Trash to Treasure Coffee Can

Life has been busy. I have some big projects in mind that I hope to share soon (valances, closet reorganization, painted dresser) but in the meantime I have just been trying to catch my breath since getting the kids started at school and soccer and everything else that seems to pop up.

Yesterday my son had to stay home from school because of a little cold. So - as he drew pictures at the kitchen table - I tried out my new silver contact paper. It's FUN. I want to cover everything in silver now! But, knowing my husband would think I lost my mind...I just spruced up my little coffee station. I've had this coffee container for several months and keep refilling it because it is a convenient shape, size and my three year old can open it (she loves to make her momma coffee and I'm not going to discourage it). So, to make it a more attractive permanent fixture on my counter top - I covered it with silver contact paper, a paper bag label, decorative paper on top, and some mod podge to seal the label. So easy and silly - but a fun little project to do while my son did his thing - and it got rave reviews from my personal barista daughter this morning.

My reusable coffee container

All spruced up with it's silver self. Notice the matching cinnamon?

This is a view of the whole area a couple months ago before I also redid the mail spot and medicine spot.

See? Looking better! I love getting things organized, a little cuter and simpler. A little change goes a long way in making a busy household feel manageable!

Linking up to Poppies at Play to give you a chance to see some way more creative projects! Also, for some impressive Trash to Treasure - check out Reinvented!

An Old Window

I just read Kimm's post at Reinvented and she's talking about decorating with old windows and asking for other ideas. My husband and I first did this several years ago and have changed out the pictures a couple times. I think we bought the window for $10 at a junk shop in my home town in Indiana. We've definitely gotten our money worth and always get compliments on this. It's very simple. After breaking the glass out and cleaning up the window pane - I just added pictures attached in clear frames. I've used floating frames and fishing line before too - for a kind of floating picture feel.

I look forward to our next move because I may do something completely new... or not... I sure do love pictures of my kids around. ;)

Trash to Treasure Tuesday and Tablescape Thursday

Edited: I'm reposting to include the Tablescape Thursday icon. My tablescape below is really rather embarassing compared to the others. But - I've got to start somewhere... ;)

These are some plain desert plates I've had forever. They are very nice - but I really never use them. So I decided to fancy them up with a 4th of July theme. We love the 4th around here - mostly because our littlest blessing was born on July 4th 2006! So - these plates will actually probably be used to serve some birthday cake on Saturday.

I used paper napkins - cut the star out in a circle. Then used spary adhesive to put it on the bottom of the plate. I then used modpodge to seal it. The food, etc. won't touch it since it is adhered to the bottom and showing through. AND - if I really want to - with some elbow grease, etc. I can change out the theme for a different holiday. These plates are also always handwashed - so I'm not worried about that. All in all - I like them and think I will use them at least twice a year - which is twice more a year than they've been used.

Here is the finished plate. I did four of them and then put them on some red place mats I bought around Christmas.

The finished table . Yes, my placemats need to be ironed... but I'm lazy like that. There will just be four of us this weekend (our big plans with family are next weekend)... so this works perfectly! The blue metal star is from the Dollar General. It is heavy and nice. I'll probably use it somewhere other than just here on the 4th. By the way though - Dollar General? Different from the Dollar Tree. This baby costs FIVE dollars. Oh - and the table cloth... a canvas drop cloth. I know - they're awesome.

Here's my little sweetie this morning. Sorry for the funny cropping - it was a horrible picture of me... I don't usually edit myself out - but, really, yuck.

By the way - if you missed my cedar chest "reinvention" yesterday. Check it out! I'm proud of it. Also, click the "reinvention" button at the top of this post to see Kimm's ideas and lots of other cool links if you're into this sort of thing. ;)

*EDITED NOTE: A thought; these would be very easy to do with some clear contact paper and any paper or fabric decor. You could cut a circle of the contact paper just the size of the bottom of the plate and use it to secure a decorative touch that would show through. Then - these could easily be switched out for any holiday or event - or just to match your evening decor!

The Cedar Chest

I mentioned this chest on my last post. Since then, I've been out of town for work and then to meet my new nephew (yes - he's adorable and tiny)... anyway, I'm excited to get back to my blogs and be able to show off the metamorphosis of my new favorite piece of furniture.

Here is what it looked like when I brought it home (the toy on top was not included. ;) My daughter insisted it be in the picture). By the way - this sucker is HEAVY. It is a Lane cedar chest and I paid $30.

It was in good shape but with dated, somewhat smelly fabric on top and was missing a couple of the white knobs. This baby actually got sanded and PRIMED (something which my husband always encourages but that I tend to ignore because I'm very impatient - and maybe a little lazy). The hard work paid off because I LOVE the result.

Here it is as it was just finished. Guess what I used for the top? Yep, a canvas drop cloth. They are all the rage around the blog world... and I have to agree. Quick, cheap, and looks great!

Here it is in it's place. I holds a basket for each of my kids to put their shoes, lunch box, whatever else gets dragged in from the car in... and my husband found that there is room for his school bag as well. ;)
This is mainly just a gratuitous cute puppy picture - but also to show you the reason that said items from picture above can no longer reside on the floor. ;)
To see more cool transformations - check out Metamorphosis Monday!

Finding Good Junk...

I've started getting a pretty good sense of where I like to go to find fun "junk" to re-do in my area... I have a couple favorite thrift stores in town now. However, I've also had some good luck with Craigslist lately (selling and buying). Last week - I happened upon an add for a cedar chest - it is a Lane and in great shape. I wasn't at all in the market for one - but as soon as I saw a picture of this one I knew just where we could use it. After it's makeover, it turned out even BETTER than I imagined. I can't wait to share pictures...although I can't until Friday. I know! That is so lame. But I'm out of town and didn't bring my camera along to upload the pictures.

My other new obsession ("other" being in addition to scouring for ugly things to make pretty) is reading Freecycle ads in my city. I'm not even looking for anything in particular. I just like to see what people are giving away! Anyone out there gotten anything awesome from Freecycle? I'd love to hear about it!

Steppin' Up

It's Tuesday again! This will be my third time or so in linking up to Kimm at Reinvented...trash to Treasure!

My find this week is a little ladder that I found at the Salvation Army store for 99 cents. This was the source of the wine rack and magazine holder I've shown as well. So, the ladder started out plain brown wood - a little country looking.

The wall I hung it on needed it to have a little color. When I tried it all white - it stuck out too much. So, I used a little golden/peachy paint with a sponge on the face of it and some rub on lettering. The lettering made it feel personal and perfect for these pictures of the kids. Now - the pictures are printed off on card stock and then decoupaged. I need to do another coat. I wanted them to look old-fashioned, antiqued. What do you think?

The 99 cent Wine Rack

I have an adorable little swimsuit cover-up to post that I made this evening for my daughter. It was a kind of a spur of the moment thing - but it turned out so cute, I'll add it to my Etsy shop. Watch for the post tomorrow probably!

In the meantime... I'm going to participate in a couple linkies today (I don't think that's at all what they're called). I just found a (new to me) blog - A Picture is Worth 1000 Words and she does "2nd time around Tuesdays" and I will also link up to Kimm at Reinvented. I'm getting this post done the night before because I'm going to busy with work tomorrow. So - if you don't see their Tuesday post yet - check back! Both of these women do some very creative things and I love browsing their blogs.

My trash to treasure and 2nd time around piece this week is this little wine rack I found at the Salvation Army store. It was 99 cents. Did you hear that? 99 cents. I've been needing a wine rack - we don't drink a lot of wine around here (I totally enjoy wine - so if you were thinking of buying me a bottle - still feel free) - but now and then we end up with a few bottles and no good place to store them. So voila - I give you my new 99 cent wine rack, which I think is completely cool.

The BEFORE - a little rickety, dirty and brown -but that's it.

The AFTER - black paint, cleaned up, left some of the brown for the cross bars, and a bottle of wine!

I know - the bottle looks lonely. Must get more wine now. Also, the flash made it apparent that I could use another coat of spray paint... although, in real life - it looks all black (glossy) - so I probably won't mess with it.