Halloween Front Porch

Nothing like a little rain and wind to add some atmosphere to your Halloween decorations.

These pictures were taken after a big storm, but everything held up pretty well, plus battered makes for authentic Halloween.  :)

This is our front door with the Halloween Bug Wreath I made last year, found here.

We even let the boys pick out a giant pumpkin this year - they were so excited!

Finally, have started to make decorations for the yard this year, including this "ghost circle".

More on that later - really simple.

Happy Halloween!!

Red Dresser Redo

I love painted furniture!

Maybe a bit too much, but seriously taking something ugly and old and making it pretty and new again all for just the cost of a can of paint?  

I say yes! 

I bought this beauty (ha!) from a FB resale site for $20.00.  If you've recently priced dressers, then you know what a bargain this was!  

The middle drawer pull had fallen off, but they luckily still had it.  

I decided to redo this for Colester's room.  

(The paint cans are to keep the mess off the garage floor)

I love bright primary colors for my little's rooms, so I chose this 

paint plus primer in the color Cranberry Zinger.

I loved that it already had the primer in it, so I could skip that step,

but I still had to do 3 coats.  Possibly overkill, but better safe than sorry.

I took the hardware off and sprayed it all with a Metallic paint & primer

in the color Dark Steel.

For a little fun, I used some leftover metallic sheen spray paint I had hanging around to spray the interior of the drawers blue.

This had 2 purposes - 

1. It's cute!  2. I always like to make the drawers as clean as possible when buying used and this added a barrier over the cleaned wood.

Here it is up in Colesters's room!

I love how it turned out and now we have some much needed storage space!  

(Side note - check out Mr. Giraffe - he was a gift when Nate the Great was a baby.  Hubs has spent the past 9 years trying to get rid of him cause he's huge.

I love him, so he stays!  Chalk one win up to me!)

Have you painted anything recently?  I'd love to see it!

Thanksgiving Mantle



Here it is - my simple, nature-inspired Thanksgiving mantle.

 

It is amazing what some spray-paint and a nature walk with the kiddos can accomplish.

 

 

I attached these metal leaves to the fireplace with tiny removable hooks - the backs have a circle thing attached that I hooked on to.  (I have no idea what these were used for in their first life)

 

A thin coat of paint - more about that Here - and they made a nice Fall accent.

 

 

A clean, white theme united the décor - more on that Here.

 

 

 

The family and I went on a walk around the lake in our neighborhood and found these great pinecones and colored leaves that I love!

 

The finished mantle is a reminder to me to be thankful for the simple things - beauty is around us everyday.

 

So much to be thankful for - Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 



Paint it New!

 

Never underestimate the power of paint!

 

Recently, I came across these five (hidden) gems at the thrift store.

I wanted candle holders for my Thanksgiving mantle, but didn't want to spend a fortune -

all five of these were about $8. 

Love a Bargain!

 

Of course, as is, they didn't exactly go with my décor and they are all different styles and materials.

(glass, wood, plaster)

Painting them all the same color brings them all together and makes them a cohesive unit.

 

 

 

I decided on white as some of my other Thanksgiving stuff was already white.

Plus I love the crisp, clean look of bright white.

 



 I just used spray paint and it took less than 30 minutes - super easy!

 

 

Try it out - go find something that you like the shape of and paint it a fresh, solid color.

 

I bet you'll love it at much as I love these now!

 





Thanksgiving Wreath

I have seen some really cute wrapped-style wreaths and thought that I would give it a go for Thanksgiving - never having attempted it before, this was all a learning experience for me.

 

I went and got a styrofoam wreath form, one skein of white and tan yarn, and some burlap decorative ribbon about 6 inches wide.

 

 

I measured and marked every 4 inches around the back and wrote a W for white and T for tan to show where each color yarn would be wrapped. 

I started at the back and used hot glue to secure the yarn to the form.

 

 

This is where I started to rethink this yarn wrapping idea -
while not at all difficult, it is time consuming. 

I did figure out about halfway through that if you double the yarn twice - (four strands at a time) - it goes 4 times as fast! (duh)  You're welcome.  :)

 

 

Here is a shot of the wreath fully wrapped (yay!), which my boys lovingly dubbed
"the Life-preserver".

 



 

I decided to add a burlap bow to the top and for some color I used large nails to push through the back of the form and then into some mini pumpkins that I had left over from Halloween.

 

 

 

Voila!

 



 

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

Halloween Mantle

I cannot tell you how excited I am that our new home came with a fireplace, because that means we have a MANTLE!  I am so excited for the decorating possibilities!

 

 

We moved in to the house in August, so this is my first crack at a holiday - Halloween.

 

 

I wanted it to be not too scary or gorey and since I was limited on time, most items were purchased as opposed to handmade (sorry, there's always next year!)

I used some stick on bats and black flowers (Michaels) and a pumpkin medallion and black glitter pumpkin (Target)

I also couldn't resist this "Keep Calm" sign from Michaels and tissue-paper circles (Target).  You can see a theme of where I shop!  I tied a Trick-or-Treat ribbon around a vase filled with tiny clementines for some more pops of color.

 

Finished it off with a netting and Happy Halloween banner.  (same stores)  :)

 

 

I love the way that it turned out!  Happy Halloween!