Picture gallery... I already had all of the frames but they were black and I'm so sick of black. Our townhouse is way too small to be decorated in black, so I freshened them up with several coats of primer and white paint.
I found the old window at Confetti Antiques in Spanish Fork. I cleaned it up a little, added a quick coat of white paint because the existing paint was way too yellow and it clashed with the frames, and sanded the edges. I made the wreath out of grap vine and hydrangea stems that I found at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.
I love that the old window still had a piece of the original hardware on it which makes a perfect little hanger.
Small table and floral arrangement... I found this table a few years ago at The Porch in Springville, but once again it was black so I primed and painted it white and then roughed up the edges and added a little glaze. You will notice this black to white trend in a lot of projects to come!
I found the cool vase a few years back and loved it but the slats make it hard to work with. I made the floral arrangement and then wrapped the stems in moss garland. Perfect solution.
Hanging flowers.... I have seen so many different versions of hanging flower vases and I love them all so i decided t make my own version. I found the board laying in my garage so I added some paint and cute little knobs I found at Hobby Lobby for $1 each. I stole the coke bottles from my mom. They were the Christmas edition from 1995 and had pictures of Santa Claus on them, so I soaked them in clorox water and used a razor blade to remove the image. Then i threw some flowers in the bottles and hung them from the knobs with hemp rope. I think they turned out pretty cute and decided to hang them in my tiny half bath.
I'm excited about these bottles, the cream vase, and the old window because I can change the flowers and wreaths to decorate for different seasons and holidays. That's also why I'm going with such a neutral pallet with all of my new projects. I like seasonal decorations but I hate when they clash with existing decor!
Pillows... I made a couple of these little rosette pillows to go on my couch and for Zion's little chair. They were fun and way easy.
Jewelry box and necklace hanger... My parents gave me this jewelry box several years ago. It was painted black and had a bunch of vintage looking stickers on it. It was cute but needed a little update so I razored off all the stickers, primed and painted it white, and then sanded the edges a little.
The necklace hanger was way easy. I found this tin "live well, laugh often, love much" sign at TJ Maxx a long time ago. Once again it was black and I actually decided I didn't really like anything about it anymore and was going to throw it away and then I realized I could use it for one of the necklace holders that are floating all over the land of Pinterest. I primed and painted it white, sanded the edges and added a few hooks and it works perfect as a necklace hanger.
Mod Podge pictures... Ok, from these pictures you won't be able to see the difference, but I'm telling you, there is a difference. My dad made me several frames to hold my bridals when me and Zac got married. The problem is they were canvas pictures so they didn't need glass over them and they are not standard sizes and I had no idea where to go to find custom sized glass. The solution, I printed some of our family pictures at Costco and then trimmed them to fit the frames, adhered them to cardboard with Mod Podge and used a foam brush to paint over the entire surface with a matte finish Mod Podge. Now the pictures look like fancy canvas ones and don't need glass.
Measuring cup holder... This project isn't the cutest but it's very functional. I hate digging through a drawer to find the right measuring spoon or cup. Enter Pinterest. I loved the idea I saw on Pinterest of hanging all or those annoying items inside a cupboard door. I snagged a few free paint sticks from Home Depot, cut them to the length I needed, figured out the spacing so my cupboard door would still close when everything was all hung up, drilled several holes, painted the sticks, twisted in the hooks and adhered my little friends to the inside of a door with my trusty liquid nails.... And...
A nicely organized solution.
Seriously, Pinterest, I love you. Thank you for giving me some stability and projects to occupy my time while I wait for this time to pass. And as a side note, I promise I'm not a terribly neglectful mom and wife. I'm used to running on very little sleep from working at the gym so I've just kept that trend going. I work on my projects when Zion takes naps and at night after Zion and Zac go to bed. Stay tuned for a lot more projects to come. I have about a billion items on my list, and soon you won't even recognize our house! We've decided that since we are like a lot of people who bought their houses 4 years ago (thinking we would only be in it for 2 and it was an investment property) and aren't going to be able to sell it for possibly a long while, we might as well fix it up a bit and make it more comfortable to live in. Coming soon... All of the ugly standard builder bathroom mirrors will be framed, new OJ (over the John) cabinets in the bathrooms, laundry room cabinets, and our kitchen is getting a facelift with crown molding and light rail molding, new hardware, and our island will be covered in white bead board! And I will be doing all of it myself. Just kidding. My dad owns a wood working business (houtzwoodworks.com) so I've hired him to do all of the hard stuff. I'll stick to the simple things, like using white paint, sewing straight lines, and glueing things together.
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