Quick Link Love - Cast your Votes!

A couple of blog friends are in contests. If you land on my meager page and by some crazy chance haven't seen theirs, take the time to vote:

For Sara at Russet Street Reno: her awesome art room makeover

Place to vote, One Project Closer, here.

Nine posts with amazing pictures on her site about the art room makeover here.


For Kelly at Tearing Up Houses: her beautiful bedroom makeover

Place to vote: Who doesn't love Apartment Therapy!

Original Post on her site about the bedroom (one of two), here.



Good Luck Ladies!!

Cat Food Tin Makeover

For years, I've used this same ugly-but-free tin to hold my cats' food. It was always slightly annoying, but lately it has been almost unbearable. Perhaps as I discovered the enormous world of blogging and find myself constantly stalking the most craft-, DIY- and decor-savvy people, some of it has rubbed off on me. So here's my little mini-makeover inspired by so many fabulous people with a penchant for spray paint and making ugly things pretty (or in this case, more bearable and less noticeable).



So, I searched the garage and found ample amounts of white & black spray paint and proceeded to put on about 4 coats of white spray paint on the can and a couple of coats of black on the lid.



I picked up some cool letter stencils at Hobby Lobby when I was home visiting my mom (can't believe my small home town has one of these and my large current city does not!) and picked up some black acrylic paint at our local Ben Franklins and already had a little kit of paint brushes from long ago - probably a Dollar Tree purchase.



I used a pencil to very lightly trace the letters onto the can from the stencil (which doesn't show very well in the picture below) and then used a couple of small paint brushes to fill in the stencils with the black paint.




At the end of the project, I have a much more incognito cat food tin that blends a lot better with my white kitchen AND the big arse white trash can that came with my husband when he moved in and insisted on keeping....

Fall Table Decor

One of the things that I told myself in December as I undecorated for Christmas was that I was going to decorate the dining room table for every holiday. I have done it for the most part, but sadly didn't take pictures of them. I hit Valentines Day, Easter and St. Patty's, but missed the July 4th holiday mostly because we were absurdly busy in June and then went on vacation for the week of the 4th. But, alas, Fall is here and I threw some old stuff in with some things I bought at Hobby Lobby (ON SALE) and the Dollar Tree.

Here is our Fall Decor. I am anxiously awaiting changing it up for Halloween!! My husband LOVES Halloween, as do I, so each year a bit more things get added to our house....

When? When can we start putting out our Halloween stuff???

PS - For my camera-talented blog friends. I'm still working on getting better at photos, but still haven't quite caught on. I did do a lot of these doing exposure bracketing which helps get the light right. But, it's clearly still a work in progress!

Black Laquer Furniture

If you've read one or two of my posts, you know I love, love, love the 11 drawer dresser from Restoration Hardware for a ree-dic-u-lous amount of money.

SO, for now and until we buy our next house, we're stuck with this lovely bedroom suite. It was the first 'grown-up' furniture I bought for my first apartment after college. It was cheap and it is horrible.

And here are upclose shots of the brass accents.



But, oh no, they are not brass at all, but a plastic paper stuff that can be pulled off revealing a purple grayish piece of plastic. UGH...UHHGLY.

And here is the carve out where the plastic thingy can pull right out.



I've recently been thinking how in the world can I refinish this stuff to make it look updated. Afterall, it wouldn't be a complete waste of time if I made it look somewhat presentable as we could use it in a guest bedroom in our next house.

I've done google searches hoping to stumble onto a blog that has done this exact exercise, but have had no luck. I do have a couple of ideas, but I thought if I pushed it out there I bet I could get some of you really creative types to come up with something far better than I could ever come up with on my own.

SO, any suggestions? Any experience updating old cheap laquered furniture? I just can not bear to look at this stuff for much longer! You'll get street cred of course when the project is done!