15 Min Chair Update

There are several things you could do with a spare 15 minutes. Grab a book. Weed the garden. Thoroughly wipe down the kitchen cupboards. Yup - I mean those crumbs behind the canisters that you've ignored for a month.

Or you could turn a really disgusting (as in I can't believe I'm showing all of you this grossness) chair from this:

To this:

I love how taking before pictures at night with terrible lighting makes the after pictures, taken on a sunshiny morning, seem so much nicer! Although really...you can't get more yucky than this chair seat. When I originally found this chair at a thrift store down the road and covered it, it was lovely. Great fabric. But I'm not much of a spot cleaner. Apparently. Oh yuck.

And when ya just can't stand it anymore, you wisely use 15 minutes to whip off that chair seat and recover it.

Wait until morning light to snap a picture or two...

...for even better results. Just the fact that it's clean again is a great improvement in my books. I love what you can get accomplished in 15 minutes!

Thirty six cheers for impulse BFM runs!!!

It's Thursday afternoon.

Hadassah is already buckled in the van while I make a mad dash into the house because I forgot her towel. Can't go to swimming lessons without a towel, right?

Wait a minute, do I even have her bathing suit? Oh yeah, I remember it tailing behind Hadassah as she dragged it along the porch floor to the van. Ok. Get your keys out and...uh oh...keys are still on the hook inside. Back I go again...this is getting ridiculous. Oh look! The letter I needed to mail is still sitting here on the hutch. Good thing I had to come back in. Now...stop lollygagging Jen and get going! You've got three errands to do before we even get to swimming lessons. And for crying out loud, stop talking to yourself!!!

It was one of those "let's see how much I can get done in a crazy short amount of time" kind of afternoons and I surprisingly got everything done on time. In fact - way early. Good thing Hadassah is always up for a trip to Bibles for Missions. Nothing like a good stroll down the furniture aisle, followed by a tour up and down the kitchenware aisle where you just.never.know.

Oh, how lovely. Don't need one, though. Check that out, could I do something with that? No, Jen, you have enough projects on the go. Put it down. Hey! What a great looking tin! Nice and big, just the right color for my kitchen. I don't really do tins, though. Too bad it's not a set. Love the pattern on the lid, wonder if it comes off easily? Yup. Lookee here...another tin inside! Score! And...oh it's getting better. There's another. And another! It IS a set. Tons of character, fun fonts, peeeerfect colors.

No. Put 'em down Jen. Where would you put them? Your counter is full and it'd be a waste to put them in the cupboard. (starting to walk away) (stops) But you never did loooove those bright aqua containers you have out now. Those could easily be put in the cupboard. (walks backwards). Wonder how much they are...THREE DOLLARS!!!!???!

Sold.

And I am in looove. 

Fluffy Flour makes himself useful by keeping Gus's dog treats handy.

Sunshine Coffee is a little sad right now - she's feeling...empty. But she'll feel useful as soon as I find the perfect filler for her. I tell her that once in awhile, just to cheer her up.

Bright White Sugar helps out by keeping my dishwasher packs in easy reach.

And Golden Leaf tea could've been owned by the littlest of the Three Bears - because she's just right for my granola bars.

Don't they look vintagy and used and loved and....lovely?

How I love finding "just what you were looking for" when you weren't looking for anything like it. Sometimes, those are the best finds. No, wait. The best finds are the "just what you were looking for" items you weren't looking for that ended up being a grand total of $3. Woot!

How about one last look. Shall we? . . .

Thank you, my lovlies, for gracing my counter top with so much charm.
Bibles for Missions? I'll see you again soon.

Thrift Store Finds

I've had a couple of good trips to Goodwill and Salvation Army in the past couple of weeks! Thought I'd share...
I have a 'thing' for old blue mason jars and was thrilled to find 4 of them for (what I thought was) 99 cents each. Imagine my thrill when I got to the cash register to discover they were actually 4 FOR 99 cents!!! Along with a new serving dish and a milk glass...thing. :)The milk glass...thing...was used for an idea I found here. I'd give you a running commentary, but I don't want to bore you. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:And then there's the chalkboard. I've been meaning to buy chalkboard paint (and still plan to for another project) but why make a chalkboard when you can buy one for under $3?!A coat of paint and some roughing up later...

Adventures in Spraypaint

Remember a little mention of spray paint in my bathroom post? Well I just took 10 minutes to finish up a project with two other frames I spray painted that day and so I thought I'd take 3 minutes to write about it.

Happy you, eh?

(the above sentance is clear evidence of a Canadian. And I love that. I hope I always and forever say "eh"...)

Ok, so. I took a trip to Hobby Lobby a few weeks back looking for a) a really cheap cork board and a really cheap white board that matched reasonably well or b) two cheap picture frames, one w/glass in tact and the other didn't matter about the glass since I would cover it with cork. Was I delighted or what when I found not only a picture frame w/glass in tact AND a cork board, both in the clearance section. It hurt a little that they weren't the same size. I was oh-so hoping. But this is good for me. Out my "must match" box.

Well next I travelled across the street to the thrift store, as I often do because it's right across the road. And would you believe I found frames that would've worked too?! But it's alright, really! Because they were more expensive!! Oh how I love that.

A little spray paint later......and a little material and ribbon and voila! A new white board (did you know you can use dry-erase markers on glass?) and cork board set for my little office-in-our-bedroom.And..........check! (have I mentioned that I love checking things off my to-do list? hmmm, yes I believe I have.)

Here's a sneak peak at yet another spray paint project:Can you guess??