Empty Frame Gallery Wall

A couple weeks ago on one of my days off I was straightening up my craft room when I realized I had collected quite a few Goodwill frames.  I'd been buying them whenever I found one I liked, for this idea I'd had brewing around in my head.  I didn't think I had enough yet, but I took out the ugliness that was in each one of them and started laying them out (on my guest room floor - probably the smallest space I could have chosen).  And whadya know, but I think I had just enough to make an empty frame gallery wall!  Okay, okay, I know this isn't a new idea or anything, but what a cheap way to make a statement!

I measured the wall I wanted them on and started playing with different configurations.

Hmm, I liked starting with the two white ones in the middle and working out from there, but this arrangement left something to be desired.

I found the one on the bottom left in our under-the-stairs storage closet and added it.  A little better.

Hmm, the right side needs something else.

Almost there...

This is it!  Except I ended up hanging the brown one on the right horizontally.

Now for a couple coats of black spray paint on the ones that aren't already black.

I traced all of the frames onto kraft paper, cut them out and taped them up on the wall in the arrangement I decided on.  (An easier way would be to roll out a huge sheet of kraft paper, lay your frames on it and trace them in the design you want.  That way instead of having individual rectangles of paper to hang up on the wall, which always want to curl up and come off, you'd only have one sheet and wouldn't have to make sure they were all level and the spacing was correct, because you could do all that while you're tracing.)

I got out my hammer and pounded nails in where I had marked on the kraft paper, put the frames up, then stuck some poster putty in the bottom corners so they would stay straight, and voila!

I like the dimension the different frames give to the wall.  I stayed safe with black, but I think a turquoise or red would be fun too!

Total cost for this wall art:  $6 for the keys, and probably another $6 for all the frames.  Already had the spray paint.  $12 for a wall full of art - I'll take it!

Linking up with Sarah's Spray Paint Party!

Epic Quatrefoil Mirror Redo

Remember back in, um, October when I wrote this post?  Well, I am finally ready to reveal the makeover my fabulous quatrefoil mirror underwent!  Whew, was this the longest mirror makeover in history, or what??

Here she is in all her "before" glory.  Ugly brown paint, chipping everywhere (and not in a good way).

Hi, feet!

It was destined to be hung on this wall at the end of the hallway.  I never did like that picture frame there.

So right after Christmas (yes, you read that right) I took this bad boy downstairs and started the transformation.  I turned it over, took all of the little bitty screws out of the half-moon holder thingies...

And what do I find but the mirror is caulked all around with silicone and I can't get it out.  Boo!

Onto Plan B.

Cut up lots of little pieces of kraft paper and slip them behind the wood to protect the mirror!  Brilliant!  (Even if it did take foreva.)

I gave the wood a light sanding...

...then opened the white paint and went to work!

It needed a couple of coats to cover up that dark brown.  After it dried, I slipped all of the kraft paper out.  Note to self for future quatrefoil mirror redo:  take kraft paper out while paint is still wet.  It will save you a lot of hair-pulling.

And here's where she sat for four months!

Until I finally picked up some of these from Lowes.

5 minutes later and she was finally at home.

I apologize for the night-time picture but I knew if I didn't snap a pic right then, it would be another four months before you guys would see it!

I love it!  I think it fits the space much better than that tiny picture frame did.  And she will tie in beautifully with the laundry closet redo I'm planning (it's on the left in the above photo).

Craft Room: Creating a Custom Framed Cork Board

I've been needing a place to pin up my random thoughts and lists in my craft room. I had the perfect place above my desk, but I didn't want to go out and buy something because 1) cork boards can be expensive and 2) I wanted it to fit the space perfectly. So I bought a roll of cork and some red acrylic paint at HobLob, grabbed my Cutting Edge Stencils "Casablanca Allover" stencil that I won months ago from Lemon Tree Creations (thanks LTC girls!) - which is still destined to be used someday in the laundry closet - and went to work!

First, I used some painters tape to measure off the area I wanted my cork board to cover.

I taped down some kraft paper to protect my floors, cut the cork to the right size, and started stenciling! This is the first time I've ever stenciled anything and it went really fast. Such high impact for so little cost!

Here she is all done! But then I started thinking... hmm, this cork is awfully thin, I bet it's too thin to hold a pushpin. I tested it out and sure enough, unless I wanted tons of little holes in my wall If I ever decide to take this down, I was going to have to do something to remedy this problem. (Seriously Cork Board Manufacturers, what is the point of making cork too thin to hold a pushin?)

Enter:  foam core! I taped three sheets together, then used construction adhesive to glue the cork on top of it. Sorry, no pictures of that!

I removed the tape from the wall and used double-sided foam tape to adhere my fabulous new cork board. Then weeks went by...

Until the other day when I finally got Steven to help me drag some leftover molding* out of the basement. We measured it out and used a hand saw to cut it down. I bought the decorative squares at Lowes so I didn't have to do any mitered corners - so much easier, and cuter, I think! I spray painted all the molding white, attached it to the wall with more double sided foam tape (I didn't want to have to fill any nail holes!), and voila! You could see the unfinished edges of the cork so I just added some pink ribbon tacked on with thumbtacks, and a couple little flowers to tie the pink and red together.

Now I can pin things up to my heart's content! I just love it!

*In the US, the trim that goes around doors, on walls, etc is spelled "molding". In Australia, the UK and Canada, it's spelled "moulding". You wouldn't write "My favourite colour of moulding is white." You would write "My favorite color of molding is white." Just a little something that gets on my nerves because I see people spell it "moulding" all. the. time. We're Americans people - we don't put u's in unnecessary places! Okay, tirade over for today.

Liberty Antiques Festival

Yesterday, (after watching the Royal Wedding, of course) my friend Crystal and I went to the Liberty Antiques Festival.  They hold it twice a year in a small town outside of Greensboro, NC.  It's supposedly the largest in the southeast with 400+ dealers.  There was SO much to look at.  I think I'll definitely be going to the next one in September.

These little patio sets were apparently very common because I think we saw 3 or 4 of them, all at different vendors.  If that's what you came for, you were in luck!

Oh, the lanterns.  I loved them oh so much but I loved my money more.  Sad.

This was probably the coolest thing I saw - a rotating card catalog!  For $2,000 it could've been mine!

These were just weird, but cool.

There were probably 10 aisles that all looked like this.

Before we left, we stopped for a photo op.

So, I'm sure you're just dying to know what I brought home.

First up, a Coke crate!  It's old and chippy and will look perfect in our game room downstairs.  The dealer had a bunch of old bottles sitting in it and had it marked for $12.  I asked him if he would take $10 and he said "No, I think I'll keep it at $12 because I don't have anywhere else to put these bottles."  Um, how is that MY problem?  Sheesh!  Obviously, I gave him the $12.  I liked it too much to quibble over $2.

Next up, something I've wanted for quite a while now.  A vintage fan!  This one's made by Koldair (clever name, huh?)  It was marked for $30 and I asked the guy how much he would take for it.  He had a much larger Kenmore fan sitting beside it and asked me if I would take both.  I asked him what he was thinking for both and he said $40.  I really didn't like the large Kenmore fan.  It just looked old, not cool and vintage.  So he reluctantly parted with just the small one for $25.  I lugged this heavy cast iron fan around all.day.long and boy were my shoulders sore by the end of the day!  Next time, I know to bring my little SmartCart to lug things around in.  I wasn't even thinking that I would have to carry whatever I bought for the rest of the day.  D'oh!  Anywho, I just love this little guy.

Oh, and of course I looked at similarly sized fans the rest of the day and I definitely got the best deal - go me!

Do you know of any other awesome antiques festivals?  I think I'm hooked!

Color Blocked Rick Rack Wreaths

I've been stumped about how to decorate our front porch for spring this year.  I've never done springy wreaths before, but after taking down our Christmas wreaths, our doors just looked naked.

I bought two straw wreaths half off at HobLob a few months ago.  They sat barren for a long time until I finally just decided to do something.  I raided my stash to see what I had, and voila - color blocked rick rack wreaths (say that five times fast)!

I had leftover burlap and jute (the starting point for these beauts), bought two skeins of yarn, some rick rack and burlap garland (I didn't even know they had such a thing until I stumbled across it at Michaels!) and just wrapped it all around until it suited me.  I added a P that's been in my stash forever but has never had a proper home.

I'm usually all about symmetry, and to tell you the truth, it still kinda bugs me that there's a P on one side and nothing on the other, but I'm trying to live with it for a few weeks and see what I think.  I'm just telling myself that the P signifies to people that that's the door that opens (as if the door handle isn't enough of a clue - ha!).  Anywho, I love the yellow, teal and red together.  Those colors are just speaking to me right now.

Also, don't you just love our front doors?  I just love them.  But when it comes to decorating our front porch, stoop, whatever you want to call it, it's twice the work!  But moving furniture in and out sho' is easy!

Beautiful red ceramic planters at Home Depot - I have my eye on you next!

Linking Up:

Office Rearranging

A couple weeks ago, I got a crazy hair to change our office around.  I just walked in there and could.not.take.it.any.more!  Does that ever happen to you?

Here it was before.

See those cords?  There was really no getting around them and no hiding them.  I loved the desk in the middle of the room because the front of it is b-e-a-utiful!  But I seriously couldn't handle the cords anymore.  Plus I store all my decorative items and gift wrapping supplies in the closet in there and getting to the closet meant walking between the desk and the chairs and it was a tight fit.

So I took all the drawers out of this soild wood, very expensive desk, cleaned it all out (seriously, we had some junk in there), and started pushing and maneuvering until I got it where I wanted it.*

And here ya go.

Ahh, no cords.

The room looks 10 times bigger and getting to the closet is easy-peasy now.  The two chairs in the room are actually our extra dining room chairs.  I don't put the leaf in unless we're having company, so this room is the perfect spot for them.  I picked up some paint chips at Lowes last week, and I'm thinking this room will end up some shade of dark blue.  This room gets tons of natural light from the big window, so even though it's a small room, I think it can handle a darker color on the walls.  Now I just need some bookshelves (all our books currently reside in two or three bankers boxes) and some curtains and this room will look fabulous!  I've actually put off doing anything to this room thinking it would *eventually* (don't be getting any crazy ideas Aunt Missa!) be a kid's room, but our guest room will turn into a kid's room first so this room has a few years left as an office.

*Note to self:  Don't try this again because your back hurt for two days and you had matching bruises on the outside of both of your knees from where you'd leaned up against it and pushed with all your might.  Remember, this desk is a BEAST.

Sink Area

Ahhh, sorry I've been so MIA lately, but an extreme case of laziness set in and I'm just now getting over it.  I have approximately 10 half-finished projects and 10 half-started projects and I haven't felt motivated to do much of anything.  Plus I can't find my camera charger.  But I did snap a few pics before my camera died, so here ya go.

For the last few weeks, my sink area has been an source of frustration.  I just felt like it looked a mess all the time, plus I still had a Christmas snowman soap dispenser out.  It's spring people!

I found the milk glass soap dispenser at Target for $12.99 which I loooove.  It made a huge difference because I put my dish soap in it so the ugly soap bottle is banished beneath the sink only to resurfaced for refills.  That was as far as I'd gotten.  It was better but I still didn't love it.

Then I found two of these little crates at Goodwill.

Yes, only $1!

I spray painted one of them black, and voila!

I found the glass soap dispenser at Target as well for $17.99 (a bit of a splurge but I just loved it).  I switched the dish soap to it and put the hand soap in the milk glass one.  The ceramic dish to the right corrals my rings while I'm washing dishes.

I think it looks much neater and I love doing dishes now!  (Ha, if only a little black crate could make me love doing dishes.)

P.S. The other crate is in its natural state in my laundry closet holding dryer sheets.  Love!