Ch-ch-ch-changes

I have a wonderfully handy husband. As a result, I now have several new pieces of decor around the house. We've spent the past few days combining garage sale finds, treasures from my parents' house, items laying around our house, a few new things, and our design ideas.

Let's go on a tour....

1). The Breakfast Room.


I want a blue and white kitchen. Chris does not want a blue and white kitchen. Our breakfast room has ugly bluish/tan wallpaper. We got a beautiful blue and white plate as a wedding gift, and it's found a home in our breakfast room. Two weeks ago I bought the white milk glass vase (on the left shelf) at a garage sale for $0.50. I bought some shelves at a garage sale this past weekend and started painting those white. Sadly, they were not wide enough for the vase and teapot to sit on. So, Chris went to work building the shelves you see in the picture.

I purchased the "Simplify" sign and wooden "C" at Hobby Lobby last weekend for less than $5 combined. The teapot I bought at Old Time Pottery for $12.99 (a little bit of a splurge). The pitcher was one of Chris' grandmothers and the spools were his grandmothers. Now, I have a blue and white area in our house!

2). Living Room, Exhibit A


These shelves were the ones that were supposed to be in the kitchen. Chris painted them green (the same green as the frame in previous post). The little plaques were a Christmas gift (thanks, Liz!) and the figurine was our cake topper at our wedding.

3). Living Room, Exhibit B

This is what the living room wall looked like before. (Please excuse the crazy faces of my siblings.)

After

My parents are remodeling the living room and dining room in their house. These windows came from their house. They didn't have the slat/grill/trim things in them when we brought them home. Chris put those in and painted the whole window sage green (same as shelves and frame). We bought scrapbooking paper at Micheal's, cut them to size, and taped them to the glass.


Here's a close-up of one of them. I love how they turned out!

3). Living Room, Exhibit C


This wall just had the mirror on it before. The sconce was hanging where the green shelves now are. The other wall hanging is just a framed piece of scrapbook paper. We had the frame already. This is the more masculine addition to the room!

Here's a view of all three of the exhibits together.


Thank you to my fantastic husband, Chris, for all your help on these projects and for letting me make so many changes to our house!

DIY Wall Hanging

This past Saturday I went to a few garage sales and picked up a couple items I thought would be good craft projects. I started working on them that afternoon. I've been wanting to make a new wall hanging with a scripture verse on it. I had a blank 11 X 14 canvas and some paint already, and I found this picture frame for $1 (or maybe only $0.50, I can't remember now!).


I took the lovely picture of Gabriel out and painted the frame a sage green color. (Sorry, no picture. Just look at the picture of the finished product.)

Next, I got the canvas and painted it red.


Once the red dried, I used scrap booking letters to write out the scripture verse. (If you're wondering, yes I got the letters a little lopsided. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until I was completely finished. I blame it on my equilibrium being off. I can't write straight, I can't cut straight, I can't walk straight, I can't drive straight... it's just life!)

Next, I painted over it with the same green as the frame. I did 2 coats to get good coverage.

Once the paint dried, I peeled off the stickers. I had to touch-up some of the letters using a toothpick because the green leaked through. I found some rub-on decals in the scrapbook section at Micheal's and rubbed those in the corners.

I bought a red mat at Micheal's and framed the picture.


Here it is hanging on the wall. It's a little Christmas-like, but I like it. What do you think?


Break down of cost:

Frame - - $1 at garage sale
Canvas - - free, already had
Paint - - free, already had
Letter stickers -- $2.99
Decals -- $2.99
Mat - - $6.99

Total: $14.97

Projects (Liz, this post is mostly for you!)

I've been itching to do some DIY projects around the house. I worked on some this weekend, which I will post about when they are complete. Tonight I did a quick project to make a new wall hanging.


I've had this wrapping paper since my birthday in December (thanks, Strem!) and knew I wanted to make a wall hanging out of it. So, tonight I gathered the wrapping paper, a sage/olive green mat that I've had for over a year, and a black frame that Chris had in the basement.


First, I cleaned up the frame a little. Then I cut the wrapping paper to fit the size of the mat. I taped the wrapping paper onto the mat and put it all together.

Tada.....

I love how it turned out! We hung it in our dining room, where it ties in well with our black dining room chairs and the green in our living room.


*Liz, notice what's on the table!?!? Yes, some apothecary jars! Chris bought these for me this weekend on his trip. Isn't he great!?!

There's no way it's been a year already!

It's true, today marks one year since I married my wonderful husband! It can't be true, but it is. The year has flown by, but it's been a good one. I'm thankful to God for blessing me with an amazing, smart, and God-fearing husband. I am amazed daily at His blessings upon us.

This is my favorite of our wedding pictures. You can see the genuine happiness and excitement!

I feel like I've learned a lot about my husband and about marriage in this past year, but I know there is a WHOLE lot more to learn in the years to come! I pray that God would help me to be patient, attentive, and open to learn the lessons unfolding daily. I pray for many more wonderful and blessed years with the man I love by my side. I pray for those around us to know, feel, and share in the love our Heavenly Father bestows upon us.