While he was out

So what, you may ask, could have caused my utter exhaustion and quite possibly a case of shoulder impingement syndrome? (That and I think my right arm may be bigger than my left.) It's subtle changes, things that have always bugged me but that fell below the line as far as decorating importance. But now that I have done it, I am so happy and wish I had done it sooner. I do hope, however, that the build up wasn't too big so that now you are waiting to see my kitchen remodel I tackled all by myself in one weekend. Cuz that ain't it.

So here we go.

This is the "art niche" on the landing as you go up my stairs. We have no certified fine art. But I felt that my children's art still qualified and I didn't need an art appraiser to come out.






I originally bought Ikea frames so that at least they would be uniform and cheap (that was my SIL Amy's idea, thanks Amy) and then my oh so clever husband arranged them.

But it just never stood out the way I wanted to. Then last week I saw on Centsational Girl a post about frames and implementing color. So I took paint I already had, painted the square behind the artwork, then I spray painted all the frames a flat black, added a few more pieces that had been waiting to go up, and voila!!




Like I said, subtle, but makes a world of difference as you walk up the stairs, and really highlights my children's art. So I'm pleased. Ouch. Shoulder Cramp.

Next. I have a pretty good sized wall in the hallway upstairs by all the bedrooms. For forever I have wanted a wall full of family pictures after seeing a special on Stephen Covey. They showed his beautiful home in Provo, Ut and in their downstairs his wife had this huge wall completely covered in framed pictures of her children and grandchildren. Then and there I knew that one day I wanted the same thing.

So I've slowly been working on it. This is kind of what it looked like before, I had taken a few frames down to paint them, but you get the idea.



So after trying to envision what I wanted, I did something crazy. Super crazy for me, the girl who loves color on every wall in the house. Are you ready for this? You won't believe it.

I painted the wall....WHITE!


That is something I haven't done, maybe ever. It was pretty exciting.


So with the wall painted white, I wanted the frames to stand out but not clash with the art niche frames, since you can see both at the same time when you are standing in the upstairs hallway.


So I went with Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint in Slate blue.


And truly, for this one, the difference is AMAZING. To me anyway.


Ta-da!!!




So yeah, I kept busy. And that's not all I did. But I will save the BIG project for tomorrow. Less you get bored with all of these before and afters.

But just for fun, here's a sneak peak.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go ice my shoulder.