Paper Fixes Everything!

My adorable dad says I am a sucker for wall decor.  In a moment of defense I denied his claim, but in reality, he's right.  I do love to have pretty things on my walls.  But I can't always afford to buy all those pretty things.  I have kids with bottomless stomachs.  So I have to come up with clever ways to put pretty things up without starving my kids.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. 

It happens to be that I LOVE paper.  It is about the fastest, cheapest way to decorate almost anything.  Walls included.  For this project I just bought some 12"x12" paper at Scrapville http://www.scrapville.net/ , an adorable store in my hometown.  My DH spray painted the edges black.  Then I Modge Podged it onto MDF (you can find a recipe for home-made Modge Podge online).  When it was dry I sanded the edges and corners to distress it a little bit.  I put hanging brackets on the back and hung them on the wall.  It is just that simple!  I love that the paper had a door and windows on a couple of pages.  I placed them to appear as though you were looking at the wall of a humble villa.  Super cute! 

Repurposing a Twelve-foot palet

When you embark on a remodeling project, you better expect fairly large things to be delivered and plopped right on your driveway.  "Sure, Mr. Delivery Man, it's not like I'm a crazy, busy (a little more crazy than busy) mom with 4 kids and need a place to park my van.  Go ahead and plop that palet smack in the middle of my driveway".  You can imagine that we received many large 12 foot long palets during our second story addition.  And what do you do with all those palets?  They could end up on the side of the yard and take up space or you can get desperate like I did.

I have been begging my DH for about 15 years to build me an arbor.  His excuse was that the wood was too expensive.  How about FREE?  He couldn't argue with that.  All I needed was the braun (check), paint (check), and some cement ($5 check).  It really only took a weekend to make and I just love how it looks.

No Fire, Just a Hurricane

Every summer our family travels out to Utah.  And while in Utah I visit a particular store called Tai Pan Trading.  I love this store.  It is a designer's PARADISE!  I kid you not.  When I walk in it is like a kid walking into a candy store.  I just go wild with excitement.  This year I came across a pair of ornate, distressed iron sconces.  They were gorgeous and 20% off.  They're mine!  In the cart they go. 

After a long drive home with my treasures nestled amoung suitcases, we finally get them home.  I hang my beautiful sconces up.  They are perfect.  Now to find candles for them.  But, oh my, these sconces are meant for very large, very tall $20-$30 candles.  Um...yah, like I have that kinda money just for a pair of candles.  Not on my budget!

I took a trip to my local Micael's to see if I could get any ideas.  And bingo, I find a pair of glass huricane lamp covers for $2 each.  I took them home and spray painted the inside of them and stuck them in the sconce.  A match made in heaven if I do say so myself. 

Laundry Room Door Take Two

A little over a year ago my DH (darling husband) and I put on a second story addition.  As it happens, the new stairwell begins where the laundry room ends.  So the door to the laundry room folded open and blocked the stairwell by about 12 inches.  And you know how little boys LOVE boxes and are really great at finding new ways to use them?  Well, my two little boys decided to make a sled out of one and ride it down the new set of stairs.  BANG!  Right into the open laundry room door and broke it clean off the hinge.  Our laundry room to this day remains door less, but moms are pretty great at finding new uses for things as well.  I had my DH cut the folding louvered door into 4 panels.  I had my DH paint the taller set to match the trim of the outside of our house.  I distressed them by sanding away some of the paint with my new favorite tool, the electric hand sander.  And then I hung them up on the porch.  The shorter ones I distressed and hung up in my hallway.  I think they look pretty cute!