Shutters Turned Wall Art & Your Submissions

If this is your first visit to A Home In Progress, click here for an explanation of what this site is. I would LOVE to feature some of your home DIY projects or recipe creations.

This wall in my dining room has had me perplexed since we moved in last year. My mom and I (mostly her) came up with the idea of a grouping of similar photos. It looked good, but after awhile I was itching to try something new.

After running into this amazing idea while blog hopping, I knew I had found my idea! Now, I just needed to find some shutters. I found one ad on my local Craigslist but the ad was two weeks old, so I was sure they were gone. I emailed the seller just in case and score – somebody was supposed to come pick them up but never showed. I was there, with cash in hand, the next morning!

The shutters were pretty beat up – I probably should have bartered with the seller instead of showing up the exact amount she was asking!

I used some wood filler to fill a couple of the bigger gaps.

I was going to use the same red paint that I had seen on the original blog. But I had the leftover Halcyon Green paint from my hutch project. (Click here for that project.)

I think it’s probably a good thing I’m drawn to distressed furniture – I am not a perfectionist painter. After the shutters dried, if there were any obvious drips, that’s where I added a little “distressing” and sanded them down.

I didn’t take any before pictures, but I think it’s an improvement! (The after pictures aren’t great – it has been cloudy here all day every day for the past couple of weeks, so I had no natural light with these photos!)

P.S. Those of you lucky ladies who have won these chalkboard labels – I haven’t forgotten about you! They will be in the mail this week!

P.P.S. (or is P.S.S.?) I'm also linked up to Kimba's DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land. Warning: Don't go lookin' over there unless you have LOTS of time to kill! So many great DIY projects....so little time.

A little tip…

I’m sure every other blogger out there knows this, but just in case you DON’T…. If you ever need a can of chalkboard spray paint, you know, so you can do projects like this:

Or this:

Don’t buy it at your craft store. I was getting supplies for an upcoming church activity I’m planning and the can of chalkboard spray paint at a certain craft store (that rhymes with “Schmichael’s") was $7. I kid you not, $7.

Then browsing through Walmart’s paint section last weekend, I found they carry the exact same brand of chalkboard spray paint, same size can, everything for $2.50. I’m used to maybe a $1-2 dollar discrepancy, but seriously! Has anybody else ever noticed this? Am I missing something?

~~~~

On another note, one of my favorite parts of fall decorating is seeing what people do to their front porches. Come back tomorrow for a tour of some great fall porch inspirations!

Touches of Fall

Unlike so many of my home-decor blogging friends, I haven’t had one ounce of inspiration to start decorating for fall!  I think it’s because I lost my fall decorations box when I moved last year have been so busy! 

I made a trip to the closest Goodwill on Friday to see what I could find.  That’s when I found these babies, who at $2 bucks each, came home with me.

They needed a little love, but that’s nothing a little black spray paint couldn’t fix.  I sprayed them black, then put a couple of little 3/$1 gourds on top. 

Something was missing.  I had a little wicker cornucopia (it’s true I needed spell check to spell cornucopia correctly.  Hey, it’s Monday!) I got for 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  I love it because it’s not so Halloween-y that I can only use it for October, it’s a great Fall piece.  Which means I don’t have to change it until after Thanksgiving! 

Anyway, I added some fall stems, also at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.  (Side note: I’m told that all of their fall items will go up to 90% off in the next several weeks.  This would be a good time to stock up for next year.)  Because I didn’t have enough stems to look as full as I wanted it to, I just used some floral foam in the bottom of the cornucopia to keep the stems from all falling to one side.  

Much better!  I had a few left over gourds, so I put them on a rimmed serving platter, filled a regular vase with some candy corn, and had a one-minute, $1 fall centerpiece for the dining room table.

It looked a little plain, so I took a few of the berry stems and leaves from the bottom of my floral stems I used in the cornucopia.      

Much better! Not bad for fifteen minutes of a Sunday afternoon. 

Have you started decorating for fall?  Any tips for getting motivated?  Bath and Body Works has their Slatkin & Co. candles 2/$20 this week, maybe a fall scented candle would put me in the fall spirit?  It’s worth a shot, right???

Foodie Friday

I am getting so many great recipe ideas from friends and readers that I decided to start a “Foodie Friday” because after all, food is a major part of any home (at least it is in mine)! Brenda from B’dub’s Cafe sent in this recipe that is a perfect start to fall.

When Fall time comes around, there are a few fall MUST haves, with pumpkin crunch being 1 of them! I first time I had this gem was at a church function, which I was lucky enough to get the recipe from my friend Alana. It took me almost a full year to make it myself (I guess I had forgotten how good it was over time!) Not anymore! I decided to make this for my husband and I's wedding anniversary a few years ago. Let's just say I won extra points with him. We both Oohed and Ahhed at this dessert. Why had I not made it before?

Now my hubby begs for this, and we actually don't only make this during the fall. We crave it all year round! Plus, this is super easy to make. I am not talking kind of easy, I am saying, you throw a few ingredients together, stir, and put in a pan, cover with a dry cake mix and butter and VOILA!

The only down side to this dessert is that you have to bake it for 45 minutes and then LET IT COOL! We can never wait, but it does taste best when it is chilled. We actually don't even need cool whip or ice cream with this. Oh sure, it enhances the taste a little, but the pumkin crunch is so good by itself, it doesn't need ANYTHING else to make it taste better! Just try it...you will see!

Pumpkin crunch

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup melted butter or margarine1 tsp cinnamon

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (about 2 1/4 cups, give or take)

½ tsp salt

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

3 large eggs (4 medium)

1 ½ cup sugar

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cool whip/whipped topping or ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 9x13 pan or 2 pie dishes. In a large bowl combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt (instead of using cinnamon and salt, you can substitute with 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice if needed).

Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Top with pecans (I have never done this since we are not nut lovers, but I think it had nuts in it the first time I tried it, so it is good either way). Drizzle melted butter over pecans.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. (My oven cooks faster and it only took about 35-40 minutes. Just check it after 30 minutes. It should be brown on top. Cool. Serve chilled with cool whip or ice cream.

Note: After I pour the butter over top, I usually spoon the butter over parts of the dry cake mix that didn't get covered with butter to make it more evenly distributed.

Yum! This is a perfect treat to try this weekend!

Trash to Treasure & A Second Winner!!!

So, because it's Wednesday and I can....how about we go crazy and pick a SECOND winner of the chalkboard labels???!? With so many great comments and only one winner, it just didn't seem fair. So.....with the help of my two toddlers, we picked another random winner from last week's giveaway!!!

Anyway, lucky winner #2 is:

~Jenn~ said...

Hi Natalie!
DIY blogs are my FAVORITE and of course, my home is a HIP too, so I was thrilled to find your site. Looking forward to seeing and sharing some great projects!
~Jenn~

Woo hoo! Jenn, email me at ahomeinprogress@gmail.com and we can figure out how to get your labels to you!

On to the project for today:
A new friend (thanks again, to Lindsay at Living with Lindsay) sent me the cutest before and after project of some barstools she found....no joke....dumpster diving. I haven't gone there yet - but after seeing her cute and cheap transformation, maybe sometime soon???

Here's what Cindy had to say about her project:

I found this lovely pair of bar stools while dumpster diving. I liked them because they were black as they would match the wrought iron look I have going on in the kitchen. I also liked that they were somewhat more compact and shorter than typical bar stools as I would be using them at the kitchen counter rather than an actual "bar". But really I loved them because they were free. Unfortunately, they had this small problem.

The original owner had used black electrical tape to cover one of the unsightly holes. And when my dad fixed one of the legs he added his own strip of electrical tape to the other one. However, over time that electrical tape disappeared and hitched a ride with someone - I'm not telling who, just know that I discreetly removed it from your backside and avoided embarrassment for you and for me.

So, with staple gun in hand (thanks Granddad!) I went to work covering these little gems.

Found this beautiful red and cream toile fabric in the clearance bin at Walmart for $4. It goes great in my red kitchen and there's plenty left over for more projects. Another dumpster dive success!

I totally love the transformation! Especially that fabric - that's a great tip to check the fabric in the clearance bin.

Thanks so much, Cindy! I love the projects - keep them coming you guys!

Bath Cabinet Update (oh, and a winner....)

Thanks AGAIN for the fabulous comments and new followers! Now don't be shy and send me your projects! I did get a couple of great ones that I'm so excited to show you guys in the next week.

I'm so excited to announce the winner of the first ever (definitely more to come....it was so fun reading everybody's comments!) giveaway! But first.....another great before and after project from one of you!

My friend Anjeanette sent me these pictures and I just have to share them. What an amazing transformation. Here's what she said:

Here's my latest project in my guest bathroom.
I didn't care for the wood finish that was in there, so I decided to change it.


I first sanded it a little, then put a fresh coat of white paint on.

I then glazed it with a brown paint, and wiped it off. I had to sand quite a bit of the brown off to get the look that I wanted. I then brushed on a clear coat of varnish. I then put hardware on them. I think it turned out pretty good.

Yeah, Anj, good is an understatement! I think the white was a total improvement, so I LOVE that you decided to go even a step further and it looks fantastic. GREAT job!

If you have a project or recipe you would like me to post, I would LOVE to share it. Just email me at: ahomeinprogress@gmail.com.

OK, now on to the good stuff.....the winner of the giveaway!

Heather L. said...

Love the little labels! So cute! I'd love to win, thanks for the opportunity =)

Congratulations, Heather! Email me at ahomeinprogress@gmail.com to let me know what kind of labels you want.

Stay tuned, there's more fun coming up this week!

KISS Principle

(I think the text in some of the previous posts was a bit LARGE so I'm going to see if doing it a bit smaller is easier on my eyes. Sorry for the inconsistencies for those of you who notice that sort of thing.)

First of all, WOW to the great comments and WELCOME to the new followers! I actually have a few project submissions that I can't wait to share with you in the next couple of weeks. It's so exciting to see people really take an interest in loving where they live. There are a lot of talented bloggers out there - I can't wait to show you some more right here! If you haven't entered the giveaway, you have until Friday night to enter!

****************

I had a fantastic professor in college who always talked about the "KISS" Principle - KISS standing for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Well, now that I have children and we discourage the use of the "s" word - I'm going to go with Keep It Simple, Sister.

I love finding a diamond in the rough, creating something out of nothing, etc. just as much as all of you! However, I always scour the Clearance shelves and end-caps at my favorite stores to find things that will work for a need I have in my home. Because as much fun as it is to make something out of nothing, it takes time and energy - something that I'm sure we all have an overabundance of (NOT)!

Example: I needed new throw pillows. Didn't need as in "want a new color." (Which is a justifiable need, in my opinion!) I mean NEED as in lumpy (some might say mildy smelly) throw pillows that HAD to GO. I had big plans to sew pillow covers (although I have about zero experience sewing) and find the perfect fabric, etc.

Then, while scouring the clearance racks at Target (one of my favorite places to treasure hunt) I found these babies:


For $4. That's right. $4. So I did what any crazy self-respecting person would do, I cleaned them out (they had two) and tried desperately to track down a few more at any area Targets. (To no avail, I might add.)

Here are some other recent Clearance finds that have been much SIMPLER to just buy new on clearance than try to hunt down at Goodwill or on Craigslist.

Mirror, Target. $10. It's a huge mirror that looks great on the wall, and the wicker is growing on me.


Storage baskets for kids/hubby junk, Hobby Lobby. $2. (I really don't have that much wicker in my house - this and a magazine basket in the living room are about the extent of it.)

Which leads me to my next point - even if it's on sale, don't buy it if you don't love it. Then it just turns into clutter. Clutter bought on sale, yes, but clutter nonetheless.

Conversely, don't walk away from it if you DO love it (and can afford it). I've learned, too many times, by the time you decide you want it and come back, it's gone and you just end up dreaming about what might have been. (Okay, maybe that's just me.) Most stores will let you return the item with a receipt if you really decide you don't like it. (Although some clearance items are final-sale only, so just check where you shop.)

So, that's my KISS principle I have had to apply in my home life. I love a good before and after project, but in areas where you can keep it simple - DO IT!

Do you have any good clearance tips???