Filling a Picture Frame With Magazine Pages

This might be a temporary fix. I just really needed something to put in the frame!

I recently put a bookshelf in Willow's room, because after two years of living in this house she still didn't have one. On the same day I did that project I ran across a frame that I got at a yard sale. I figured it was perfect because now I can make the bookshelf project feel more complete by adding something fancy and fun at the same time.

I didn't have any family pictures to put in the frame, so I thought for a second...then i realized I had a bunch of magazines that have tons of pictures in them. So I grabbed a stack and started going through them.

I found some really fun pages, with funky stuff on them, but I decided to go with a theme. I ended up choosing flowers.

I tried a couple different combinations...

Ultimately, I chose three kinds of flowers.

I trimmed the pages down, and used scotch tape to set them in place in the frame. I replaced the back of the frame, and ended up with this:

I am trying to decide whether I want to hang the frame vertically or horizontally.

I can easily replace the pictures whenever I want to. I know I will find better pictures to put in this frame, but it's better than it being empty!

Willow was very pleased with her new bookshelf and pretty pictures. I'm glad I could do something to make her books more accessible and to make her feel like Mama truly cares about her books and her bedroom.

A Bookshelf for Willow

With baby Josiah's due date fast approaching I have been in super nesting mode. This is a good thing considering I still hadn't gone through all of the previous homeowner's belongings that were left behind when we moved in two years ago! It's time for changes.

We did a lot of work on Willow's room, but she was still lacking some storage. One thing that was definitely not functional was a basket full of books. I mean, how can you find the book you want to read when you have to dig through a basket? 

I love this sturdy basket that I got at Ross, but I will probably use it for a toy box for Josiah. It was time to give Willow a bookshelf. I really wanted to do a cool pallet wood project and get all "Pinteresty", but unfortunately I don't have a sawzall to cut the pallets up with. So I'm working with what I have on hand.

This is the shelf that is going into Willow's room because I don't care for it in my room, it's the perfect size for the space, and I need to get Josiah's nursery ready and this shelf is taking up space on his nursery wall. I don't like the dark color of the shelf, but it was Chris's grandparent's and I won't paint it because of that.

Here's what the corner in her room looked like before I realized that I had a bookshelf for her to use! Total "Duh!" moment for me last night. Yeah, and total kid's room picture...

We went through all the books, and Willow is donating all of the ones stacked in front of her. The rest go on the shelf. Very proud Mama!

It took me a little while, between getting supper made, grocery shopping and chores, but I got the books on the shelf and just added some of her cute things real quick. I also put some pictures in a pretty frame to put on top of the shelf, or I might hang it on the wall above the shelf. I'm just not sure yet.

It's 9:10pm, and I am DONE working for the night! These projects take a lot out of me, so I'm wiped!...but I do have a small post coming up about the picture frame project.

                                 

My Customer Review on Better Homes and Gardens Posies Plaid Comforter Set

This is my review on the Better Homes and Gardens Posies Plaid Comforter Set that I bought at Walmart.

This is a common "in-store" product.

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This bedding set is stunning. We bought it yesterday. I've been thinking about trying it in our bedroom for quite some time. The colors are pretty and embroidery is very romantic. We bought orange sheets to go with it, because my husband really loves orange. I love the color of the bedskirt, and the orange ribbon detail on the comforter and pillow shams.

The downfalls: This morning my husband woke up and said the comforter is very warm. Pretty much, it is too warm for him. He's a warm sleeper. I love it because I am a cold sleeper. He woke up sweating! The material that holds the bedskirt under the mattress is very cheap looking and feeling. It's possible that it could rip while we do "mattress flipping". I've purchased other BH&G bedding sets, and that material in that part of the set was better quality in the other sets. Another MAJOR downfall is that if you do any sitting on the comforter the embroidery does come apart. It's even worse if you have kids that like to sit on the bed with you. My five year old has already loosened up a lot of the threads. Remember, we just bought this set yesterday!

If I were a single woman with no husband, kids, or animals...I would keep it. It's perfect for me. Although, I haven't washed it yet. If I did wash it, it would probably loosen up the embroidery threads pretty bad. It would have to go in a really large machine on a very gentle cycle...or be washed by hand in the tub and line dried.

I'm sad that it's going back. I really think it's beautiful.

Better Homes and Gardens; Posies Plaid Comforter Set

House Progress

We are getting a new kitchen sink, faucet, and countertop installed next week! I'm pretty excited because the kitchen we have is original to the house, minus the primer on the walls. The countertops are stained and the sink is a nasty porcelain sink from hell...which also gets stained very badly. For a while the sink was leaking pretty bad, and the sprayer doesn't work at all. The sink is also only 5 inches deep, and I need a deeper one.

UPDATE: This is the new sink right before it got installed.

Willow's room is STILL not painted, but tomorrow I will be using the cattle prod on the hubby to get him moving along.

UPDATE: Progress has been made on Willow's bedroom. You can see that HERE.

We've been trying to find curtains for our bedroom and living room, but the ones I got for the living room are not working out. I got the crazy idea to try Willow's royal purple sheers in the living room, complete with a swag on top, and it turns out they are really beautiful with the light shining through. I promise I will give them back to Willow when her room is ready. ;)

We are also looking for a bright jewel toned comforter set for our bedroom to go with pictures in ornate gold frames and our buddha statue. We're also considering bamboo shades with pretty colored sheer curtains on top. This old house is a lot of work!

Willow's Room

We are still working on Willow's room. We've had a few other things that we are doing, so that doesn't help any. We're also having a little problem with the purple paint not covering well, but we will do the best we can. She might end up with three colors on her walls, instead of the two! A while back we picked up some things for her room from Ross that we were saving for her birthday, but we wanted her input, so she knows what's going on now.

Yesterday we took her out to do some errands, and she gave us a really hard time. I decided to put the work on her room on hold until she turned her behavior around. So yesterday she had to work off the attitude! We cleaned up some weeds in the front garden together, and the painting resumed today.

Here's the two paint colors we're working with. This paint came from a second hand home improvement store. These two cans cost us $2.

UPDATES!

I never did get around to posting pictures of how Willow's room turned out, so here I am over a year later posting an update. I only have a few cell phone pics, but I figured it was better than nothing!

I will include a list of the items we bought and materials we used at the end of this post. 

You should also check out the first BEFORE picture of what the room looked like when we moved in and we were cleaning boxes out of the house! You can find that picture on the very bottom of this post.

~Bamboo shade: Home Depot

~Shiny, pink sheer curtains: Ross

~Five colored standing light fixture: Walmart

~Gold picture frames, plastic, set of 10, all different sizes: Ross

~Bed comforter: Walmart

~Purple sheets and pillow cases: Walmart

~Pink bed skirt: Walmart

~Green fuzzy pillow: Walmart

~Blue fuzzy body pillow: Ross

~Silver curtain rod set: Walmart

~Glass hanging candle holders (not used for candles): Ross

~Pink Angry Bird pillow: Walmart

~Frosted glass vanity light fixture: Home Depot

~AMAZING octopus art print: By the talented Amy Weber. You can find her work on here on Etsy: 

AmyWeberArt

~Orange dresser: Vintage item that came with the house

~Orange and yellow roll-top desk: Vintage furniture that came with the house

Painting materials: 

We used all the usual materials which includes: 

~Drop cloth

~Paint rollers

~Sponge brushes: (better than bristle brushes!)

~Painter's tape: (I cannot express how important it is to use FROG TAPE! The adhesive is much better quality than cheaper brands)

~Exacto knife: (to cut painter's tape if it is not placed correctly, AND in case you try to pull the tape off and the paint is too thick.)

~Damp washcloth: to wipe up boo-boos and spills. 

~*Dap* fast n' final lightweight spackling

~Electric palm sander with fine grit sandpaper

~Lots of elbow grease and hard work