In early august Mike and I enlisted Grandma and Grandpa G to sit on (grandpa's words) Trey and Xander whilst we celebrated our 12th anniversary in the big city. While we were in the big city, I drug Mike through several thrift stores and one antique mall. Nice of me to make him do something he really doesn't enjoy on OUR anniversary right? You see, I had these visions in my mind, visions of the treasures I could find that would look wonderful after being spray-painted, distressed, and hung on my walls. The part of my vision that finally spoke to my dear hubby...thrift=cheap. We didn't find many treasures, but I did come home with this old home interiors picture.
Pretty huh? While I didn't like the color of the frame in its original state, or the picture for that matter, I thought the frame would look fantabulous spray-painted a creamy white. I wasn't sure what I would do about the picture - either replace it with something I did like, or remove it and just use the frame as decoration on the wall....
After I got it home I decided to try using chalkboard paint on the glass...below is the finished product on my wall. (Mom - I finally found the problem that was stopping them from being posted here ;)...it may have been called lazyness...)
I. Love. It. In the end - I spray-painted the frame, then dabbed dark brown stain on a few places to give it a bit of a distressed look. I put four coats of chalkboard paint on the glass, attached a ribbon from my scrapbooking stash to the back with staples and tied knot. The shelf was another one of thrifty finds from our trip to the big city...it was already white, but I put a coat of fresh paint on it, and distressed it with dark brown stain as well. The telephone insulators were left here by the lady we bought the house from. Her husband was a phone man, and they had LOTS of them. I love the color of blue. The paper balls I was using elsewhere, but thought they tied in well here.
I am so pleased with how this turned out. Total cost for this makeover was less than $10 - and my hubby no longer thinks I'm crazy for wanting to find treasures at the thrift stores. It helps that frugalness makes his heart beat a bit faster ;-). I can't wait to see what else I can find and re-purpose...
Happy thrifting!
