Tray Makeover

I picked this tray up at GoodWill to replace my favorite a tray that Hubby "accidentally" stepped on.

I primed and painted it a light blue/turquoise. 

I picked up this color in the clearance paint section at Lowe's for $0.50. I didn't have a use for it when I bought the color, but I just loved it so much I couldn't pass it up for that price. Always, always, always check the clearance shelf! Especially, if you just want to stock up on a few colors to have on hand just in case, and you aren't picky about the color. 

{The frame is for a weekly to-do dry erase board that I am working on. Hopefully it will be done soon!}

One of the things I loved about the old broken tray were the handles. So I wanted to re-create that with this tray. 

I tightly wrapped jute twine around each handle, and periodically would secure it with dabs of hot glue. 

I seriously love this color. It is so light and airy - perfect for the Spring and Summer! 

Happy Friday Y'all!

Furniture Makeover: Hubby's Desk

I'm working on cleaning up our mess of an office/spare bedroom. Little by little it is coming along. I started by filling the [empty wall]. Next up, is painting Hubby's desk. 

We bought it off of Craig's List awhile back with good intentions to paint it; but, of course, since we had no idea what we were going to do with the room, painting never happened. 

I sanded, primed, and painted. 

For a couple reasons, I didn't use spray paint for this project. (1) I had to color match the paint. Hubby decided he wanted a green desk, and while I wouldn't have chosen that color, I said alright and had the nice guys in the Lowe's paint section match one of the green's from the fabric hanging on the wall. (2) I didn't feel like dragging this desk outside by myself. It's kind of a pain. And I certainly was not going to spray paint in the house. 

Anyway, I wasn't to fond of the color at first; but a little distressing goes a long way {I wish you could just hop through your computer screen into my house to see this in person, because the picture really doesn't do it justice}...

I'm still adjusting to the weird green color, but I like it better distressed; and maybe if I change the handles I'll like it better {I decided to keep the old handles for the time being - mainly because I forgot to buy new ones while at Lowe's getting paint, and I haven't wanted to make another trip back to the store}. 

No matter how I feel about the color, Hubby will be happy that I listened to him and painted his desk green, and that's all that matters. 

The makeover was not complete with just the color though...

I picked up this old Atlas at a yard sale, and wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it.

On a few other blogs, I've seen others lining their desk drawers with pages of old books, so I thought that would be perfect for this desk {especially, since the drawers were lined with this flowery loveliness previously}.

Hubby travels A LOT, so I thought the idea of using the atlas pages for the drawer liners was a fun idea. All of the pages I used have the countries/places that he has been/is currently in. I was actually feeling kind of bad as I was ripping the pages from the book. Part of me hates destroying old things...but it was for a good cause. 

I like the overlapping look, but if you're not a fan of that then you can certainly take the time to line the pages up neatly. I was also working on this in between chasing Bubba around, and having a play date {at our house} with 2 other little cuties, so overlapping was much quicker to get done. 

Last, I had to re-organize all of the junk Hubby's stuff inside the drawers.

I promise you that we went through these drawers together and organized everything, so I honestly do not know how these drawers ended up looking like a hot mess. What I think happened is that Hubs would secretly throw stuff in the drawers when I would ask him to put something anyway because he knows I would never look in desk for anything...he would probably deny this though.

Anyway, back to organizing. A few weeks ago I bought a flat of strawberries {from Plant City...best strawberries ever! so excited for the Strawberry Festival!!} and saved the little baskets the strawberries came in hoping to find a good use for them soon. 

And what do you know...I did find a use for them! 

Hubs is an IT guy {I fondly refer to him as Gadget Geek}, so we have a million {this is not an exaggeration} computer parts and cords all over the place. Well, not all over the place, mainly in the office; but it sure feels like they are scattered all over the room sometimes. 

The little baskets are perfect for corralling loose computer parts and cords in the drawers. I love it - so neat and organized!

Pop of Color

Hubby and I picked up this table at a yard sale quite a few months ago; and while I have had it painted and in my living room for awhile now, I was not quite finished with it. I removed the faux leather that had once resided on the table, and was left with these two empty rectangles, that were calling for some color. 

If you haven't noticed, a lot of the furniture {and trim, and book shelves} in my house is white. I know this is kind of crazy with a 2 year old, but I love it. Nearly 2 years ago, when we moved in, I had every intention to add pops of color throughout the space .... and just hadn't gotten around to it {it's kinda hard sometimes balancing life with a toddler and a hubby that is deployed frequently}. 

But, hey, at least I got the table painted. 

While flipping through some scrapbook paper for Bubba's placemat craft, I found this paper and fell. in. love.

It was just what I had been picturing. 

I used 2 pieces of scrapbook paper, and {homemade} mod podge to adhere it to the table.


The scrapbook paper wasn't quite the right shape, so I had to trim it and add the small strip on the right. Aside from the pattern being a bit off, you can't notice the seam. Unless, you get all up close and personal; and if I were the table, I might just have to tell you to back up off me. But, I'm not, and tables don't talk .... so don't worry, I won't get mad if you try to inspect it.

Once dry, I sprayed it with some Krylon Matte Finish.

Super simple, and made my boring table look so lively. I just love how it turned out!

Furniture Makeover: Old Frames

I picked up these old frames at a yard sale for $1 each, and have been holding on to them for the right project.

I painted the large frame lime green to match the decor in my kitchen; and the smaller frame a neutral creamy white color (Mountain Grey - Olympic). When they were dry, I sanded over the paint to give it the shabby chic look, which I so love. Then, I sprayed them with a matte finish spray paint (Krylon).

I was inspired by this old frame (sorry, I can't find the original source). However, I wanted something that I could hang notes from as well, and I wasn't totally feeling the straight lines and wire. 

So I used jute twine, and criss crossed my way down the back of the frame. No rhyme or reason. I just kind of made up my design as I went; and I ended up criss crossing back up the frame to fill in empty spots. 

I just used thumb tacks to secure the twine. Press the tack into the wood, wrap the twine around it 2-3 times, tie a knot, {if needed} lightly hammer the tack down. I read somewhere to use nails, but Bubba was sleeping, and the banging was too loud (I certainly did not want to wake him up...I wanted to get my project done after all).

I'm not loving the blah-ness (not a word, I know) of the mini clothes pins. I'm thinking my next project will have to be jazzing them up. But I love the random old pictures I get to look at every day...most are random shots of people and things, but my favorite is of the Colosseum. My Great Uncle Bill took these photos, and I found them in an old metal tool box I have sitting in my living room. 

This one actually took me longer to finish. I think it was because I wanted each line to be perfectly straight and even. Such a pain! 

It doesn't have a home yet, but I'm thinking of putting it on the empty wall of our spare bedroom/office. 

What have you been working on these days?

Furniture Makeover: Shabby Chic Step Stools

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday so far! I have been enjoying a few hours sans my child. So I have had a chance to finish these lovely step stools.

Hubby and I have been looking for step stools to go in our two bathrooms for a couple of months now. The only criteria I had, was that they had to be wooden. Nothing against the plastic variety, I just don't think they fit in with the decor in our home. 

After months of searching, we finally found these at a yard sale last weekend.

As you can tell by the size, these step stools are obviously for Little Man. However, the beautiful pink hearts are not the first choice for a little boy. 

So, of course I had to spruce them up a bit to fit in our home. I went through my bin of paints; which consists of only four colors, primer, and chalkboard spray paint. And settled on this greyish blue, that I absolutely love! It was either that or a lime green; and that color doesn't really go with anything in either bathroom.

Little Man has a dresser, toy chest, and mirror painted in this color. That shows you how much I love it. Or it shows how cheap I am when it comes to buying more paint. I definitely like to get as much use out of what I have before I go out and spend money on more colors.

Anywho, for $6 we got two freshly painted, brand new to us step stools. I think that's pretty darn good considering all the other stools we were looking at ranged from $10-$25 a piece (and those were craigslist prices)! 

Happy Painting!