Upcyled Thrifted Picture

I was browsing a local thrift store yesterday and saw this for only $6:

It's large frame size made me think about the vintage map I picked up on my trip to Savannah and realize that I still haven't framed it! Remember, this one:

I really had no use for the floral "February" print that was currently in this frame so I was excited to get it home and find that my vintage map fit perfectly! Fail. Yeah, my map was 2-3 inches too small so I was bummed for about 2 seconds. Then I remembered I recently pinned this on Pinterest:

I pinned this for the bottom frame- using ribbon and pins to display photos. Since my new frame didn't work out for what I had originally planned, I thought this might be a good one to try this. So I removed the backing and was left with this:

After taking it out to the garage, I sprayed 2 coats of red on the frame. You might be wondering, why did I choose red? Because I already owned it and didn't have to go to the store, haha!

After I painted it, I shopped around Hancock Fabrics for some fabric to use for the background. Another option would be to use scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, really anything with a design that you like. I went with this print:

The reason I chose this fabric is the white background and muted turquoise color print. I didn't want to use anything too busy because, after all, this is to display photos- I'm not wanting to display the fabric. Luckily, the fabric was on sale and I got a yard for less than $7! Next stop was HD for some jute. Got this roll for less than $3 and I know I will use it again!

To cover the backing of the frame in fabric, I used the same method I used when upholstering the headboard for the guest room (find that here) The only difference is that I didn't use my staple gun- believe me, I tried, and I stapled my cardboard to the floor! Haha. So I just used a regular old stapler. You could also use a spray adhesive.

 And here it is all stapled:

Next I had to attach my jute strings to hold the photos. I just eyeballed where I would want them to hang and stapled the jute on the back. I did leave a little slack in the string because I wanted it to look a little more casual.

Finally, I inserted the backing into the frame, added my photos with clothespins, and voila:

FYI, this is the 3rd bedroom that I posted about yesterday. The wall with the desk is directly behind the fireplace.

 

So that's my craft project for this week! What do ya think? It came a long way from this:

Before

After

Total breakdown for this project:

Framed picture- $6
Red spray paint- already owned
1 yard of fabric- $7
Jute- $3
Clothespins- already owned

Total cost: $16

Check out this post on Shabby Chic Cottage

Lovin' the doors!

So this post is about 2 months late but it's one of those I just forgot about. Probably because it took place about a week before the tornado and just got lost in the shuffle my brain. Our little house was sold to us as a 3 bedroom, but when we tried selling it last year, our realtor said we couldn't list it as that because the 3rd bedroom was just a walk-through room from the hallway to the kitchen. It had no doors or closets. Here it is when we moved in- sorry for the lack of a better picture:

The left side has the doorway to the hall and the right side has the doorway to the kitchen. This room is the bigger of the 3 bedrooms and it has a fireplace, so it definitely is great to work with! First, we painted it a sage color- can't remember the name but it's just very natural and neutral. The previous owners had added a cheap shelving solution on each side of the fireplace which we used in the beginning for books, dvds, a bar, etc... We finally decided to turn those into 2 closets and use floor-to-ceiling length curtains for closet doors. This was a pretty cheap project because we only had to buy 2 short closet rods from HD- I think they cost around $6 each, and 2 96" curtain panels on sale from World Market, and 2 tension rods.

So we had the closets taken care of- now we just needed some doors! I knew exactly what I wanted but had to convince the hubby. I wanted to hang single french doors but he thought there would be a privacy issue. I assured him that we could simply hang shades on the doors to provide privacy for our not-so-frequent guests. I didn't want to hang slab doors because I was afraid it would close off the flow too much.

View from the kitchen to the third room

View from the hallway into the third room

I finally convinced Matthew to go with the glass-paned doors but he doesn't own the necessary tools to hang a door, insert knobs, etc... nor does he have the time right now. I felt that this project was just a little out of my league so enter a friend/ contractor. He and his partner spent pretty much a whole day at the house hanging these doors and working on a few other small projects! Here is what they left us with:

I was so excited to finally have these doors- I have wanted them since we moved in! We went with the oil rubbed bronze hardware and I LOVE it! So I guess that means I need to change out the doorknobs on the other doors, haha!

Thankfully, these doors come with plastic over the glass inserts! This definitely helped the painting process, which was a little too tedious for me, but I got er' done in an afternoon. 2 coats of paint on each side of each door = too much painting, even for me! Here's how they looked with the plastic still on:

And now for the afters! I recruited the hubby to help me take off the plastic wrap from each insert, which saved a little time. Although it was some hard work, and a little more costly since we had someone hang them for us, I am very happy with the results!!

Hopefully I'll be changing those out curtains out soon because we're expecting a new arrival for this room! No, we're not having a baby, but we are getting this soon:

Yep, we're waiting for the arrival of our new Window Daybed from West Elm. It was a gift from my mother-in-law! We actually ordered it in March but it's been on backorder:( It's supposed to be back in stock next Friday. So I'm wanting to change out the decor in this room a little- starting with the curtains. This is the room we plan to use for a nursery when the time comes, so at least we're getting a jump start on it! I haven't really decided on the colors/ decor yet, but I'll let ya know!

Gallery Wall Update

First of all, as you can probably see, I've been trying out new backgrounds:) I told you, I'm constantly changing my mind! But maybe I'll use this for a while- I'm really in to the chevron look right now!

I'm sure you remember the inspiration for my new gallery wall that I mentioned here. Well it's still a work-in-progress. I still have to paint all of my current black frames white and rearrange them all. Here is how the gallery wall looks now:

I also bought some new frames from the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. I decided to thrift some because new frames can really add up when you're buying them new! As you can see, they vary in size and color, but that's nothing that a little white spray paint can't change;) I got all of these for less than $4!

 Here they are after a fresh coat several fresh coats of white paint.

 I also scored these white mats from the Dollar Tree to use:

So here are my new frames to add to my growing collection. I still have a few more to buy, then the fun part will begin- measure, nail, measure, nail, etc...

8x10 frame with the dollar tree 5x7 mat

I was in Michael's one day and found this shadow box on sale for $5 so I thought it would be the perfect addition. And, I've been looking for a starfish for a while and it just so happens that it fits perfectly inside here! Unless I find somewhere else to put it!:)

 Last week I stopped by an antique store in town and found these vintage cameras. I love vintage cameras! For now they're just in the dining room, but I'm thinking I might try adding them to the gallery wall (maybe inside a frame) for a little 3D effect?? Hmm... decisions, decisions.

 I'll keep you updated on the wall! What do you think about the cameras?

Happy 3 years!

So this post comes a couple of weeks late but on May 17 my hubby and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! Yay:) It has flown by but we've enjoyed every minute of it! We always buy each other the "traditional" anniversary gift and I'm so glad that we started that tradition 3 years ago. For our first, the traditional gift is paper, so we got each other concert tickets to see Coldplay- which is the BEST concert I've been to!

This year, the traditional gift is leather- great for me because that leaves him with many options ;) I contemplated about what to get him- a leather cigar case or a watch. He's wanted a casual/ outdoorsy  watch for a while so while I was in Academy one day, I saw this and thought it was perfect!

He loved it- or at least that's what he told me! He did a great job picking mine out too, although he did wait until our anniversary day to buy it ;) The only reason I know that is because I get really impatient when it comes to exchanging presents so, of course, I wanted to exchange the day before! He got me this super cute cross-body purse from UO that I love and a little wooden box that I'm sure I'll find a use for!

So Happy 3 Years to my hubby! Can't wait for year #4- Linen. Hmm... guess I better start thinking about that now...