Catalog Decor Hack

A couple months ago when trolling one of my favorite Goodwill stores I found three of these frames for $8.99 each!  (Cheesy print, huh? I'm guessing from a daycare center or something.)

That's a little bit more than I'd usually like to pay for Goodwill frames, but these are heavy, well-made custom frames, each measuring about 19"x23" with professional mounting hardware and those great chunky mats.  (Oh my gosh, people, have you shopped custom-cut mats lately? Wowzer!  Pricey.)  And, did I mention there were three of them?! 

At the time I was thinking I'd use them in my daughter's room, and I could just picture them spray painted a smooth silver, kind of like the ones used in our inspiration room by the amazing Centsational Girl.  I stalk {ahem} heart Centsational Girl. 

Anyway, then I realized that the only wall big enough to house all three would be taken up by the headboard I wanted to make her (haven't gotten to that yet), and on most of the other walls we had decided to try a magnetic primer so she could put up maybe a poster or assorted memorabilia... yada, yada.  Long story longer, we didn't need them in the Pea's room.

Not long after, I saw these in the Home Decorator's Collection catalog:

The graphic prints kinda caught my eye and I remember thinking I could achieve much the same look with framed wallpaper samples. 

Then one day while shopping for fabric for a chair cushion at Joann's (more on that project to come), I came across these discontinued fabric samples on clearance for $2 each!  And as luck would have it, I absolutely fell in love with two coordinating patterns in just the right colors for my home office make-over!  Ack!  Jesus loves me.  He really does.

All at once I knew just what to do with those frames!  I rushed home and spray painted two of them with Krylon Premium in Sterling Silver which I'd found at Hobby Lobby.  (You can also get it on Amazon here: Krylon Premium Metallic Spray Paints - Sterling Silver, 8 oz)  It turned out much more shiny than I had expected, but I've actually really taken to it!  Am I crazy?  Is it just a pride-in-my-crafty-creation thing, or does it actually work?

Anyway, next I spray painted the picture mats in my go-to Heirloom White.  A few days later when everything was fully dry, I ironed out the fabric samples, positioned them inside the mats to show the best selection of the patterns, and this is what I ended up with!

Not such a great picture, but what do you think?  Hubs says there is too much mat and that we should cut out a bit of the inside in order to show more of the fabric.  Also, I'm considering repainting the mats in a smooth, complimentary shade of blue.  I want to live with them for a while first and see how I feel.  I'm weird that way. Sometimes it takes several days... weeks even for me to figure out if I like something.  At this point, though, I think they are gonna look great over the new bookshelf I'm building for the office!  Yay! 

And the best part is that these babies only cost me about $15 each to make!  Woohoo!

Surprise!

Guess what I woke up to this morning?!

No, not the half-dead plants in my sadly neglected backyard.  Silly!  RAIN!  A glorious, rushing gully-washer complete with occasional thunder and lightning for ambiance. 

For those of you who weren't aware, southeast Texas has had a seriously dry Spring/Summer.  I don't know the actual statistics, but in the twenty-two years that I've lived here, I can't seem to recall a drought this bad or one that has lasted so long.

After a few months without any real rain and (as if to add insult to injury) near-record high temps for May and June, I swear my soul was beginning to feel as dried up and parched as those pathetic sago palms!

After an hour or so of sitting over coffee and just enjoying the sound of the rain plips, and with temperatures hovering around 70 blessedly cool degrees, I was overcome with an urge to pop outside and snap a few pics with my new-to-me camera (inherited when the Hubs got a snazzy new one for Father's Day).  So I rousted the girl out of bed and dragged her and Hubby into the mommy-mobile to capture "just a few rain shots for my blog!"  Yes, life with me is... an adventure.  No, really, they were great about it.  Hubs even took the pictures since my driver's side window doesn't work. :(   He is an artiste, is he not?

Rest Easy: No innocent family members were subjected to actual rain for the shooting of this post.

The rest of the day the Pea and I just plan to watch movies, read books, play games, put together a puzzle and pretend it's Fall with hot chocolate and snacks! (Fall? What is Fall?  We don't have Fall here, but I can dream, can't I?) 

Stay tuned for some actual project posts within the next day or two. Promise!

Your Home, Your Way.

This morning I was reading a post over at (in)courage written by one of my favorite bloggers and biggest sources of inspiration, The Nester, and it really got me to thinking.  She wrote about the encouraging words that you receive that you just can't bring yourself to throw away- the ones you stash away in a special place for afternoons of blissful reminiscing and hoard up against times of loneliness, insecurity, heartache, or just against the dim-growing of memories caused by the inescapable passage of time.

I keep mine in a rather large drawer in my husband's bedside table. Ok, two rather large drawers if you want the truth.  Crammed in there along with my wedding album, ten years' worth of portrait sleeves half-full of glossy images of a happy-grinning little girl, and a needlepoint "Home Is Where Your Mom Is" pillow that I bought online one winter and have forgotten to give to her for at least the last four Mother's Days (sorry, Mom), are the tangible proofs that my life holds meaning.  Special cards received on birthdays, Valentine's and Mother's Days, sweet notes brimming with love that my husband left taped to the morning coffeemaker, and the sometimes unrecognizable pictures colored by my precious daughter, nieces or nephews, each of these things feels like a steel cord attaching those that I love to my very soul.

However, before they graduate to the Drawer(s) of Remembering, they usually spend at least several weeks proudly displayed on my refrigerator, adorning the kitchen window sill, or pinned to the cork strip on my desk.  These things (along with the piles of clothes, toys and assorted junk my child piles on the steps and never takes up to her room) are what keep my house- no matter how much time I spend decorating- from looking like a spread in Good Housekeeping or Better Homes and Gardens.

But I am ok with that. Seriously.  Because (yes, I've just started sentences with "but" and "because") as much as I enjoy being surrounded with beauty and the serenity of a well-ordered home, I've realized that what I truly love about houses is that they are an expression of YOU! 



You know the burger place jingle "Your way, right away..."? Well, that's how your home home should be!  If you like the toilet paper rolling away from the wall rather than toward it, that's how it should go.  If fresh flowers vie for space on the kitchen table with your husband's laptop and work manuals, roll with it.  If the slip-n-slide kills a strip of grass in the backyard every summer, que sera sera.  If you choose to cut a cat door hole in your laundry room door, kudos!- at least your laundry is not on display so the cat can reach his litter box! 

The point is, your home should reflect YOU, make YOUR family happy, and bring YOU peace when you walk in the door.  If it doesn't do these things, what does it matter if it looks photo-shoot ready at any moment?

This blog will be about many things- mostly decorating (usually frugally and/or creatively) and restoring old stuff or over-worked junk to family treasure status.  But I hope that along the way, it will empower you to build a home you love- regardless of how clean it may not be, or how many cards with fluffy squirrels live on your mantel! ;) 

     
 P.S.  I'm glad you're here, and hope you enjoy my blog!  Please bear with me as I have a lot to learn about blogging, taking good photos, etc!