My Mantel before and after

I decided that my mantel decor needed a little shaking up.  I don't know what prompted it, but once I thought of it, I couldn't rest until it was done.  So after many google images searches, blog browsing and a few Goodwill trips, I am happy!

The before (sorry, I wasn't so good at taking pictures then).

I like the flowers in the center (from our wedding!), but the other decorations weren't colorful.  With white walls and white woodwork, I needed something that would stand out. 

I went shopping in my house and moved some candlesticks from the piano, but it needed more. 

I got a few vases at Goodwill and transformed them with jute (idea from Thrify Decor Chick) Cost : $3 for vases, $1 for jute, $1 for craft glue.

Then I read this post about transforming books and I had to do it! I don't have distress ink, so mine aren't as cute.  I'll probably do that one day, but I was all about keeping costs low.  I didn't have any books to use, so back to goodwill - $5 for 2 books, $2 for scrapbook paper.  I hated paying for books, but it allowed me to shop around for the sizes that I wanted. 

A little more shopping in my house and I found an awesome metal piggy that my sister gave me a few years ago as part of an inside joke.  It was perfect!

The results:

I'm still trying to decide how to arrange the books.

And of course, I'm practicing my photography skills.

The addition of the curtains my mom so graciously sewed for me helps a lot too.

Before:

After

Total cost of make over: $12 ($32 if you count the fabric for the curtains). 

I'm linking up!

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party!

Bow holder

Before Christmas, I tried to make a bow holder for my 8 year old niece.  I took old picture frames, spray painted them, with plans to cover the inside with fabric, add ribbon, etc.  After 4 frames and 2 cans of spray paint, I wasn't any closer to being finished, so I admitted defeat and bought her some earrings. 

But recently I noticed that my box that holds bows for Little Bit was getting a little crazy.  I really needed a bow holder.  Knowing my past failure tries, I decided to go for something a bit simplier.  Her room is done in ladybugs, so I took some little wood cut out ladybugs (Michael's, about $.50 each) and glued some ribbon on the back. 

Then I used the sticky thing you use to hang up 3M hooks (don't you love my acurate descriptions of things!) to secure them to the closet door.  It took about 15 minutes and I LOVE it!

I'm linking up to Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday!

Shadow box update!

Thanks to my sister's suggestion, I made an awesome change to the not-quite-done shadow box/silverware tray. I don't have a before picture of when I spray painted it black - too excited to get started on it! It was a plain old silverware tray with an ugly white back and birch colored edges.

Here it is after I painted it. 

I liked the paint, but felt like something was off when I put the trinkets on.  I wasn't in love.

When I posted about it before, my sister suggested I modge podge some paper on it.  I tried it, figuring if I didn't work, I was out the $3 I spent at Goodwill.

I dug out my scrapbook stash and found some paper that looked like it would work.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of either kind to do the whole thing with one pattern.  So being too impatient to go to the store creative, I decided to mix and match 2 different papers. And um, AWESOME! I am in love with how it turned out. 

I love looking at all the little trinkets that have special meaning for us - the box my wedding ring was hidden when the hubby proposed, a trombone commemerating my years in band, some things the hubby picked up during his 2 year church mission to Germany.  All things I like to display but get lost on a big shelf.

I am still looking for some ribbon to put on the edges like my mom suggested (yea, I know who reads my blog!) but haven't found anything I love yet. 

I'm linking up!

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party

Between Naps on the porch Metamorphois Monday

DH hates it, but I love it anyway

We recently made some changes to the kitchen.  One of the things that really bugged me was this corner.

 I need my calendar, but I had to get it off the wall to write on it, and I just felt the whole area was a little too cluttery.  I wanted something that would hold the calendar, papers, pencils, appointment reminder cards and all the other stuff that I needed in that corner. 

Enter this beauty, $2 from a garage sale.

My husband hated it, but I loved it.  It was just the right size. After 4 months of it sitting on my counter as is, I finally decided it was time to paint it.  It only took two naptimes and one bedtime to finish.  I love the way it turned out.

I didn't do as many coats, because I kind of like the way the dark wood comes through and makes it a little vintage-y!

When we did the kitchen, my hubby decided that the router needed to be moved from it's hidden spot in the closet to a prominent place in the kitchen. (?)  Thankfully, my magazine holder (that the hubby still hates!) is just tall enough to help cover the most artistic router.

The corner as is:

(notice my garbage disposal switch, 10 miles from my sink...)

And now

Full view - before

And After

Basically, I love it! The little ceramic box on the counter was given to me by my uber-talented sister.  It is still looking for a permanent home. And now that I look at this picture, I think the little iron circle (a goodwill $3 treasure) needs to be moved down a bit.  Still, I think it's a huge improvement!

I'm linking to
 Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After party
Between Naps on the Porch's Met Monday
Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Nite Special

My tree, in all honesty

I have so enjoyed looking at the beautiful trees on Thrify Decor Chick'sChristmas tree party! I didn't want to post my tree because it is not that fancy. But even though my tree is not fancy or perfectly coordinated, I still love it. So here it is, in all it's glory.

The top half- breakable ornaments.
The bottom half - kid friendly ornaments for my little one to move all around. Let's be honest - with a 19 month old on the loose, no decorated tree is going to stay that way long....

The burned out strands on our prelit tree separates the two halves nicely.

Kid friendly ornaments
When we travel, we get an ornament to put on our tree. Good way to collect souvenirs without having your house full of nick-nacks! This is one from our honeymoon - an angel from a cotton plant. The little snowman was a gift from one of my students my first year teaching.
Yup, not the prettiest tree ever, but my little one likes it and I like it. Well, all except for the burned out light strands. That will have to be on next year's to do list.

Christmas trees

I was totally inspired by this ornament tree.
I really needed something for my mantle, and thought the little trees would be perfect. It took a few tries, several trips to the dollar store and a whole lot of hot glue, but I think they turned out pretty well.

Here's what you need.
Ornaments - from the dollar store! :)
Ribbon
Styrofoam cone (I spray painted mine red to match the ornaments)
Small balls - my sister had some left over from her garland and gave them to me. They come as a bunch and each is attached to a wire.
Hot glue gun
First, remove the caps from the ornaments. I started by gluing the balls on. I stuck them in the foam first to make a dent in the foam. Then I filled the dent with hot glue and pressed the ornament in. I did mine very randomly, but I think it would work better if you started at the bottom and went up.

Then, I used some ribbon to fill in the cracks. I secured the end of the ribbon with a pin, then just kind of weaved the ribbon around until I was happy.
Then I pulled the silver ball bush apart and stuck the small balls in any space big enough to hold them. I didn't have a pretty base like the original. That's where the multiple dollar store trips came in. I finally found the perfect thing - a small round gift box. It came as a two pack. I decided the bigger one made a better base. Hot glue that to the bottom of the tree and Voila!
Check out the full effect.
Now I just have to figure out how to hang up my garland. Any tips? I've never done it before!
Close up -
I must point out the cute ornaments in snow/epsom salt. Thanks to the idea from The Inspired Room

I'm linking up to The Inspired Room's holiday linky party and The DIY Showoff Holiday Highlights!

2 coats down, 400 more to go

It's time to share our "after" pictures for The Inspired Room's Procrastinator party!
I took on two projects. (See my "before" post here)

My $7 garage sale find toy bench and painting the kitchen (it has only taken a year since we had a water leak in the ceiling!).

First the bench.

This project was much harder than I thought it would be! Stripping off the yucky paint, then sanding, then using the orbital sander, then sanding some more. Did I mentioned that it has rained in Atlanta for like 2 months straight? (Don't worry, the bench only got rained on 3 times!) But I am pleased to report that I got *most* of the yucky paint off and managed to start painting. I started off with one can of spray paint. Really? I am not sure what I was thinking!! This is the biggest spray painting project I have ever taken on. My trigger finger is starting to hurt!! I managed to get enough paint on to show the color it will be soon. But yea, I have about 400 more coats to do. Luckily it has finally stopped raining, so I am hoping to be done with it this week. Also, I learned that when spray painting red it is best to wear gloves. Otherwise you come out looking like you just killed somebody. :)
Before:During (after stripping the paint):

And currently.Don't worry, I bought more spray paint! I am considering painting some chalkboard paint on the underside of the seat, so when you flip it open, it shows the chalkboard. Or perhaps some black polka dots (little bit's room is decorated with lady bugs) Any thoughts?

The kitchen-
Well, I can't blame it on the rain. I didn't finish this one either. Priming took longer than I thought. But it is all primed and there is paint on the walls!! And I LOVE the color. I want to paint all the ugly flat builder's cream in my other rooms with this new great color!!

Before:

During (the part that is painted). You can see the new color (brown), then the primer (white), ugly flat builder crap (cream). What a difference!! And when it is done, I am going to hang these awesome plates that I got from Goodwill for $.25 each on the same wall in the "before" picture (I took down the elephant plates). They go perfectly with my candy-apple colored dining room!

Though I didn't declare this one, we did finally get shelves up in the attic!! Yea!! Now all my classroom things have a home that we don't have to trip over every time we go in the office!Though we didn't finish, it is great to have made progress, and I am certain that we'll be done by this weekend. Check back! :)