Love Where You Live

When it comes to the home, I'm a firm believer in learning to be content with what you've got by making what you've got, work! Everyone should love where they live. Get over the things you can't change, and take charge of the things you can. If you hate it, paint it! If you can't paint it... well, then you may just have to live with it (but there are very few things in this world that can't be painted). I love, love, love changing things up and moving things around, cleaning things out and throwing things away. But, I predominantly use what I have and hold onto many items for later use and frequent rotation. There are many things I would change about where I live now if I had the money, but that doesn't change the fact that I truly do, love where I live!

There are very few pictures hanging on my walls, decorations sitting around or furniture being used that I have not owned since childhood, were hand-me-downs from other family members or have been picked up on the side of the road! If I don't like something, I'll spray paint it, switch out the picture, replace a picture with scapbooking paper or material, etc.

I love surrounding myself with colors that make me happy and bring me enjoyment. Don't put something on your wall just for the sake of putting something on the wall. Hang it if you really like it, and if you don't - spray paint it!

Find enjoyment and beauty in the natural decorations that God himself has supplied! I love the bright colored forsythia bush outside the dinning room window, and the colors in the oak tree as it comes into bloom. If you're having a hard time seeing the beauty outside, maybe it's time to clean the windows! (No, really, clean your windows. It's crazy what a difference it can make.)

~Sarah

Old Ladders and Burlap = Love

As promised... the unveiling of my completed projects!

I am so excited with how this turned out, and could not be happier! My husband, on the other hand, is still a little weirded out by the ladder hanging on our wall. He just doesn't get it :)

I have included here, the pictures of everything put together. I went ahead and wrote up a separate tutorial for the wreath, which can be found here: Burlap Wreath Tutorial 

I must be up front with you. The whole ladder thing turned out to be way more work than I initially bargained for. I kept asking myself, is this really worth it? Of course the answer was YES! If you happen to have your hands on an old extension ladder or plain ol' ladder that is just one single piece, by all means, go for it! Hang it on the wall as soon as you possibly can! What I had, was an old step ladder with the two sides that fold in together. The issue is, it's old, and old things were made really well. This baby was riveted together. Rivets are a pain to remove. I didn't take real detailed pictures, so just go ahead and Google "removing rivets." I used a hack saw, a sawzall, a drill, a hammer and a flat head screw driver before those babies finally came off. The drill with a metal bit was a must. The sawzall may have done the job faster, but the battery died on me and I was, frankly, too impatient to wait for it to charge, so I continued on by other means. The nice thing is, if you're going for that rustic, antiquey look, you really don't have to do a thing beyond that! Seriously, I didn't even clean this thing (gross?), sand it or paint it in any way. I just left it totally as is! One thing I would suggest, is not going into a rivet removal project in your living room. If you must, at least put down a drop cloth. Otherwise, you'll be scrubbing up rust stains and tediously vacuuming up microscopic shards of metal from the carpet (not that I had to do that or anything).

And on the other wall... some new frames off the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby. So what if they were a little banged up, nothing a black Sharpie can't fix!

Things to Come...

I have fallen a little behind in my posts lately, for which I apologize. I promise, I have many things in the works that I will be posting soon! Here is a sneak peak at what I am working on right now:

A scene from my living room! My husband nearly flipped when he walked in and I informed him that I would be hanging this ladder on the wall. This is also a picture of the burlap wreath I am working on. I have a recently fallen madly in love with burlap! How many uses for burlap can I find? We shall see, oh, we shall see. Here are some of the pictures I've been looking to for inspiration... oh the possibilities!!

I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck

I could not resist...

When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I just had to replicate it for my wall! This is one of my Grandpa Cavanaugh's all-time favorite and most memorable sayings that he has greeted us with ever since I can remember. It means a lot to me, and I can't believe I had never thought to frame it before!

An old picture frame, some scrapbooking paper, and a sharpie paint pen later, and this is how mine turned out. I just free-handed the letters, so they turned out a little sloppy, but who cares! It's cute :)

Update 1-7-13: I've been thinking, I really should create a cute printable version of this sign! So here you go, an 8x10 image to print and frame. Simply right click on the image and select "save to computer"