Merry Christmas... and hello out there!

It's funny how now that I've found myself with a day off, and literally no work in sight for at least a week, I suddenly have time to blog. All morning as I've tinkered about my house, I have been thinking about the blog posts I'd like to write. Perhaps, I should use the next week to blog profusely, ensuring I have more content in 2012. For any readers who decided to stop by again, it has been nearly six months since I last posted. I promise I haven't just ignored you, I have also ignored my house. The bright spot is I have tried to focus on spending as much time with family and friends as I could, considering I spent the past 2 months traveling.

I did think it was worth sharing a few updates on my house.

Since my last post about the craft room, it is well on its way to being complete. The ceiling repair is nearly complete. We wallpapered two walls. I hung curtains, which not only match the wallpaper perfectly, but were a great clear-out deal at Wal-Mart (only $10 each)! We only have the floor left to finish. I do solemnly promise, I will post a finished photo.






Rearranged my living room into separate 'living spaces' for watching TV and eating. With the craft room / office nearing completion, I no longer needed to use my table as a desk, and we have actually ate at the table. Shocking!

Harvested a huge tomato crop. So large, I had to buy additional canning jars for all the tomato sauce and salsa I made in September! At one point, I worried about what I would do with all of it, but there are only a few jars left! 

A perfect tomato from my garden. Mmmm.

Rows of freshly-canned tomato sauce and salsa.

My most recent addition was new couches! I wrestled with the decision to buy new living room furniture most of the year, but common sense finally won out. Cats + new, leather furniture = disaster. With Christmas around the corner, there were several listings for like-new sofas on Kijiji, and we picked up these barely-used, comfy, brown couches for only $300! Now, if only I could replace the chair my cats have claimed ownership over!

The cats favourite spot to watch the world go by.

Finally, you won't see these photos anywhere else, but I even managed to get my house decorated for Christmas. Returning home from travel, with only two weeks to go before December 25, I hauled out the totes of decorations and 'decked' the fireplace, front door and put up the tree. Undoubtedly, I'll be spending some time over the holidays catching up with bloggers and checking out your decorations, but for today, I have to get back to the baking. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and should you not hear from me again for some time, best wishes in 2012!

- Savvy Homegirl

Photo Gallery Wall

I can not believe how little time it took to feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted again. I thought the calm feeling would extend a little further into the month after Christmas break. I thought wrong. The past two weeks I feel I have been as busy as ever.

I do have some updates for you! Remember I said I had a few 'gimme's on my list? Adding more photos to my 'gallery wall' was one of them. I had plenty of great photos, but I hadn't got around to framing and hanging them. Luckily, I had a chance to pick up some frames from the dollar store before I got too busy again. A few hooks later, and they were ready to hang. Hope you've had a little more time to relax than I have!

Here was the 'gallery wall' before:

Here is the updated wall today. I added 8-10 more photos.

Living Room Redo Featuring My Free Table!

I can not recall the last time I shared a photo of my living room. Needless to say, while it's comfortable, I certainly never felt like I'd stepped out of House & Home Magazine when I walked in the door. It took me some digging to even find this photo:

A few week ago, some may recall me tweeting about my new kitchen table. It was on my 'to buy' list, at one time, I considered cashing in some Air Miles for a bar table and stools, and most recently, I'd decided to build one with plans from Knock Off Wood.

Well, table woes no more. As fate would have it, on a beautiful Friday afternoon I was driving home from work, chatting with my mom on the phone, when there!

There. It. Was.

Sitting on the side of the road with a "FREE" sign taped to the top. A beautiful, winged, hardwood table with 5 chairs.

"No way," I thought. I slowed right down, told my mom I had to go because there was a free kitchen table on the side of the road, and pulled a 'u-ey' right there. Within 15 minutes, bf and my (AWESOME) neighbours were there, we were dismantling the legs and loading the table and chairs into their SUV. The rest, as they say, is history.

With some inspiration from  Young House Love, I pushed the table up against my 'gallery wall' and created a mini dining area in my living room. After hours of rearranging- I basicalled moved everything out of the living room and started with a clean sheet- I have a new layout that is functional and still comfortable. Add the RIBBA frame from IKEA and two $50 slip covers, and I've done a mini makeover!

Sure, I could use a little more decluttering. I may refinish and 'antique' the table and coffee table, and my EXPEDIT shelf doesn't really fit, but I now have a place to eat when I have company over for dinner or a comfortable area to entertain or lounge around. All for the low cost of $130 (for the frame and slipcovers)!

It just goes to show that sometimes, you're better off to save your money and see what better (or free) comes along later!