Living Room Wall

Remember the middle of this post, where I showed pictures of my living room? Well, I am happy to say that it is the only completely finished room in our house. All the pictures are hung, furniture is where it should be, and the walls are even painted!
Do you need a refresher so you can remember what it looked like before?

The walls were a yellow that clashed with the floor...

And the 'focal wall' looked horrible with the fireplace and the yellow on the other walls.

Are you ready to see it now?

What do you think? Do you love the light grey as much as I do?

This is the picture wall above the love seat. I just LOVE how it turned out.

All these frames were just sitting around my house waiting for spray paint. It honestly took no longer than 5 minutes, and I had all matching frames!

I found this key at a little store in our area quite a few years ago. I LOVED it, but I didn't ever know what to do with it. A little twine, a little frame, and you've got something cute to hang on your wall!

Our family picture, taken by Urban Fig Photography. I love it so much! It's HUGE, and I'm thankful I got it printed so big, because I had a big empty space that needed something. Perfect!

Thanks for dropping by! Don't be shy! Leave a note to say you were here. I'd love to hear what you think!

My Window.

Wow! It's been a while since I posted! Our house is for sale, and all my crafty/creative stuff is packed away in storage so to not make our house seem too crowded.
Although I haven't been posting, I have been following some great blogs. One of my favorites is Cozy.Cottage.Cute. I absolutely LOVE everything that girl does. She has a fondness for old windows, too. She put up this great tutorial for how to finish a window. She put mirrors in hers, which is  a good idea too, but I didn't want mine to be too heavy. Check her blog out.
A few months ago, I found a great old window at a garage sale for about $5.00. I've always loved the look of an old window finished just right, but have never loved the price that comes along with them. $100? For a crusty old window? I just couldn't justify it, no matter how great it looked in my home. After Sarah put up her tutorial, I knew just what I would do.
The $5.00 window I found looked like this.

It was in (mostly) great shape. The glass had little paint splatters on it, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get them off, or get all the grime off the glass. I decided the glass needed to come out. As I was taking the glass out, one of the inside window bar things (yes, that's a technical term) fell out. I used some 'No More Nails' to hold that in place, and, voila, it was good to go!

Next, I primed the whole window with 'Exterminator'.

I didn't sand before I primed, because I wanted the window to have lots of texture when I was finished.

After priming the window, I im-patiently waited for it to dry. Next came painting. I chose the cheapest white I could find at Benjamin Moore.

I waited... again... for paint to dry.

When it was dry, I took some sandpaper and sanded the crap out of it. I did the edges first, just to give it a natural weathered look. Then, I sanded the flat pieces lightly, just so the wood would show through a little.

Final result didn't show up as well as I'd hoped in pictures, but here's a couple shots. I think I'm in love!

My dear husband is not a huge fan of the whole 'paint something white and sand it all off to make it look old' thing, and he thinks I should re-paint this window dark, DARK navy blue or charcoal and try it again. What do you all think?

A Coat Rack and a Mini Chair...

After deciding (months ago) to paint the downstairs of our hose I took everything out of the entranceway, painted a single coat, and that was it. I knew it needed another coat, but I lacked motivation. Anyways, it's now several months later, and we've just been throwing our coats, mittens, toques, scarves... everything... onto our big chair in the living room and the end of the banister. I was getting kind of sick of it, so I went out and bought some wood and some stain today. I made a coat rack that I am more than proud of! I think it turned out great! I even made a shelf on top so I could put our mittens, toques, scarves *winter gear* in little baskets and keep them on top! Pretty clever, eh? Here's what it looks like...

Here it is!!! All stained and perdy...

I did SUCH a good job, it didn't even fall when I hung stuff on it!

Now to just put the baskets on top, and it will be finished!

 I picked up this tiny little kids chair for $2 today. Yes, only $2. I wasn't sure I liked color, because it was more pink than red. Oh well, I had already bought stain, so I could fix it!

Before I did anything to it.

I LOVE what the stain did to it! Especially on the seat. I just wiped it on and wiped it off, letting it get thicker on the edges.

I decoupaged some newspaper-looking scrapbook paper to the legs, although now I think I shouldn't have.

Another shot of the seat, just because I love it so much.

And there you have it! I'd say I've had a pretty productive afternoon!