Art Gallery

My oldest son has fallen into a new found love of Art. Mondays are his favorite days to go to school because it is Art class day! I wanted to find a way to nurture his new love and thought by displaying his projects in a fun way, it would help him to take pride in his work and show that we are proud of his creations!

So, I found this huge wooden frame at Goodwill for $2.99 and decided to spray paint it black.

Then, I bought a bunch of clothespins and Modge Podged some fabric I had to the fronts.

And created our Art Gallery where we proudly display our 3 little Picassos' masterpieces!

white

I found a beat up mirror ($1.99), a crate ($0.25), and 3 frames ($0.99 ea) at Goodwill. And a ladder at the Flea Market for $5.


I decided to spray paint them all white.

I sanded the edges, and added some antiquing glaze.

I used the frames in our stairway...

and to hold a cute little turkey Trevor made three years ago :)


The ladder I used to house some of my fall decorations...

I added some green buttons and used the mirror in Simon's room...

And the crate has yet to find a home. Any ideas?? :)

Vanity stand

Another Goodwill creation :)

I bought plates with a fun pattern (4 for $3.99) and a purple glass candlestick ($0.99)


Glued them together and use them to hold all that random stuff in the bathroom!

Fall Lantern

So I made a new Goodwill creation!

I found this candle holder for $1.99 (I forgot to take a before picture! But it was a weird fish scale design...) I spray painted it black.

I found this cute little jar for $1.99 (well fellow Goodwill-lover Sarah found it, but put it in my basket)


I glued them together and added fun fall things and tada! A new Fall lantern-like creation. :)

Rainbow Birthday

Room two

Alright, I’m ready to unveil another room!

I have officially become obsessed. Any mention with DIY, garage sales, Goodwill, flea market, design blogs, or Pinterest, and my heart is sent aflutter. In all seriousness, it really is great to have found such a fun hobby to keep up with. I am first a wife and mother, but this gives me an outlet just for ME!

Dining Room when we bought the house:

Dining room phase one: (such a long story, but its a TERRIBLE picture because I had to take a picture of the picture on my old phone…haha!)

Our dining room has undergone several changes. And not just the original ones! I must have rearranged and redecorated and changed the style 100 times now. I just couldn’t get that room right. I think it all stemmed from the color. I loved the “Coffee Bean” paint swatch, but once it got on our wall- not so much. I originally had reds and browns in the room and I think that added to my distaste. Everything I tried just wasn’t working!

Then Emily gifted me a bluish/green table she couldn’t use in her house anymore, and I decided to go a whole different direction!

Dining Room NOW!

The blue and white has lightened the whole room so much!

Now for all the fun behind the scene details…

First, Michael and his dad replaced the carpeting with hardwood floors.

Then, Ryan primed and primed and primed because the previous owner did a crackle effect (or something) that would NOT cover!

I love this room because nearly everything was re-vamped, a hand me down, or thrifted. It is like a treasure hunt for me…SO fun! :)

The dark brown china cabinet in the first set of pictures was given to us from Michael’s Aunt and Uncle. I painted it blue and the inside white and changed out the knobs.

The white candle holders used to be black but not after I got a hold of some spray paint! I also painted my Aunt’s green baker’s rack in the corner white!

Will I have rearranged everything again by the time this blog circulates? Oh, absolutely. But I have to keep life fun for Michael. :)

Room one

I think I have finished a room in our house. Only two and half months after moving in, but whatever! I love to find decorating ideas and copy them, and yes I may have spent hours just the other night trolling design blogs looking for some new ideas. My current fave? http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/ Much to Michael’s dismay my new love is spray paint. I never realized all the possibilities! I revamp old things we have that need a lift, or pick up treasures at Goodwill that need some love. Emily has introduced me to antique shopping at Amazing Grace and we recently found the wonderful world of the Flea Market! Oh my, my love for garage sales just got even more intense! This could be dangerous…

Here is what our living room looked like before…

And now after!

(A shoutout to Michael and his dad who did all the painting and hardwood floors! And to Michael and Ryan for hanging the TV!)
See the little blue truck on my big green chair? Yep, evidence that little boys live here. Or the cute little sleeping baby? More evidence. Or the picture frame that still has the picture of the models in it because I haven’t gotten around to getting an 8×10 printed yet? Or the clutter that I quickly pushed into the dining room so I could take these pictures? So really, these pictures are an illusion. Real life doesn’t look like this- at least not in my house! I took these not only to share with you all, but to remind myself that beneath all the dust, piles of toys, and fruit snack wrappers, that I’m still here. I still love to decorate and create new masterpieces. I can still have passions of my own- my identity is not in my children. My identity is in Christ and who He has created ME to be! But I embrace the stage He has me in- WITH my children. So the sticky remotes, dirty socks under the couch, and fingerprints on the glass cabinets can stay. :) The verse in the frame with our Dr. Chuck memories reminds me of this on a regular basis. He used this verse (Psalm 16:6) to encourage me back when I wrote this blog post (see his comment?) For the boundary lines HAVE fallen for me in pleasant places. I’m blessed with a supportive helpmate, three amazing little bundles of boy, and deep relationships in all circles of my life. I can have fun doing things I enjoy like thrifting and spray painting creations, but I have JOY knowing that I’m investing in the eternal by mothering confident leaders in the next generation and helping them to know Christ and bring Him glory. He IS good.