Up off the Counter

One day long ago I went to a thrift store and bought every single metal candlestick they had. At less than $1.00 a piece why not? At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them, only that I had just been introduced to the wonders that spray-paint can accomplish so I figured I'd give them new life with color.


Then Pinterest happened (yes, I've had these candlesticks for that long). And when I found this fruit/cupcake tiered stand, I knew exactly what I would use my candlesticks for!

Mary Janes & Galoshes

Here's what my collection had become, minus a few that I've already converted to useful items.

Candlesticks have been a cinch for me to find. The pie tins are another story-maybe I just don't know where to look, and I suppose you can buy them brand new; I've found four without looking too hard, and they've all been purchased at antique or thrift stores. My first step is placing tins on top of sticks until I've found that perfect match up for what I had in mind.

I spray painted the candlesticks a shade of blue, the pie tins I gave a white coat, and then I used an odd sort of metal putty called SteelStik that completely hardens after a while and secured the pieces together. The guy at Lowe's advised me to use this.

This metal glue stuff STINKS. It smells just like this town called Sulfur Springs in Texas that I used to drive through on the way to Tennessee. I was hilariously amused to read the packaging where it stated that this stuff is from none other than....Sulfur Springs, TX! Sorry to anyone out there reading who has a love for this East Texas town...

So here they are, painted, stuck, and dried.

I'd planned to use the big tin to hold hand soap, lotion, and a dish brush to keep next to the kitchen sink. The smaller tin was the perfect size for bar soap for the bathroom sink. 

I also laid a doily at the bottom of the larger tin just for something extra and I found a teensy porcelain bowl for the dish brush to sit in so it'd look fancy and wouldn't drain onto the doily or spray-painted surface.

I love how everything is contained together, just how it would be directly on the counter, only somehow this elevated dish makes it look cleaner....and gives me back that little bit of counter space.

Next, I'm definitely going to make a tiered piece for my jewelry, and eventually I'd love to make something for fruit and to have on hand for little treats or cupcakes at a party. Something like this...

So there you have it, a creative way to get your necessities off the counter but still at arm's length!

Work With What Yuv' Got

Ok, before you begin, I highly suggest you listen to A Minor Swoon on Spotify while reading. Thanks Caroline!

Click on the picture above to listen if you don't have Spotify, but seriously, get Spotify.

As many of you know, we've been working to renovate our master bathroom for almost two years. Yes you read that right, two years! I'm not ashamed of it or embarrassed to admit the reality of the situation (well, not at this moment anyway). This is life, and I'm a real person, this blog was never meant to make something of myself, my home, or my family that it's not. 
I hope there's someone out there that reads that and feels a sense of relief from it. Maybe you've been stuck in the middle of a project for what seems like a lifetime. Maybe you're constantly putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to accomplish something.
I enjoy making something new out of a space or an object in our home when there are no added "musts" and "have to(s)".
There are times when you get stuck. Our bathroom is one of those times. But, my good friend Amy once told me something like this "just put a curtain up and close it off, then work on the rest of the space that you can actually have some control over, make that what you want it to be."
In other words, work with what yuv' got!


So...it only seemed logical to give our other bathroom a facelift! That was something I could accomplish. Paint, check. New shower curtain, check. Repaint accessories, check. Spend birthday money on great things to make it even better, check!!

I painted the room in one evening. Although it's hard to tell with the bad lighting, the new color, Cypress Grass from Glidden, adds a lot more color and brightness to the small room. I've been wanting to use this color ever since I saw it in this laundry room from House of Smiths.

Today I wanted to show you want I did with these metal frames purchased from Pier1 in my college days...

Notice the paint swatches :)

I decided almost all the accents in the bathroom would be white, so I got my primer and white flat spray paint, coated each.

Then, I used my Distress Ink to highlight the details on each frame and to add a little shabbiness. 

When you use Distress Ink for a project like this just rub the pad directly onto the surface you're working with. Distress Ink is found in the scrap booking section of most craft stores. We've only got Michael's close by and that's where I got mine.

I removed the glass (After searching high and low for chalkboard spray paint to use directly on the glass) and cut craft wood to fit in its place. The wood was painted with black chalkboard paint, and I'm seriously considering painting over these with brown chalkboard paint, but we'll see. I originally thought I wanted to keep the leaf idea, so I had my dear friend Kristin chalk-sketch some leaves before I so selfishly erased them...sorry Kristin!

Because I decided I wanted words instead of images. These lyrics from Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors' Live Forever came to mind. I'm not sure how I feel about it though....I literally wrote something about sanity on the walls of a very small bathroom........It could be neat to constantly change.

Come to think of it, these lyrics are perfect right now! Sometimes Steven and I just have to laugh at the state of our master bathroom to keep our sanity!

I'll be updating you with advancements in our lil' bathroom...soon to be my favorite room in the house, and only room that is officially re-DONE.

Also, check out my friend Jamie's new blog Spare Time & Seersucker...her ideas are lots of fun and super cute! You can get a sneak peak of her cute spaces here.