Frame fun

I told you I was in the mood to decorate my daughters room the other day so I've been working on it off and on and having been trying out several different ideas. After hitting a few goodwills and checking craigslist I found 6 old frames (minus the glass and backing) to use for what I decided to do. As you can see I hung the frames and then spelled out my daughter's name using the wood letters that I had made for her when she was born. It didn't feel like enough on the space since the walls behind it are white I decided to add more pictures to the collection. I framed a few with some silver frames just to give it something different and then tacked up some other pictures to fill in the gaps. I was going for a fun but casual look. I might still try and look for more frames though for the other pictures and I'm actually considering painting her room to give it some color. Maybe a pale lavender or something. Not sure though.

What do you think of the lettering? Oh and the black frames only cost me $5. Everything else was stuff we already had around.

Inspiration

We just recently moved my daughters room upstairs. Long story short we had to move her into the spare room and the spare room downstairs next to her brothers room because he kept getting her up at night. Anyways since we moved her upstairs I am not loving her current space or the way that it looks. I've been searching catalogs and hgtv.com for ideas on how I can spruce up her space. Here are a few images that I fell in love with.

I love the mix of the white furniture and the natural elements and the wall design is AMAZING! If my daughter was older that might work but honestly since she's 2 she might just pull those beautiful flowers right off the wall. lol.

I love this space. It's beautiful and plush and it's oh so fancy. I love the bed frame and the way they spelled out the girls name by using the frames.


I love love love the polka dots. Again look at that beautiful bed frame!

I love the color combos of the blue and the pink and how that pink is on the bed, on the curtains, and even the lampshades. I also really like that they used an old sewing machine cabinet as a side table.

Do you have any favorite girly room designs or ideas that have worked in your space? Let me know I'd love to give my little miss a fun but pretty room that she can grow into and isn't babyish.

Slacker

I was all excited to get this blog going about my projects and inspiration and then I flaked.

I got busy. I started a fitness blog which is something that I'm also really passionate about and have been busy like crazy with my kids and basically haven't had time to do any projects or decorating though I did go and do a consulation for a friend and gave her tons of ideas.

I promise to get back to this soon. If anyone happens to read this and wants to share one of their own projects I would love to feature it so just let me know. I'd be glad to post it on this blog and maybe it would help inspire to get me back to decorating and crafting.

Kids Art

I have two beautiful kids who make a lot of art for me and I love it. I figure why not use it in the house to decorate with. The kids love seeing their stuff out and I love the bright colors and the fact that my kids made something for me. :)

How we did this:

First I picked up a 3 pack of 8 by 10 flat canvas for the kids to paint. The canvas pack ran about $3.17 at Walmart. After that I let the kids paint away using the sponge brushes and finger paint that we already had on hand. When the kids were happy with how their pictures looked we let them sit for an hour or so until they were dry.

I knew that I wanted to hang them under the entry way mirror but wasn't sure how I was going to do it since they were flat. Then I decided I would hang them with ribbon and make them feel a little more formal. I had black ribbon leftover from a halloween project and knew it would match the mirror perfectly so I tacky glued the ribbon on the backs of the boards. I just cut what I felt was a reasonable amount of ribbon and glued the ends to the back to create a loop. Nothing techincal about it I just eyeballed it. I had the tacky glue on hand already from other projects but hot glue or even super glue would have worked for this.

After the ribbon was attached I wasn't sure what I was going to use to hang them up with. I didn't want to buy any fancy picture hooks or anything so I went through my misc junk hardward to see what I could come up with. I took 3 brown pegs (that use to be the little slidder legs to a bookshelf that we no longer had) and pushed them into the wall like pushpins. Very easy. I still wasn't happy with how that looked though and thought they needed something more. I decided to glue on some faux gemstones (leftover from a picture frame project) and used the tacky glue again to make them stick to the posts.

After letting them dry I hung my pictures and I was done. I love how it turned out and the best part is that it only cost $3.17 for the whole little project.

Laundry closet

If you are like me and you probably are there is a never ending cycle of laundry. You probably enjoy it less too because it is blah and empty and well boring. Mine was. Before I started I just had the plain white walls and the shelves above the washer and dryer and that was it. No fancy washer and dryer for me just the kind that work (and sometimes a bit too slowly for my own liking lol). Anyways I decided to perk it up. I spend loads (haha) of time down here so I should have a pretty view right? I thought so.

I took two flower pictures that I had gotten several years ago and decided to put them right above the washer and dryer. Pretty huh? No more ugly blank wall to look at. After that I organized the junk (cleaning supplies, rags, light bulbs, batteries, storage bags, Ironing stuff etc). I already had these bins and sorted things so it would be easy to get to. I wasn't satisfied with the white bins up there all alone so I added a pretty floral box that I had and decided to use that to store light bulbs in it. After that I took a basket that I already had and put all my ironing stuff together. I don't iron often but when I do grabbing one basket is so much easier than grabbing a handful of different items.

I found a cute little wicker style storage box at Goodwill for $2.00 to store my clothes pins in. After all that I decided to use a tension rod (yep you guessed it that I already had) and hang it in the doorway to my little laundry closet. I don't have doors as this is part of a basement room that also houses the water heater and other fun stuff like the air conditoner and all that. Anyways I decided to put up two sheer curtain panels (yes I had these already too) to give the space a more formal feeling.

The curtains are easy enough to move and because of how light they are it actually allows the light to come through to the other part of the room in a nice glow. I love my new little space and couldn't be more happy with how it looks. What you can't see in this picture too is that I used a hallway runner that I had upstairs in front of the washer and dryer. It adds a punch of color and it also gives me something to stand on instead of the cold tile floor while I'm folding laundry.

Oh if you are wondering what the clear plastic thing is on the top shelf it's a bag of other clear bags. :) I keep the bags off of sheets, bedding, socks, basically anything that has a zipper or a button closure on it that can be used again. I can't tell you how many times I was glad I kept them and they get used often.

Total cost for this project: $2.00

Candle Sconces Redo

My first project to kick off this blog is my candle sconces that I did TODAY! I did not get a before pictures of the sconces. I was too excited and wanted to get started right away.

I went out to Lowes this morning to look for drawer pulls for my daughters dresser (that is another project that I am working on) and bought a can of spray paint for $6.74. I found one that was designed to hide surface imperfections and that didn't require a primer before using.

After I got home and read the directions paying attention to dry time and how to use it. Very easy stuff and it dries very quickly. As as a side note you'll want to find a place to spray pain on that you wont mind looking ugly afterward. I did it on a patch of grass and now I have a black spot in my front yard. Oops!

I sprayed each of the sconces (that I paid $1.50 for at Goodwill) with it's first layer of paint and let it sit and dry. After 90 minutes I went out and sprayed the second coat and let it sit again.

When I went out to check them they looked wonderful. Imagine them all brassy before and now look at the beautiful black hammered finish that is on them now. Love it!

They are laying on my stairs for you to see how they look and to explain the weird picture. They are fully dry and ready to hang. So I went ahead and put them up. I had some green candles and went ahead and put them in there and put them on the wall. I have one on each side of the entry way at the front door.

While they look great nice and simple I'm thinking I might try jazzing them up a little bit more later on by adding some beads or crystals or something. Not sure yet. Going to let them sit the way they are for a couple of days and get a feel for what else is missing from my entry way before I continue.

Total project cost at this point: $8.24

Welcome

First I'd like to welcome you to my newest blog/project. I've decided to attempt to blog about the decorating and projects that I take on. I'm not an expert. I just like making my home comfy and cozy and am considering finding a way to do it full time. I thought blogging would be the best way to get my feet wet and show you all some of what I've done and what I'm doing. Bear with me as I get started on this.

I want to show you how I'm taming the chaos, organizing, and decorating in my own home. I'm frugal. I shop Peddlers Malls, thrift stores, and look for amazing deals (even on new things). I want to help others see that it is possible to do something great with a little budget and lots of creativity. I hope that if you are reading this you'll find some inspiration and maybe test your own hand at something. If you make something wonderful please pass it along to me. I'm always open to new ideas. Lastly I just want everyone to know that decorating can be fun and it is possible to use what you already own to make a space great!