Table and cookies

Last night my husband's sweet tooth was acting up and he asked me if I could bake either a cake or some cookies. I recently went through my grandma's recipe box searching for apple dessert recipes and came across a chocolate chip cookie recipe. In the past I always used the cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package and the cookies have always turned out flat and either burned or mushy so I thought it was the perfect time to give this recipe a try.


They turned out much better than I expected! They looked like bakery cookies. The hubs really liked them and said they were the best I've made but I thought they were a little too sweet. But I rarely eat any desserts anyway so if he loves them it's good enough for me.

Ready to eat!


For the 'Morocco' room I really wanted to get a table or stand to put the TV on but knew with all the money I had spent I couldn't purchase anything new. So the other day I went over to the closest Goodwill store and shopped around until I found an end table I really liked that matched the theme. I snapped a pic and sent it to the hubby who said go for it. It was in decent condition but needed some paint and to be aired out- it was kind of musty.


Side view, with a watchful Rooster. There are a lot of decorative carvings on it and I definitely didn't want to hand paint it. So this was my first time using spray paint!



Peek-a-boo!


Side view.

Around three hours later, sanded and cleaned then coated with one coat of primer and two coats of paint, voila! It looks more of a tan color in the picture when it is a dark gray color. We already had sandpaper and tack cloth so the costs were:

One end table (Goodwill)..........$9.99
One can Krylon primer spray paint in Gray (Wal-Mart)..........$3.24
One can Krylon Gloss spray paint in Smoke Gray (Wal-Mart)..........$3.47

Total for a new table: $16.70 + tax ($1.06)= $17.76

Total overall: $234.27

Originally I had planned to paint a decorative border on the top of the table but this one turned out to be so ornate to add more decorations would just be distracting. And it didn't come with knobs on it so I'll be purchasing them later and editing this total to reflect the change.

Bedding breakdown

For bedding I needed to get pretty much everything. We moved our queen sized bed in there after purchasing a king sized bed and had sheets and a bedskirt for it. The bedskirt is staying in there but the sheets were several years old and don't match the 'Moroccan' theme. (Except for the flannel sheets which are newer and will be useful in the winter.) Our old comforter had to be thrown out because it smelled really strongly of dog after sitting in storage while we were moving. So with those items need and our need to keep costs low, especially after splurging on pouf materials, here is what I purchased.

The comforter, not pictured is from IKEA: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50131433 as well as two pillows: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80129179


The sheet set, on clearance at Target.

Pillowcases I made from the same material as a section of the pouf with a ribbon sewn in.

Full length. I really like the ikat print.

A smaller pillowcase for the 14 inch decorative pillow I bought. I also turned the fabric inside out on this one so while the other ones are shiny and satiny this one is matte and the colors more vibrant.

My super splurge. I fell in love with this duvet cover in a catalog and it inspired the orange paint and theme.

Helper Rooster.

Bed stealing Mary.

Cost breakdown:

One full/queen comforter (IKEA).........$9.99
Two pillows (IKEA)..........$.99/each= $1.98
One 14" pillow (Jo-Ann Fabrics)..........$3.99

2 1/2 yards tribal ikat (Jo-Ann Fabrics)..........$22.76
One roll of satin ribbon (Wal-Mart)..........$2.00
One queen sized sheet set (Target)..........$24.98

Total of taxable items: $65.70 + tax ($4.17)= $69.87

One queen sized duvet cover (The Company Store)..........$69.74

Total for bedding= $139.61

Total so far= $216.51

A tutorial for the pair of pillowcases can be found here: http://www.filminthefridge.com/2010/01/27/pretty-quick-pillowcase-tutorial/ and the 14" pillowcase was made using an overlap closure in the back.

Pouf breakdown

It took me a while to find buttons for the poufs but now that I did, here are the pictures, and a breakdown of the cost.

Creeper dog in the background!

Pile of poufs.

The smaller sized one.

The two large ones.

The fabric amounts are for all three poufs combined.
1/2 yard bordeaux (cotton)..........$3.00
1/2 yard copper (cotton)..........$2.50
1/2 yard charmeuse (orange print)..........$4.55
1/2 yard sateen (brown)..........$2.50
1/2 yard tile (blue print)..........$3.00
1/2 yard velveteen (mustard)..........$4.00
1/2 yard knit (blue)..........$4.50
1/2 yard green moss (cotton)..........$2.50
1/2 yard kaleidoscope (orange/brown/green)..........$2.00
1/2 yard kona berry (purple cotton)..........$3.50
1/2 yard serafina (blue/green/brown)..........$2.00
1/2 yard tribal ikat..........$4.55

5 1/2 yards muslin (for lining)..........$10.95
5 lb. box of stuffing..........$11.99
32 oz bag of stuffing..........$7.99

Four large washers (to help pull in the middle)..........$.14/each=$.56
Two small washers..........$.11/each=$.22
Four large blue buttons (on sale)..........$.50/each=$2.00
The two small buttons on the mini-pouf came from my great-grandmother's bag of buttons.

Total for three poufs= $72.31 + taxes ($4.59)= $76.90

Though they ended up being more than I set out to pay I'm happy with them. They're quite large- the small one is 17 inches wide and the large ones double that size. All the materials were purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics except for the washers from Lowe's. The pattern and instructions I used can be found here: http://www.designsponge.com/2010/05/sewing-101-making-a-pouf.html

Morocco on a $300 budget

Progress on decorating the interior of the house has been fairly slow since most of our time and decorating money has gone toward fencing in the backyard. Since that project is almost complete (5 panels and 1 gate left to put in) we have begun turning our attention elsewhere. (Or should I say I have, as I think the hubby has had enough of working on projects for one year. :P ) We purchased a set of gorgeous stone and glass tiles for our kitchen back-splash at an amazing price- $1.98 a sheet- originally $8.98! And I have discovered a new store that I absolutely love, which is IKEA. We purchased a pair of bookcases for our formal living room (that are made in the USA!) and numerous other items, several of which will be going in the "Moroccan" room.

One day I went into one of the guest bedrooms and was surprised at how bland and boring it was in there. So to kick it up a notch- or 5- we decided to go with a Moroccan theme. Originally I budgeted $500 because it is sparsely furnished in there but knocked it down to $300 for more of a challenge, plus who has that extra $200 just lying around? Not us!

Boooooring!

Snoozefest!

Blam! Olympic no VOC paint in Mandarin, sold only at Lowe's.

Not the best pictures, as it was getting dark out and we painted during the week we had no power due to hurricane Irene.

The fabrics I'm using to sew three matching poufs. They're definitely funky- when I asked my husband what he thought of the layout he looked over at it and then looked as if he might be sick to his stomach.

The stack of fabrics waiting to be sewn.

In future posts I'll be breaking down how I spent the money and including more pictures of the sewing projects, items, and after pictures. As a side note I try to refer to my husband only as such and not use his name to remain as anonymous as possible in case others should stumble across the blog. Just wanted to include that so no one thinks I'm slighting him. :)