All Keyed Up

I took the last week of June off from work and did a lot of projects around the house.  I think I was feeling creative.  OR I am sick of my yard sale purchases sitting waiting to be done.  Either way, I got some stuff done.  I think my creativity is gone this week though.  I'm not working my normal hours so I have a lot of free time, but so far this week I've been laying on my couch feeling down.  Blah.  I need the creativity back....

Anyway, this project I was really excited about.  I have always wanted to do something with skeleton keys.  So I picked up three at my favorite "junk" store.  They were 2.50 each.  Which is fine but my Dad told me he has a box of them.  Damn!  (Dad, I'll still gladly accept a few for other projects)

The keys are sitting on my back porch (yes, the steps are weathered, but they look kind of cool with the keys)

I got a wooden frame for $1.25.  I painted it black and scuffed it up a bit. 

 Then I used burlap from a ripped sack that we used for the Greek Olympics.  (Resourceful, right?) I cut a piece and glue it on to a piece of cardboard to fit the frame.

 After the burlap dried, I glued the three keys directly on the burlap. 

I love how it turned out!  It's exactly how I envisioned it.  It's now hanging in my living room. 

And for the record, I need new lamps.  Like yesterday. 

What do you think of the key project?  It's totally pottery barn, right? 

I kid. I kid.

Rockin

I posted a picture of my back porch on Monday and one of the things on the porch is now is a rocking chair.  I really enjoy this chair.  I got it last summer at a yard sale for $15. It sat inside unused for the last year and I decided it needed to be used.  But first had to give it a little makeover.

Before:

This celery color was fine but I wanted to freshen it up.

I had used this color on another project and I enjoyed it so I got a few more cans for the rocking chair.

I dragged it out to the front yard and got to work.  I wonder how annoyed my neighbors are about my spray painting. 

Drying after a few coats of paint:

After

It looks pretty good.  I really enjoy the color and can't wait to sit out there with a book.

I'm loving the yard sale makeovers happening in my life lately.  It's so fun to find a treasure and give it new life.   Next I need to find a desk and a bookshelf...

Happy Thursday!

Treasures

It's definitely feeling more like spring now.  Besides getting to wear cute dresses with no tights again, I went to my first yard sale this past weekend.  Oh, and stopped by a junk store.  Here are the treasures I picked up:

The window is actually from a few years ago.  Angie, Sabrina and I were driving past a house and saw them sitting outside.  Long story short, the guy gave us three of them so we each took one.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet but it's gonna be something cute.

I also found the turkey platter for $3.  I always wanted a turkey platter....though I'm not sure why because I've cooked a turkey.  Maybe I will this year.  Maybe I will.

The orange vase is going to be a fall vase.  I love the color.

Perhaps my favorite item is the plate.  I think I'm going to weave cute ribbon through it and maybe put sort of monogram or something in the middle.  I got two so I may use one as a fun serving plate too. 

But this got me thinking about the projects I need to do this summer. Things such as:

• spray painting the chest (in the above picture)
• painting the wicker furniture and rocker from last summer
• painting my bathroom
• finding a new desk and bookshelf for the "weird" room
• painting the weird room
• cleaning up the front yard and making it not such a hot mess
• cleaning out the storage room, closets, and anything I don't need in my life

Whew.   I can't wait until the summer!

Happy Tuesday!

Oh the Places...

It's been awhile.  I had a busy week...it's was Greek Week so that meant I was on campus for events every night (including Friday and Saturday).  Sometimes as much as I hate working so much, I am thankful for the distraction from other things.  Keeping busy saves me. 

I did get to go to Hobby Lobby with Jill on Saturday evening.  She needed to do some wedding errands at craft stores so I was glad to go.  I picked up a few cute things too.  I wish we had a Hob Lob and a Michael's here in town.  It would be great....sigh.  I'm excited to see her make progress with wedding stuff.  You know how I love a party and the prep for it!

And when I have a lot of icky real life stuff happening, I like to find projects to keep me busy so I'm currently giving some thought to how I'd like to redo a room in my apartment.  Currently, I've got an idea for the "weird room"  It's really the office/library, but it doesn't have a door so it's just an open space.  I'd like a new desk in there and I want some more bookshelves but I haven't found what I'm looking for yet.  But I'm pretty sure I've decided on the theme in there...Travel.  Here are some things I'm starting with...

I got this vintage print map for under $5 on amazon.  I just got it this week and I'm pleased with it. 

It

 And I'm going to incorporate this old globe that I got from a yard sale last summer.

 I would generally never support something like this as decor but I got this Dutch doll when I was in high school.  And since I went to high school in Holland,  it's special to me.  Look at the little wooden shoes.   

 The new Paris plates will be perfect for this room too.

 And this brings me to another project for the room.  I have an album holding all of the postcards that I've collected from every place I've been.  I want to be able to display them in a creative, classy way.  I have been trying to look for ideas but nothing brilliant yet.  If you have ideas, let me know. 

 I'd also like to get some of the prints that my Dad has of tulips in Holland too.  I always loved those. 

I think this theme is perfect for an office/library.  But even with a theme, I'm still going to refer to it as the "weird room".  It adds character.

I hope you all had a great weekend! 

Think Spring

The first day of April and there was snow predicted.  Luckily, it only snowed a little. It mostly rained, but we definitely didn't get the amount of snow that they were warning.  All I know is I'm completely sick of winter.  I mean I hate winter all the way through but this year it's creeping into spring and that's really annoying. 

In spite of the weather being so silly, I started putting out decorations for spring/Easter.  It's a little "If you build it, they will come". 

A cute little chick plate.

 A ceramic basket of eggs.  I need to do something more creative with the basket though.  I'll come up with something.

 Cute plate.  I think I got it from Cracker Barrel.

 I saw this in a magazine a few years ago and thought it was cute.

 Not spring but I put something in the birdcage I got a few weeks ago.  I need a cute plant but this is a good filler until I get something else.

 Also, not spring but I got a set of note cards and thought it would be cute framed in my room.  And I had gotten this frame at the dollar store.  Cheap, easy and fun. 



So now that I've shared the beginning of spring decorations at Club Chestnut, I hope that Mother Nature logs in and reads and decides to reciprocate with some more spring like weather.  Fingers crossed!

Have a great weeekend!

Thinking Ahead...

My vacation has been relaxing. I've read two books and finished up some work. I know I'm not supposed to do work this week but I really wanted to stay ahead of a project and not have to do it, you know, at work. (I have a sickness--I realize). Anyway, a lot of free unstructured time leads me to shop online. Currently I've been thinking a lot about Christmas because I found some cute presents for people already (all wrapped and put away). Every year when I look to decorate for Christmas, I realize I don't have a good tree skirt that I like. And every year I think....I should really get one before next year. Angie and I found one that would do, but it still wasn't what I wanted exactly. I've finally found one I like and ordered it this morning. It's the prim plaid quilted tree skirt and I really think it'll look cute under my tree.

It's a sickness...I know