Need Help with Decorating or Organizing?

 I love the process of decorating, the brainstorming, figuring out how to accomplish it, shopping (home or stores), executing it and enjoying it. I know there are some out there think this is a frivolous activity, not worthwhile, etc., but I disagree. This is a creative outlet, a form of art for me. I also like to take care of the home I've been blessed with. I am happier when my home is in order and a relaxing place to be. And I love beauty and since I'm a SAHM this is where I spend the most time and I want it to be beautiful.

While I love decorating my home and sharing the process here for everyone to see, it's started to not be enough. I've been spending some time lately helping my mom decorate her home. After 30+ years with children at home and most of her furniture and pictures and decorations worn or out of date, she needed help. I've had the time and an eye for decorating (I am by no means on par with the professionals!), so we've been shopping and brainstorming as she's had money (no kids at home = $$)
I 've really enjoyed the process with her. I'll suggest ideas and we go from there, seeing what she's drawn to and talking about the where or how.

Decorating and organizing are things I'm passionate about and they go hand in hand. But I love to focus on bargain decorating and organizing. I don't spend thousands of dollars working on my home, I look for inexpensive ways to get what I want: painting, hand-me-downs, Craigslist, Goodwill, shopping my own home, garage sales and saving up for bigger items.

So, all of that said, I'd like to offer my help to anyone out there. I want to help others that have no idea where to start or need someone to throw out ideas. I want to share inexpensive ideas that I've used to make my home what I want it to be, beautiful, comfortable, relaxing and just our style.
This offer is FREE!

If you would like my help with decorating a room or organizing a space, please email me at: marixawillis@gmaiil.com and send some pictures of your space and some info.

As I get some emails, I'll share ideas here and, with consent, share spaces.

If you have questions about specific problems feel free to comment or email and I'll work on answering those questions to help.

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Trey's Play Kitchen

So, last Christmas I was reading Young House Love, on of my blogs, and they had made their daughter a play kitchen for Christmas. I loved how theirs turned out and told David that it would be great to do for Trey for his birthday. I pinned it and then in May we started talking about it again.

Trey LOVES to help Daddy in the kitchen and often wants to play with his tools, bowls and utensils. He had a few things but given his love for "cookin stuff" we really loved the idea of making him his own kitchen.

Now I realize we could have gone to Toys R Us and picked up the only non-girly plastic kitchen and he would have loved it just the same but I wouldn't have. I have a serious dislike for plastic toys. I wanted this kitchen to last through many children and be durable and well, look good.

Here's how it turned out.

We followed the tutorial (linked above) and went to our local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store and I found this cabinet. This was the only one that had enough space to work, wasn't too big and didn't cost me too much.

You can see the scale here and we flipped the thing over, because it made more sense to us.
We used scraps of stuff we had on hand: plywood, 2x4's, wood knobs, hook, paint and trim. We bought: lots of screws the correct length, plexi glass, a trivet turned stove top, wire racks and other misc hardware.

I also used a pencil/pen holder I had that wasn't being used and sprayed it blue to use as a utensil holder and I had an old wood cutting board that was my grandmother's. I just sanded it down and oiled it to make it look better. The hook on the side was an old brass one I had that got sprayed red along with the knobs that my friend gave me from an old project of hers.

So that's what we did and if you want the full run down on how to make one yourself, check out their tutorial.

To outfit this kitchen we visited our local Dollar Tree to get him real cooking supplies: brownie pan, pie pan, muffin pan, measuring cups and utensils. The skillet and small pot with lid came from our Chinese grocery store which carries restaurant supplies, so they are real, sturdy and they were inexpensive. The timer was from Ikea.

The dishes were mine as a child and still work great even if strawberries aren't quite in style with 4 year old boys! They will work for now and I love watching him play with something I played with. The food and birthday cake were a birthday present. They are wood pieces and has real food similar to what we eat. I noticed that other plastic sets of food included tons of junk food like boxed meals, donuts and other things we don't eat. So I like that he's playing with things we eat.

Here's how it looks in his room.

I still need to get something on that wall! I'll get to it eventually!

I'm showing this again to show that I made some new curtains for the window. It used to have some blinds and a sort of valance. I loved the fabric that was on the valance but the room needed a change. I am starting to hate blinds and I was noticing that this room gets a LOT of morning light. So we needed some curtains that blocked that. Taking the blinds out let in more light, which I love during the day, and I can see the yard better.

So there's Trey's 4th birthday gift from us. We had a blast creating it especially when it came to all the details. It's not perfect but we're ok with that and he LOVES it which is what really matters!

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Mountain Painting

So, about a week before Christmas we were the happy new owners of a beautiful new mountain painting. If you remember I had our beach painting painted by my sweet friend Chelsea. We loved it so much that I asked her if she'd do another one for us, this time of a mountain scape.

I love beach scenes and David loves mountain ones. I was in need of something on one of the walls in our kitchen. It's awkward, because there is a lot of wall space but you couldn't put too much there without it feeling super crowded. I've tried a few things there over the years but nothing was working. So I asked Chelsea if she'd work her magic for us again and do a mountain scene for David.

She finished it right before Christmas and it looks awesome! David LOVES it and it works perfectly in its new spot. It's right across from the chalkboard.

In the pics it looks small on that wall, but in person it doesn't look small. So what do you think? Did Chelsea do an awesome job?!

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Dinning Room Before

I'm in the process of reworking my dinning room and kitchen. Well, all that's really changed in the kitchen is new towels and a new rug. The kitchen has gone as far as I can take it without doing major work. But the dinning room needed a change. The red curtains and rug were making the small room feel dark and heavy and lately I want everything to be light and airy and bright. And the red and brown was looking old and too formal for what I really want.

The table and chairs I received from my grandmother 2 years ago. I needed a new table set and I liked hers, so when it was time I got it. It needed some refinishing and the fabric on the chairs needed something new but I was happy with it as is so I left it till I was ready. The chairs have a piece of plastic over the fabric to keep the fabric in good shape. Hey, my grandma came from a different time! At first I wanted to rip it right off the chairs but she stapled those suckers on really well! So they stayed.

You can see the plastic reflecting back.

Then I started to like them! When you have a toddler or any small children eating at a table with fabric covered chairs you like having a sheet of plastic covering things you can't wipe down! So my plan was to change the fabric and keep the plastic.

After searching for fabric I finally found one in a green and whitish pattern that I really liked and it was outdoor fabric. When I realized that the fabric was outdoor I realized that I wouldn't have to reuse the plastic! The outdoor fabric is super durable and easy to wipe off (the pattern helps to hide things too). And I ended up ordering too much fabric so I have extra in case something happens that can't be fixed and looks too hideous! Ok just a bit too dramatic!

Here's the fabric I ordered from Joann's for the chairs.

Now curtains. I'd been looking for a while all over the not expensive world for new curtains and just wasn't finding anything I was looking for. I wanted a pattern but nothing too crazy or bold. Pattern is big enough for me so it had to be something I really liked/loved and not something too trendy because I didn't want to hate it in 6 months. I also wanted them to be blues/greens/white/tan kind of colors. Cool summery colors. But like I said I couldn't find anything fitting that bill. So I started looking at fabric thinking I could just make some.

Here's a pic of the red curtains. Sorry, it's kind of a dark pic.

I found some at Joann's online and kept looking at it to make sure I really wanted it to come home. The only problem with this fabric is that width wise there wasn't enough to make one panel. So I knew I'd have to find something else to put with it. But I waited until it came in to take it to Hancocks to find a coordinating fabric to put with it.

Here's the curtain fabrics.

The stripes go up and down not left to right.

Now I just finished making the curtains and I'll share about those later and I'm in the process of recovering the chairs (not a quick process) which I'll share later as well. But I have plans to paint the table and chairs. This for me is a big decision because I have a sort of personal rule about painting wood. Usually if it's solid wood and in good condition I will strip and re stain the wood. Particle wood or cheap ugly wood I paint. But in this case the only sane way to strip the stain off of the chairs is by dipping them and that is more money than I want to put into this right now. However that may be something I do in the distant future.

I also don't want them to match and the wood just isn't working for me right now. I am taking this as I go and nothing is set in stone. I'm going to see how the chairs look with the new fabric and take it from there. So, I'll let you know how that all works out. I'm hoping to have this project finished by August but we'll see!

Wow, I've got a LOT to do!

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Chalkboard Project

So if you remember how a few weeks ago I found a frame at Goodwill and got it all painted up so I could turn it into a chalkboard for my kitchen-dinning room.

                                   Ok, here's the before of the ugly but totally redeemable frame.

                                                 And here it is after my spray paint work.

After begging asking my dad for some scrap wood to use as the back/chalkboard part he was kind enough to cut it to size for me.

I priced chalkboard paint at Lowes and found they only had one option that was a quart for $13. I decided to see what Home Depot had. I'm SO glad I did that! They had the quart that Lowes had for $10, and they had it in a spray can for $4.67 and had quarts in different colors to choose from! A much better selection AND price! After talking to the HD paint lady she suggested that since I was using bare wood to get a grey primer and at about $2. And I decided to try the spray chalkboard paint.

I sprayed 2 coats of primer to make sure it was covered well. Then I sprayed 3 coats of the chalkboard paint. I wanted to make sure it was covered really well and that it was definitely a chalkboard. The directions on the can say after the final coat to take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the board then wipe it off and BAM! you have a usable chalkboard.

I was very pleased with the paint and it was super easy!

I LOVE the way this turned out! I have it in the Kitchen-Dinning room to write our menu for the week as well as things I need at the grocery store. It's convenient and it looks great and fills a formerly blank area.

I love it!!!

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So, I walked into Goodwill

So, a couple of weeks ago Trey and I went to our local Goodwill. Sometimes I just want to look around and see what cool things I can find. I had a few bucks so I was ready.

I love the housewares area the most and then the furniture and then the clothes. The housewares has the most variety of stuff. If you don't go then here's what you do, or at least what I do. I look through everything. Sometimes you find stuff that's good just the way it is but a lot of times you have to look at something and see it from a different perspective. You can't judge something by it's color, because almost everything can be painted! And forget it's original purpose, some stuff can be used in a totally different way (and get painted) for a whole new life.

So, I found a couple of small things but I was really on the look out for a large frame (more on why later). I was looking through the bin that had some large pictures and pulled out this mountain scape painting. And I mean painting, like on a canvas and it was framed in this wood frame. I didn't think the frame was big enough for what I wanted so I put it back. But then remembered that David loves the mountains lately so I texted him a pic of it to see if he wanted it. I didn't think he would but I thought I'd check. Turns out he loved it! So, for $10 (not counting the discount) I brought it home.

Ok, so I wanted a frame because I wanted to make a chalkboard for our kitchen/dinning room. We have this awkward little hallway that connects our connected kitchen and dinning room (I know it sounds crazy but that's what it is). Anyway, I wanted to find a big old frame that I could paint and turn into a chalkboard. I didn't want to pay much for the frame so I kept looking at Goodwill. Oh and it needed to be chunky, I didn't care what finish it had because I was going to paint it.

So I hung the newly found painting frame on the wall to see if it was the right size (we want to re frame the painting, the frame is ugly) and it was! I was so HAPPY! For less than $5 (it was $10 but David got the painting and I got the frame, so it's split) I got a big frame that I'd have paid more than $20 for at like Hobby Lobby. I also had this bare wood 12x12 frame from HL ($5 thanks to 50% off) and I wanted to put it in the kitchen too.

Here's a close up of the frame. I like the chunkiness of it and a little white linen border.

So, I needed to prime them since I was painting them white and one was bare wood and the other a dark wood. I had some Kilz in a spray can so I used that. It's so much faster and easier. I didn't tape off the linen border because I didn't care whether it stayed the same or not.

The linen border basically stayed the same, it didn't look painted. So I brushed on the white and then used a stiff brush to clean up the linen boarder. Then hung them up in the kitchen! The chalkboard frame isn't completed yet but I hung the frame anyway. I'll share how that goes when I get it done.

I don't have any specific plans for this frame right now, so I just put a piece of scrapbook paper in it that I'm using as color inspiration for the kitchen/dinning room.

Here's a close up of the finished frame with linen border.

Here's the frame hung in it's new spot in the crazy little hallway.
I'm hoping to get the chalkboard part done soon and then I can share it with all of you!

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