If you are not a follower of Young House Love, you might want to pop over to their blog and see what they’re about. I read their blogs as much for their engaging and positive writing style as for their DIY ideas. My “style” (which I’m still trying to define) is not much like theirs, and I’m not much at DIY, but I have gotten inspiration from a number of their projects. They also link to a number of other useful websites.
As for Pinterest, well… if you haven’t yet, check it out.
So Sherry from YHL and Katie from Bower Power (another blog, but one that I am less familiar with) devised the Pinterest Challenge, a seasonal event in which they challenge themselves and their readers to follow through on something they’ve pinned. This time I decided I was in, because for one thing I am as guilty as anyone of pinning things I’ll probably never do. But also I’m trying to make my house more homey and I thought some of these ideas might help.
These are the projects I pinned as contenders in the Pinterest Challenge (I’ve linked back to the original source, not to my pin):
The first thing I, or we, since I enlisted my daughters, did was to provide nesting materials for our neighborhood birds. We already had an empty suet feeder and lots of yarn, so it was free. The girls stuffed it full and then climbed the cherry tree to hang it among the blossoming branches.
When I was alone, I tackled the spray-painted home decor. I looked through my basement for something that I could recycle but had no luck. So I hit TJ Maxx and found a winsome ceramic owl and a cheerful elephant for $4 and $7, respectively. (I was eyeing a larger elephant, but he was $15 and already a beautiful white so I decided he was not a candidate). I forgot to take “before” pictures, so imagine the owl with a crackled cream finish, and the elephant a distressing green and brown. I primed the animals and then painted the elephant blue and the owl pure white (no crackles in sight). Here are the results:
I should be honest in that I broke one of my own rules to do this one. Painting these ceramic animals was a purely decorative enterprise, and I went out and bought the animals I wanted to paint instead of using something I already had. I am really trying to pare down the clutter in my home, and my rule is that anything new that I bring in should either be something I’m totally in love with, or be useful (and preferably both). It was still fun, though.
As for the chore blocks… hopefully this will inject a little more fun into housework! The girls were actually excited to see them.
Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as the ones I pinned (I just wrote on wooden cubes with a fine point Sharpie), but they are functional. I figure I can improve their appearance if we like using them.
The state map outline was easy. I did a web search for “Georgia state map outline” and there were lots of educational and state sites to choose from. Then I just needed to find the right paper and frame. This actually turned out to be my favorite of the projects.
I haven’t hung it on the wall yet. I know where I want it, but I have other things that will go on the same wall and I need to figure out the arrangement first.
Looking at it makes me feel happy.
Does it also count that I purchased several prints I had pinned from Etsy? I love the art of Amber Alexander (link to her Etsy shop) and I cannot wait for my new prints to arrive.
I had a lot of fun with these projects and besides adding a few little personal touches in certain rooms, accomplishing them actually made me feel more motivated to tackle some other projects.
