The sideboard...

This belonged to my husbands great grandfather who passed away a few years back. It was a bit scratched and the bottom of one drawer was slightly broken as well. Thankfully my sister in law was headed to the thrift store to donate it when she stopped by my house first to see if I wanted it. Anyway, I painted it as you can see, lined the drawers with some toile wall paper, and added a painted branch with a few blossoms. It has served our family well and we love having something old in our house that once belonged to a dear family member.

Designer pumpkin?

How are you dressing up your pumpkins for Halloween? I decided I already have enough "scary" decor for my two little boys to handle this year and opted to paint a pumpkin instead of carving one the traditional way. This is what I came up with and surprisingly it ended up taking less time than carving! I just used some left over toll paint and freehanded a little design (black and white would also look great but I didn't have any black tool paint on hand)...I think it would look great with a striped small pumpkin sitting next to it...hmmm, maybe I'll do that later this week :) Let's hear your ideas about how to jazz up some pumpkins this year!
P.S. I found the old iron candelabra at a thrift store last week for $1.00...perfect for halloween decor don't you think!

Craft fair inspiration

Just a few tools needed: shadow box (or you could make this part, I just happened to have an old one on hand), tape measurer, wood for the back of the box and front piece (I used a scrap bead board paneling piece that the previous home owner left in the shed), some kind of saw to cut with (I just have a scroll saw but a jig saw would also work great) staple gun, paint, flowers, dried or dry silk ( I saw several boxes with dried wheat in them today and it looked really great as well).

This is a shot taken waiting for the paint to dry.

Here is the ALMOST finished project...I just need to place a silver plaque over the front wooden piece with a word of choice cut out. I'm leaning towards "Cherish" right now...does anyone know where I can order on of these?

I (like many of you reading this) went to the local craft fair today. It was fun to look at all the great things and different ideas people had come up with. The only problem was (in my opinion) everything was SO EXPENSIVE! Cute or not, it was hard for me to buy anything knowing that I could make most of the items myself. So...I went home and rummaged through my basement storage and came up with this project. Thank you craft fair for lending me your inspiration today...boxes similar to this one were going for $50.00 and up! My total cost: time!

Pottery barn filing cabinet

I found this on Craigslist for $14.00. It was in great condition but was missing one of the upper drawers.

Here's the easy solution I came up with. I simply took out the drawer hardware and cut a piece of wood to fit inside. Then I painted the wood a grey blue color (left over paint from another project) and added some trim for the edge and glued it all down with wood glue. This only took a few minutes to do and I love that I have a functional cabinet now!

Updated bench...

Here are some updated pics of the bench in my sons bedroom. As you can see, I still do not have the underneath storage taken care of...I am looking for some orange canvas bins rather than baskets and have not been able to find any yet. Also I put up a few things on the wall as well. The two large frames came from a thrift store ($2.00 each) as well as the oval frame and mirror (can't remember how much I paid for them since I bought them years ago). The other two frames I picked up at Shopko on the clearance rack a couple of years ago for $3.00 each. I covered them with dinosaur scrap book paper and applied modge podge...so easy and I really like how they turned out. The inside of the large frames were made by taking a large linen (white) napkin (I got several at the local consignment store for .50 each last week) and then painted the characters on them. Then I stretched them across the back using thumbtacks to secure them in place...just something easy, affordable, and fun.

Adding something unexpected...

If you are visiting from my family blog (welcome) this is the thrift store (D.I) find I eluded to on my post. I just picked this up the other day for $25.00! This pew was taken out of an old church building that was being remodeled. You may notice that it is "kid size" which made it perfect for my four year olds room! I am in the process of sewing a foam cushion and will hopefully have more baskets to nestle underneath with books very soon. For those of you who know my son you also know that he loves his books and as a mom I am so ready to gain some sort of organization when it comes to them! I restained the bench today (two seperate coats of an ebony stain to be exact) and like the new color so much better than the light oak that it came with (sorry forgot to take a a true "before" pic again). Lucky for me, I had saved the stain from a project I did four years ago. I'll post more when the project is complete but I just wanted to share some of my excitement!

Ever painted a mural?

The beginning...

During...

After!

Well, this one was a first for me but I had a great time spending my afternoon in the mind of my 4 year old boy. As some of you already know, to say he LOVES dinosaurs would be an understatement. I took my inspiration from some of his dinosaur childrens books and went from there. I also chose to use a plant eating dinosaur to avoid any potential over imagining on his part...afterall he does have to sleep in this room :) Using a pencil I freehanded the dinosaur and then let my son take part by letting him paint in the lines (I had to guide him a little here). Next I began adding some shadows and texture...this was the tricky part but it was also the part where the dinosaur began to come alive so to speak. I ended up mixing paint from what I had in my own storage so this was a "no cost" project. Overall I am pleased with the result but will probably go in tomorrow and detail some of the trees a bit more and redefine the clouds...so what do you all think?

Details, details.

Okay, remember the hanging lantern...same room here. This room is a great example of using color in a space when painting the walls isn't an option. I picked up the candel sconces at a thrift store for $1.50 each. Wish I had a before shot to show but just imagine a hideous gold and you've got it. Now they are little princess meets glam...the only thing left is the candle sticks...I'm leaning towards hot pink or yellow. The canopy also brings in just enough color to brighten the space without overwhleming it and isn't the fabric just adorable? Love it!

From dungeon to darling...

A friend of mine needed to move her two little girls to the basement to make more room for an upcoming addition to the family upstairs. The girls were afraid of the basement (can't say I blame them) because of the dark paneling. After discussing paint options some friends and I went to work painting over the paneling to brighten things up a bit. I should mention that my friend is house sitting and recieved permission to paint the room ahead of time...still, because of the situation we had some limitations on this project. In the end I think it turned out great and most importantly the girls LOVE it! Makes me wish I had a little girl...

The lovely,or perhaps not so lovely before shot.

Wish I could take credit for this part but this was all Jess...so cute!

This photo really doesn't show it very well but the branches above the "sofa" are suspended by fishing line. It has a really cool three dimensional effect in the room with hanging butterflies and felt leaves for some whimsy. Also, the frames to the right were all picked up at a thrift store for 5o cents each and then painted lime to match the other walls. The old crib was something that had sentimental value and so instead of storing it in the garage we brought it in and positioned it in the corner as a "reading nook". Eventually the legs will be cut down slightly to accomodate little one's seating and look less like a crib.

Don't you just love these flowers on the wall (velcroed). Totally copied the idea from a pottery barn catalog but still love it. Another unique twist is the bed skirts which are made out of pieces of tulle fabric and tied to the bedframe. Attached are tulle butterflies. Underneath the bed is a "playhouse" of sorts so this worked out very well for the girls who are crawling in and out frequently.

Well, I think that's it on this one...and can I just say it was so fun thinking in pink!

Glam Lantern.

Okay so I sort of forgot to take a before shot...it's been known to happen a few times but you get the overall idea. I picked this up at a local consignment shop for a whopping SEVEN dollars! I really had no use for it but thought it would look great in my friends nursery she was working on. Here's the sort of before shot.

And the after...with a little fabric covering over the chain it will be perfect for the little princess about to inhabit the space!