Transformation

One of my favorite hobbies is decorating my home and making it feel like a beautiful and relaxing haven. One of my favorite ways to decorate is to find things that are not necessarily beautiful to begin with but have great potential! Last week Stephanie and I were scouring antique shops for the perfect cupcake/cake plate for my baby shower. I was having no luck and in a moment of desperation decided to look at the Goodwill. I didn't find "the perfect cake plate" (though I found one that worked in a pinch) but I did find this ugly chalkboard.

Why would I buy such an ugly chalkboard you might ask? Because it has HUGE potential!!

Because I turned that ugly chalkboard into this in less than an hour. Bliss for $5.99 and I already had the paint!

I was going to spray paint the chalk trays, but derided to leave them silver.

I love having a funky place to display some of my fun photography.

I took this picture on the road to Hana on Maui.

And this lovely toadstool shot on a beautiful hike Mike and I went on in Whistler BC Canada.

Best of all I love having a place for my husband to leave me love notes!

A year and a half ago Mike brought these windows home from a job site. he knew I would love to find some way to use them!

About six months later I finally got up the guts to play with one. I painted it bleached almond (my favorite rich creamy paint color ever!) and attached those little glass knobs. I SO LOVE how it turned out!! Please excuse the Valentines decorations :) The windows were free, I already had the paint, and I spent $16 on the glass knobs.

The full view and my lovely model ;-)

Two nights ago when I painted the chalkboard I decided it was time to paint another window. I had painted this smaller one green several months ago and distressed it. I hated it, but that is the great thing about paint. If you hate how something turns out, you can re-do it.

I painted it black.
Left the original hardware.

Added some hooks.

And now I have a beautiful window that I am going to hang in the staircase with pictures of my beautiful son in it.
Windows: Free
Paint: Already had. Free
Hooks: $7
Making things I love for my home? PRICELESS!

And just for fun I did this last week:

I got this as a baby gift. The yellow TOTALLY matches my new diaperbag, but Big bird and Grover not so much.

So I took the leftover scraps from altering the letters for Jeremah's name above the crib and a bottle of Mod Podge and Viola!

(Seriously, sorry about these last photos not being rotated. They ARE rotated in my photo album, so I don't know why they are uploading like this!?!)

Mike thinks I am crazy for altering this travel wipe container, but I love it and now it totally matches my diaper bag. I girls got to accessorize!!

My thrifty finds of the day that I will alter and post later. The metal basket I am going to spray paint white and store Jeremiah's crib sheets in it. The baby patterned flannel I am going to make into cloth wipes and the frame with the red and the one with the white mat, those are going to be painted black and filled with some of my favorite pictures.

This hideous small frame is going to have a new life painted blue with those pretty raised scrolls and flowers distressed so you can see the brown through the blue. It will be pretty!
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