I Shopped the House

Who coined that phrase?  I use it all the time now, and the Bionic Man looks at me like I am cuh-ray-zay.  Crazy like a fox!  I’m not spending any money when I shop the house.

This little winter vignette was totally free.  It took the place of our Thanksgiving Tree.  (Which, incidentally, looked so good there, we left it up well past Thanksgiving.  Gratitude is always in style, right?)

The wall under the clock was looking very bare after I took down the Thanksgiving Tree.  I toyed with several ideas: put the Thankskiving tree back up (too messy….it was already in the recycling bin), make some kind of fancy chalkboard (too trendy, every other blogger has one, and I already have a huge writing surface in my kitchen), or put up a cute little crown molding shelf  (too expensive, we already spent our money on tile this month).  Since none of those ideas fit the bill, I went shopping around my house….

…….and found this little red shelf languishing in a corner of my sewing room, waiting to be hung on the wall.  (FYI….the sewing room is done enough that I can sew in it, but not done enough to photograph.  Sorry!)  I love the way that red shelf pops! 

The other objects are pretty much leftovers from Christmas, that could transition in to winter.  I love how together, everything tied into a winter/valentine theme for February.

Over on the mantle, I brought out my apothecary jars.  I saved all of the fillers from last year—including the marshmallows, believe it or not.  I sealed the marshmallows in a Ziploc bag last year, and they were actually still squishy when I pulled them out this year.  Recycling those marshmallows is a terrific way to keep hands out of the apothecary jar; the kids won’t touch ‘em once they’ve heard how old they are!

The other objects on the shelves and mantle were just things I had saved from other years or brought in from other parts of the house.  The white plate, for instance, is usually in my bedroom, but I thought it complemented all the snowflakes, with its scalloped edge. 

How have you found ways to recycle your décor items and save money on seasonal décor?

Click here to find links to the other winter décor projects I posted this week.