Getting the house ready for guests, part 2 AND some weekend finds!

Ok.. sorry about not posting sooner, I left my camera AT WORK!! I was lost without it this weekend! I usually carry it in my purse, but I soooo did not have it... so I had to take pics yesterday to upload them today. UGH.. I am trying to at least post one post per day as I really enjoy it when others have at least one new post per day! It's really fun!

anyway.. On to my post.

To continue my second part of Getting House Ready for Guests:

1) Always have toiletries on hand (such as when you stay at a hotel). Keep in open for them to see and put it in a spot that they will be more incline to use it. Such as the bathroom counter. Please excuse my flat iron and towel. Hubby took these with his iPhone. See here in the picture below, this is what I have in the basket.

a) toothbrushes b) toothpaste c) women's and men's deodorant d) tide to go e) razors (men's and women's) - and not so present, women's toiletries accessible if you know what I mean.

2) Also, a good thing to practice is leaving towels (and extras) on hand for them. As well, put them in a spot that is easy to find and accessible. I put 2 regular bath towels, 2 smaller bath towels and 2 wash cloths per person. So In my case it was 8 towels and 4 wash clothes total.

3) If your guest room has a tv in it (ours does and it also has a cable box) make sure that you leave the remotes (and extra batteries on hand) in a place that they can find them. Also, if you have time, give them a quick tutorial or leave a little note on how to work them. I know you can't tell from the picture, but in the little basket on the end table, there are two remotes, one for the tv and one for the cable (you really only need one, but just in case - you never know!) Oh and for an added touch, there is also some gum in the little basket.

4) One of the most important tips that I could ever relay to you. Always, always, always have extra tp in the restroom! You should have it anyway, but as your guest, I don't want to ask you for it when I can clearly find it myself because you soo conveniently left it for me!

and there you have it! The end of my two part series of Getting the House Ready for Guests!

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Now onto the stuff you guys are waiting for. My weekend finds!! My good friend Jvilla is buying her first house with her beau and asked me to take her thrifting. Well since she was busy looking around with her realtor, she got over to my house a little late and therefore our thrifting excursions were short. But not to worry, we did get some good stuff!!

(I got these before she got there) So I wanted to start decorating for fall and got these two vine pumpkins at the one spot at Target (they were $2.50 each). I actually think I will get 2 more this week. I really like them and just threw them up on the mantle. NO ONE has noticed.... hmmm maybe cause i have too much stuff! LOL. I will look at it again and see what I can change.

Closeup of Pumpkin. Soo cute! (that bright white thing to the right is our Unity Candle)

REALLY tall shutter! It was marked at $4 and was half off, so I got it for $2. No one can see my vision of what to do with it, but I know what I want to do and will have it up this weekend. I LOVE IT and think that I might go back this weekend to get the white one that they had right next to it.

OK... so I have always looked for something like this for my kitchen (dish soap/lotion dispenser) and have one in our guest bath, but couldn't find one that I liked. We just happened to go to Pier One and viola. It was a little pricey because each piece was priced separately (though on clearance I might add), but I was all over it. Though in real life I would not have paid $12 for it.... just saying...
Last but not least, I had bought a bunch of silver trays that I had wanted to do the chalk board thing too and have had most of these trays for MONTHS (they range in price from $0.75 to $2.00). I just never had the time or motivation to remember to go out and buy the chalkboard paint. So Jvilla happened to mention that she wanted to do it and so it motivated me to want to do it too. I totally kicked myself in the rear because 1) I did not have my camera to take before/afters and 2) it took like a total of 15 minutes to do all of these once they were taped off and ready to go.

OH and we found the display mounts at Ross, small was $2.99, medium was $3.99 and large was $4.99 - I actually thought that was all very good pricing. So I bought all three and kept them black. I am not sure where these will go, but I know I want to make a "no soliciting" sign out of one of them!

Anyway, I have a lot more to show you, but I have yet to take pics of them. I will definitely hook it up in a few days. I think I might even do a craftroom reveal... maybe...

Hasta!

Adri.