the wall (not at an angle) and put them in whatever arrangement you desire.  I also added some post cards from the Bahamas and some shells I had gathered at Ft. Desoto Beach.  There you are, it is done.  I used a straw hat and hung it next to the rug and a shell picture my friend Geri made for me to hang over the hat. 

I collect post cards & until a couple of months ago they lined my office walls. Then I got tired of them & put up a border. So I took those post cards out of the box & taped them up on the wall OVER the border. (pix coming) Looks GREAT!

Guests basket - I have LOTS of baskets that I pick up at yard sales.  Take some moss or crumpled colored tissue paper & fill it up with whatever you feel your guests would need during their stay.  I uses small pretty bottles & fill them with GOOD shampoo, mouthwash, hand cream, bars of soap, etc. or use those bottles you collected at hotels.  Toothbrushes, washcloths, pen, decorative stationary with stamped envelopes and local post cards stamped.  Take a piece of netting or even tissue paper and ribbon to make a few sachets of the potpouri you have in the room itself and also keep some in the empty drawers.  I took clean fluffy towel for each guest and wash cloths, took my old straw beach bag (got it at a close out at Mervyn's one year - $1 - orig. $18) and put the towels in there. I forgot to get hooks, so I just hung it on the closet door knob. (Pix coming). If you have the cash, you could even provide terry robes.  How about some dried fruit or chocolates, a couple of glasses and a picture.  A few good books about the area.  I also took very inexpensive plastic frames & put out pixs of my guests & I on other vacations. Anything else you can think of that would make the time more enjoyable and memorable.  Just do it!

I recently bought a Florida treasure map ($4) & a signed poster from an art festival ($1) to frame and hang in the room.

A map of all my DECORATING pages

All Rights Reserved Karrel Buckingham 1998