Easy Art

I've always had a fascination with DIY art and I'm not sure why it intrigues me so much.  Maybe it's because the concept of using something out of the ordinary to create a piece of art is genius.  Then I think to myself "why didn't you come up with that idea?"

I love how Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick used a plastic placemat she had on hand to create

art in her kitchen.    

How easy to print out your a favorite quote or saying and frame it.  Go check
out 320 Sycamore, Melissa has the best ideas.  I'm going to use this one someday.

Personal, Monogram art by Terry, again love this!



With all this inspiration out there I decided to create my own.

Found this placemat at Target and loved the design and the yellow in it so I bought it.  I

knew I could figure out something to do with it.

To create my art, I started by cutting the placemat in half.  Two for one

deal, or you could get more depending on the size of frame you use. 

I used two 12x14 black frames I already had, but since I didn't have the proper size

 mat I made them myself.  I used poster board and cut the mats as staright

as I could.  It's not perfect, but I'm ok with that.  Each 1/2 of the placemat 

fit in the frame to look like this.  How easy?  So if you are out and 

about, always keep your eyes open for a awesome placemat.  

Here they are up on the wall in my kitchen area with the chalkboard in the center. 

  

My Launch Pad- Take One

Oh the beauty of walking through the front door and tripping over shoes or skis, book bags, and coats. Yes, this is what you would see at our house around 3:30pm on any given school day.  Can someone please help me, I can't stand it!  The clutter drives me crazy, oh wait Mr. B already thinks I'm crazy anyway so carry on! 

So after almost 5 minutes which should be more than enough time to say "Hi girls, how was your day, and oh don't forget to wash your hands...." I come through like a Fairly God Mother, wave my wand and say "abracadabra" and the mess is gone!  Just like that!  If only, I wish...no, what really happens is I hang all the coats up in the closet(where they are suppose to go) move the book bags out harms way, and place the shoes in a basket right around the corner.    Now you can see how badly I need an organized launch pad? 

 

Found this handmade bench while thrifting, just perfect to sit on

while putting on your shoes, right?  Not sure if this will fit in my small space.

 

Scored this shoe rack at the Re-Store for one buckaroo.  This might

work better for the space AND it can be spray painted.  Two thumbs up!

Challenged?  Yes Maybe a little, but I am up for it and I will be back

by the end of the week to show you what I've done, no pressure...

Have a great week-

This is the Stuff

A little snippet of what my girls and I are doing today.  We went to get our nails and toes done for the first time this year.  There's something about getting your toes done and the freedom it gives you.  Do you know what I mean? It's like Ta-Da...my toes are clean, painted, pretty, and ready for flip flops!  I love pedicures!!   

Have you ever heard this awesome song from Francesca Battistelli "This Is The Stuff" and the lyrics say "I forget how big I'm blessed"  I'm not sure about you, but I don't forget how blessed I am.  I'm thankful everyday for all the blessings that God gives me. 

Thankful for these little fingers and toes 

These too, but they aren't so small...my 11 year old has size 10 feet,
and I wear a size 9.  Can you say skis....we tease her all the time. 

Happy Easter to you and yours,

Garden Owl

Happy Monday! 

Not sure about you, but I am having one of those days where I don't want to do anything.  I don't want to clean the house, cook(sorry honey you know what this means Yo-Yo night = YOUR ON YOUR OWN), or even work on my project I have going on for my next post.  I can't even complain about the weather because right now the sun is out, but it's chilly.  Do you ever have one of these days? 

Since I am being so LAZY, I thought I would  at least share this cute picture with you.  I had to go to the dentist this morning and on my way home I stopped by Lowe's.  Yeah, enough said....I know....my little addition to owls has come from seeing all of Michelle's at Sweet Something Design.  I couldn't pass this one up today.  Isn't he adorable?  I'm not sure where he will land in our yard, but for now he's sitting out  in front yard keeping watch.  Let's see if my girls notice him when they get off of the bus this afternoon.   
 

Sofa table: before and after

Before

Do you remember when I said I "frequent" this little store called The Neighborhood Thrift Store?  Remember I got my new used kitchen tables and chairs there?  Well, yeah this is from there too, but...I've had this for several months.  I have been waiting and waiting on spring and warmer weather so I could do some spray painting and this weekend I did (FINALLY)  Don't you think this is actually a great looking table with it's two tone color scheme, it really is a nice table.  It has a nice maple top with forest green legs, can you say 90's?  Not that there's anything wrong with that.....love the 90's and 80's.

I started with a light sanding, mainly on the top of the table to rough up the surface because it helps the paint adhere better.  Then I cleaned off the dust/dirt to make sure I had a clean surface for painting.  Decided I probably should use some primer since the wood was darker and I didn't want the wood grain to show through the paint.  I'm glad I did use primer this time.

Somewhat primed and ready for paint, I tried but it was windy that day



Spray paint color: Heirloom White by Rust-oleum, not too white and not too cream = perfect color



After I got the first coat of spray paint on, look what happened.  I am not going to panic, nope because I remember reading about this exact situation on Kate's blog and how to fix it.  Repeat after me...sand it, clean it, spray it!  Well, I did everything she said to do and would you know it happened again.  Was it the temperature outside, NO...Was it debris on the surface, NO..I don't know what happened but I finally got it fixed.  There are a couple spots on the legs, but I am not too worried about it because it's suppose to look

distressed, right?  By the way, it's HARD to take sand paper to a newly painted surface that I worked so hard on, but I did a little bit.

After

Should I distress it more?  It looks so nice with our brown leather furniture and really helps to lighten up the space.  We don't have any problems with natural light, but all of our furniture is dark so I was ready to lighten it up a bit.  I love how it turned out and can't wait to try my hand at something else! 

Have a blessed day!

Lunch date

I had a great day yesterday, hubby and I got a chance to go out for lunch which we really don't get to do to often.  Do you ever play this game when you are trying to decide where to go to eat? So honey where do you want to go? Ummm I don't know, where do you want to go?  Yeah, this is us and you'd think since our lunch dates are rare we'd know exactly where we want to go, right?  Finally after some more debate, we decided on a local BBQ restaurant and had a great time together.  It's nice to have uninterrupted adult conversation with your spouse every now and then.
Since hubby had more time before he had to get back to work I thought maybe he would like to join me for a trip down to our local Neighborhood Thrift Store.  He loves to go thrifting more than I do so I knew it wouldn't be a hard sale, hehe!!

We moseyed on in and did our little tour of the place and scouted out some of their new stuff.  I have to admit I go in there quite often and I know what's new and what isn't.  Is it bad they know me in there, and I'm never afraid to ask for a discount?  Nope!  Anyway, I spotted this brand new used black pedestal table with 4 matching chairs and it was in near perfect condition.  No joke at all.  Hubby came over to see it and he even gave me that look like we better jump on this and not let it go.  Note to self: If you ever see something you like and it's affordable you better get it or it WILL be gone.  We talked a little more about it and both agreed with two thumbs up!  Oh yeah, we were coming home with a new(to us) black, pedestal table and chairs.

It's funny because I have been looking and dreaming at new pedestal tables and chairs for a long time, but just couldn't do it.  Here are a couple beauties I've been looking at....


Image Pottery Barn

Image Crate and Barrel

Image Ballard Design

OK Andrea, get your head out of the clouds!!  Here's our kitchen workhorse table and chairs, they are about 10 years old(not too old) and have been beat loved on by two toddlers with forks in hands.  They are gouged and nicked up all over the place.  My hubby even put a couple coats of polyurethane on the table top to protect and it's worn through but it did serve us well.  In my opinion, it owes us nothing, nada, zilch!

 

A closer look, they are worn and wobbly.




All nestled in my kitchen like it was meant to be, and it really is a better fit since it's round.  We have so much more room to walk around and through into the family room.   

Here's a wrap up of the deal.  The initial price for the 5 piece set was $229, but I talked them down to $180.  Considering the price of a table alone from Pottery Barn is about $899. I think we came out ahead and we are planning to sell the old set in our spring garage sale. 



New look

Great news....I am excited to share with you that Our Blue Front Door has a brand new look, yeap she got a little face lift(no pain involved though, promise).  Since I started blogging a couple months ago I had always tossed around the idea of getting my blog professionally designed and I am so glad I did.  The process was easy and Jenn at Munchkin Land Designs was such a joy to work with.  Can I just tell you she is extremely P.A.T.I.E.N.T. and probably has more patience since she's worked with me.  I am kind of a perfectionist, and I just can't help it.  Jenn and I are still tweaking it a bit, but am excited to have my blog organized, consistent, and most of all beautiful. 

If you are redesigning your blog or just getting started, go see Jenn.  Thank you Jenn!   

Pantry Makeover

Several months ago I came across these glass canisters and vinyl's and 

thought I could DIY my own set of canisters. For years I have been wanting

a set of canisters, but didn't want to take up all my counter space. When you

have limited counter space like I do you have to be creative with it. This might

be the perfect solution; I get my canisters and I'll store them in the pantry. 

Here are the vinyl's I ordered online and bought the canisters at Walmart and Target. One store has one

size and not the other so needless to say I made several trips. The canisters started at $4.97 and up.

I forgot to mention my pantry needed some work. You think? My goal was to 

reorganize, de-clutter, and hopefully make it look like the House of Smith's pantry. 

My pantry is the work horse in my kitchen. It stores food, pots and pans, pet food,

and paper goods. You name it and it's probably in there. With the lack of counter 

space I also lack in cabinetry. Making over my pantry was a long time coming.

Instead of painting the entire pantry I decided to get creative and use 12 x 12 scrapbook paper to line the

back wall in between the shelves and side walls. It was an inexpensive way to add color and pattern,  

but not a permanent solution. To attach the scrapbook paper I used double sided tape. Since I didn't

use scrapbook paper on the top and bottom sections of the pantry I painted it with some cream 

 colored paint I had on hand.     

I bought new shelf liner and cut it to size.

Don't you just love the look of my new canisters with the cool vinyls? I love how they turned out and I 

must say my hubby is quite the vinyl guy now. Thanks honey! 

These spice racks are great for organizing can goods. Now I know exactly how much I have on hand

and not 12 cans of green beans. All of my "back stock" is now stored away and pulled out when I need

to replenish. 

These wire baskets are from Target and were about $8.99 each. Not cheap, but they fit the space without

being too bulky and sticking out the pantry. They worked to store some of the catch all stuff and bulky 

paper goods. I made the chalkboard tags and attached them to the baskets. It makes it look so organized;

doesn't it?

What do you think? I couldn't be more happier with how it turned out and

how organized it is. I hope I've inspired you to start on your pantry.