Before & Afters... DIY Project: Fabulous Frame

I know it's a little strange to say "I had time to do some DIY projects the first few weeks after my baby was born."  But... I had time to do some DIY projects the first few weeks after my baby was born!  :)  Click here for a few other projects I have done recently. 

Thanks to my mom, that is.  She was here helping out for a month, which came in very handy!

I love my subdivision's once a year community garage sale.  There were hundreds of sales, and my mini-van and I hit the roads at 8am to scope them out.  Oh ya... and Miss Avah came with me.  4 weeks of age is a good time to start teaching your child the value of garage sale prices, right?

As I was about to head home, I saw this frame at a sale and had to pull over.  The guy had several frames similar to this, and some even much larger than this one (mine is big... 20x24).  I asked him what he used them for.  (They had corkboard and then fabric stretched over them... the PERFECT bulletin board for an office!)  He said he used to run a furniture business, and he had these professionally done so that they could use them for their design process.  Score!!

I knew in my mind that this golden hue would very quickly be replaced with my favorite turquoise color... "Peacock Feather."  It was only a matter of time... and now it is hanging next to my computer in my office - in all of its glory.  (It's covered in "to do lists" by now, but it is still glorious!)

Before...

After...

Before & Afters: My DIY Transformations

I love finding little "treasures" and restoring them to be "perfectly imperfect."  For some reason, it brings me great satisfaction to take something that is old, dirty, and sometimes abandoned and then clean it up, paint it, and find unique beauty it.  I think it is the creative side of my brain that just loves making trash into treasure. 

My photography business has given me a great excuse to really dive into this passion (and to justify all the "stuff" in my corner of our garage to my husband!), because I am able to use much of what I restore in my photography sessions.  Here are a few of my DIY projects as of late.

Last summer, I was on my way home from a photo shoot and saw this chair and mirror sitting in a big pile of "stuff" along the road.  I stopped my mini-van (which is a great "stuff" carrier, by the way!) and grabbed a chair and the mirror - knowing I could eventually make them sparkle.  And sparkle they do!  Every time Miles sees this chair in my studio space, he looks at it and says, "Awwwww... cute chair, mom!"  (He doesn't even know the story behind it... he just thinks it's cute.)  :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 The mirror is hanging on the wall in my office, where there are all (accent) things this color (Jamaican Sea by Behr) and my other favorite color, "Peacock Feather" (also by Behr).

BEFORE: 

AFTER:

I also re-did this chair in Jamaican Sea color.  Got it (and a desk) for $10 at a garage sale last year.

AFTER:

 

More to come!  My sander and paint brushes have been busy!  Stay tuned...