Painted Hippo Bookends

I recently spotted these hippo bookends at a thrift store and for only $1.99 for the pair, I had to have them!  This was a quick and easy project - all I did was add a couple coats of glossy white spraypaint.

Before:

Here they are spraypainted white. The books are vintage - from my grandmother's collection.

Spraypainted Candle Holders

I've been a little quiet on the blog lately - nothing major has changed, I've still been aggressively looking for jobs without any luck. Here's a quick project I did a little while ago. I found this pair of candle holders at a thrift store for 99 cents each (originally from HomeGoods -- I found a price tag underneath). They were a little tarnished so I decided to spraypaint them "avocado" by Valspar. I love how they turned out and how my tealight votives fit so perfectly in them!

Before

After

Upcycled Decorative Wine Bottles

I love re-purposing items that would otherwise be forgotten about and thrown away.  I decided to make some decorative wine bottle vases by using some Scotch Blue Painter's Tape, RustOleum Frosted Glass Spray, and jute twine. (Check out my wine cork button project here)

First, I sprayed the bottles with WD40, let it soak in a little, then scrubbed the adhesive off with a damp paper towel.   After the bottles were dry, I taped off stripes in the areas I didn't want spray painted.

 After a quick coat of spraypaint and some time to dry, I peeled off the tape. I had never used RustOleum's frosted glass spray before and I love how it turned out!

 Lastly, I applied Modge Podge to the upper part of the wine bottles, then wrapped some jute twine around them.

Here's the finished product! They'd look great with some fresh cut flowers in them.

Linked up at:

Update: What We've Been Up To

I've been a little distracted lately which explains why there haven't been any new posts.  So what have we been up to?

On Sunday we enjoyed a laid back Easter BBQ with both our families which was a lot of fun.  We hosted the past two Thanksgivings at our tiny, old apartment so we decided it would be nice to have everyone over for Easter in the new house.  Luckily, the weather cooperated with us and we were able to spend lots of time outside.  I meant to take lots of pictures, but between the hosting and hanging out with the family, I forgot.  I did manage to take one of my 93 yr old Swedish grandmother and I on my iphone though.

 

Tuesday was my 27th birthday and Tim took the day off from work so we could hang out and enjoy the day together.  We went to dinner at Gibbet Hill, a local place.  The restaurant is a renovated 100 yr old post and beam barn and it is set on 80 acres of conservation land.  We sat right next to a window and during dinner we watched the Angus cattle grazing on the rolling hills.

I've also been looking for work in most of my spare time, which means not a ton of time spent on my many projects that have been hanging out in the garage.  I graduated law school last year, passed the bar on my first try, but am still looking for full time work as a lawyer.  Hopefully the job market will get better and I'll find something soon because I'm kinda getting sick of being around the house all day.  The plus side is that I never really had a real break before - I went straight to law school from college and law school "vacations" aren't really vacations because they are loaded with the stress of studying and writing papers.  The time I've had off has definitely given me some much needed relaxation and has let my creativity flow.  I love that I now have free time for creative projects, but I will love it even more when I have a full time job so we will have the money to tackle some bigger projects in the house. 

Here's what I'm working on right now (Pardon the iphone pictures, I'm too lazy to use the good camera):

Refinishing the nightstands:

A project I've just begun with wine bottles:

Refinishing the bar stools:

Victorian chair revamp:

I'll be sure to post as the projects are completed!

New England Photography by JM

A little while ago I posted some New England photography taken by my brother JM here.  I thought I'd share just a few more of my recent favorites photos.  I can't wait to make some of these into prints and make a gallery wall! Check out more of his work here.

"Escape"  © 2011 JM

"Life is Good" © 2011 JM

"Placid" © 2011 JM

"Vision" © 2011 JM


All photos are property of JM. Please ask before using any of the above images. 

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Bars

Since it was Marathon Monday in Boston today, Tim sent me this great link on how to make homemade energy bars.  The recipe and directions I followed were adapted from Boston.com (which was adapted from Susan Katcher) found here.  I ended up modifying the recipe because I didn't have all of the ingredients. 

Here's what I ended up using:

• 1 stick of softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup enriched white flour (instead of whole wheat flour)
• 1 mashed, ripened banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of crunchy store bought peanut butter (instead of all natural peanut butter)
• 1 1/2 cups of honey granola with sliced almonds (instead of oats)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't add 1/2 cup raisins or 1/2 cup walnuts)

I thought of drizzling honey over the top, then adding some crushed nuts, but didn't have any nuts.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8"x8" pan.
2. Mix together butter and brown sugar (I don't have a mixer, so I just did it by hand).
3. Mix in flour and granola.
4. Mix in peanut butter, banana, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips.
5. Add mixture to pan and bake for about 30 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday

Today while thrifting I found these gold painted old wooden frames for $4 each. I HAD to get them and I already have a few ideas of what I'm going to do with them. I was thinking of spray painting them, but I love the antiqued gold paint on them and the wood details are gorgeous.

I also came across this sturdy wooden desk chair on wheels. It would look so amazing painted white with a modern patterned seat cushion on it, but for $25 I had to pass on it.

I'm seriously still thinking about this pair of chairs that I also didn't buy.  They aren't real wood and they would have to be reupholstered and painted, but I really love the caning on the back of the chair!

Anyone else come across any great thrift store finds recently?