DIY Craft Room.. On a Budget

Think back before pinterest, and blogs of where you used to get ideas for decorating?

Magazines... {blasphemy.. i know they are so 4 years ago}

However, one day as I was going through a magazine, I came across a work station that I fell in love with, that I knew I needed to recreate for myself.

It had an oversized bulletin board that acted as an idea board {yes remember.. prior to pinterest}, with bright colors, and a usable space.  

I had an old table from college {yes the same one that Aly and I probably had many of late night nachos on from Taco Bell} and I decided to give it a facelift by sanding it down and painting it.

Secondly I went to the hardware store and bought a piece of particle board that was big enough to make a HUGE bulletin board.  I then used gorilla glue to attach pieces of cork, covered the cork with fabric, and framed it with trim.  With the help of Justin's dad, we were able to hang this bad boy on the wall.  {and when I say help of Justin's dad.. I really mean Jeff went to work with his electric nail gun and I just watched my vision come to life!}

I also took this chair from my grandma's house when we did the great large overhaul from moving her from a house to a condo a few years ago.  I kind of felt badly taking one chair from a set of 4 but she said I could.. so I did.  I recovered the base to correspond with the fabric on my bulletin board just using a staple gun.

So the basis of this craft table and bulletin board completely came together probably almost 2 years ago.  .. so why am I just now blogging about it?

Well you see, the craft table was very similar to some peoples at home treadmills/elliptical... a catch all for EVERYTHING.. clothes that needed to be hung to dry, extra fabric that I have bought too much of for a project, a bazillion spools of thread {which I later find out is not nearly a bazillion - more just a mess of unwound thread!}.. this weekend I decided that I was going to clean off my craft table, bust out some projects that I left unfinished and become productive.

First item of business.. Clean up this mess!

{Do you want to play eye spy from this picture?? Erin Condren stickers, 3 things of scotch tape, a golf club, about 10 baby outfits that were never given as gifts.. yes trust me it gives me anxiety looking at it too.. hence why I never tackled this damn room.. and avoided doing laundry because the washer and dryer are diagonal from this table}

I had purchased two curtain rods from Ikea a few years back, thinking they could potentially be useful for ribbon.  While in the store I envisioned them going horizontally, like a normal curtain rod, however when I got them home, I realized there was no where to put them horizontally, so I decided to find a stud in the wall and hang it vertically.  It works wonders.  I put straight pins at the end of all of my ribbons, so when I need one, I just pull the end of one ribbon.. the rest spin on the rod, but don't unravel.  This weekend though, I finally got around to putting up the second rod.  {and much to my chagrin, I realized that there were no more studs in the wall.. had to think outside the box, use anchors, and then screw in the fixtures from there.. I was feeling quite empowered by the time I had finished this project!} And yes, I'm fully aware, I have a small obsession with ribbon.

Next up.. organizing my fabric.  Apparently its not normal for someone who really doesn't use their sewing machine as much as they would like to have this much extra fabric.  My mom and sister informed me this weekend that I should try buying less fabric for projects... My response, have you ever stood in line at Joann's on a Saturday waiting for fabric to be cut?  Yea, thats what I thought, the last thing you want to do is turn around and go right back in to get more fabric!

I had always envisioned a cubical organizer downstairs.  Maybe replacing this shelving unit that I wrote into the contract when buying my condo.  But then that just seemed silly.  Why replace something that holds my cleaning supplies, detergent, and paper towels {yes I buy those in bulk, just like ribbon!}

My mom and I bought this 25 cube thing from Target when I first moved in nearly 6 years ago.  I had just never put this one together {we bought two, the other one holds my flip flop collection.. is collection the right term?}  I assembled this bad boy as well, and then started folding up and organizing my fabrics.  My aunt gave me this ENJOY sign as part of my housewarming gift and I finally have a perfect spot for it.  I might just need a spray paint and we will be good to go.

My other project I completed this weekend was this thread holder.  I will have a DIY up on tomorrow on how I went about making this.  

So now that I have this space cleaned up and ready to go.. who wants to find projects to make? Sewing? Crafting? Anyone?

Happy Tuesday friends, and thank you so much for the warm welcome back yesterday, I'm so happy to be back into a routine!! 

Weekend Wrap Up... GNO and Channeling my Inner Bob Villa

This weekend was my annual Girls Night Out. In the past I have hosted a martini party, but this year I decided to take it to a restaurant.

We all met up at Polaris Grill. The only thing better than the delicious food was the AMAZING company.

I had friends from college, some I have met after college, and some of my closest blogging friends as well.

myself, shannon and holly

all of the girls from the evening

I went home on Saturday evening thinking that I am truly SO fortunate to have such amazing girls in my life! Thank you for everyone who made it out in the snowy wintery weather :)

**Meanwhile, back at the ranch, during the rest of the weekend, I got my Bob Villa on**

I found this large but AMAZING clock at Homegoods in the clearance section and I knew I HAD to have it!

This bad boy, replaced the previous clock that hung above my table

I LOVE the change and the statement this 5' clock makes on the wall

And then Jess found this "Keep Calm and Carry On" print laying around the house, that I have had for over a year, but never found a place for it.. and she suggested my spare bathroom.

We then headed up to Hobby Lobby to pick up crowns

And the decorating for this bathroom was complete

I had an amazing weekend!

I hope you did too!

I'll give you one last day to ask ANY question you would like of me

I will be answering them all tomorrow:)

Ask away my pretties

Dear Pinterest

.... i have a LOVE/HATE relationship with you

i LOVE the..
decorating ideas

Source: projectphxhome.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

outfit inspirations

Source: polyvore.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

photography tips/hints

Source: unskinnyboppy.blogspot.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

inspirational quotes

Source: bethewoman.tumblr.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

and things that just simply make me laugh

Source: None via Lindsey on Pinterest

but.....

i HATE the amount of DELICIOUS food that is posted, and that i repin and then MAKE

thus far we have enjoyed
Avocado and Bacon Grilled Cheese

Source: janalaurene.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Cake Batter Rice Crispy Treats

Source: gimmesomeoven.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Taco Baked Bell Peppers

Source: lacucinadilauren.blogspot.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Pumpkin Bars with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Source: greensnchocolate.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

If i keep pinning these delicious recipes I'm going to be in a world of hurt! I need to stay focused and only pin the healthy items {with an occasional delicious treat as well!}

Inspiration: Plate Wall

So I often find myself day dreaming about how I can change things up within my condo....
because lets be honest, i will probably be in this condo for the rest of my life based off of the current state of the economy

one idea that i have seen a lot of lately is a plate wall... it was something that i LOVED but never really thought there was a place in my condo, until I saw Molly's plate wall on her blog it inspired me to find a wall to transform...

so what about this wall??
its off of the family room? that looks over the kitchen table


what do you think?

I would remove the clock and the corner wire piece - and add plates similar to the ones below

Molly's plate wall


via
via

via

So do you think this would work on my wall? Using the colors in my family room?
[tiffany blue, artichoke green, chocolate brown and white]

I really appreciate your opinions on what you think!

Time to play a little catch up ........

Do you ever have those weeks that just simply FLY by because you have something going on EVERY DAY???

welcome to the month of December for me
[see those dots - each one represents at least ONE thing going on that day - phew! thats a lot of dots!]

I'm not complaining one bit - I absolutely love being busy and having plans and getting together with friends and family - which we have been doing a lot of lately!

So much that I haven't had time to update y'all on what we have been up to lately [and give you a VERY long blog post to read]!

Last Friday
We had a surprise birthday party for a family friend. It was so much fun getting together for Kris' birthday because normally we are so busy during the holidays that we don't get a chance to sit down and celebrate her! So it was a perfect night to do so

The birthday girl blowing out her candles with her granddaughter, Maddison

Alli and Doug

Justin and I

Saturday
I was all excited to go wedding dress shopping with my mom and sister and go to hobby lobby... i know big day out! well my excitement quickly diminished after the following turn of events with in the first 5 minutes out of my condo

I was driving when I heard a pop
sure enough, I look down and a button off of my coat had cracked and literally popped off - GREAT! Right off of the left chest - not an obvious place at all to be missing a button - ha!
So i'm already a little disappointed that i'm going to be walking around with a janky coat, when I turned the corner out of my complex to only have my purse fall over and I heard a thud
I instantly knew it was Bella [my iphone]
so trying to reach over to find my phone on the side of my passenger seat - i realized it was in the back seat
and lets be honest - I NEEDED MY PHONE!
so it was as far away as possible [go figure] so I decided to be smarter than my phone and use the umbrella [that i could reach] to pull my phone closer to me... so as i'm doing this I'm leaning into the backseat and my chest [i'll refrain from using the b word] hits my diet coke bringing my diet coke out of the springing cup holders and knocking the can over leaving me with an inch and a half of diet coke swimming in the cup holders [along with my mailbox key, a few gum wrappers and a sonic mint!]
thankfully HobLob always puts me in a much better mood [even 1 button down and diet cokeless!] but I did find stuff to create my tree topper! I'm loving this addition to the tree this year!

and luckily that was the last of our bad luck for that day! my sister found a perfect dress for her wedding - and it is ABSOLUTELY stunning on her!

Sunday
We went to church and then off to the outlet mall to attack some of my holiday shopping! It was a complete success!

Monday
We had our first Columbus Blogging Meet Up - SOOOO much fun! seriously!

Tuesday
If you follow me on twitter - you know that I got my hair chopped - I mean chopped. It was much shorter that I originally had anticipated but its growing on me [literally - ha!]
[sorry I hate taking pictures of myself- but just so you can see how short it is!]
and now i know why babies make the worlds funniest faces when you try and take their pictures - well HELLO bright flash [and double chin!]!
Wednesday

Molly [my friend - not baby molly - just to clarify - because I have had to on 3 different occasions this week - ha!] have had a crafting night planned for almost 2 weeks now to make our ornament wreaths. She came over I made this for dinner [yes you read that correctly - I MADE dinner!] and then we started working on our wreaths

Add your ornaments to a wire hanger one by one... I found shatterproof plastic ornaments from meijer. I also hot glued the top to the ornament itself just so they wouldn't fall off

Once you have all of your ornaments onto the wreath twist the wire hanger [i'm sure there is a name for this kind of a knot in boy scouts or something - ha!]and then hang your wreath on your door for all of your neighbors to see :)
Molly's gorgeous wreath

Thursday [last night]

We met up with our friend Jess who was in town for a teach conference and some of her friends at PF Changs at Easton. It was so much fun to meet her friends from work and just catch up [but i didn't take a picture - i didn't want to freak out my new friends too much!] but they were truly hysterical!

When we got home I needed to bake cookies for our holiday appreciation dinner tonight [easy enough - right?? well not when I'm involved!]

I made these cookies [which are delicious!] but as I was putting away the flour on the top of the fridge I heard a crack... sure enough I pushed the glass canister back too far and the knob from the cupboard went right into the full canister of flour - broken glass - flour every where.. i swear - my life!

as if that wasn't enough for a catastrophe... or my Saturday morning saga....

I tried on a new sweatshirt that I got from nike - super cute - a rhinestone block O right on the left chest [once again - refraining from the b word] well one of the rhinestones was popping off... so rather than send back my shirt - i thought I would take matter into my own hands and super glue the one itty bitty rhinestone back on... well that was a HUGE project fail! As I was squeezing the super glue - it EXPLODED all over my hands!
I soaked my hand in nail polish remover last night for a good 10 minutes but had to pull it out because I felt like I was participating in an episode of Fear Factor it hurt so badly... so I am going to try pure acetone tonight and see if it works any better!

So thank you for staying with me through this whole post - but some of the things that have happened to me over the last week - are just too funny not to share!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Decorations

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... finally!

I took me a while to get the urge to decorate my entire condo for the holidays - which is surprising because normally I'm the first one to pitch the pumpkins after Halloween and and bring out the teal and green for Christmas - but this year was a little different!

My entire house Christmas or not - is decorated in an artichoke green, sea glass, and teal - so my Xmas decorations also are in that color scheme - which seemed like a GREAT idea my first Christmas in my condo - but it has proven to be more and more difficult to find holiday decorations sans red! So its a work in progress...

the tree
the tree topper
ornaments

my mantle
although the stockings aren't functional they are my favorite decorations. they were my great grandpa's actual socks that my great great grandma made for him because he had polio. i found the J and L from Restoration Hardware - and added them to complete our stockings - they may not be Pottery Barn but to me - I love the meaning behind them!
bannister
Organizational Piece [for lack of better words]
i am hoping to make this to go on top of this piece

and then in my little window in my kitchen I found this at homegoods - and I love it for the little cut out
the 1/2 bath on the first floor
and just to prove that I had a difficult time throwing away my pumpkins this year - this is what my porch looked like this morning! thank goodness today is trash day!
I'm am making a wreath for my front door tonight - so as long as its not project fail - I will put up the DIY soon!

Happy Wednesday!