I Heart Art.

I really do.  I may not be the best at it, but I have a blast creating swap-able, inexpensive pieces to hang around our home.  I've dabbled in super amateur art before. Here, here, here, here, here and here.

Then last spring I created a few more pieces on some scrap wood I had stashed in our hall closet.

This past winter, I painted another scrap piece to help make a statement next to our Christmas tree.

After we took all of our Christmas decor down I was craving a bit of spring.  It's been very chilly, and once the holiday season ends, I am NOT a fan of the colder, darker months.  To combat the current season, I added pops of coral and citron to our great room.  An inexpensive way to get these colors into our living space was to update some of the art I previously painted above.  I can't wait to share it all soon!!

Anyone else ready for winter to end?!?!

Leaner Mirror Makeover.

Once our walls went dark, I really fell out-of-love with our large leaner mirror.  It blended in with the walls and didn't provide any pop.

I solved that problem the same way I solve 90% of my other problems....with some leftover paint!!

For our master bedroom refresh, I knew I didn't want to completely rid our room of my signature teal color, so rather than have an accent wall covered in Behr's Balmy Seas, I wanted to incorporate it using accessories and accents. That gorgeous shade of teal would be the perfect hue to make our old mirror come to life again.

I took it outside, spray primed and painted it with a leftover paint sample.

Once that was done I got out my Citri-Strip gel, coated the over-spray and used a scraper to clear the mirror surface.  (Yes, I was lazy and didn't want to cover and tape before I primed, so I had to strip later.)  After that, I used Minwax's polycrylic in semi-gloss to cover and protect the paint.

And voilà...a new mirror!

I think it looks great against our dark walls, and all dressed up for the holidays... ;)

Can't wait to share more details soon!!!

Quick DIY Cork Coasters.

Here and there I've been working on our master bedroom refresh.  I promised myself and even declared to the blog-world that I would finish the space by the end of the year, but it just didn't happen.  I'm getting close.  As you can see here, it's all about the details now.  Once I check a few more things off my to-do list, I'll finally be D-O-N-E!!!

What's left, you ask?  Finding the right pillows (I've been on the pillow hunt for more time than I want to admit...I've fallen in love, but my budget never got the same warm and fuzzy feelings), DIY'ing some jewelry storage, pretty-ing up our exposed lamp cords (with paint or a DIY cord-cover project) and a DIY art canvas.

Since I've talked enough about what ISN'T done, let me prop myself back up on what I've actually finished: upped the cozy factor in our room with dark walls, installed our DIY lucite curtain rods, painted our DIY curtains, hung our TV gallery wall (sneak peek here), stenciled our gloss-on-matte accent wall (sneak peek here), hung our wall lamps, swapped out our focal point mirror, painted our old leaner mirror and DIY'ed some simple coasters for our nightstands.

You see, hubby and I drink a ton of water...and every night we each have a bottle or glass of water next to us in bed.  Normally I wouldn't be such a freak about putting a drink on a side table, but these "nightstands" are one of my favorite Craigslist makeovers I've ever completed.  

The thought of ruining one with a water ring makes me cringe.

So the easiest/cheapest/most-stylish solution I could come up with was painting a 4-pack of cork coasters from Michael's.

This project took all of 10 minutes, is embarrassingly easy and pretty much self-explanatory, so I feel silly even posting about it, but hey, I love how they turned out...so why not show them off?!

First, I gathered my supplies: 1) the coasters, 2) some left over paint samples and acrylic paints, 3) old paint brushes, 4) painters tape, 5) liquid gold leaf, 6) Krylon clear finish spray and 7) an old piece of cardboard to paint on.

Then I taped off different areas on the coasters and started painting!  I didn't have much of a plan for shapes or color placement.  I just crafted without thinking or measuring.

Once everything was painted, I used a Krylon clear spray to lightly coat each coaster 2 times to protect my award-winning paint job.

After the coasters dried, they were ready to go!  I love the colors and how pretty they look compared to the folded over paper towels we were using. ;)

High-five for super-simple, cheap projects!!!!  Happy Friday, friends! :)