Focal Point Wall

When I chronicled the 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest, I showed you my living room wall. Though all the photos above my window was definitely a focal point, it seemed way too large for the space. Not to mention that it really didn't go with the decor of the rest the room.

See what I mean?

Then I got these awesome huge pictures/framed from Younkers on Yellow Dot for only $3.74 each. So I put those up above my lamps, taking down those dinky little candle sconces.

Then there were just too many frames there, lol.

So I took down my huge (16x20?) wedding photo and traded it with this fun scroll thing that was above my entertainment center. Better...

Still too many photos (not to mention that one photo was two dogs in it. I only have 1 now...)

Yup, take the rest down.

So with those gone, I put those dinky sconces by the scroll.

And I was done!

Before:
After:

Those sconces are getting an oil rubbed bronze treatment soon, and I have a fun idea for dressing up the candles. And I think I am going to space them a little further apart (I just used the nails that were there from the frames.) But I like it much better this way.

Oh, and as soon as I give my mom the window dimensions, she's bringing over some classy drapes. Yay! I can't wait to get rid of these ugly lace things. It came with the house, don't tease me!


But what happened to all those cool photos of the fam?!
It's all part of a fun project that I will show you tomorrow.
Stick around for it, you don't want to miss it if you have kids!!

Check out The Shabby Chic Cottage for the Trasformation Thursday for some fun ideas for your own home!

Bird Cage

Remember this ugly yellow cage that I scored?

With a new coat of white paint and an adorable bird, it's now fit for my princess's room.

I already have my next reveal planned out, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to see it for quite some time. It's going to cost me a little extra money and effort, so it's going to be more of a "little bit at a time" sort of project. Sure, I'll still give you sneak peeks of my progress, but don't expect it on every post like I've been doing!

Remember: patience is a virtue!

I have a few neat things coming up, so stick around!

Landing Reveal

Woohoo! I'm finally posting my BIG REVEAL!

I warned you that I was probably going to be late!

It would be a laundry list if I gave you reasons for my absence. BUT I found a bit of time between catching the football game and doing my schoolwork. So here it is!!

I have this landing at the top of my staircase. As you can see from the picture below, it was in desperate need of some TLC. (Don't make fun of me for the flowers in the vases. I stole most of the flowers for another project, so that's why they look so.....awkward.)

The inspiration for this makeover came from a trip to Goodwill. I saw a bench for only $2.99. The only problem was that it didn't come with a top. That's okay! For that price, I'll make one! Bonus: it's a storage bench.

So I gathered my supplies: plywood cut to size, two sheets of 1 inch foam (cut to the size of the plywood), scissors, a staple gun, and my trusty companion.

I placed the batting on the floor, put the foam on top of that, then put the plywood on top of it all. Wrap the batting around the plywood, pull taut, and staple in place, going all the way around the plywood.
Then I ironed my fabric, placed that on the floor (print side down), wrapped that around the plywood and stapled it in place.
And this is what I got:

I wasn't completely satisfied, so I glued on a wooden accent, painted it black, then lightly sanded it (plus some edges of the bench)

I needed some mirrors, and fortunately I found some mirrors left over from my wedding that I didn't use. They were primed with a tinted red, but that's okay. It just needed a bit of paint!

I wanted a stand to put a plant on. I found this guy in my basement:

And I turned it into this:

Such a difference!! Let's see, I added twine to my planter, accessorized with some candlesticks and yarn, then added some pictures that I took off the wall from my staircase redo.

And remember that I hit a roadblock while doing this? I was trying to figure out how I was going to do my kids' profiles. This what I came up with:

Here's a closeup of my son, John's, profile. I made tags from Photoshop and construction paper. I made the profiles by selecting pictures of my kids that had a side shot of them. I blew it up to 8x10 and printed it out. I cut around their profiles then laid the cut image on top of black construction paper. I traced around the image, then cut my tracings out of the black construction paper. Glue that on white paper, glue the tag below, add some ribbon to the top, and hang!

Since I tiered the photos on the wall, I felt that the space on the wall below my eldest looked blank, so I bought a vase from Walmart, added some branches I had in the yard (bonus: cleaning the yard)...

...and put it by the wall.

And an overall shot of that wall....

We can see a little peek of the rest of the landing in that photo. So let's take a look what's there.

I kept the original side tables, just turning them outwards instead of diagonal. Then I added some twine to the handles as a temporary fix until I decide what kind of hardware I want.

Then I added some accessories. I placed a mirror above each side table.

On one table I have a monkey and a sentimental photo in the cubby....

...and two candlesticks on top (one is the one my mom gave me)

I added twine bows to the tapers to give it a little more personal touch.

On the other table I accessorized with a fun votive holder, a lamp that I made, and a twine ball on a scroll stand.

The lamp was about $1 at Goodwill. It was brown and didn't have a lampshade. I spray-painted it black, bought a lampshade, and added a fun black bow.

You can just start to see the accessories on the bench in that last picture, so let's start on them.

I had a blue round box that held votives in it. I pretty much emptied that box from that 6-candle votive thing, I didn't need it anymore. But it was too cute to toss away. It sort of reminded me of old hat boxes. So I spray-painted the box white, then added some black decals that I found in the craft section of Walmart. Then I punched a hole on each side and threaded some ribbon through to make a handle. And my hat box was done!

Then I grabbed a white throw pillow and a brown bear to add to the other side.

Here's how that wall turned out:

Here's a wider shot of the whole landing:

And here's the landing at night with the lamp on. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling =)

Younkers just got done with their Community Day sale, and I came out with some goodies. Stick around to see what I've done with them!

Peek-a-boo!

I busted through that "roadblock" on my BIG REVEAL!

So now I'm just doing a few minor touch-ups, and it will be done!

Unfortunately, I don't have much time to do it today.

I'm going to try REALLY hard to get this posted by the weekend. But don't hate me if it's later!

I'm not even going to explain how busy this coming week is. It's brutal.

BUT I will give you a peek!

Mountains? I don't know....

Awesome Auction Find!

It's no secret that auctions are my weak spot.

Garage sales are okay, but I LOVE the rush, the competition, the racing of your heart as the bidding starts on the object you MUST have, when you go to an auction.

Back story? You betcha!

My parent's dragged me to tons of auctions when I was a kid. I never understood the point of them. Why not just put a price on it and sell it at a garage sale?

I'll tell you why: NO ONE would have put a $5 price tag on a boudoir bench:

Sure, it's pink. But with a little reupholstering, I'm going to have the classiest bedroom around, lol. I fell in love, what can I say?

It's the end of the auction season around here, so this auction, everything was going incredibly cheap. I also picked up an electric hedge trimmer for $2. It's one of the nice ones with the guard and everything.

If you're not in the auction circle, you need to be.

I also got this little bird cage at a thrift store for 79 cents:

With some white paint and a cute decorative stone bird in there, it'll be perfect for my daugher's room. She's spoiled =D



And of course, I'm not forgetting your sneak peek for today:

I hit a road block on the BIG REVEAL. I can't figure out how I'm going to do this awesome project that I have in mind. I'll do a bit of research, and hopefully I'll be able to show you this soon!

Oh, and did I tell you that I already have the next BIG REVEAL planned? I've never been so excited to start something, stick around for that one!