In the daytime.

And at night.

As soon as I saw the cheap-looking white spray-painted wire trees at my local second-hand store, I knew they had to be mine. They were $2.50 each, and they had so much potential. They came in three different sizes, which meant no matter how I clustered them they would look good.   Plus they were pre-strung with little white lights. Any decoration lit from within makes a striking focal point at night, and any decoration that I don’t have to string myself is a good thing.

Adding the first layer of twigs.

I had a spiral of twigs in my stash, so I got to work wrapping the trees in the woody loveliness. The whole scene fills up the window seat in my living room. I like it because it will stay up as long as the snow stays on the ground, unlike the holiday decorations, which always come down too fast for me.

The whole vignette.

All lit up. I used the extra cedar trimmings to decorate the mantle.

I went to buy a wreath for my mantle and discovered that, at $65, wreaths were not in my holiday budget. My neighbors have a row of cedars along our shared fence and their branches hang into my yard. See where I’m going with this? I spent 20 nippy minutes clipping the branches, then ran down to Creative Habitat for a metal  wreath frame. Five dollars and a few hours playing with florist wire later, and I had a beautiful holiday mantle.

The wreath before I dolled it up with lights.

Clipped berries and wreath frame, waiting to pair up with the cedar to become my holiday centerpiece.

More upcycling projects! I was kicking myself for shipping four ratty old Ikea chairs from Oakland to Burlington. I could have bought them new for less than the cost of shipping. But I saw potential in their shape and just couldn’t give them up. Turns out shipping them was a good call. Look how this fresh color story transformed the chair. Perfect for my daughter’s “upcyled” room.

My mom is the master painter, and while she was updating the Ikea chair, she revamped these plain white Pottery Barn cubicles. They used to live in my daughter’s baby room, and now they add a sophisticated edge to her preteen look. Her room is almost done, and we’ve mostly stuck to our original plan of recycling almost all its elements. Only her desk and bed spread are new (I must proudly add, the spread was 1/2 off at Bed Bath and Beyond). I just need to finish sewing the throw pillows and I’ll be ready to post the final reveal pics!