Before & After Home Tour (Part 5) : The Little Girl's Room

  I love how this blog inspires me to get more of my projects done so I can tell you about them. It's wonderful motivation!

  My little princess & I cleaned up her room & hung some new pictures this week. She says, "My room is awesome!" :) I quickly took some pictures to share with you.

  It went from bo-ring to bright & cheery.

  This was actually one of the better rooms in our home when we moved in. It was just bland. We removed the carpet & old navy blind.

  We painted it a pretty pink for our princess-in-training. She wanted a pink & purple bedroom. When I heard that I cringed. I was imagining a hideous, neon shaded room. Fortunately, things didn't turn out that way. Lots of white with only small splashes of purple helped pull this off.

And because we all love a before & after:

  On another note, this weekend is the Fall Festival I've been working so hard to prepare for. If you'd like to see some of the goodies I'll be selling at my booth this weekend, click here, here, here, & here. I'll let you know how things went on Monday. I hope you'll join me.

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

The Creative Paige

Tatertots & Jello

Playful Decor

Bulletin Board Makeover

  I'm not alone am I? Every family seemingly has a ton of loose papers floating around or sitting in piles, boxes, & binders. I personally like to have some of those papers out in the open for reminders or to appreciate (such as my children's artwork), but I don't like to have my fridge cluttered up with a bunch of stuff. This was my solution. A bulletin board. Simple, right? The trick for me was to have a nice looking one & not spend a lot of money. I was so blessed with this project that I didn't end up spending a penny! The supplies was either: 1) given to me, or 2) I already had it on hand. That's what I call economical!

  Several months ago, I helped my mom go through & organize some rooms in my parent's basement. We made piles of things to keep, give, & toss. At the end of the day, I ended up taking part of the "give" pile home with me! The bulletin board, frame, silver paint, & glaze were all items that I "inherited" (wink, wink) from my mom. I took the frame with another project in mind for it altogether. It took me a few months to figure out that the bulletin board was a perfect fit for it! It was easy glued into place using white craft glue (I had on hand) after I had painted the frame with purple craft paint (I had on hand).

It hung painted like this for months. Last weekend, when we painted our hallway & back entry, I had taken it down & had another look at it. I thought it looked kind of flat & boring (the paint was flat, after all). I looked in my box o' craft paints from my mom's basement & found a creamy glaze & a silver paint.

Enter brain wave. "What about a shimmery white glaze?" Sounded lovely to me. What did I have to loose? I had no money invested in it after all. "Let's play around", I thought.

So, I concocted a mixture of 3 parts creamy white glaze & 1 part silver paint.

On it went. And then off it came. On purpose. I painted it on making sure to get it in the corners & nooks & crannies. Then I took a rag & wiped off the excess. Here's what I was left with:

 When it was dry, I edited what I had pinned on it earlier & put up the papers, postcards, etc. that I wanted to remember/display. I really like how the shimmery white adds some detail to what was otherwise kind of a boring bulletin board.

What kind of projects have you been up to lately? I did some thrift shopping yesterday & found the ingredients for several more projects. I'm excited to get started! A lamp makeover, some sweater pillows, some wall art as well as some other goodies. You won't want to miss it!

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' up to: 

Today's Creative Blog 

Mommy By Day... Crafter By Night

Transformation Thursday

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Tater Tots & Jello

The Creative Paige

From Green to Grey

  Happy Monday! How was your weekend? We tackled our painting project this weekend & I'm here to show you the results.

  Our main floor hallway needed some freshening up. When we bought the house, the hallway was a drab beige colour with dated gold veined mirrors on the far wall. Before we moved in, we removed the old mirrors & painted it a light, cheery green. After 4 years of little fingers & just life in general, it was in need of a fresh coat of paint. We were out of the original paint we used & had to purchase paint to get the job done. So we figured if we were going to make a change, now's the time! I chose a pretty grey from General Paint called "Windblown". After two coats, the deed is done! And I LOVE the results! It looks sophisticated & is fabulous next to my "Camelot" walls in the Living Room.

  I looked through all of our pictures from when we bought the house & sadly, I didn't take one of the hallway. This is the closest to a hallway before picture... the hall linen closet. One really great thing about this house is the fact that it has lots of closets! We have 8 now & there were 10 when we bought the house. We took one out when we renovated the kitchen / dining area / living room & we took out the one in the basement bathroom to redo the shower. The shower is still incomplete but there will probably be a small storage cupboard going in the plans. Anywoo... the old hallway closet...

The hallway closet now:

And here is the green that the hall & back entry have been the past 4 years:

AFTER shots:

I also quite like how the art work I have looks against the grey. 

  My weekend also consisted of copious amounts of laundry, mending a pile of toys & books, cleaning off my craft table, & a few other random cleaning tasks. What kept you occupied this weekend?

  I also added a new tab to the menu bar here at Silver Boxes. "Come Tour My Home!" is up & running. I'll be adding more rooms as I blog about them, but feel free to poke around my house & have a look. :)

  Stay tuned this week for a yummy recipe involving marshmallows, my bulletin board project, papercrafts, & some household tips. I'm also excited to be attending the semi annual flea market here in Saskatoon on Saturday! I'll be posting about that next week. But for now, we'll focus on the week ahead. :) Have a great one!

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Tater Tots & Jello

"Gilded" Pumpkins & Squash Tutorial

  What do water, pumpkins, & spray paint have in common? Well, for today they are three of the objects needed for the "gilded" pumpkin & squash project I made yesterday.

  First of all, let me tell you that this project is super fast! It only took me 10 minutes plus drying time.

Here's what you need:

-Pumpkins and/or squash. I used the mini ornamentals that you can buy this time of year at the grocery store.
-A bucket of water
-Metallic spray paint (I had some silver spray paint left over from my silver side table project)
-Rubber gloves
-Newspaper or cardboard to place pumpkins on while they are drying

1) Fill your bucket with water almost to the top for easy dipping.

2) Shake your spray paint & generously spray a layer of paint onto the surface of the water. Spray paint floats because it's oil based.

3) Dip your pumpkins / squash into the water & paint mixture. You may want to dip a few times to get the desired amount of "gilding". I found that I could dip 2 pumpkins / squash & then I had to add more spray paint to the water.

4) Allow the "gilding" to dry. Mine took about 2 hours to dry.

5) Display & enjoy!

How easy is that?! I think they are so pretty. They would also be pretty in a display with a few different metallics... silver, gold, & bronze, for instance. If you give it a try, be sure to link me up with your pictures so I can see your results!

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: Nest of Posies Fall Festival & Someday Crafts

What a Little Spray Paint Can Do!

  There is power in a can of spray paint. Well, not literally, but think of all the wonderful projects you've done that involve spray paint. It's a wonderful thing. And the colours that are out there these days are truly beautiful.

  If you've been intimidated by spray paint in the past, don't be. It's so simple to use. Go pick up a can in a colour that you love, make a trip to the thrift store & buy something with good lines but bad colour. Then, break out the spray paint! 

  Here are some such projects that I've done over the past several years. I sadly was not blogging then so I don't have any before photos to show you. You'll have to use your imagination. :)

  The first one I'll show you is a set of canisters that were given to me several years ago. They were originally a 70's avocado green. A little black spray paint & Shazam! They're back in business!

  The second one I'll show you was actually painted by my mom & given to me. My wonderful mom is a real life interior decorator & I'm blessed enough to be able to pick her brain for ideas & suggestions. This mirror was originally in a gold frame. Not so much my taste. Look how unexpectedly fun a coat of hot pink paint makes it!

  

  Number three is one of a set of wall candle sconces that my mom bought for me from an antique show. They were originally painted gold, but again I broke out the black spray paint. Now these beauties have a place of honour in my living room.

  So are you feeling inspired to go paint something? What colour would you choose & what do you have in mind? Spill the beans & share your blog links. I'd love to see YOUR spray paint makeovers!

  On a side note, if you've tried commenting on my blog before without success, please give it another shot. I've recently switched my commenting format & it is now quick & easy!

  If you'd like to see more projects I've done involving spray paint see: My silver table & my thrift shop owl.

Enjoy your day!

Vintage pretties

  I'm so excited! On Friday I had a brain wave... but let me start at the very beginning (a very good place to start. That's for all you Sound of Music fans.). The last time I went thrifting/antiquing one of my finds included an 8x10 black & white photograph. The man at the antique shop I got it at didn't know who the people in the photo were/are, but I wanted it anyway. The clothes, the hair, & the soft angelic look of all the girls drew me in. (I'm also curious to know why there's only one male in the photo?)

  I bought a simple black certificate frame at Wal-mart & discovered that it was too big for the photo. I set it aside to return & find a new frame. That's when the brain wave hit. I had some vintage sheet music I was itching to use in my home decor. So I got it out & mounted the photo on top of it. Then I slipped the music with photo into the frame & wa-la - almost instant vintage art. I'm lovin' it.

  I hung it near my back entry with my new mail / magnetic key holder from Umbra. 

I quite like the mix of modern & vintage.

  So that kicked off my weekend in a satisfying way. I had a wonderful weekend: flowers from a dear friend, a massage on Saturday morning, found some cute pumpkins at the farmer's market in the afternoon along with doing some window shopping at some thrift/antique shops. On Saturday evening I was able to get in some crafty time making some cards & a scrapbook layout. (I'll post those pics tomorrow.) Sunday was church with my wonderful church family & family time in the afternoon & evening. A blissful weekend all around.

Oh, and how could I forget?! I also joined Pinterest this weekend. What a cool site. I love the fact that now all the inspiration I come across on the internet can be corralled in one spot without a million bookmarks. 

Not to mention categorized! :)

(This girl loves all things organization.)

  What did you do this weekend? Did you find any treasures or start any projects? 

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day!

Linking up to Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Fall Decor

 I've been seeing some fabulous fall decor in blog land as of late. I am especially enjoying all the fall wreath ideas out there. Alas, I didn't make one this year, but I did get a good deal on mine at HomeSense. That counts right? ;)

  I don't do a ton of fall decorating in our home... mainly just a few touches in the main living area & my front porch. I'm in awe of some of the beautiful front porch displays I've seen recently. Gorgeousness! Seriously, just Googling "front porch decorated for fall" will inspire you. There are some amazing displays out there. 

  Here's what I've done this year on our front porch. Our porch is pretty small, so I keep it simple. I'll probably add some pumpkins when I find some.

Fall Mums

Fall Mums

New doormat in fall-ish colours

My HomeSense wreath

I did something a bit different with some of my fall decor inside this year. I had some sprigs of fake fall leaves, but was never quite sure what to do with them. They weren't wired, so it was impossible to make them look real. So, I cut them all off the sprig so I could use them individually. I added some to the hurricane lantern on our front table. And don't worry - the candle in there is a flameless, battery operated candle, so it's not a fire hazard! 

I'm loving the orange accents with my purple walls.

Front table. Leafy pumpkin is from HomeSense as well.

I also used some of the leaves in my table centre piece. In the fall, I collect pinecones in the parks near our house. Yes, I'm that lady who is walking around the public parks, collecting natural items to use inside. :)

Centre piece on dining area table

More pinecones & a small birch branch adds a little touch of added interest to this pumpkin pie dish.

On the bar top

What have you been doing for fall decorating in your home? 

Please leave a comment & fill me in. I'd love to hear from you.

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: the Fall Festival at Nest of Posies, Tater Tots & Jello, One Artsy Mama, & Craftaholics Anonymous