Stairway Art

I have been MIA these last couple weeks... due to being in full on nesting mode!
Which is a good thing and means I have been knocking projects off my list left and right. I also celebrated my 30th birthday in there and had my parents come visit for a week! Who says turning 30 isn't a blast!?

Having my mom stay with me was a HUGE blessing! She helped with many of the little projects that desperately needed done( like hanging tons of baby cloths and ripping down offending border in the baby's room)! She also helped with a few projects I was too afraid to tackle on my own. One of those was my stairway photo wall... I have a very hard time committing on where to hang artwork, my mom on the other hand just goes for it! Her house is an example of how to hang art work correctly...it all makes sense and is always the right scale for its location. I don't know how she does it! I, on the other hand, way over think everything...which is why my mud room is pretty much an art work storage area. Kinda sad! SO...while she was here, I asked if she would help me hang pictures in my stairwell. I wasn't going to hang much art work until the walls and trim got painted (notice the lovely honey colored stair rail ..blah..), but I think my nesting mode makes me want our house to feel more lived in. Thankfully my mom took on the task and showed me a thing or two in the process!

I had a ton of black framed family photos and an empty one I wanted to make a sign for. We got the idea to add a few other empty frames to balance out the first one!

Yellow Chair {before & after}

{before}

You may remember this chair from my post Yard Sale Tales{week 2}.

 It was in pretty sad shape..rusty, bent and very unloved.

 {after}

It didn't take much to spiff this little chair up. I scraped off the loose paint and took some sandpaper to it to even out any rough spots. Then it was simply a matter of picking a color. I decided this sunny yellow would be perfect! This chair will be able to move in or out of the house as needed. It took one can of semi-gloss spray paint...although it really needed two if I were concerned with painting the underside of the seat...which I might...someday. I am pretty sure this chair had a cushion at some point, I might attempt to recreate one eventually, but haven't been inspired yet.

I love how this chair looks against the house and flowers...and wait till you see it next to the new porch swing! So fun!

As you can see it might come in handy as a photo prop too!

Total project cost:

$1 chair

$4 for spray paint

I had sanpaper so no cost to me there!

Yard Sale Tales {week 4}

Another great day of yard sales all around town. I think sometimes that we have our little dates going to yard sales so that we can avoid all the projects that need done at home. Lol..oh, well! I love the time with my husband and little E, getting to explore and having lunch before we call it a day. This last Saturday we were hitting up yard sales on our way north to Bonners Ferry. Our real mission was to pick up pig feed, but who can resist all those signs!

As you can see we didn't have a huge haul, but we got some adorable things! The old printers tray  was a steal at $5! The lady selling them had over thirty of these because her dad once owned a printing shop. She was so nice and even took me inside to see all the metal printer letters( not yet for sale...sad face...!) These trays can sell anywhere from $20- $75 dollars in a antique shop, so I would say we did really good. After we paid for the tray she told us to grab any book "for the baby"...I sifted through the random books and as I did I came across this adorable little reader, French Reader for Beginners. Its from the 1920's and is just absolutely the sweetest little book. My favorite thing about it are the little notes written by the owner of the book. It is a little piece of history and who knows, maybe I'll attempt to teach E some french! Oh la la!

I have to apologize for the last items...the cute white mirrors weren't so white when I bought them. In fact they were a very gaudy gold. I got them home and slapped a coat of paint on them without even getting a before shot! Sorry that you can't see how ugly they were! I saw their potential and loved that they were only $1 for the three! Nice! They don't look half bad now do they!

That's all for this week!

Oh wait! I have this cute little outtake of Miss E "helping" me set this photo shoot.

You may notice the tiny rocks that she added to the printer tray...and she kept rearranging the mirrors.

How anything gets done...I have no idea!

Yard Sale Tales {week 1}

So excited for what I hope becomes a weekly installment! I thought I would do a weekly wrap up of our yard sale adventures and finds. Now that the summer weather is here, I will be be venturing out to see what treasures I can find. I do have a list {in my head} of things I'm looking for, but in general I try to go out with an open mind!

This weekends haul was unusually large, but with so many adorable things at pretty amazing prices it was hard to pass up!

Do you love as much as I do!!! The two arm chairs are my favorite find! I know, I know...they are pretty rough right now, but they have a strong frame and classic lines! I haven't decided what I'm going to do to them yet, but I'll be sure to keep you posted!

The black wood box is so cool! It will be perfect in my office to organize things!

The little brown shelf will get a coat of paint to match a white one I found last week...both will be cute book ledges in Ellery's room!

These two wall sconces will get a makeover, but should find a home in Miss Ellery's room- if I can get them rewired! I will probably loose the white milk glass globes and update the feeling a bit, but tons of potential!

The little bottle will be a perfect addition to my milk glass collection! {I have never paid more than a couple bucks for any of it!}

This quirky mail organizer is prime make over material too- I'm thinking painted white and distressed a bit? Hopefully the eagle comes off so I can preserve its vintage patina.

This beautiful vintage bunt pan is going to be fun to use! Its nice and heavy and has a cool design!

Now here was something I couldn't resist for my Ohio born hubby! The leather bankers envelope is from The Ohio State Life Insurance Company for only $1!

The little box is hand made- inside is the original gift givers note! I don't know how to judge age on this one, but I am a box addict so it will easily find a place somewhere and will eventually store SOMETHING!

I think this weekend was a huge GINORMOUS success!