Inspired.....or crazy?

My newest obsession is decorating blogs. It started when I went to One Pretty Thing one day and there was this dresser makeover. Well, I clicked on that blog, then another, then another. I landed on a blog called Nesting Place. Suddenly, I had ideas! One of her suggestions is to "shop the house" to makeover and decorate when you can't afford new stuff. Huh. Well, between that and another new obsession with spray paint, I was ready to go. I made a list of things to paint. Then last night I went to town. I have some random things to paint, but mainly I wanted to make over the top of the bookshelf in the living room.



Before: some mismatched pictures I just threw up there when we moved in almost 2.5 years ago. The vase looking thing, hmm, I'm not sure I ever really liked it. And the basket was a gift that I want to keep, but I just can't find a place to make it fit in.


Stuff to paint:

1. Vintage cats. From Mom. They've been packed since the move.


2. Vase thing I wasn't thrilled with, but like the shape of it.



3. Picture frame. It was on my dresser. Not my style anymore.




Then while I was at it, I grabbed:
1. Another frame which was stuffed in a drawer




2. A little basket--guess I didn't get a pic.
3. The little metal heart shaped hanger pictured above. It was in the box with the cats. I swear I've never seen the thing before, but clearly we had it before we moved.

I'll be using those three things later when I find a use for them.




Here's the top of the bookshelf after. I grabbed some other things and put them up there. The painting above was done by John's Grandma and was hanging on a different wall where I wasn't thrilled with it. Cost of this makeover: $3 for two half cans of spray paint. I'm pretty proud of it.

Of course now I have three more areas of the living room that need help. 1. Top of the way too big for this house TV cabinet. 2. Wall where I stole the painting that I placed above the bookshelf. 3. little table behind the oversized chair. But, I'm out of ideas. For now. I assume there will be more shopping the house and spray paint involved! Before this week, I was frustrated with the living room because the furniture is too big for the room, I want to repaint the walls, we need new windows, I want a smaller/shorter TV cabinet and a flat screen TV mounted to the wall (hey!!! I can dream, right???) and I'd love to have less toy clutter. But I realized something reading the Nesting Place blog. I need to do the best I can with what I have (aka, a $10 budget) and enjoy our home even if it isn't perfect. I'm going to keep thinking on the three areas that still need help. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. Stay tuned!