Country Chic Barn Box Makeover!

You know how counters are always collecting junk?  Keys, receipts, loose change, wallets, sunglasses... random odds and ends that are important, but messy.  My mother's lake house has a counter top which always gets cluttered with my her guest's items, so for Mother's Day I decorated a sweet little box that her messy daughter her visitors could leave their crap items in without making a mess.

I found a little "barn box" at Hobby Lobby for around $5.00 (half price - weee!) and knew it would be perfect!  I couldn't leave it plain, of course, so I decoupaged a sweet little star on each side:

The bottom of the box had a hole in it...

(I believe it was intended to be a planter)

...so I cut scrapbook paper to fit and mod podged it in!

I love the traditional paper with the rustic box. 

It's now "country chic"!

She may end up using it in her home office to organize her desk, but whatever she uses it for, I am very happy with how it turned out!

I love taking something and adding a few simple touches to make it custom!  I think I need to make one for myself!  What do you think?

I am linking to a ton of great parties, so many that I simply cannot list them all here!  Pretty pretty please visit my list of Craft and Tutorial parties HERE to see all the parties I linked to!  A wealth of insipration awaits!

Sunday Inspirations and a Link Party!

I may be the last person on the interwebs to hear about this site, but my husband told me about dornob.com this morning and lemme tell ya, I was impressed with what I found!  So much inspiration! My mind is spinning with ideas of how to incorporate dornob's DIY projects into my home.

Of course I'm going to share those projects with you!  Did you really think you had to ask?

(Click on pictures to biggify)

Using an old book as a planter. 

You don't get much greener than this, peeps! Imagine this on a mantle or tablescape, anywhere really.

Recycled Garden Hose chair

I know you crafty folks could make something like this, probably much cuter!  Imagine this with a black hose and turquoise-painted wood, or yellow hose and sunny orange paint...  And you know, people throw out leaky hoses all the time... this may be an excellent item to watch for on trash day!

Garden path/patio from sawn log ends

My father, cheap thrifty and inspired man that he is, actually made something like this years ago for my parent's home in Houston.  He just sawed some firewood logs roughly 3 inches thick and plopped them on the ground (he probably dug out the soil a bit first to level it, but really nothing fancy.)  He needed a path, he had some logs, problem solved.  Houston is a VERY damp and muggy place, and even sitting right on top of dirt, the untreated logs held up beautifully.  This would be a great way to make a path or patio on the super cheap, using up the last of the winter firewood!

Concrete Light Bulb Coat Hook

This is a super cool DIY project!  This makes me wonder how many other items could be used as a concrete mold to make hooks, pulls, knobs, etc.  Cheap glass vases from the Dollar Store?  The funky shaped jar your olives came in?  I'm sure there are so many things that I can't even imagine.  I have a feeling that I will be waking up in the middle of the night thinking about this one...  What ways can you think of to use this technique?

Green Landscape in a Bottle

I'm fairly certain I have seen this before, but it either slipped my mind or I am making things up again.  Either way, I love this take on a terrarium.  Yet another great way to upcycle old bottles, vases, jars, whatever.  I don't have kids, but I bet it would be a blast to make this with your children.  I love that it can be as small or as large as you want, and I think this would be a great way to add some green to those damp, virtually sunless bathrooms most of us seem to have.  (Just me?)

Recycled Cardboard Laptop Stand

This DIY tutorial is pretty darn cool, and so simple.  I want to make one for my cookbooks.  I don't have space to have a dedicated cookbook stand on my counter, so this would be a perfect solution.  Set it up when I need to follow a recipe, and disassemble and store flat when I am done.  It would probably need one more supporting leg for the center, but that wouldn't be difficult at all, just cut three legs instead of two.  Or use a flat piece of cardboard to use as a base for the book.  Besides, when I spill that melted butter all over the counter, I'd rather it get on the cheap cardboard stand than my nice cookbook.  Just throw the stand out and make a new one! 

Birds on a Laundry Wire: Clever Outdoor Clothesline Design
Aren't these the cutest clothespins you have ever seen?  I'm thinking you could cut these out of chipboard with a jigsaw(?).  I'm not sure, but I love them.  There has got to be a way you could incorporate them into house decor as well, I just haven't thought of it yet.  What are your ideas?

Cheap Metal Hooks Turn Sticks to DIY Wooden Coat Hangers
I love this!  It has got to be the coolest hanger I have ever seen.  Maybe because I need to get out more, but I don't think so.  A hanger like this could be on display all the time - hang it on a door hook in the guest bathroom or make a bunch for your hall closet.  Or add it to that cute shirt you're giving your mom for a Mother's Day present.  Just be sure to clean the stick, obviously.  I'd probably seal it with some clear spray paint just to be certain that it wouldn't cause any staining.  I can't imagine a nicer looking hanger for anywhere near as cheap!

Hide Cords in Plain Sight
Oh how I LOATHE wires all over my house. LOATHE.  If they are on the floor, I trip on them, no matter how "safely" they are tucked against a wall or under a rug.  If they are hanging down the back of a table, you can bet they are peeking out and making my brain hurt.  I live with a geek who loves his geeky toys (to be honest, I love his geeky toys to, we have pretty wicked electronic thing-a-ma-jigs that I can never operate but make for great movie watching and so forth) but with all those electronic toys we have CORDS everywhere.  Argh!  I have to admit, when I saw this fun way to "hide" cords in plain sight, I sighed a little, because I could so do this right now with the phone cord in my living room.  At least I'd be less likely to vacuum them up (again), right?

Declutter a Workspace

Speaking of wires everywhere...This is so simple, I feel kinda dumb for not thinking of it.  Maybe everyone already knows about this, but I sure didn't.  Pegboard.  Under your desk/workspace.  Hide all the ugliness, yet still be able to unplug something without first having to untangle eleventy billion wires, which means you don't frighten the dogs with all your loud swearing.  Genius.

DIY Area Rug + LED Floor Lamp = Bright White Carpet Light

Whoa.  Is this not a wickedly awesome idea?  Can you imagine having a glowing rug?  You could make this in just about any color, I've seen these LED rope lights in tons of colors.  You could even make them blink or sparkle, or use the strands that change colors.  Groovy. 

Imagine this as wall art.  I bet this gives the most amazing ambient light - it could even be used outside.  Ooo, or hung on the ceiling!  Over a bed perhaps?  How about using it as a holiday "wreath"?

SO many possibilities for this project!  (Now if I just knew how to crochet.)

Vintage Leather Belts Recycled into Rugs, Mats & Floor Tiles

This may easily be my favorite inspiration yet.  According to the linked post, buying these lovelies can run $70 per square foot or more.  I don't think so, ladies!  I know we can make this for MUCH less.  On your next garage sale/thrift store/closet cleaning expedition, keep your eyes open for leather belts and start stocking up.  Imagine what you can create with belts, some canvas backing, glue, and a sharp box cutter.  Not only the previously mentioned rugs, mats, and floor tiles, but placemats, seat covers, tabletop inlays, desk blotters. covered headboards, upholstered trunks... oh my gosh, so many ideas! 

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I hope that this inspired you as much as it did me!

What has inspired you lately?

Don't forget to visit my Giveaway Link Party! Add your giveaway or enter to win giveaways!

Mantle Makover - Part One

Are you ready for a transformation?

A mantle transformation, that is.

Okay, I am fibbing.  More like a partial mantle transformation.  Step one of many.

Do you remember me complaining about how incredibly boooring my mantle is?  If you met my mantle at a party, it would discuss the weather.  For an hour.  In detail.  And you'd have to listen because my mantle is the boss's wife and you can't be rude to the boss's wife, right?  And then she'd start to talk about her varicose veins.  And you are all, "No!  I can't see anything!  You look great!"  even though her veins are, like, POPPING OUT and about to EAT YOUR FACE and she keeps making you lean over to look really really close and now you wish she's go back to talking about the weather, because, ARGH, this lady is giving you HIVES and you are going to SHOOT your husband for abandoning you and please someone bring me a vodka.

That is what my mantle is like.

It needs a change, is what I am sayin'.

Look:

(click on pictures to biggify)

Ergh.  Blah.  Annoying.

The first things I wanted to fix were the golden candlesticks.  See how they do nothing for the mantle?  The color is washed out and the symmetry is so tedious.

Here they are about to get some cosmetic surgery.  Begone varicose veins!

BEFORE:

The primer is, er, primed and ready to go! 

So much better already!

Ooo, flat black spray paint, I love you so. 

You are the olive in my martini.

And...

Darn it!

I forgot to take a picture of the candlesticks with their coat of black paint before I distressed them!  Argh!

Anyhoo.  Sorry about that. 

SO - imagine them solid black. 

Can you see them? 

Now picture me sanding just the edges to make some of the primer show through. 

...

Okay, quit imagining.

Because here they are!

AFTER:

(click on pictures to biggify)

See how the slight distressing just "breaks up" the black a bit? 

Don't they look expensive?  I loooooove how they turned out!

I love taking angled pictures.  Sorry if it makes you a little seasick. 

I'm an artist and I WON'T COMPROMISE!

Um, yeah.  Or not.

Anyway.

I think they look a thousand times better!  The deep red of the candles really pop - and I adore my little turquoise birdy!  I think he looks so cute with the candles all clustered around him!

So that was Mantle Makeover, Step One.  Yay!

The next target is the mirror you see in the upper left corner of the above picture.

I love this mirror, it is solid wood, and I spent $80 on it from Pier One years ago... and at a time that I really did not have $80 to spend.  I just fell in love with it and knew I would have it forever.  The raised carvings are all distressed, showing the wood grain underneath.  I think I want to paint it black, like the candlesticks, but I am so nervous about not being happy with the results.  But as it is, it is almost invisble against the builder-white wall color.  So, if I can keep my courage up, I'm 99% certain that it is next in line for the black spray paint! 

Unless you talk me out of it.

(Please talk me out of it.)

Unless you think I should do it.

(Please talk me into it.)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:                AFTER:

(click on pictures to biggify)

See all the parties I linked to here!

I would list their buttons here individually, but there are too many! 

Many thanks to the hostesses for all their time and effort!

You can be sure that, if my post fit their category, I linked to it!

Tick Tock...

I can't help it.

Really, I can't.

I am excited.

Night-before-Christmas excited.

It's kinda sad.

But. 

Like I said...

I can't help it.

Tomorrow...

Just hours away from today...

I

AM

GOING

SHOPPING.

And not just any ol' shopping...

THRIFTING!

awwwwwwwwww yeah!

Goodwill - check!  Dollar stores - you betcha!  Random thrift stores that I've passed dozens of times and never gone into for some crazy reason - HERE I COME, baby!

I have my addresses all printed out and ready for the GPS!  ATM stop is scheduled so I'll have cash in hand!  I am giddy! (As if you couldn't tell).  My husband can't stop rolling his eyes at me, but I don't care.  I want me some deals!  I keep telling him how much money I'm gonna save him, but for some reason he just shakes his head.  Ha!

AND

AND!

Saturday morning there is a HUGE neighborhood garage sale nearby in a fancy-pants area.  You bet your booty I'll be there too!  And my eye rolling head shaking soon to be cash-poor long suffering sweet and understanding husband is going with me!  He will be there to keep me from buying too much help me load my sweet finds!  I love that man!

And I LOVE ME SOME SWEET DEALS!

I can't wait to show you what I get! 

[insert big goofy grin here]  Eeeee!

MAKEOVER time!

True Mantle Confessions:

The Boredom Files

Here, in all it's non-glory, is my fireplace: Ugh. Blah. Ick.
I'm SO over it.

The Details:

• 
  
  Builder-white walls. Can't paint because I rent and don't want to invest in painting 20 foot high walls that don't belong to me. Also, am lazy.
• 
  
  White fireplace. See above.
• 
  
  White mirror. Scared to commit to another color... but ready for a change.
• 
  
  Cream scrolly iron candlesticks. Disappear into wall color, time to paint.
• 
  
  Gold-y candlesticks. Yawn. Need new paint.
• 
  
  Red candles. Never burned. Also yawn. Wrap in pretty paper maybe?
• 
  
  Red votive holders. (One somehow moved to wrong side of clock, grrr.) Glow prettily when lit, but kinda bored with them. Re-vamp?
• 
  
  Valentine's heart decorations. Oh, so lazy! Take them down!
• 
  
  Little blue birdy. LOVE! Keep in new mantle-scape!
• 
  
  Grandma's antique clock. LOVE! MUST stay where it is.
• 
  
  Almost perfectly symmetrical set-up. Yuck. I want excitement, and this is not it.

(click photos to biggify)

The bottom of the fireplace... hmmm. I love the screen, the fireplace itself isn't working right now, so I light the tealights in the fireplace screen instead (pretty!). Definite keep. Fireplace tools are clearly not needed, but I like pretending. The little basket holds scented pine cones, but I think I can do better.

The Challenge:

• 
  
  Spend as little money as possible.
• 
  
  Repurposing and re-vamping are a must.
• 
  
  Use what I have on hand: books, paper, paint, decorations that have no home

Think I can do it?

~

I'll share my progress with you here- I plan to start playing with elements today. Spray painting and rummaging through my house are on the immediate agenda! I can't wait to show you what I come up with!

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Have you re-made a mantel lately? Have one you CANNOT STAND like I do? I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment, and if you've blogged about it, link it baby!

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And, as always, I'm happy for any tips you lovelies wish to share. Trust me, I need the help.