Friday, June 22, 2012

What I Wore Wednsday {Week 1}

       My good friend Lauren, over at Enjoying The Journey introduced me to this great blog Biblical Homemaking.  I love this blog and have been stalking it quite a bit recently.  I quickly noticed that once a week (on Wednesdays) she has a What I Wore post.  It honestly isn't something that greatly interests  me, until I found her post on Why she posts what she wore. {And I really like that it is a whole group of blogging ladies who do this weekly segment on what we wore. Check out the Pleated Poppy What I Wore Wednesdays for the background of the idea.}

       Proverbs 31 has always been a favorite verse of mine and is very much the life I would like to emulate. I usually don't care much about the clothes I wear, or the brands they are. However, Proverbs 31 says that She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. v. 21. Of course I have clothes to protect our bodies (the snow part) but the scarlet part is what gets me. Obviously God is not suggesting that I wander around in crimson clothes all the time.  It is an indication of wealth and value (but don't forget being a good steward of the family's money as discussed throughout Proverbs 31).  Scarlet clothes = good quality fabrics.

       I still don't put clothing high on my priority list, but I think it's a great motivator for me to remember to dress nicely and look my best often.  If for no other reason than for myself, because after all, when I look nice - it helps me feel just a little bit better for the day.



 

 (I'm going to have to work on getting better pictures like what the other ladies who post manage to take weekly....)

       The dress came from Target, it was on sale (I almost never buy clothes that aren't on sale) for roughly $11.  A gold butterfly necklace that was my mothers and a pair of black sandles/flats that I got at Dots for $5. My hair was pulled back into a $1 Target clip. A $17 outfit!

My favorite part about it all, check out the pockets! : )









 Again with the bad picture taking...
I got this shirt a few years ago at walmart, totally worth the $5 I spent on it! The skirt is Ann Taylor that I got at a second hand store (Plato's Closet) with the tags still on it for $7!!
Shoes were white sandles for $6 at Dots.








For a new concept, I'm fairly happy with how it all went. I also took the time to clean out my closet this week (marking off #27 on my 101 list) cleaning out all the stuff that I'll A)never wear again and B)never fit again made me realize that I honest to goodness do not own enough clothes (an idea I was beginning to understand a couple of weeks ago).  Looks like a series of thrifting adventures are in store! : )


Linking up at The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday!

(published on Friday because I forgot the past two days... )




Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Grey... it's the new Beige!


       I have quite honestly never painted a room from start to finish by myself* before this past weekend! A pain in the toosh? yes. Rewarding? yes.

* I did have the very capable help of my husband who did over 3 hours of prep work and the bulk of the walls on both coats while I did the detail work of cutting out, and edges etc.

       This was the second half of my weekend painting adventures!  (By the way... we also had time to take all the furniture out of our bedroom and rip the carpet up! it is being painted this upcoming weekend.)  I didn't have a particular color in mind but had been playing around with the idea of a nice, rich Grey. Our towels for that bathroom are teal/turquoise and brown - I thought Grey would be a nice neutral without being a generic beige.  I ended up with Glidden's Granite Grey (paint & primer in one, it took 2 coats)





     This is our "little" bathroom before painting.  John had hauled all the junk out of the room and wiped down the walls when I took the picture. There was enough natural light in the room at that moment to make the walls almost not look as terrible as they truly were.





(Little bathroom from the perspective next to the toilet. I wasn't kidding... it's small! and disregard that door that needs to be replaced...)




In this picture you can sort of see the color of the pretty, new grey walls. I took it late at night so there wasn't any more natural light in the room to help the image.










Voila! A complete bathroom! I still have a few details to attend to. I need to re-hang the curtains in the window. They're a gauzy teal color.  I also have a shelf that belongs above the toilet but I painted it bronze and I was waiting for it to dry when I took this picture.

I'm so excited and can't wait to paint the bedroom next!  I've already started working on the extensive repairs the walls need prior to painting.  : )



Monday, June 11, 2012

a weekend of Painting!

       Well , I got a burr in my saddle (so to speak...).  John was home sick and I had finished work for the day, so I was stopping by Walmart to get soup for my boo.  It is always a mistake to walk into Walmart though the general merchandise door rather than grocery... I always get distracted.

       I found myself wandering the paint aisle... at least it was a productive use of my time! I gathered the supplies to paint the front door & our "little" bathroom.

     


        Here is a picture of the hideousness that is our front door.  It has taken a beating over the years (what isn't more fun than fighting with your siblings and the running to the front door only to slam it shut and lock it with the angry sibling on the other side?)

       
        Being a steel door, it has quite a few dents (particularly at the height of our formerly little feet) and as you can see, it has developed quite a rust problem. So Rustoleum spray paint was the obvious choice. (particularly because I wasn't interested in scrubbing the rust off)



       First thing was first... to take the door of the hinges. Never a fun task, but just about every time we need to move a piece of furniture or appliances in or out we have the pleasure of removing the front door so I'm accustomed to it.

       Next I wiped the door down with a towel and generic rubbing alcohol. Since I wanted to paint the same day I wasn't going to be patient enough to truly wash the door down and wait for it to dry and I was only concerned with surface dirt.

Foil Protector
Check out my Ah Hah Pin board for a collection of othergreat ideas!
        






I found this pin on Pinterest some time ago and happened to remember it when I was considering my limited options to cover the knob and lock on the door. I am happy to report that it works even with spray paint! 






 


Look at the difference in color! I'm so excited!
 Then came the most tedious miserable part of the entire project... taping. : (  Remember me mentioning that this was a spur of the moment project? Well that would my explination for the ridiculous job I did of covering the windows on the doors interior (my first side/attempt).










 When I took the bags off the door I didn't like the way the "white" frame around the window looked against the brown door. I was considering buying a separate paint and painting it a contrasting color by hand.  But then I realized I could take the 'grid' off the glass on the interior side window! 












 The second time around for the exterior side of the door, I had learned my lesson about bags as a cover. Also, since I had decided to paint the frame grid (and this side wasn't removable) I needed to protect the glass and still get all that ugly covered up.  

    I folded pages and taped them into the window panes (hey look - an old 31 catalog!). For the record. Taping these pages into the windows took longer than the entire rest of the project put together - including taking the door off the hinges and putting it back!




 
The finished look! : ) (excuse the messy kitchen on the other side!)
Sometime soon, I suppose I need to do work on the door frame... but that's low on the priority list!

From the inside, after I hung the curtain back up. 
I'm so excited about how it turned out! I feel like the little things I can do to improve the house make a big impact!  

Technically the door could probably use replacing, but since the house repair budget is going to more important/pressing needs - I think this serves nicely as a compromise.


All in all, it was 2 cans of spray paint and about 3 hours work! 

 
Coming soon I'll tell about our bathroom painting adventure!