Mini-Sanity Savers

Here are some of my mini projects that I've worked on these past two weeks. I'm not really sure who, besides me, will care, but if you're here looking around, then I'll assume that my little vignettes will be appreciated with all of your enthusiasm. And if not, then don't tell me, just pretend, smile and nod, smile and nod...

I've got this lovely table in my foyer, courtesy of our Realtors, and for the past year it has housed 5 National Geographic boxes along with a small lamp. I've known that it needed more, but I wasn't sure what else. I found the little box at JoAnn's on sale, and a big box at Ross (on the bottom shelf-for the same price as the little one), and then I made the hydrangea ball from two clearance stems. The balls inside the little box I made for $1/ea. I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $4-5/piece for the ones at the store, so I picked up some paper mache balls from JoAnn's and Michael's, along with some craft paint. I'm quite happy with how they turned out.

Again, I made some more painted balls for the metal work box on my mantle (right next to my fake reed diffuser). As I was arranging them, I sought advice from Eric (silly I know). I started the conversation with: "I know you don't, but pretend you care..." Well, let's just say that Eric doesn't have a very good imagination, he couldn't pretend. I'll just wait for Eric's mom to come over and see my handi-work, and help me re-arrange things.


I picked up a cute apothecary jar at JoAnn's, it turned out to be just the right height for the shelf above my kitchen window. Toss in a few fake limes for a bit of color, a bit of fake greenery at the end, and I'd say the shelf is done.

And finally, my ceramic containers got a makeover. Until this house, my kitchen has been white and blue (much like most of my house until now). But then Eric's mom and I found this fabric for a window valence, and she picked up some tidbits for my shelf. And after 10 years my kitchen went from being blue and white, with a bit of yellow thrown in, to red and lime green, with a bit of blue thrown in. So the trusty ceramic container that Bill gave my for my wedding went from cobalt blue, to Safety Red (ala Kylon Fusion spray paint). I'm happy with their transformation. I left the inside blue, I like how it looks just peeking out over the edge of red.

So, there you have it. All in all I spent under $40 for all of my jazzy new things. But I am very happy with the effects that such small things have on the house as a whole. Poor Eric, I've been bitten by the redecorating bug, and I've got lots of projects in my head. We'll have to wait and see how many of those actually happen. But for now, I get to enjoy my little projects.