How I Spent My Winter: A Theme

Okay.  Not so much a theme, but for some reason I thought of the Christmas Story and the Theme that Ralphie wrote on "What I Want for Christmas".  It just seemed appropriate. 

Ahem.

I spent my winter months searching the DI for items that needed to be brought home, painted, loved and made into something that makes me happy.  I also gave some make-overs to stuff I already had.  So... a series of before and after photos should do the trick.

A DI find that I wasn't sure what to do with but could not pass it up.  Loved the handles.

The finished product now hangs in the "hallway" between the kitchen and the bathroom.  I love it. And it reminds me of my goal for the year.  To keep things simple.  Let's see if I can actually follow through on that one!

Having spent a lot of time in the bathtub, I became increasingly aware of just how much I hated, absolutely hated my bathroom cabinets.  You can't tell from the picture but the paint job was really quite terrible. It was spotty and see through in places and I hated looking at it.  So I painted them!

I did a layer of brown spray paint and then did acrylic black over the top so it's kind of streaky looking.  I then distressed the edges and I really like the way it warmed up the bathroom.  I wish that I had finished the edges in black though.  I'm sure it will drive me nuts soon enough, but until then I find the view much more to my liking.

This used to have small picture frames hanging from it, but I decided it needed a change.  However, the color scheme just wasn't making me happy anymore.  I wanted it to pop a little more and not be so country rustic.



So I painted the hearts blue and green and did a little "dictionary art" on the chalkboard.  I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. 



I found this quilt rack at the DI.  It was a pine color.  So I painted it black, distressed the edges, and hung it in Benjamin's room.  I plan on putting some pictures in between the stuffed animals.  But that's for another day.

Close up of the distressing. 

A few more DI items.  I have a plan for the rolling pin and small wood dishes, but it's not finished yet.  I did fall in love with the square shelves though.  Hate the sign, but all I really wanted was the wood.  I paid $1.00 for the sign.  Just can't beat that.

Here's the finished of the sign and the shelves.  I painted them black to cover up the brown, distressed the edges, and hung them above my oven.  The vases fit perfectly, and were also only $1.00.  I think I totally scored big with the green vase.  I scraped off the vinyl from the purple sign, painted it black, covered it with scrapbook paper and ribbon.  I was originally going to do some kind of saying, but I liked the paper better.  So I broke it up with ribbon and hung it!

There are some other works in progress, but they may not get finished until next year!  Seems to be some other project taking all of my time.

One more thing!

I almost forgot this little tidbit that I absolutely LOVE.  It's kind of silly for some but I don't care. My stairs.  I have battled the stairs for some time.  Not the going up and down, but the keeping them clean.  Especially that lovely white part that gets the scuff of the shoes and does not want to come off.  In fact, I got out the cleanser and tried my best to get the ugly black marks to come off only to find that the paint was coming off before the black marks would... which brings me to another thing.  Apparently the guy who flipped our house used the cheapest stuff possible, as evidenced by the fact that whenever I try to wipe a scuff mark off the wall the paint comes with it.  Grrr.  So the only solution is to repaint the entire house.  Needless to say that isn't happening any time soon.  But happen it will... happen it will.

Okay, back to the stairs.  I wanted carpet, but just on the white part.  I don't like to vacuum carpeted stairs and the wear and tear is just too much.  I just wanted some carpet squares that could be glued on to the "up" part of the stair.  When I explained what I wanted to both Lowe's and Home Depot they looked at me like I had two heads and said the only way it could be done was to buy carpet by the yard and staple the edges under so it wouldn't fray and even then the wear and tear would probably be too much and I'd be better off carpeting the entire stair case.  Well, I showed them!  David and I bought two packages of carpet "steps" which only cover half the space, hence the two packages.  David did the measuring and a little trimming on the top and I did the gluing.  They were already backed on a heavy duty something or other so no fraying! I really quite liked the way it turned out, no yardage of expensive carpet or staples.  In fact I think it cost us right around $18.00 to do 13 stairs.  And honestly, is there that much wear on the "up" part of your stairs?

Some things I've done

I told you there was more to wrapping things up.  Mostly because such efforts on my part should be known! Not because they are spectacular per se, but more because I actually got off my hind end and did something!

For this, I was really tired of having mail all over the place.  I knew that I wanted something on the wall but everything was either too office-y looking or just too expensive.  So I found this beauty at the DI and added a few touches.  Now it keeps my mail organized... or at least off the kitchen counter.

I've wanted shelves in the living room for awhile, but again, expense. I also wanted a magazine holder. Not just anything though.  My grandma Robbins had one that my mother now has and I have always loved it. Mostly the memories and the nicks and scratches that just said Grandma.  However my mother absolutely would not part with it.  So I found this at the DI and snatched it up.  It's the same style, just needed some love.  And the shelf is self explanatory.  Didn't get a before of the small one, but here's the finished products on all.

I really like the way the magazine holder turned out.  I like the streaks with the black underneath.

And the grand finale.  Our upstairs bathroom has largely driven me crazy with it's 70/80s style everything.  So little by little we've been updating.  New toilet, new cast iron bathtub with cultured marble finishing (the old one was hideous and kind of gave me the creeps. Perhaps it was the cigarette stain on the tub that would not come off) and finally the updating of the mirror/shelves.  I knew what I wanted as far as shelving to replace the hideous sliding cupboard attached to the mirror but could not find anything.  Until Target that is. 

David and I found the shelves at Target and the mirror at Tai Pan. So for a grand total of $50.00 we completely updated our look!  And I love it.  Now to replace the cabinets and the faucet.  But that's a ways off.

Please notice the plastic icky looking sliding doors. 

That's it for this installment.  I would like to give a special shout out to Sharon who has no idea that she taught me how to look at thrift store stuff through a can of spray paint! My life may be changed forever!