Glass votive holders are a common favor at weddings, and I often have mismatched ones around the house, sporting ribbon in someone else’s wedding colors. They look great in the scheme of a table setting but not so much in my living room.

After taking off the ribbon and stickers (and in one case getting a half-melted candle out of the thing), I used mosaic tile glue to affix glass and small ceramic tiles. I worked in small sections because tile doesn’t always adhere well to a curved surface. When all tiles were in place and the glue had dried for a good day, I used a no-sand grout. Finally, I used a mosaic tile sealer to protect them from water and dust.  Voila!

In-progress pictures

So I’ve tried to make my corner of the office feel more glam. Last fall, I made two plant silhouette paintings that hang above my desk. They were an improvement. But I wanted more of a focal point, so I re-painted an old floating shelf using leftover paint from my kitchen makeover, and hunt it just below the paintings, so any items that sit on the shelf overlap slightly with the bottom of the paintings. I used little knick-knacks to fill the shelf, and suddenly items that had been in my throw-away pile have a home!

I bought the shelf a frosted-glass oil burner from The Body Shop and picked up fragrance oils at an after-Christmas sale.

My aunt had given me these flower candles a few years ago. I love them, but they had no place in any other room. Now I have them surrounding a little manatee statue someone gave me, intertwined with a string of fake pearls to reflect light.

Now I have something pretty to look at above my computers.

Now onto the rest of the room…

I’ve had this horse pillow for years. My sister gave it to me when we were younger, and I’ve never had the heart to throw it out, even when the design started to crack with age. I stuck it high up in a closet where it would occasionally fall on my head when I opened the doors.

After!

Using iron-on patches, I created the design of two owls sitting on a branch, which I ironed onto a linen-look napkin (cotton/poly blend).

Instead of a traditional two-piece pillow cover with a slit up the back to fit the insert, I turned the insert on an angle and folded the four corners of the napkin together at the back. Pinning them in place, I hand stitched the two bottom seams to where they met in the center, then folded the top flap over like an envelope and fastened it with a string wound around a spare coat button.

Materials: old pillow, cotton napkin (ironed), spare button, iron-on patches cut into desired shapes, needle & thread

Voila! Happy little owls for $0.