So, remember when I said before my dark dirty little secret?? My lack of organization??  Well that was one of my goals for this year and I have done a couple of things…or maybe just this one (more are in the works) to help simplify my life.  You know that spot in your house that tends to accumulate junk.  You know, the place that you set stuff that you don’t have a place for.  Yeah, I accumulate a lot of that, and this was my spot…

I know, seriously??  On the good days, or when company came over I would at least hide some of the stuff in my “other” problem areas…behind closed doors:)

So needless to say, this has been an area that has been haunting me since we moved in.  I knew it was a fun little nook but didn’t know what to do about it.  I mean, of course built-ins would be great, but those are expensive, and an unnecessary expense for both of us…so I decided on shelving.

I went on another IKEA run with a friend of mine and was on the lookout for shelves.  I had seen some cute wood ones earlier but never measured or looked at price.  When we got there I found out that they were $45 a piece…ouch…and the size wasn’t right.  So I ended up buying some black metal brackets for $5 a piece, and a wood top for $5 a piece.  Grand total for three shelves…$45.  Now that I can afford.

I got home and was super excited to hang the shelves, so I started right away.  I cleared the area and marked with a pencil where I wanted the height of the shelves, and then where I wanted the brackets.  Definitely use a level for this part, you don’t want crooked shelves.

I know I’ve said it before, but sometimes that best thing I have going for me is that I am not a perfectionist…It may not be quite as high of quality but I am never afraid to try, even if it is a little uneven:)

Oh course I ran into a problem…it can never go smooth the first time.  I got all but one bracket hung and the last one I put in my anchors (you have to use these if you are putting any sort of weight on your shelf, a girls best friend:)

You just drill the plastic screw into the wall like a normal screw and then drill the normal screw into that.  Wall-ah!!

Anyhow, when I was hanging my last one I hit a piece of duct work and stripped the wall out.  Frustrating!!  So, I did have to wait for Ry to get home to help me fix that problem.  Also, when I bought my $5 boards, they were too long but knew that they could just be cut down to size.  I happened to mention that to Ryan the same day I asked him to fix my anchor the second he stepped into the house.  Did I mention I love projects:)  Well, he wasn’t too keen on doing that right away, and we were heading out on a date that night…so I decided that I was going to try to do that myself.  The next day I pulled out the table saw and ripped down my first boards.  I was pretty proud of myself.  Then I screwed them into the brackets and it looked something like this…

I think that looks a little more pulled together than before.  I do want to get a smart station for our i-pods and phones..someday:)

Also, I was going to mention…when you are decorating shelves it’s great to have some unity and groupings.  You don’t want it to look too hodge podge.

I found these baskets at Ikea for $4 a piece.

Then I just printed out some numbers, cut them out, stuck them on with double sided tape, and they look like they serve a purpose.  I also grouped together glasses and coffee cups to give a cohesive look.

And that’s it!  Not bad for $45 and some change to have an organized and useful space.  Yes, I actually use those coffee cups and glasses that are sitting on the shelf!  I hope this helps to motivate you to clean up one of your drop zone areas:)  I only have a couple..several…whose kidding, LOTS to go!

So here’s the deal, the other night for Ryan’s birthday we went out to the usual man stores, Gander Mountain and Scheels…and I lovingly asked him if we could stop off at another somewhat man store, the Home Depot, to get some paint to paint my bed.  I always try to pick opportune times to ask these questions, times  when Ryan is in a good mood, love you babe:)  He said sure, but before you paint the bed you should really fill in the nail holes and give the trim a fresh coat of paint. See, we move in 3 years ago, took off all the trim and sprayed it white, and then nailed it back on.  Since then we have never filled the nail holes and freshened up the trim, and by we I mean me:)  This  is a job that I really didn’t appreciate because 1.)  there was no immediate change, I mean sure…it looks all fresh and new but no drastic difference.  2.)  Because no one else would notice this strenous task besides myself.  I’m pretty sure Ry wouldn’t have realized if I wouldn’t have had the blue tape still on the floor when he came home.  and 3.)  It is a stinky job!!  I’ll show you what I mean.

First of all taping the floors and wall off take more time than the actual painting.  Thank you that my husband works at 3M and we can get painters tape cheap!

Also, you have to move everything off of the walls to get it all.  I did contemplate being lazy and only painting up til pieces of furniture…but my conscious got the best of me:)

And lastly because you have to be on your hands and knees the whole time while painting.  Not a fun position to be in.  But, there was an incentive in mind, and with that incentive….I got it done in 1 day.  I know..the daunting task seemed too overwhelming for 3 years and then when I actually did it, it only took me one day.

So, the nail holes are filled and the trim is painted….so bring on the bed!!  I actually just finished it yesterday and got it back together.  Like I said, when it’s a fun project I waste no time:)  Check back Friday and see how it looks, I absolutely love it!!

Are there any daunting tasks you’ve been avoiding??

So I started collecting  silver frames about 2 years ago in hopes of creating a picture wall going up the steps in our two story home.  Well after 2 years of them sitting in my closet because I didn’t have enough yet, I decided instead to create a gallery wall.  A gallery wall is great because you can mix and match frames, wall art, mirrors, letters…pretty much anything you have hanging around your home.  I bet most people could create a gallery wall without even having to buy anything new.  This is my gallery wall so far, I have not quite finished it yet and actually may change a few things out…but what I have learned is that something is better than nothing!  This wall sat bear for 3 years when it could have been decorated the whole time.  So if you don’t think you have enough, just start anyway.   It is good motivation to keep going!  Here are some of my pictures that I took inspiration from, and then I’ll show you how I created my wall.

This picture is from Pottery Barn, I just liked how they used different frames, mirrors, and little objects to make it all come together.

Another Pottery Barn pic, I love the use of vintage and modern frames together, plus the overlapping brings in another dynamic.  Also I love how they frames letters…I  might have to try that!

Lastly I found this one here and loved the look of it.  What I like best is that you really can’t mess up.  Keep frames close together, far apart…whatever you want to do!  If you have enough “stuff” to hang, just start hanging and keep adding and it will become your own wall of art!  I also loved how she used vintage frames that had no glass and put pictures in the didn’t even fit.  First of all how easy is that, and second of all what a cute look!

So here’s a little bit of a closer look of how I did it.

1.)  Go around your house or make a list of some of the things you want to incorporate into your wall.  If you already have a collection going, great…otherwise some great things to hang are frames, new or old, tin signs, letters, wall art, mirrors, silhouettes (which I want to incorporate next, keep them black and white), pretty much anything you have that can hang.  I even read about one lady who put up her grandpa’s old license plate, kinda fun!  I would suggest if you are doing a lot of pics, keep them all black and white, it keeps the flow going!

2.) Then I made patterns of all of my frames and taped them up on the wall to find the best placement.  This way it is easy to move around and see what you like best.  I must admit though, if you are using a wide variety of materials this isn’t always the best idea because of the different colors and shapes.  In that case I would just start hanging or lay it out on your floor to see what you like next to each other.  Remember, you really can’t mess up!

3.)  I also found a font I like online and printed out a word to add to my wall.  I then cut the word out, taped it with double sided tape to the wall, traced it and then painted it with black paint and a fine paint brush.

I love this idea because it is completely free to do!  You know me, I’m cheap:)

I also added a metal star from Gordmans, (a store very similar to T J Maxx) for $5 and bought a letter “L” from Michaels for $4, sprayed it black and added it to my wall.

The finished product!

I am about 3/4 of the way up, still need to add a little more.  I might change some stuff around, add a couple of vintage frames without glass and some silhouettes of the kids, a letter or two.  I love to show off the great pics Sarah took, but also like to keep it interesting and different.  And that’s why I love gallery walls.  There is no right or wrong, you can change them as much as you want, and they are different from anything any one else has.  It’s unique to you.

Let me know if you attempt a gallery wall, I would love to see it.  It’s always fun to get inspiration from others!  I’ll show you the rest of mine whenever it gets finished…hopefully it’s not another 3 years:)

So I’ve had a friend ask me if I could write a blog on distressing furniture.  This is an art that I have come to love, first of all I have always loved the shabby chic/cottage style that it creates, but also because with my somewhat imperfect ( I know, me??) paint jobs, it helps to disguise them and also hides all of the extra “character” that the kids may so sweetly place on the furniture as well!!  Seeing as though I love my home to be functional and lived in, I would hate to have to cringe every time a tractor gets driven across my coffee table or a cupboard gets hit with a plastic mallet, you get the point.  So, these are Allie’s guidelines to distressing, which I have to admit, I have just experienced and this is what I found….not necessarily professional in any way:)

1.)  First you have to decide if the piece you have is a good candidate for distressing.  I have distressed almost all of my painted furniture, but my hutch for example, was too clean line and elegant to distress.  I wanted to keep it that way.

Also, my table next to it isn’t distressed so I wanted to keep the look.

2.)  Once you find a piece that you want to distress you have to decide if the furniture needs to be painted and what color.  I have only bought one piece of furniture that I didn’t paint before distressing and that was the dresser in Tate’s room.

I fell in love with this blue and bought this dresser at our local Little Red Hen shop, which buys furntiure, paints it, and resells it.  It was a little too clean line for me so I took my palm sander to it:)

3.)  You have to decide if you want a color to pop out from underneath after it is distressed, or if you are okay with the color that is already there.

I bought this piece at our local flea market and when I bought it it was painted blue.  I wanted it red, so painted it and then distressed it so that the blue came through as well.

You can see some of the blue popping through.  I also wanted to show you that on this piece I used a palm sander, which is a lot faster but sometimes a little harder to control.  They vibrate a lot:)  You can see here that I knicked the side of the bookshelf with the palm sander but when distressing, it doesn’t really matter.  I was bugged at first but after putting it in place realized that it almost looked intentional. So that brings us to point number 4.

4.)  You can’t mess up when distressing, you just have to be gutsy enough to grab the sander and mess up that beautiful, or if you are like me…not so beautiful, paint job.  It can be a bit nerving at first, second guessing yourself…but in the long run it pays off.  This has been my latest project.  After getting the new couch I realized that the stained top on my coffee table did not go well with the dark color of the suede, so I painted it white.  I thought at first I wanted it clean-line, but after sitting a night I realized it looked to white and neat, it needed some major distressing and character:)

For this table I used a block sander.

Now this piece I got a little nervous over even though I have distressed quite a few pieces in my day.  My paint for this was really thick though, and when I started distressing it some of it came off in chunks, almost peeling.  I kept going though, since there is no turning back and it turned out great, I really liked it.  So don’t panic if you think your first few swipes are a disaster.

The finished product.

5.)  Sand around the edges, molding, and character pieces that stick out.

This is the bed that came with the dresser set from my bedroom.  It was wood underneath as you can tell in the picture from the dark popping out, and I painted it cream and sanded around all the molding and edges.  To make it look not so perfect I even sanded a bit on the raised part of the leg.

6.)  You don’t want it to look perfect! (yay for me!!!!)

This piece I just used regular sand paper on and went around the edges.  If you notice, you do not want to outline everything perfect, skip a little area, make some areas darker…you want to make it appear that it “aged” on it’s own.

I just wanted to show you that this piece was painted white before I distressed it, I’m not loving the white popping out, but not bugged enough to change it.  If you have a painted piece of furniture and want a different color to pop out, simply paint the edges (not the whole piece) that color and that’s what will show when you distress.  Also, I liked this piece distressed in my dining room even though it’s black, to feel more tucsan?? (that’s what I tell myself at least?) It goes well with the distressed chairs and wood table we have.  I didn’t want it too prim and proper:)

Well, I hope seeing a few images and reading this inspires you to try painting and distressing a new piece of furniture in your house.  It is amazing what paint can do to a piece that looks quite hideous!  So keep your eyes peeled at you local thrift shops and look past the wood lacquer to see the true potential of a piece of furniture!! Happy distressing:)