Spray me a river.

Decorating a new house is fun. Decorating a house that is yours is really, really fun. And decorating on a budget is the best part because I love hunting for a bargain. Needless to say, I'm as happy as a pig in poop right now. (Or as happy as Jack eating a poopy diaper, which he did today. He's in solitary confinement in the cellar crying at this very moment. And incidentally we don't have basements here, we have cellars...they are so much more northern you know.)

So in between other tedious projects, I've been enjoying some spray painting. It's fast, easy and instantly gratifying.

We have a big mantle and we bought a huge mirror in South Carolina thinking it would fit over it. It doesn't--not even close. So now I'm trying to decorate with things I already have. I also decided I was over my metallic phase. Everything bronze, copper, silver must go. Well, almost everything. My weapons of choice: Kilz paint in Georgia Clay and Ivory and a blue shade whose name I can't remember because I threw all the cans away. I'd recognize it at wal-mart though.

When I unpacked I realized I have a lot of candlesticks. I had no idea. Where did they all come from? Since none of them were valuable or sentimental, under the sprayer they went.

Before:

After:

I painted my metal "R" ivory then blue and roughed it up a bit. The price tag that's still on the back says it was $2.90 from Hobby Lobby.Hydrangeas from the garden--absolutely free.

No doubt I'll keep tweaking it, but for now the mantle is done.

This lamp was $5 from a thrift store in Colorado Springs. It started out black and I've painted it twice now.

Next up: wicker rockers purchased at a consignment store in Columbia for $32 a piece and a table I bought at Value City furniture my sophomore year of college and used as a night stand. Considering it isn't well made, I think I've gotten my money's worth out of it in the last 12 years. It's seen better days though. Time for a facelift.

After:

The pattern on the table is from paper doilies. You just use a spray adhesive to stick them on the surface and then spray on top of them and peel them off. (For specific instructions go here). They turn out kind of messy and imperfect, which I liked so I didn't touch them up.

I've seen a lot of cute chunky rockers in stores, but they can't compete with these curvy legs (not to mention they cost three times more).

So that's some of what I've been up to, but there's a whole lot more. I think I'm addicted to the fumes.