A Breeze-Way Make-Over

This particular breeze-way belongs to my parents.  This quaint little space connects their back door to their garage.  They use this space as a place to keep shoes and coats as well as garden tools.

Last year, my Mom re-decorated this space and I love how it turned out!  I wish I could show you a before photo of the space, but unfortunately my Mom didn't take any.  (No big deal, Mom!)  To make up for a lack of before pictures, I'll tell you what it looked like instead!  The paint color in the room was a sage green.  The floor was carpeted with brown indoor/outdoor carpet.  The wicker furniture was a natural brown color with sage accents.  It was a cute room but dated and didn't match my Mom's cute style anymore.  She painted the walls a soft gray color and added brown tones with splashes of red and black to add some color and interest throughout the space.

This little cabinet was made by my Dad years ago.  I think it was fomerly their liquor cabinet.  Oh so scandelous!  It now hides garden tools, gloves, and bottles of weed killer and bug spray.  The knobs are from Anthropologie.  The boots were a gift to my Mom from my sister Gretel.

The wicker also got new coat of spray paint and a fun new cushion.

I think the best part about this make-over is that my Mom didn't go out and buy tons of new things to fill this space.  She simply used what she had and made it better with paint and bought a few inexpensive accessories to add an element of fun and style.

This weather barometer belonged to my Grandpa Bob, who is my Mom's father.  It was given a fresh coat of black spray paint to update it a little.  The coat hook was made by my Dad and painted the same color as the walls.

This wire plant shelf was purchased at Crate and Barrel last year and currently is home to an elephant and a lantern.  That adorable elephant is from a pizza place near my parent's house.  They unfortunately do not carry them anymore.

The curtains in the room might be one my favorite parts about the entire make-over.  Placemats from TJ Maxx were turned into curtains by using curtain clips and a curtain rod.

The doorknob is original to the house, which was built sometime in the forties.  I love how it stands out now with the new paint color and looks pretty stylish now!

Thank you for letting me share your make-over, Mom!  Job well done!  I love you!

I'm linking up to:

Home Stories A to Z

Pencil Cups

I haven't started working on my secretary desk yet.  I'm still paralyzed with indecision.  Also, until today, the weather here has been crummy.  I've decided to try some spray primer for this project.  I've read some reviews on it and everyone seemed to be pleased with the ease of application and the results.  As soon as the weather improves, Jason and I can haul the desk outside for a quick coat of primer and then we can get on to business.

In the meantime, I made some pencil cups to hold pencils, pens, and scissors inside my desk.  It was a pretty easy project to do on a day when the weather was crummy.  I gathered my supplies, which consisted of a clean can, some sharpened pencils, glue, and spray paint.

I glued those old, random pencils to the can until I worked my way around the entire can. 

Since I liked the first pencil cup I made, I made another one, just slightly smaller than the first.

With the smaller cup, I staggered the sizes of the pencils a bit more.

I then spray painted the outside and inside of both cups a glossy white.  To keep the bottom of the can from scratching anything, I cut out some white felt circles and glued them to the bottom of each pencil cup.

Now, about that desk.  The boys and I are headed to my favorite wallpaper store tomorrow so that hopefully I can find some inspiration for that desk of mine.

Those Fancy Bookends

I'm sure you've seen those toys turned bookends all over Pinterest or your favorite blog.  Well, I made some and I love them.  I don't know who did it first and unfortunately can't give credit where credit is due.  So, I'll just say this:  Thank you, who ever thought of spray painting plastic toys and turning them into bookends.  You made my bookshelves fun.  I'm forever grateful and I'll call you a genius.

The boys love the giraffes the best, because they look like they're licking the books.  Aah yes, little boy humor is fun!

Also, since we're talking Pinterest (kind of) you can follow me here, if you would like!  I'd sure like it if you did!

Our Front Door Winter Wreath

Welcome, December!  I'm so glad you are finally here and at the same time, I know you'll go to fast and be so busy.  You'll be filled with snow, shopping, baking, wrapping, more snow, more shopping, parties, concerts, and the list goes on and on...  I think I just gave myself a headache.  Actually, I'm probably coming down with the boys' cold.  They just got over being sick and seemed to have caught another cold over Thanksgiving.  Oy!  I think I'll end this grinchy paragraph before you think I'm not excited about Christmas.  I am.  I mean, I AM!  To prove how excited I am, I'll share with you our wreath for our front door.

I began with a grapevine wreath.  I hot glued and wired various sizes of pine cones to the front.

I then headed outside and lightly spray painted the pinecones white.  After I was done, this is what I was left with.

I hung the wreath on our front door with a gray satin ribbon.

To give the wreath a little Christmas sparkle, I added some glittered sticks I bought from Michaels.  The best thing about this wreath is that I don't have to take it down with all of the other Christmas decor.  It looks like winter to me and can stay up long past Christmas.

On another note, tonight we will be doing our first Advent devotion and our first activity from our Advent calendar.  Henry and Oliver will be getting a new Christmas coloring book.  Also, Jason and the boys bought me an Elf on the Shelf as an early birthday present!!!  We'll be reading the book tonight and then Jason and I will have fun posing our little elf tonight after the boys go to bed.  I'm pretty excited!  Have a great day!

I'm linking up to:

Simple Home Life

Tatertots and Jello

Autumn Kitchen Decor

This is the last room that I decorated for fall, I promise!  I didn't do much, really.  I took these leaves that my Grandma bought me years ago that were never really my taste, but couldn't throw away because they came from my dear, sweet Grandma and spray painted them clean, glossy white.  How is that for one long run-on sentence?  Perhaps it is time for me to go back to school.

Much better, right?  I think Grams would be proud.

 

I placed them around the inside of my china cabinet for a little subtle fall atmosphere.

The little plastic gourds were also a gift from Grandma and painted the same glossy white goodness that makes them much easier on the eyes.

I also switched things up a little bit on top of the cabinet by placing my mini orange trees up there next to my cookbooks.  They were a Pottery Barn winter clearance purchase.  They don't have anything to do with fall, but I like them anyway.  The pots they came in originally were smaller and didn't fit the space, so I placed them in some IKEA pots that I had laying around.  You know, because I can't keep herbs alive in my kitchen, blast it all.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.  Things have been a little rough around here for a variety of reasons.  The wonderful thing about my life is that I know God has a plan and I trust His plan.  God is good and His blessings are bountiful.

Just a Little Gray Table

I don't know when I've ever been so thankful for a Monday.  We had my in-laws visit this weekend and it was so wonderful to have them here.  However, there were a few events during their stay which made the visit somewhat unpleasant.  By unpleasant I mean our van stalling in the middle of a road resulting in a bill of around two THOUSAND four hundred dollars.  Ohmygoodnesswhereisthemoneygoingtocomefrom!?!?  How can so much go wrong since our last check in August?  To top it off, we also had a visit to the ER for my sweet mom-in-law.  She is fine, thank the Lord!  A visit to the ER is never something you want your visitors to have to go through.  Needless to say, there will be NO unnecessary spending in our house for the next year or so.  With that, I give you my last project for the year.  Only kidding!  I hope...  I bought this table for three dollars at a rummage sale.  It was a little wobbly so I fixed it up with some glue.

After I primed it, I spray painted it the same gray color I used for my rural French chairs.  I apologize for the poor lighting in my garage as well as my poor picture taking skills.  Let us just say that the table was ugly and needed some loving.

Here it is!  This little gray table is just what this space needed.  I can easily move the table when we need a little more space in our living room but helps to make the chair more at home in this awkward space in our living room.

I love the detail of the table.

By the way, did anyone else know that Dusty Miller flowered?  I did not but I love it!  The gray and yellow are so pretty.  I even had that color combination in our wedding over six years ago.  My love affair with yellow may or may not also have something to do with the fact that I had a little yellow baby doll that I took to bed until I was married...



Oh little three dollar table, you make me happy.  Speaking of things that make me happy, I just love gray and yellow together.  I'm sort of sad that they are so popular right now.  I hope I'm not out of style when some other color combination is in vogue and the gray/yellow combo is out.  I'll be true to you forever, gray and yellow.  I always have and I always will!

What color combination do you love?  Or wish would become "stylish?"  Are you over the gray/yellow already?  (Don't tell me or I'll despise you forever... just kidding).

Blessings on your Tuesday!

I'm linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed




Tatertots and Jello