Help a Desperate Wall

Here's one of our living room walls.  Yes, I know that brown on brown couldn't be more awful.  We used to have the couch in front of the front windows, so it broke up the monotony... But this set up is best for now.  

I can't do anything about the wall color or couch color at the moment, and can't/don't want to spend much money on wall decor, so here's where you come in! I need help!! :)  After I took this picture, I did put a sage green and blue throw over the couch to help a bit, but I'm not sure how long that will last.  The husband isn't a big fan of throws on the couch.  It's understandable.  The couch is slippery.

I found an adhesive wall Bible verse, but the size I would need was about $60. Ouch.  

My next thought was I could buy a stencil and paint.  Lots of time, but pretty inexpensive.  

So even if I do a stencil, I'll still need something else... And if I don't do the stencil, I need a couple more "somethings" to go along with the framed art I already have up.  

Any relatively cheap ideas??  And yes, I've tried to come up with stuff I already had around (either in other rooms or from the basement), and that was a fail.

What do I do?????

Our Busy Week...

... that would be a little less hectic knowing it was covered with lots of prayer :)

Tuesday: 
Ginny has weekly doc appointment - prayer that my random high blood pressure is good and that I'm not dropping any protein.  You could also pray that I go into labor anytime after Wednesday ;)

Chris has Board Interview with the Wichita Police Department.  This is the dream job people.  After this interview if they want him to proceed, the next step will be an interview with the Chief.  And the Chief tells you if you're hired or not right after he interviews you.  No sweat, right? :)

Wednesday:
Afternoon: Chris has an In-Home Interview for the Detention Deputy job at the jail.  This would be a good job to have under his belt and on his resume, as he will continue to pursue WPD until he gets on.  In-home means I have to be there too. Yikes.  Here's hoping I'm not the reason my husband doesn't get a job.  This is the last step before they would give him a conditional job offer (a psycho test and physical exam would need to be passed).

Evening: Chris has a Board Interview for the Sheriff's Reserve.  This is a non-paid job, but once again, would be excellent to have the experience.  My understanding is that a Sheriff's Reserve basically does the same thing as a Sheriff Officer (after an academy and training), but just doesn't get paid.


So when it's dry, it's a famine.  When it rains, it pours.  I am [surprisingly] staying pretty optimistic for a pessimist.  I know with everything that is happening this week, absolutely nothing could pan out.  But that's okay.  My God is bigger than all of this.  But it doesn't mean I won't pray myself out of words.

Thank YOU, friends and family, for continuing to cover us with prayers!  We'll keep you updated :)

DIY "Antiqued" Wall Art

I wanted something unique - and cheap - for our Kid's room... So here is the step by step, trial and error, actually-turned-out-okay wall art - all for about $12.

This cute story is in a reader that my mom had - that I used to read out of - called "The Frog on the Log".  

I photo copied and enlarged the three pages... You can't see it very well, but I creased and tore the edges instead of cutting with scissors. I like the imperfect look it gave.

Next I steeped two large tea bags in my kettle and poured it in a 9x13

    

Completely submerged the paper, one sheet at a time to give the "old and worn" look.

Laid them out on paper towels... Checked them every once in a while and flattened them with my hand so they didn't get too crinkly.  When they were almost dry, I placed them underneath a heavy book.  They still had a bit of wrinkle, but that's the point to giving it the "old" look...

I found these painter's canvases on sale at Hobby Lobby

I already had some brown craft paint, so I painted a "border"...

Next was deciding how to apply the story to the canvas.  I thought about modge podging... Then I remembered I had some craft brads hidden away in the basement, so I excitedly got those out.

Since craft brads are not sturdy in any way, shape, or form, I needed to help them out with punching holes in the canvas so they would slide through.  Placing the holes right where the joints of the canvas frame made everything line up and center.  Used a small screwdriver and a hammer to do this. *Make sure you are doing this on a surface you don't mind getting beat up! I used an old piece of wood.

Next, I made sure that the story page was centered on the canvas...

Then I first poked the brad from the back to the front to punch the hole in the paper (not pictured),  then put it in correctly...

And the finished project.  I like how the edges are "free" to curl and bend a bit.  Imperfection is what I like.

I wish I could get a better picture of all three, but I think you get the idea.

Like I said, it cost me a total of about $12 for the canvases... I had the paint and was able to make copies on my own, but I figure even if you had to go out and buy everything and pay for the copies, it wouldn't be much more than $16-18.  I sure like that price tag compared to store-bought wall art! :)

Boy or Girl?

We will see in a few weeks which outfit will adorn our Baby on the way home from the hospital! :)

Enjoying Life

Chris has been laid off since June 15th.  Three months. Crazy.

With the exception of a couple of mornings that I've gotten annoyed that he's still in bed while I'm leaving for work, it's actually been kind of nice having him around.  He's great at keeping up with laundry and dishes as needed.  Random projects have been completed - the ones that don't cost much, of course...  It will never fail in life: When you have the money, you don't have the time. When you have the time, you don't have the money :)  But thanks to him, our Baby has a beautifully painted room and a restored dresser, along with many other things.

It's been [mostly] fun finding different things to do together that are either cheap or free.  Taking the dogs to the park (or just around the neighborhood), long weekend trips to the family cabin...

The other day we enjoyed a random trip to the zoo together.  Chris hadn't been there since (he thinks) middle school, so lots of stuff was new... We spent almost three hours there!  It was so gorgeous... But apparently it was too sunny and beautiful for the boat rides ;)

{I text my dad this picture and asked him what he was doing at the zoo... hardy-har-har}

Sneaky... Very Sneaky

I came home the other day.  The other day, as in two weeks ago.  To this sign on the Kid's room door...

As much as I wanted to go in there, [don't tell me not to do something, I will most likely do it... "Don't jump off that bridge, Ginny!] I restrained. I knew once I opened the door, there was no going back to The Unknown.

I text my mom to see if she knew anything about this.  She was coy.  But I could see right through her.  Either Chris was in on one of her plans, or she was in on one of his...

So I went to my shower that evening, thrown by my amazing co-workers...  Ate some amazing food:

{Cookies! Someone said they were too cute to eat.  I got over it.  They were delicious}

{chocolate fountain with the fixins}

At the shower, the gift from my Mom and Dad was a quilted sheet for a pack and play.  On the front of the package was a picture of the P&P I had registered for, telling me that it was waiting at home!

So apparently while I was at work, my Mom came over and dropped it off, and Chris put it together.

Lovethemboth.

Kid's Room... Finally

I'm not a great blogger.  I know you know this by my months-on-end hiatuses... My apologies.  Life happens.  But another reason I'm not a great blogger is because I tend to forget to take "before" and "during" pictures.  Did I take any photos of my amazing husband putting hours and hours into the kid's room (I don't like the word nursery. I have no idea why)? Nope.  There's no proof except the wonderful "after" pictures. And I take no credit.  So let's dig in. Because there are plenty of after pictures.  Oh, are there plenty.  

As I go along I'll be letting you know what the cost was, with the grand total at the end.  With many "DIY" projects and wonderful gifts, I think we did pretty great on a slim budget.

{before... long before.  after this picture, it was an exercise room}

{after}

- Rocker/Ottoman: gift

- Crib/Mattress: gift from my aunts
- Laundry basket: already had

- Trunk: wedding gift, moved from the living room

- Throw on rocker: hand-knitted Christmas gift from Chris' sister, Tera

- Baby book: Mother's Day gift from Chris :)

- Giraffe and Turtle: gifts from my aunt, the giraffe is a sound machine and the turtle lights up stars and a couple constellations all over the room

{bedding}

Bumper is two different materials

(excuse the quality of the curtain picture, it was taken with a phone)

- All material and supplies for bedding (quilt, crib sheet, bumper, crib skirt) and energy saving, black-out lined curtains, 4 panels (including grommets and rods): $195

These bears are so very dear to me.  When I was very young, my parents didn't have much (if any) money for Christmas, so my mom made these bears for me, and ducks for my older brother.  I don't care if we have a boy or a girl, these bears will be a permanent staple in all of my baby's rooms.

{to the left is the door to the hallway}

- Changing Table/Dresser: the one I used growing up, re-stained and put a new top on: $20

- Bookcase: garage sale find, repainted with paint we already had: $10

- Lamp: found at TJMaxx, couldn't stop thinking about it, splurged and bought it: $30

- "Frog Story" wall art: $12 (blog about that coming later)

- Mirror & Shelves: already had

- Curtain for closet: $5 

(if you remember, I put up a curtain in our master room also... Our house keeps settling, and until we figure out why, doors are a pain.  Curtains are also cheap and easy (no heavy duty tools or big time commitment needed. It's convenient at this time in our life)

- Basket for miscellaneous baby things: TJMaxx find: $7 (I think I'll paint it cream)

Shelf deco are things I already had and a few things my mom picked up at an antique store.

Love the deer, thanks Mom!

- Moon/Heart deco was in my baby room.  Made by a dear friend, Dana Ferrell.

- CD/Radio: already had.

Duck and books thanks to Mom

This wall looks bare, but only until baby gets here.  I painted frames and bought colorful scrapbook paper and will cut baby's name out and frame each letter and hang it above the crib.  Yes, I'll post a picture later :)

If it's a girl, I'll use the ribbon to hang the frames.  

My husband thinks the ribbon is too girly if it's a boy.  *Pshh*

- Frames and Paint: already had

- Scrapbook paper: $2.25

- Bucket: already had, spray painted with paint we already had

- Blankets: gifts, and one that was my baby blanket

- Snoop Dog: a Christmas gift that I never got around to giving, and decided it fit perfect in my kid's room.  I probably shouldn't have admitted that, huh?

{closet before}

{after}

After trying to peel 27 layers of wallpaper off, I decided it would be easiest [for my husband] to just paint over it.  Chris put a coat of Kilz on first, which worked like a charm.  The wallpaper was stuck so good, there were no problems with it bubbling.  Then he appeased his loving wife and painted the bottom half yellow and the top half blue (both of which we already had, they're actually the colors in our 2 bathrooms).  I think the two colors work great with the green walls of the room.  Conveniently, we only had to by the paint for the walls. So a couple gallons of paint and a gallon of primer was about $65.

So there it is my friends.  Final cost - $346.25