a little weekend inspiration

I painted my living room a few weeks ago. It's "sharkey gray" from Martha Stewart at Home Depot. It looked gray-er at the store. At home on the walls, it's a little more taupe. But I really love it. I also painted my woodwork white. Everything looks so fresh and clean now--that is, until someone takes a crayon to the lower half of the walls.



I finished up this little wall today. I love that canvas of the boys but on the new gray walls, it didn't really jump out. So I saw a blog (of course, now I can't find the reference) where they had a huge white frame with wallpaper behind it and then they hung pictures inside the frame. I found the fabric at Joann. I can't remember the name of it though.

The bench is my sister's old bed. Mom and I had the idea to turn it into a bench and Dad and Matt put it together. I think they did that the first year we were married. I don't really remember not having that bench since I've been married. Mom made the cushion for me (before I really knew how to sew). It's a toile. She did such a good job on it, I hate to redo it. But I think it looks cool with it still. The pillow is not finished yet. But it's that Denyse Schmidt fabric panel...it already looks like it's been pieced together.



The frame is just some trim from Lowe's. For the size I wanted, I had to buy two 8 foot pieces. They were around $7 apiece. The black "life" thing is wooden and from Gordmans. I just really liked the attitude that it had. I wish I always acted the second way. The little teal pot is from Gormans too. My mom made the other vase in a ceramics class that she took. It's signed "Sue '77" on the bottom of it. That was four years before I was even born. Cool, huh? I love that she made it.

Well, I will probably not get that pillow done until after the Spoon River Drive. I also have some fabric that I'm going to add to the bottom of my curtains to make them floor to ceiling. I got a lot to do! Hope this inspires you to spruce up your house this weekend!