A place to put all the plastic....

As I'm sure most of you Mom's out there realize...kids come with A LOT of stuff! The most prevalent is toys. Birthdays, Christmas, screaming fits in the check out line for matchbox cars (WHY does Target have Matchbox cars next to the checkstand as IMPULSE items???), etc. We recently rearranged our living room and dining room to accomidate a new office for my hubby (his computer now resides in our gigantic armoire), and a sewing room for me (YAY). Now the way we used to have the room laid out we had the bulk of our son's toys in the bottom of the armoire and it worked great. He could even get inside there and play and hide and force his Mom to freak out thinking he was missing and comb the house from top to bottom screaming for him only for him to pop out and say peek a boo! Um ya that wasn't cool...but it was cute. So now my hubby's computer resides in the toddler's former toy haven and hiding spot which made me anxious to find another place to corral all the junk...err....toys. Enter the super ugly bright blue trunk that I got for free off the side of the road!

Yes that's snow and ice on the ground with the trunk on top of it. Hey...it was sunny...so what if it was 25 degrees! I took this pic after I put blue painters tape on the handle and sanded any rough spots with my hand sander. I picked up some Rustoleum Dark Gray spray paint and HD the other day and I knew I wanted to use that on this trunk. I also wanted some white stripes...kinda of a distressed beachy vibe. Here's what I came up with....

Lyla had to model the trunk for you! Doesn't she make it look cuter?? I specifically wanted an uneven look. I spaced the stripes out at different widths and only did one coat so the gray would show through a little. I really like how this came out. Its sitting right next to the armoire and is now STUFFED to the brim with toys and cars and blocks and leggos and books. Which reminds me....I need to have a garage sale! :) I hope you all have a great weekend!

Linking up to Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring
Linking up to Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Linking up to Weekend Wrap Up @ Tatertots and Jello

Small secretary desk re-vamped

Hey everyone! I scored this little secretary desk for free the other day. It was UGLY but sturdy. I originally planned on just painting it white...so I did. And I didn't like it. It wasn't fun enough. This thing is ALREADY pretty lame looking...and with it just painted plain white it didn't give it enough pizazz so I decided to dry-brush some watered down turquoise over the top of the white. (sorry...didn't take before or during pics). After it was all done I sprayed the  hinges with matte aluminum spray paint that matched the GORGEOUS Martha Stewart Living hardwear that I picked up at Home Depot. I LOVE how it turned out. Its super cute and functional now and is the perfect spot for my laptop. It also works great as a mail center!
Linking up to Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring
Linking up to Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Linking up to Weekend Wrap Up @ Tatertots and Jello
Linking up to Piece of Work Wednesday @ Primitive & Proper
Linking up to Power of Paint party @ Domestically Speaking

I love trash...anything dirty or dingy or dusty!

Do you Mom's know what that's from? That would be an Oscar the grouch reference! Ok so I'm not here to talk about cartoons but to talk about trash...specifically a beat up and abandoned leuvered (spelling?) door that I happened upon.
Now I am never shy about taking things home...but this door left me stumped. Its not a super cool door that you could just hang on the wall (like Nester) but it definitely deserved to have a purpose and I knew I could do something with it.
Ok...brainstorm with me for a minute if you will...picture a funky, beat up, HEAVILY distressed magazine rack. Yup that's what I wanted to transform this thing in to! I considered removing every other slat...um....nope! Too much work. So instead of doing that I just started sanding away and beating it up and then finished it by spraying LIBERALLY with anti bacterial cleaning spray and wiping it down THOROUGHLY...cuz you just never know where its been! I then hung it on the wall in my bedroom and whatdoyouknow the magazine's fit!!! After it was hanging up there I decided that it needed some extra cuteness. I had an antique keyhole/door knob thingymabob (technical term) and I screwed that to the top. I love how this came out! It gives me functional and funky wall art and it was totally free!!!! You just can't beat that!!
Linking up to Transformation Thursday @ The shabby chic cottage