Bedroom Blah to Bliss

We've lived in this apartment for about 3 1/2 years and our bedroom has been pretty much ignored up to this point. Sure I've done a little decorating here and there but it's never looked finished. A few weeks ago I decided that it was time to make our bedroom a little prettier, a little more put together looking.

First thing I did was go to Goodwill to pick up various picture frames. I brought them home, cleaned them up and sanded them a bit. Then I painted them all with a little 59 cent bottle of paint from Walmart.
I had this platter on hand that I'd bought at a rummage sale for 5 cents last summer.

So I painted it with the same blue and did the chalk, trace and paint method for the lettering.

This little lamp sits on my husbands bedside table. I got it at Goodwill a year or so ago for $1 I think. I doesn't really go with the browns and blues we have in the bedroom so it got a little makeover too.

I recovered it with a little fabric from my fabric stash.

This is how one of our walls looked when I started. I had been meaning to find something for the wall right of the shelf to balance it out. But, since it's in the bedroom and no one sees it but us I just never got around to it.
This is how it looks now with all the pictures and the platter hung. Much, much better. Not bad for $4 worth of frames and 59 cents worth of paint (oh, and 1.65 for the photo printing).
This little corner had been sadly neglected too.
I just pulled a few things out from the closet and from other rooms to make it a little more put together.
And that was my first big project of the new year. :o)

Check out Santuary Art for her First big project of the new year party!

Oh My....

Do you have a room in your home that you would be embarrassed to show anyone? We did, and it was bad. For us it was our office. It's normally pretty put together but it started to take a turn for the worse around the end of November and things just got worse from there.

So I'll give you a look into our mess. Walking into the office you would be greeted by this...

A closer look of all the random stuff on my desk...


I could only get this drawer about a quarter of the way open because it would run into the little table sitting next to it. Not sure why I lived with it that way for so long. Oh, and I really am going to refinish the drawers someday...

Binders falling over...random receipts on the shelf...paint brushes laying around...

All it took was 3 hours of my time, a few hours of David's time and a little rearranging....

Ahhh...so much better!

Giveaway on PW

Have you visited Pioneer Woman today? Ree is donating 10 cents for every comment left on the post to Haitian recovery efforts. The two winners of the giveaway on PW will have $500 each donated to the Haitian-related charity of their choice. So if you haven't yet, head on over and leave a comment.

2009

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? went to Chicago
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any resolutions last year. I did make my 101 list though and have been doing well with it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? my friend Tasha had a little girl, Waverly
4. Did anyone close to you die? thankfully, no
5. What countries did you visit? none

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? money
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? hmm...nothing is really standing out
8. What was your biggest personal achievement of the year? learning not to compare my life to the live's of others (still working on it)
9. What was your biggest failure? not getting more debt taken care of
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? nothing serious. had my first case of strep throat..that's some rough stuff

11. What was the best thing you bought? my sewing machine, it hasn't gotten a lot of use yet but it will
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? ??
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? all the Obama naysayers... I think people expected too much of him too quickly...he inherited a huge mess when he took office - it takes time to clean up and make things better
14. Where did most of your money go? bills
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? going on vacation with David

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Poker Face by Lady GaGa and Single Ladies by Beyonce
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer? a. happier, b. pretty much the same as last year, and c. same
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? trusted that I am where God wants me and not stressed so much about where I am (and where I'm not) in life
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? worried
20. Did you fall in love in 2009? more in love with David

21. What were your favorite TV programs? The Biggest Loser, Ghost Whisperer, The Vampire Diaries
22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don’t hate anyone
23. What was the best book you read? not really sure on this one
24. What was your greatest musical discovery? none that I recall
25. What did you want and get? to be able to move to the new school with the people I worked with during the 08-09 school year

26. What did you want and not get? a house
27. What was your favorite film of this year? The Hangover was pretty good, so was The Proposal
28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 29, I worked...it was the last day of school for the kids...second to last day for us
29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? not worrying so much about things I couldn't control
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? pretty casual
31. What kept you sane? David and my family

**Smutt**

A little over 6 years ago my brother went to a local farm with a friend who was planning to pick out a puppy. My brother had no intention of getting a puppy for himself but one little guy made his way over to my brother as they were looking at the litter. My brother couldn't resist and he ended up bringing home this sweet border collie/blue heeler mix. He was so tiny, he used to sleep on my shoulder as I would lie on the couch.

He passed away tonight. The vet thought he might have gotten into some kind of poison. My heart aches because of the loss, and for my brother.

Here We Go Again

The current weather outlook:


Is it wrong that I'm thinking a snow day would be nice (even though we've only been back in school 2 days)? :o)