Okio B Designs

Thanks to my friends at Realtor.com for including me in several home decor/DIY posts over the past few weeks. The first was on utility fabrics and how to incorporate them into your home.

The second was on decorating with pumpkins! - one of my favorites!

Go to Realtor.com to read the full articles.

Jeanine

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Raise your hand if you've started some Christmas projects. I know I have. First one of the season is this Santa paddle fan. Easy peasy when you have one of these...

We got a few of these at a local fall festival and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. All I did was print out my image on sticker paper, cut to size and then peel and stick. I finished up by adding the little noel and snowflake embellishments. I also made one for Halloween:

This is one side and here is the other.

I have one fan left and that will also get a Christmas makeover.

I love that this project only cost me a little time and effort! And I'm super excited to be starting some Christmas projects.

Jeanine

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Halloween is just a couple of weeks away and I've put the finishing touches on a few last minute projects. This one is my favorite! I found this little velvet-y address book at our local thrift store. Once I picked it up, I knew it would make for a great mini book of spells. I found the image on Pinterest and added it to the front of the book using sticker paper.

Here's how I have our staircase for Halloween. I found some creepy books (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.) on eBay for pennies and I used them to line the steps. I'm secretly hoping my boys will crack open one of them and read some of these classics.

I'm pretty much done decorating for Halloween and have even started a few, gasp!, Christmas projects. I hear there is something like only 10 more Fridays until Christmas...

Jeanine

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I had a couple of girlfriends over for lunch the other day and wanted to set a pretty table for them - and play around with some ideas for Halloween.

Each setting included a white pumpkin plate from Target's DollarSpot, an orange or black plate from the Dollar Store, a gold charger plate and these great napkins.

If you look closely you can see some creepy books I bought from eBay and skull shot glasses. I tucked those away before the girls came over, but I will definitely be putting them back out for Halloween.

Jeanine

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If you're like me, you've probably seen a bunch of candy tin makeovers on Pinterest. What I didn't know is that you can't really paint over them unless you burn them. Yup, you need to burn off the existing paint to have a cleaner surface for glue and paint to stick to.

So I asked Mr. Okio to break out his blow torch. After he got done laughing at me (!), he simply used tongs and burned them over our stove burner. Gee, why didn't I think of that? Anywho, my first upcycle is above.

No blow torch was needed for this next project. This is a thrift store makeover. I picked up the little faux slate sign a few weeks ago. I gave it a few coats of black chalk paint and then simply wrote my creepy message. Yes, I have the handwriting of a 6 year old. Sigh!

This welcome mat is from Pottery Barn (last year). My spiffy shoes are from Target.

These were super easy: Mason jars specimen jars. The images are courtesy of the Graphics Fairy. I'm making a bunch more just to add in random spots about the house.

How are your Halloween decorations coming along?!

Jeanine

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My husband was about to throw this broken shovel away a couple of weeks ago. Guess who grabbed it and made this super simple Jack o' Lantern?

I gave it a few coats of orange spray paint and then drew the face on using a Sharpie. My 11 year old thinks I should have painted the handle green, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks.

Jeanine

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After months of ~~nagging~~ asking my husband nicely, he finally got around to helping clean up my tea room/she-shed. Here's the before:

I was sad to see the black and white flooring go, but the tiles were so old, dirty and peeling. This time we opted for a marble-looking peel and stick tile from Armstrong.

They were very easy to use. You basically peel and stick after cutting to fit your space. Luckily, my hubby only had to cut a few pieces to fit in random areas.

He did an amazing job! Once the floor was done, we got busy laying some pea gravel.

The grass never seems to grow in this area and pea gravel seemed like a good solution.

I'm really loving the look!

We finally replaced the thatch roof that blew off during Hurricane Sandy(!).

All that's left is to paint the doors. They will be white. I'll also be adding our annual Halloween touches this weekend. We spent about $350 for the tile, pea gravel and thatch roofing. Stay tuned for more updates!

Jeanine

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Raise your hand if you've started decorating for Halloween. I know I have. I just can't help myself...

I've done a few Pinterest copy-cats - like the skull and this spider web using an embroidery hoop. I picked up the hoop at our local thrift store. Below is the before. Such an easy project for Halloween.

Speaking of the thrift store, this how the little wicker basket I got a couple of weeks ago looks now:

The pumpkins are from Target's DollarSpot. I downloaded the tags from Twelve on Main.

This is what this year's corner hutch looks like. I'm still pulling out pieces and am hoping to be have everything out by October 1st. Wish me luck!

Jeanine

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I haven't done a thrifty find post in a while, have I? I didn't hit many garage sales this summer and when I did, they were kind of a bust. Our local church thrift store never disappoints, though. Lookie what I grabbed today: orange & black books, slate chalkboards, basket o' pumpkins and a repro scale. All for, wait for it...$4!

As you can see, I've already started re-working some finds. Here are the books. I hand-stamped the word autumn on the black one, added one of the faux pumpkins and have them stacked on a repurposed cake plate (also a thrift store find!). Even the Scrabble pieces are from the thrift store. I'm already working on the basket makeover too.

Have you seen these pretties at Target in the Dollar Spot? I grabbed two sets of them before they sold out. Each comes with 2 pumpkin plates for only $3. Yes, please!

It feels good to be back to blogging and thrifting. I missed both so much!

Jeanine

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Today is the first day that it hasn't been sizzling hot here. Truth be told: I didn't let the heat stop me from starting to put out some autumn touches. This sweet little vignette is on the antique desk in our dining room. The autumn printable is from Pinterest.

This candle was a Marshall's find and it smells DELISH!

I actually bought this jam for the jar. Is that bad?! Who needs jam anyway when you have candy corn. Picked up two bags at our local Dollar Store.

This red pickup truck was marked down to $10 at Hobby Lobby. I filled it with mini pumpkins and faux moss. I also got the bigger green pickup. I'll share that one another day.

I do the same thing on this counter every year. I just love the white pumpkin on top of the scale. It's tucked away on a corner of the counter we rarely use. The pumpkin is filled with scented mini pumpkins. I just take the top off whenever I want to breathe in the autumn-inspired aroma.

I'll be adding more touches this week, so stay tuned!

Jeanine

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Oh my! I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything since July. Yes, July!

It's always hard during the summer months for me to blog - with the boys being home and all. Somehow I managed to tackle a bunch of projects though. I just never seem to get around to posting them here.

If you follow me on Instagram (which I hope you do!), you probably know we took quite a few trips this summer (and have seen some of my summer projects).

Newport, Rhode Island was my favorite. We were steps from the beach and just minutes from the mansions.

It was a blast seeing how the other half once lived.

How's that for a view?

And doesn't everyone push a button to ring their butler? Hee hee! Seriously though, my boys go back to school September 4th, so I'll be back to my regular blogging then.

In the meantime, let's all enjoy these last few days/weeks of summer.

Jeanine

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I've had this cake dome (I'm not sure what the official name of it is) for a few years now. It was a Home Goods find many moons ago and was banished to the basement after I tired of its boring brownish color.

After walking by it 100 times over the last couple of weeks, I decided to give it a fresh makeover.

It's amazing what a few coats of white spray paint can do! I've fallen back in love with it and am thrilled with its new shabby look.

I'm using it to hold some pretty vintage plates now. Isn't shopping the house great?!

Jeanine

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I can't take credit for this project. It's a copycat of one I saw on Pinterest. Once I saw it, I knew, finally, what I could do with all of the random baseballs in our garage.

My boys played baseball briefly, but somehow we had all of these balls hanging around. I started by breaking out some red, white and blue acrylic paint. I painted the colors randomly on each ball and added some stars to a few of them.

I'm not the best painter as you can see. My stars are a little smudgie. Still, I love how they came out and how they look in my little red wagon. And they are perfect for our 4th of July decorations.

Jeanine