Neigh Neigh: Color for my Mantel

Yesterday was a blast spent with my Dad in Phoenix. We grabbed breakfast at Coco's, wandered antique stores, found some neat pieces, and later ate some ice cream at Mary Coyles. Looks like I'm going to have to find another way to get 80% butter-fat ice cream, since Mary Coyles is betraying us all closing its doors for good this month. After having so much fun yesterday, can you believe I didn't take a single picture? Thanks for a fun-despite-being-pictureless day, Dad!

I decided to stop at the giant Goodwill on my way home. I had never been inside this store and wanted to see if I could get lucky with a furniture score. No such luck came my way, but I did find a pretty vase for $7.99 and an awesome porcelain horse head for $14.99. Neat pieces, but I'm not about to spend such money on spray-painting victims. Then, a magical voice came over the loudspeaker and announced that it was half-price-green-sticker-day! Just for kicks and giggles, I went back to check the two things I liked...and they both had green stickers! The Spray Painting Gods smiled down upon me, and these two items were soon sitting next to me on my drive home after forking over a whole eleven dollars.

Unfortunately, it was too hot to spray them when I pulled into the garage. The spray can suggests painting in temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees, but we reached our first triple digits yesterday at 101. I didn't want to risk a bad finish, so I patiently waited until this morning to crank out the ol' trusty cans of spray paint. In addition to Rustoleum's "Lagoon" color for the vase, I used their "Eden" green for the horse head. It's the same green as my lamps in the living room, and I am tickled that everything seems to be falling together. It's unintentionally intentional.

This morning, bright and early, while Hubby slaved away shoveling gravel and cleaned the pool, I squealed with delight at watching my new horse and vase transform!

I left the vase wicker exposed and liked it. I love bringing natural elements into a room. However, after I added the yellow flowers, the wicker just didn't match. A few moments later, the additional coats on the vase were dry and the entire piece was now "Lagoon." I like it much better against the pop of yellow from the flowers.

It's fun to see so much bright color when I look at this end of the house. I really like how the homemade lamp and vase are the same color and play well together. Animal busts are so popular right now, but I just don't have a thing for rhinoceros. Horses? Now that's something I can paint and proudly display in my house!

Luckily, I'm headed to work next week. Canada, here I come! It will keep me out of stores and prevent any painting from taking place. It will be so much fun when we have an area rug, love seat, and ottoman in this corner for a reading nook. Hubby will be building a new mantel this fall when it starts to cool down. For now, the pops of color add so much to the whole house. I like it. So there.

Future Graffiti Artist in the Making

A whole new world has opened up to me in the past few days. I've been looking at everything with an imaginary can of spray paint in my hands. Perspective can be key in any game, so this outlook has really made normal items jump out at me. Because I now realize that I can change the color, I was looking more for shape and size than just if it would match in the house. I went to a few stores the other night with my heart set on finding some cool pieces for my dining room. That end of the house is in sore need of some color, and what better way to change that than with some spray paint!?

My first stop was to Goodwill, which ended up being my jackpot of the evening. I glanced at furniture but found nothing. My reason for visiting tonight, however, was to find a lamp for the top of our gorgeous homemade buffet. Yes, Hubby made it from scratch. For me. Isn't he awesome? But that entire room has been begging for lighting other than the harsh, charming, overhead ceiling fan lights. Goodwill to the rescue!

I found a cool lamp with nice curves. The gals up front let me borrow a light bulb to check for proper operation. Since this was my first purchase at Goodwill, I wanted to make sure I didn't have a dud before I even got home! It worked like a charm and was paid for...$7.99! I was soon on my way to TJ Maxx. After not finding a lamp shade or additional accessories to receive the wrath of my spray paint can, I continued on to Walmart. Though I didn't want to spend $14 for a shade, that's how much this little guy rang up. Had I been able to wait, I would simply watch TJ Maxx for a great shade on clearance. However, since I had the lamp in my possession and was now on a mission to find the perfect color to top it, I couldn't wait for the cheap shade to come into my life. I handed over the $14 and went home.

The next morning I made an early trip to Home Depot after being disappointed with three stores' selections of spray paint colors. Home Depot came to the rescue with a beautiful "Lagoon" color by Rustoleum. I also picked up a can of Satin Nickel Metallic Paint to cover the brass fixtures. It's probably well-known by now, but I happen to think brass is of the devil. After I got organized at home and scrubbed the lamp from top to bottom, I began taping off to spray the metal parts. And it looked great! I waited a painstaking thirty minutes before un-taping and prepping the base to receive its beautiful, bright blue color!

And I absolutely love it!

What a difference a few swipes of paint can make! I am thrilled with the final outcome...a gorgeous, deep teal that pops from the buffet. The old lamp cord is brown, which perfectly blends into the wood and disappears. The lamp shade looks elegant and made for the piece. It's just a perfect lamp! And for about $22, I saved quite a bit by not buying one in the store. I must say, it feels incredible to take one thing and completely transform it into something just right for our home.

I hope I don't get addicted. This statement may be coming too late.

A Day with a Boy

My favorite little man spent a few hours at my house yesterday.

We went outside to enjoy the 99-degree weather but only lasted a few minutes. We then came inside and watched some birds from my couch. Birds are interesting, as long as they aren't pooping on everything in sight. Like pools and patio furniture and anywhere a person would want to step. For the first time in my life, I want to buy a gun.

I decided to comb Evan's hair to see how cute it would be, and he certainly didn't disappoint! He took a great nap and then watched Uncle Hubby play Zelda on the Wii for a whole three seconds before being whisked away for some yogurt and bananas. His mama was only gone a few hours, so we didn't get much time to do anything. He did show off his throwing skills with the Cheerios container and even displayed his speedy crawling techniques. He absent-mindedly took two steps towards me when we were playing in the living room, so I think he's getting really close to walking! His knees will thank him when he does. Tile floors can be a beast on knees.

It's always fun having Evan around. He is such a sweet kid and is demonstrating more and more personality each day. Evan has started to crinkle up his nose about 80% of the time...I wonder where he got that skill! I also took a few pictures of him with his eyes closed, so we certainly know who he belongs to!

I always love when Evan comes over. It a great way to discover how much my house isn't baby-proof!