More Goodwill Love

I've had another Goodwill project waiting for me in my garage for a few months now.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at first, but finally I decided to make a little homegrown fabric art for my littlest son.

I bought this frame for $2.95!  Do you KNOW how much frames cost in the store??  This was ridiculously cheap.  Of course, I bet my husband thought it was $2.95 too much when he saw it in the garage.  Ugly, right?

I turned it into this with the help of a little fire engine red spray paint and some fabric scraps I had on hand.  If you don't have fabric, paper would be just cute as can be and not so "stringy".   Again, like all my projects, I'm not sure I'm in love with it yet.  I love the IDEA of it, but  I think the yellow and striped car doesn't have enough contrast with the polka dot background.  But, like all my projects, I have a feeling that even though I hung it of reach, the littlest one will find a way to tear it up.  It's not that he MEANS to tear things up, it's just he's so curious.  But it looks happy in his room, and he told me he likes it.  And that's all that matters.  So don't be hater if you don't like it!

The moral of this story, though, is to go by the Goodwill BEFORE you head to the store looking for a picture frame, lamp, or other whatnots.  You might not find what you want, but you don't know unless you try!

The Orange Room

the little pillow was made by his sister for his birthday. precious!
Sorry for the picture being so dark.  It's rained for days and I'm tired of waiting for good light.

Remember forever ago when I painted the children's rooms?  Well, finally I'm going to post the before and after of my oldest's room.  He switched with my daughter to have his own room and wanted an orange room.  And, oh, how I LOVE it!!

I'm having trouble find a before picture but you can click this link to see some older pictures from when it was my daughter's.  I used a toasted pumpkin color from Lowe's that had the primer built in and the coverage was spectacular!  I only needed two coats of the deep orange, no extra priming involved! :)  That made me a happy mama indeed.

The curtains were from his room before and the rod came from the bathroom.  The wooden furniture belonged to my husband when he was a kid.  I might not esp. love it but it has meaning and it's free.

I picked up those black shelves at Target so he could have a display space for all his special things.  As much as I would have LOVED to pick out things I only wanted, it is HIS room and he needs to make his own.  

It's his Washington, DC building collection from the flea market.  Love those!  They match a statue of liberty one given to him by his Mamaw and Papaw.

The shark specimen is one of those things I could live without.

But, I do love the vintage books that the shark is on.

Another things is the chair that I don't really love, but he really wanted a chair in his room.  It was only $20 at the Target, so I gave in.  Now, I'm glad I gave in because it makes him so happy.  Plus, it gives his dad and I a place to sit when we go into chat with him at night.

Caleb finally has space in his room for his desk!  Which really means more space for his clutter collections.  And no, just for the record, that's not a real gun!  Just a toy gun from my husband, that was back before they put the orange tip on them.  

My favorite part is the closet where he stores all his legos.  He can just shut the door, and the creative mess is gone!  During the school day, little Ian finds his way in there to play. But, shhhh, don't tell Caleb!

I know it's a little picture heavy, and they weren't the best pictures at that.  I'm just so thrilled with how it turned out!  

His room is so cozy and inviting.  When I tuck him into bed at night, I just want to snuggle down in the bed, too.  I walk into his room and Caleb has the classical music playing softly (Yes, he LOVES classical music! He's older than his years.), the lamp is on reflecting such a warm glow from the orange walls, and he's busy reading a book and then I know I got this room right.  It's perfect for him! 

(Except for the lavender wall in the closet, that still needs to be repainted!)

Mirror Revamp

I think I've mentioned before that we're pretty frugal around here, you might even call us cheap but that would be tacky so please don't.  When I was redoing the kids rooms, I spent a morning or two scrouring our local Goodwill stores looking for shelves and picture frames.  I came across this mirror for $2.49!  I knew instantly it would make a great mirror in my daughter's room.

First, I covered the mirror with painters tape and paper.  Take your time getting in the corners.

Give it a good coat of spray paint, I choose white. Then I attached a pretty ribbon to the back. I just used thumbtacks, but you could staple or glue it.  Then, I added a shabby chic fabric rosette to give it a little more "something."  Then I made sure to hang at my daughter's height. :)

Do not notice the messy room in the background.  But do notice one of the sources, you can see the baby dumping out a box of his sisters beads onto the floor.  I'm starting to question why I would put the two messiest people in the house in the same room!

To make the flower rosette, tear a piece of fabric about 1.5 inches wide and 44 inches in length.  Sew a long basting stitch down one side, pull on a thread until the fabric draws up into a ruffle, twist into a flower shape and stitch on a button catching all layers to secure.  If you don't have fabric, you could use ribbon, or a even a fake flower with the stem snipped off.  

I love the mirror and so does my daughter!

I'm linking up to Transformation Thursday. :)

sneak peek!

just a little peek into the kids rooms!

The painting is done for the most part, now comes the fun...the decorating!

living like refugees

My kids are living like refugees for the next couple of days.  Toys are packed up, beds are in the middle of rooms, they're sleeping on the floor, climbing over boxes to get to the closet and we couldn't be more excited about it!

Right now the two boys who are 8 years apart are sharing a room.  Which means I hear all day long, " Mo-om!  Ian's in my legos again!  I just want some privacy!  Ian get the legos out of your mouth!"

Meanwhile, my daughter who is in between them in age tells us, "But I don't want to sleep alone in my room.  I want a roommate.  I'm the only one who doesn't get to share a room!"

So, in a moment of weakness, or insanity, the hubby and I decided to let the kids switch rooms.  Simply moving the baby is not an option since my daughter's room is WAY too small to have two kids in it. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm repainting both rooms and while I'm at it, repainting my daughters furniture and just simply redecorating the rooms.  YEA!!!!

My mind is swarming with ideas, just SWARMING.   My son wanted an orange room.  I had a moment of hesitation and then, luckily, I came to my senses because it is fan-FREAKING-tastic.  Toasted Pumpkin by Valspar.  I've never painted orange before, but wow, wow, wow.

The hubs snapped this photo last night of the first swipe of paint.  I loved the purple and green with a white polka dot that I did for the girl.  But, it's time to move on.  I can't wait to show you the orange tomorrow when it's all painted.  Meanwhile, these are some inspirations

the orange room that got me excited

this whole flickr set is fun

and another one in case you have nothing else to do!

Tomorrow, I hope to show you the pic of the painted room for the oldest.  There's still a lot of decorating to do, but at least it'll give you an idea.  :)