It's Reveal Time! Warning: Super Long Post - Lots of Pics!

I'm in love with chalkboards.

Every time I see a cute one, I get a little giddy.

Not gonna lie.

I'm also in love with COLOR...

And this piece = NO COLOR.

Project #1:

Bleck.

Objectives: COLOR and ORGANIZATION STAT

(Sorry, I didn't bother to tidy it or anything...this is how it has been for...a WHILE. The thing is, I can close it all up and pretend that it's just fiiiiiiiiiine.) ;)

My goal (perhaps this week) is to paint the whole thing and change out the knobs etc but here's what I did to accomplish my objectives for the moment:

First, I painted the plain natural brown toy baskets, that I have owned since my single days, a Colonial Red. I did a rough coat and left a touch of the natural brown showing through just so they didn't look SO contrived. I'm not sure if I accomplished my goal or it just looks like I missed some spots. I guess you can be the judge.

Here's where the chalkboard comes in. See those little plaque's on the front? I made those. Just bought some supplies at AC Moore...

I spray painted the plaque's with the chalkboard paint, used a staple gun to attach the jute string to the back, wrote TOYS with a chalkboard marker and strung it through the baskets. Tied it tight (on the inside) and viola! :)

I know...it's amateurish to probably most of you but for me, I'm proud as a peacock that I actually did something! lol

Next, I needed a place to store some extra wires, small dumb bells etc so I searched my garage and found this little thing...

It's the box that says "Stuff" on it. Sorry, no before pic...I got too excited and in my haste, forgot to take a pic. This one, I am still debating if I like...I wanted a little more color than just black so I tried adding some blue to it as well. Well, then I needed a spot that was all chalkboard paint so that I could write on it so I wound up using an empty frame as a template. I don't know if I'm in love with it, but for now, it works and it's actually doing the trick rather nicely.

The red and white vintage box above it is either an old desk organizer or flatware sorter but in any case, I found it in a box of homeschool stuff that my husband's aunt passed on to us. I'm STOKED. It's now serving as a handy dandy little remote caddy. I love that it speaks to the red and white print on a couple of our throw pillows. :) Fancy Schhhhmancy!

So, that took care of the COLOR portion of our show...now let's talk organization. Quite frankly, it's a mess. This has been months of not having a stationary DVD player and having our kiddos throw them in and out of the armoire in order to drag them off to their portable DVD player.

Another thing that I found in that fabulous box of goodies from Aunt Ginny were these bright yellow legal file folders...a TON of them. I thought, what in the world am I gonna use those for?! well...where there is a will, there is a way. Delicious creativity...thank you for entering my mind when I need you most.



(Please ignore the rug...I'm seriously about to pull it out of here...you don't even know.)

Cut them down and viola...don't mind if I do organize my DVD's alphabetically!





Cost to me: Zero dollars.

Heart it!

So yeah...that's kinda it...

Just a little color...a little organization...not perfect but it'll do for now.

Before: After:

Project #2 and this one I am beyond ELATED over.

So, I'm thinkin'...ooooooh, I have spray paint...what ELSE can I do???? (I felt like one of those evil cartoon characters all hunched over and running my hands together with an evil smirk on my face...okay, no...I have no idea where I'm going with that)

Anywho...I found THIS in my garage...



Have had it FOREVER. The only thing that I have ever really done with it is used it for display purposes at one of my yard sales.

So, I got to thinkin'...and...

I. AM. IN. LOVE.

I sprayed the whole thing with chalkboard paint (Actually, I sprayed the interior with plain flat black non chalkboard paint - to paint it with "the good stuff" would have been a waste) and wrote on it with chalkboard marker, "Give us this day our daily bread". It now is the perfect centerpiece for our table and houses our silverware, napkins, salt, pepper etc and some pretty hydrangeas. I'm looking forward to changing it up for upcoming holidays...so FUN.

:)

I took pictures of it from all angles. lol

Okay, so, let's see...Project #3:

My mother-in-law had bought a pretty rooster plate for me a couple of years ago and as much as I liked it, I didn't really ever have a home for it. It's been in my garage for a while now and I saw it the other day and again...like a lightening bolt...CHALKBOARD!

So, here it is...and sorry, again, no before pics. :(



I LOVE the shape of this...the scalloped edges are so pretty. :)

Left the edges unpainted to give it some dimension and allow the color to stand out.



Hung it on the wall with a plate hanger and now it's serving us as a pretty little message board.



It's close to our fridge and the back door so it's a great place for on the go reminders and messages...



Project #4: Last but not least! (Actually, it's probably not the last one either...)

I bought a sign a few weeks ago (that I neglected to take a picture of...grrrrrr) at a yard sale for $3 that I liked but didn't love. The lettering was a tad off center which kinda irked me but I loved the sentiment and the color so I decided it was worth the 3 bucks. I had no place to hang it so I had it in an off place...slightly bugged by it's presence; I think it's because it wasn't living up to it's full potential! Well...eh hem...let me introduce you to my new menu board. Which can I tell you I have been DYING for one of these for EVER?! I had recently resigned myself to making my own - frame and everything but guess what?! Now I don't have to!

Hallelujah for chalkboard spray paint!



Hello GORGEOUS! I left the green as is and only painted the center with the chalkboard paint...added the menu with my chalkboard markers and...I DIE! Ahhhhhhh!

I am thrilled with how it turned out. You don't even know...that wall has been bugging me FOREVER. Nothing I ever had on it felt right.

But now it's perfect and I love it. And I envision lots of menu's to come. Imagine how cute it could be for the holidays?! Hooray!

Breathe.

Okay...so, here's what the wall looks like now...minus the blurriness that this picture brings about.

I'm a happy girl.

And I tired girl.

So, with that, I leave you. I hope that you liked how my projects turned out. I had SO much fun doing them...and you KNOW that I'm gonna do something else before the week is out. I still have spray left in my can...it's like money burning a hole through my pocket as my husband would say. ;)

Phew! If you stayed with me for the entire post, will you please leave me a comment and let me know?! I'll put you on my best friend forever list. :)

I need a bumper sticker than says, Honk if you love chalkboards!

Clearly I need some sleep.

Night all.

And yes, I am aware that it's only a little after 4 p.m.

XO