Easy Art/Photo Display

Kevin cut about forty of these for Thanksgiving place settings; I took mine home.  

This little owl is cute for fall.

I switch him out with other art, post cards and photos throughout the year.  

Craigslist Score

before

after

Not bad for $50!

Hide your clutter in here.

The best sandwich ever!

1. white mountain bread from the Publix bakery

or any good bread

2. mayo

3. fried eggplant

4. mozzarella

5. bacon

6. avocado

7. portabella mushrooms

(cook these in olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and parmesan cheese)

put the top on

Put a little butter in a frying pan and cook it like a grilled cheese, 

pressing down hard with a spatula.

The finished product...

Enjoy!

Organize your junk drawer!

It's that time of the year again....everywhere you look, you're told to 

ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE!

I like to organize, but I don't have time for major projects like the garage....

so I'm starting small.  

This is nothing new but maybe you'll be inspired. 

We use our side door off the dining room as our main entrance, and the dresser in the corner houses all of the goodies: school supplies, note pads, pens and pencils, cards, games, etc.  The surface of the dresser is where we throw our keys, mail, glasses and hair ties.

It was starting to look a little messy, inside and out.

I cleaned out everything and put all of our stuff on the table.  

I threw away any trash and sorted the rest.

I looked around my house for boxes and bowls that were pretty and useful.

This soap box is perfect for the playing cards.

I took some jadeite mugs from the kitchen for the crayons and glue sticks.

The little bowl is from Anthropologie; I have at least one of these in each room for hair ties and loose change.  

Find them here

I found this old wooden box and lined it with wool felt.

Perfect for eyeglasses and switchblade combs.

I ordered the felt from

etsy.com

A vase gives some height to that corner, 
and the old lamp is useful and cute on a stack of books.

The charcoal grey pot is just another vessel for pencils 
and the pottery is perfect for mail.

Before

After

Happy organizing!

DIY Vintagey Wreath

Here's a fun way to use vintage ornaments.

Start off with 15' of garland and a 10" foam ring.

Wrap the garland around the ring.

I used vintage ornaments, but any will do.

Hot glue the tops to the base of the ornaments so they don't pop off 

when you attach them to the wreath.

Thread the wire through the hoop on the ornament and wrap the wire around the wreath.  

Each time you wrap around, add another ornament.  Pull the wire tight or the ornaments will be loose and wobbly.

Twist the wire to secure it on the backside of the wreath and...

voila!

Mini Clutches!

The Mini's are here!

Get your Mini Clutches here!

Boy's Room

My boys share a room and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Forget that we live in a two bedroom house and I can't have it any other way; they get along really well and seem to enjoy sharing a space.  Decorating their room can be tricky because their tastes and my tastes clash sometimes, but we're flexible...so that helps.  There's a lot going on in that little room so I keep the palette neutral and accent with bright colors.  I had a desk in there but we needed storage, so I swapped it out for a dresser that I found on Craigslist.  

Here's the before...

yuck...I know.

But here's the after...

It took hours to sand down through all of that spray paint, but it was worth it.  I painted it linen white and Kevin sandblasted the metal drawer pulls and sprayed them matte black.

  

It's perfect!

Martha Stewart alphabet cards border the walls.

"frames" wallpaper from Land of Nod on one wall

hand painted numbers on the closet door

new bedding

aqua door

game armoire

The panels on the armoire doors came out easily and I was able to paste fabric with wallpaper paste to the front and back of each panel.  Once fully dried, I cut off the excess fabric with a utility knife.  

This is a really easy and inexpensive way to spruce up an old pine armoire.  

This little room has a lot going on but it all works.