Not exactly what I wanted

I was looking for some sconces to go on either side of my round mirror that hangs over my couch. I couldn't find what I was looking for (unless I wanted to pay an arm and a leg for them!). So I settled on these.

Not exactly what I wanted.
They were okay for $15 for the pair, but it was one of those times where I thought I probably just bought them because the price was right, the size was right and I was sick of looking at the empty space. I kept the box and receipt handy because I was sure I would take them back. I didn't mind the design so much, but the color wasn't working for me. My colors are browns, tans and aquas. Not this green color. So, with a little acrylic paint and some antiquing gel , I gave them a little makeover.

I think they go much better with my color scheme, and they bring a little color to the wall. (Don't mind the basketball on top of the bookcase. It was put away to keep kids from fighting over it and I forgot to take it down!)

Linking to: Today's Creative Blog and The Shabby Chic Cottage.

Metal Cabinet turned Locker

I found this old cabinet at an antique store back in August for a mere $15 dollars. I had big plans for it and have finally been able to give it a makeover.

My son's room has a lot of sports decor, so he really wanted to make it look like a locker.

We spray painted it red and I found these locker plates online. I had a hard time deciding on the numbers I wanted. I really thought I should use consecutive numbers, but then, I decided to be different and I ordered a 9 and an 18 for his birthdate.

It was hard to get a good pic of it. For some reason it looks really splotchy. He loves it! He stores all kinds of stuff inside it!

I'm so glad I brought that nasty metal cabinet home!!

I'm posting to Miss Mustard Seed's party.

Valentine's Day Fun

Emma erased the verse I had written on the chalkboard and replaced it with her own message to celebrate Valentine's Day.

We had a little Valentine's party for the kids last Sunday night. I got all my decorations from the Dollar Tree. I put rose petals in my hurricanes. I love how versatile this things are!

The kids loved opening their little valentines. My youngest mainly loved eating the M&Ms!

My Valentine brought these home. They are the same kind of roses as the first ones he ever gave me on Valentines Day, 16 years ago!! He is so thoughtful.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

One organized closet

Yeah, it's bad. R E A L L Y BAD! This closet has looked this way since we moved in 5 months ago. I knew it needed to be organized and yesterday during the kids' rest time, I finally tackled it!

I can't believe that I am actually showing you this. I mean, when we have people over, there are those closed doors that I am terrified kids will open and things will coming spilling out! Please tell me I am not the only one who has this problem! I mean, most people keep the sheets on top of the cold medicine, next to the candles, right?

As you can see, I did attempt at some organization with the labeling of this plastic box!

So, only using things I had (except for the stainless turntable you see in the above picture that I bought at GW for a mere 4 bucks), I turned this....

into THIS!

Starting on the top shelf, I have a box of floral supplies to change out a flower arrangement in a snap. I also have the blankets for the pull out couch in the living room. The kids LOVE to sleep there on the weekends, so it is very nice to keep them handy.

On the next shelf, to the far left, I have a bin with scented candles and those air freshener plug-ins. Next, I have most of our medicines on the above-mentioned turntable. They are separated into pain meds on the bottom and cold/sinus on the top. I've found it makes it a lot easier to find this stuff, when it's organized. Lastly, I have the sheets for the sofa sleeper. I have seen Martha Stewart's tutorial on folding sheets and I'll admit it, I am still horrible at it. I thought this wire basket made good work of keeping it tidy even if they aren't folded Martha style.

Next, we have a bin of extra toiletry items. I coupon, so I buy lots when they are cheap/free. In the drawers, I have batteries, first aid items, and misc medicines that didn't fit well on the turn table. Then, I have another separate drawer where I keep toiletry samples for traveling. These really come in handy!

And, on the last shelf, I have a basket of TP, the canister vac, and a basket with vacuum attachments and light bulbs.

Every time I walk by this closet, I just want to open it and breath a big sigh of relief!

What do you need to organize?

I'm posting to Kimba's DIY day! Check it out!

An Old Board

I picked up this old board off the beach in Alabama when we were on summer vacation last year. It sat in our garage for months and after pleading with my husband to not throw it away, because I would do SOMETHING with it....it made it to our new house.

Well, finally, I pulled it out and made something out of it. It's not a piece of driftwood or anything cool like that. It's just a 1 by 4 that was left on the beach. I just loved the jagged edge, though!

I dry brushed a little bit of cream paint and then added these vinyl letters with my cricut.

I'm not in love with the font I used, but it's the only one I had! I do love how it turned out, though. My husband did, too. He even hung it for me without even asking! So glad he didn't throw it in the garbage!!

I'm linking to:Today's Creative Blog

Our Living Room

I told you a few weeks ago that we'd been on a painting spree. Well, I have finally have some pics to show for it!

Here's a pic of our living room before we moved in. Loved the previous owner's aqua sofa and loveseat- although it would be very impractical, to me because I like to stick with more neutral colors on the big ticket items! It makes it MUCH easier to change your mind on the colors you use!

Then, this is after we moved in and put all our stuff in the house. Just adding the drapes made a huge difference in breaking up the mass of cream in the room. We knew that we wanted to paint, but also knew it would be a big job since this is a two story vaulted ceiling.

We choose a khaki with grey undertones. We call it weimaraner.

We also did some rearranging. We had the sofa floating in the room previously, which I loved. But my hubby likes things more spread out, so I gave it a try.

Here's the fireplace wall before:

I wanted to break up all the weimaraner color, so I pulled out a can of light aqua paint that we used in our old house. We actually painted our fireplace wall in that house this same color and we loved it!! So we tried it again!

It's very subtle in the pics, but definitely gives a little punch!
Here's a little corner in front of the staircase, before:

And after:

Here's the stair case area before (with previous owner's furniture):

I had a couple of ideas of what to put on this wall and finally decided on using the many black frames that I had. It took a while to get the layout that I wanted, but I am happy with it. I like that I can add to it throughout the years!

So there's the living room! There are still several things in here that I don't like and will be tweaking for sure!

P.S. I don't know why my pics are so blurry! I haven't been very pleased with my camera lately. I also don't have a lens without zoom, so it's hard to get a good wide shot!

I'm linking here!

Fun in the snow!

It's been like 2 weeks since I've blogged. I have so many pictures on my laptop and so little time to download them!

We have had some snow here in middle TN. We got around 5 inches last week. It was great, but after a 5 day weekend for the kids and being stuck at home, I was a little ready for the sun to melt it away! : )

We made lots of snow angels

and built a snowman!

The kids really wanted to sled. After checking everywhere in town and coming up empty, my hubby came up with this...

Nothing a little beadboard couldn't help!

We ate lots of soup,

drank lots of hot chocolate,

and enjoyed the warmth of the fireplace.

I think we have had our fill of snow until next winter, though.

Of course, snow is in the forecast again, this weekend. So we will see about that!

Have a great weekend!