Ikea Toddler Table Re-Do

I saw this red Ikea table and chair set in someone's trash the other day and nabbed it. There were 4 chairs, but I just took 2.

 The red didn't match my house, so I saw what paint I had on hand: gray chalk paint and  green spray paint.  I tried a much prettier shade of green first, but the can jammed and I switched. It was nap time, and I knew my painting window was not going to last forever.

Not my best painting job ever. I just noticed one of the chairs needs another coat. But that's the nice thing about free-- It FREES you up to do a half-way job and not feel guilty about it.  I think Andrew likes it!

Chicken Wire Memo Board

On September 8, the crapiversary of Jack's death, Tim and I were both feeling weepy.

We tried to work a little bit from home and ended up grabbing a sandwich at Potbelly.

I asked him if he could help me with a quick project that I just hadn't gotten around to. We took a huge (32"x40") empty thrift store frame ($1.50) and attached chicken wire from Home Depot to the back with a staple gun. It was so nice to have two people to hold the wire down so that it wouldn't spring up and attack. That stuff freaks me out a little. The whole process took about 10 minutes!

I'd painted the frame in the spring using CeCe Caldwell's chalk paint in Seattle Mist. Using tiny clothes pins, I hooked photos and mementos on the board. It hangs in the kitchen where our much smaller bulletin board used to be.

 

 So easy, and I love having these sweet faces looking at me!

Pottery Barn Hack-- Metal Baskets

Do you ever save pics to your computer, and then "lose" them? I haven't figured out Pinterest yet, but when I do, I hope to be better organized with my inspiration photos.

Well, this itty bitty before and after project has been waiting for you for a while, but looking for the (gone forever!) inspiration pics took me longer than the actual project did.

This project was inspired by dark metal baskets in the PB catalog holding fresh white towels. You'll have to trust me on this.


I found 3 Elfa hanging drawers at the thrift store for less than $2 each.

Then, I spray painted them with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.
Voila! Industrial-chic towel baskets!


Love them! Alas, my bathrooms are too small to have them sitting jauntily on the floor like in the PB dream-world.

What other uses can you think of for these refreshed cuties?