T-Minus 10 days and counting!

With just 10 days to go till the wedding, and many many projects to finish, I have been a spray painting fool! I actually finished spray painting my metal chairs that I have been renovating from a previous post. Now to finish these other unfinished spray paint projects. I swear, my finger is killing me and I'll probably have carpel tunnel in my hand by the time I'm done with it all! I almost bought the spray paint handle, but I didn't.. I just might go back to the store, and sneak that little jobber in my cart this time.
I don't know why, but I'm always amazed at how drastically better something can look with just a can of spray paint...

Today I'm writing down anything I can possibly think of that I need to do or remember for the wedding. I'm quite geeked. My parents will be here this weekend.. and basically this is it..! We're off and running, getting everything put together and ready for the big day. I think it's starting to sink in that it's actually happening. As I'm making my list, I'm visualizing the events the day of; getting my hair & makeup done, and getting pictures, and thinking about the ride over to the house for the wedding. Oh my goodness.. it's crazy. Exciting. Nerve-racking.
Envisioning walking down the aisle, taking our vows and exchanging rings.. I definitely get teary-eyed. This is it. It's 10 days away. The day I've been waiting for, like all my life.

God has given me such a wonderful man. As I sit here going through vows, I think of the commitment we're making to each other and our future together. This man would tear down the house and rebuild it from the ground up if I asked him to. We had a long-quite-involved conversation yesterday about the to-do list for the wedding and everything that's going on. I know these aren't things he loves doing. But for me, he'll slay dragons. Because I want it. Because it makes me happy. After all this, I came back to work, and was playing on Youtube... working really hard... and thought about the first song we'll dance to as Husband and Wife. Originally, I thought I knew it would be Heaven by Bryan Adams. We both love this song, and it's been a song close to both of us in this relationship. But after yesterday's conversation, I realized it was supposed to be Everything I do, by Bryan Adams, this song says it all. My fiance LOVES Bryan Adams, which was also partly why I had picked the other one in the first place. But this song is it. I'll probably bawl my eyes out. I'll be surprised if there'll even be any make up still on my face after the ceremony.. let alone by the first dance! I simply can not wait. This day will be everything I've ever dreamed of.

I have the absolute best family in the world. I don't care how great you think your family is.. Mine is better :-p. I have two parents that are absolutely going above and beyond for me. I don't deserve it. My grandmother has dug plants out of the ground. My brother has built me a gorgeous bird house-card holder for the wedding. My mom has just plain worked her butt off to make sure I have whatever it is I want for my wedding. These people are amazing. I can not wait to see everything they do. My mother is an absolute Catering-party-Miracle Worker. God has blessed her with a gift like you wouldn't believe. I know God put the best people in my life. Each person has a talent or gift they're bringing to the table for my wedding. It's unreal.

Ok. I'm off for now. I have a hair appt :) yay!

A MUCH needed Bathroom Renovation, Cheap!

I really really want to paint our downstairs bathroom before the wedding.. BUT..there are only 23 days left till then, and I'm not sure if this project will make it to the "completed" list with all the other things going on. I will try my best. It's not hideous by any means, but I don't love the blue color that it is, and I really want to lighten it up with a light and airy Sagey green color.
Something like this color:

We'll see if that project gets completed. It's a small bathroom.. but there's a lot of cutting in and it probably needs primer, etc, I'm just not sure if it's on the "So Important it HAS to be done before the Wedding" list..

Hideous, however, was the bathroom upstairs that Did make that list, and is thankfully all painted and in the process of final touches. (Thanks to my sister-in-law and brother for all their help!!!)

I don't have a before picture of the upstairs bathroom.. but let me briefly describe, and you'll realize why it was in desperate need, and did make the list.

Picture this....

The walls had been painted a Teal color.. Like 90's, not pretty, TEAL. Not pretty. At all. Sorry, but this one had to go. Let's also mention that the closet door had been painted a light purple-ish lavender kind of color. Not a hideous color, but for a door? Um..Ok. No. Now the best part. I know you're excited.. I really wish I had the pictures to share. The closet door and bathroom door molding was painted an OMG glossy dark purple. Not the whole door frame either. Just one side. Of each door. Yeah. I don't have nice words to use about my feelings towards the bathroom at that time, and honestly would rather let the images escape my mind, while I bask in the beauty of the new bathroom.

There are no windows in the bathroom, so I basically was thinking a very light color, and since it's my step-daughter's bathroom, plus guest bathroom, I wanted it to be girly, as well as guest-friendly.

I'm here to share with you the fun of decorating a girly-pink Paris Theme bathroom :)

My inspiration came from this picture my mom and I found at Hobby Lobby, one of the best stores ever.

The Frame silhouette came from Ross, another store I love, and I couldn't resist.. it was perfect for the theme I was going for.

The Mister wasn't thrilled about Pink, but he's a guy, and really, what guy is?

I hit some yard sales and Goodwill stores and picked up a few things I thought would be cute in this bathroom. Most of these things needed some help to look cute.. like spray paint.. but it's worth it when you pay next to nothing for something, paint it, and suddenly it's Gorgeous!

I found this little shelf at the Goodwill for like a buck.. and it was going to be perfect.. other than the UG-LEE color

So.. with a few sprays of black paint, I turned it into this:

Much better.

I found these silver tin containers at a yard sale. Some of them were missing lids, but I figured for the price, they were worth buying. I could probably paint these too..

So here's where it's at.. spray painted tins Black and Cream.. added a pretty polka dot ribbon. Added new mirror from Craigslist, which had an ugly brown and shiny gold frame, that is no longer, because that was ugly... Some really ornate frames that were gold, and painted Cream.

still a work in progress.. But it's HUGE progress from where it was.. the place we won't mention.

The fun part for me is finding these little things I can "fix-up" and work towards making it an adorable bathroom, space, bedroom, whatever. Working on a budget, and using creative thinking.. finding great deals on ugly things, and turning them into something pretty, all by yourself.

I found a plain 'ole white/cream shower curtain, hot-glued some $3 ribbon to it, and voila.. something a little prettier.

Fun, Huh?

A Cheap & Easy Chair Renovation

A quick, easy and CHEAP!!! way to save something from a road trip to the dump, and making it so Pretty!

This guy & his 3 ugly brothers were about to run out of options.. and the dump was calling their names. Mr. Onny suggested I put them on Craigslist and try to sell them.. surely someone is starting out is in need of some chairs. My thoughts.. Um.. I'm thinking I'd have to pay them to come get 'em! Let's just say they've been basking in the Tennessee sunlight for a few.. years. They were in desperate need of some help.

I kept thinking.. maybe I can do something with these.. paint them, I don't know something.. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with this thing, and sure I could paint it, but then what? The seat cushions have just plain HAD IT. They're faded, dirty, ... grey.. and just plain eww..

I put on my thinking cap and came up with a plan.

Maybe I can find a fabric in my stash and re-cover the seat! Woohoo! Off I went to get some ideas. I found a really pretty set of four cloth napkins I have had for several years, that just might work! Four chairs, four napkins! Match made in heaven! I searched through my spray paint stash, and I already had a matching color that I loved! Perfect! I can't wait to finish this!

I took the seat cushion and it's rusted screws off, and hit the outdoors with my can of spray paint in hand. Even after just a few sprays, I could tell I was going to love this color and it was already a HUGE improvement. I was running out of daylight, but definitely did not want to leave this project unfinished.

I went searching for my staple gun, and well, it was still in the package, new and unopened. Time to break this puppy in. The Mister thinks I'm nuts..weird, obsessed,.. and I might be :) lol. I stapled away with my fabric and ALOHA! (its a Hawaiian-themed fabric ;)

Is it too cliche to say.. "isn't it amazing what a can of spray paint can do".. ?
Now I have to decide if I wanna keep these guys or sell them and make me some monnay!.. well I can decide after I get them all finished.. so far, just the lonely one is prettied up and the rest are sitting there being jealous. But I saved them from a road trip to the DUMP! Yay!

 

All you need:
4 Ugly chairs in desperate need - Check.
4 matching cloth napkins you've never used - Check.
Spray paint of a coordinating color - Check.


Tools:
1 screwdriver.. this required a phillips head..
future projects may require the Vodka & OJ version as well..
1 Staple Gun.. brand new in package or used. Either will work.

That's it! Your hands and a few minutes, and you can transform anything!

I think this first project went well. Stick around while I find more junk at my house I can fix up purdy!

Share you Quick-Fixer-uppers!