A Touch of Coral...Crackle Photo Frames

I have been searching everywhere for coral decor for my guest rook/ office-- which I painted a vibrant shade of teal/turquoise. To my surprise coral is hard to find.
My friend Jamie (she has a lot of things) gave me some frames and floating shelves. The frames were already painted a teal color. She suggested painting over them in gray and using sand paper to make the teal peek through.
When I was at Hobby Lobby (my home away from home) I saw crackle paint! What a genius invention! I got gray and coral to go with the crackle-- and headed home (along with the items for various other projects that you will see later) and began on my frames.

Here is what the frames looked like when I received them.

I started my experimenting with the ones that would be teal and gray. Per the crackle directions I added a 'medium coat' (I am still not exactly sure what that means) to two of the teal frames I let it dry until 'tacky'-- and added the layer of contrasting color on top. The 2nd coat of paint came at various points in the drying process because I couldn't quite grasp what tacky meant exactly.
You then let it dry and it does its thing!

As you see I did (2) with coral on the bottom and gray on top; (2) with teal then gray; and (2) with gray then coral.

I think they turned out pretty good!

 I actually had to get photos developed-- did you know you could still do that!

And how does one hand shelves with minimal tools-- paper, a pen and a screw driver-- bet you didn't know you could measure with a piece of paper! 

Spring Organization

Happy Spring everyone! We have had a few days of nice weather which has helped get me out of my winter funk, and put me back in house mode-- starting with some organization!
Having a small house-- and a lot of stuff, I feel like I am always cramming things where ever I can find a place, which leads to things being lost. Solution? Organization! and shopping for more things of course!

After receiving some baskets and things from a friend, thanks Jamie! I decided to also make a trip to the container store and bought a few more things to make my small space easier to live in.

I do not have a pantry so I am forced to use my largest main cabinet as a makeshift pantry (this was a lot harder when I had a roommate--twice the food).

One of my pet peeves is to have a box in the cabinet with 1 or 2 items in so I now have a basket for misc. items, and added another basket on top to utilize the empty space. I also used a riser so small items wouldn't be lost (I can't be bothered with searching for Ramen at 1 am!) The space underneath can then be used also!

I love that I can just look in the cabinet and see exactly what I need-- no searching or digging!

I have a very small linen closet in the hall-- this is the only closest I have (other than bedrooms). Before adding the hanging shelf I had the dish towels and washrags next to my bath towels-- a HUGE waste of overhead (or over towel) space. I also have some risers in here for my multiple hair curlers-- and are the perfect height for my baskets that hold my ample amounts of hand sanitizers (what! I work with kids!) and wallflower refills! (What you can't see is the two rows of Bath and Body works hand soaps--I may have a shopping problem).

My linen closet will now double as a kitchen appliance closet! This closet still needs A LOT of work but it is much more functional already.

Lastly the bathroom. As I already addressed I have a huge lack of storage in my bathroom-- which means I generally just shove stuff under the sink.

I got a hair dryer holder for over the cabinet door-- which means no more pulling it out by its cord hoping I don't pull out rolls of toilet paper and what ever else! I also got a two tiered over the door rack. This is for, well, feminine items, I was tired of falling off the toilet to try to find them under the sink! 

(Sunday wanted to be part of the picture taking action)

So much room to store other things-- don't mind the random wood in the back. My house has really shotty finishes-- Apparently the last owners did their own cabinets... ah well.

I am also working on turning one of the closets in the guest room into a craft closet (Stay tuned), and hoping to redo my bedroom closet to make more room for shoes, and just update it from the basic one pole system.