Spray Painting old lights for a cheap update

 Spray Paint is your friend!

So we love our new house. We also spent a lot on moving and may be a little limited on which updates we can do at a time. However, never under-estimate a can of spray paint to take 90's  brass to a more modern bronze look. 

Our master bedroom had these brass sconce lights on both sides of the bed that collected bugs. (I forgot to take a photo of them all put together. Opps)

I took the light off and then seriously dusted and wiped it down. It was gross and dusty. I took the pieces outside and sprayed them down with Rustoleum-Oil Rubbed Bronze. We are switching all the brass in the house over to ORB, for simple clean look. 

It took 3 to 4 very light coats. Make sure to lightly brush your hand side to side as you spray so you do not get any drips. 

When we put them back up, I had Erik install them with the bell pointing down. I picked up new bell shades at Home Depot for $3 each. 

I switched the old LED blub out for a LED Edison blub. It gave it a nicer updated look through the glass. 

All in all, the project cost, $5 for the can of spray paint, $6 for two blubs, and about 30 mins of work. 

New to Happy Planner? Embrace the quick layout!

How to do a quick layout in your planner...

    So I am so excited to be using my new Happy Planner this year. I wanted a way that I could easily set aside time for myself in the form of some me time. I dove all in! I have the most adorable Faith Planner (link) and dove deep into the world of stickers. It can be easy though to get overwhelmed with doing a layout each week. I was impressed by the incredible layouts that people are doing, but did not have the time to set aside one to two hours to make them. 

    To help me from becoming super overwhelmed, I created a simple "system" for my layout each week. I pick one roll of washi tape, a nice pen, and one sheet of stickers. I have created some really neat layouts in 20 mins or less! 

    For this week, I decided to use a sheet of forest animals from the Sticker book collection from Michaels- Craft Smart. I picked it up a few weeks ago for $2! I use a roll of thin green washi from this Amazon set. (link)

Prep: Blank Layout and gather your supplies

Step 1: Add Washi Tape-I use washi tape to cover up headings I am not using for the week. While I like my faith planner, I do not usually have a daily verse. 

Step 2: Use a pen to change the color of text. 

Step 3: Apply Stickers- I promise you can't do it wrong. Plus even if you do not like it, there is always next week!

    I mostly use my planner for memory planning. I do a little bit of pre-writing in for the week, but prefer to use it as a diary at the end of each day to think back on the big things that happened. As a mom to young kiddos, I know the moments are precious, so I try to fill it with simple funny things we did daily. I also use it to capture the bright spots so I can remember what I have accomplished when feeling down. 

    It has been a while since I have worked on my blog or shared. I am super excited to start up again in little baby steps. This gives me an outlet from some creative juices. :) Thanks for reading along as I get back into how to even do a blog. Sorry for any mis-spellings or grammar. It has been a while. 

Quick House Update with White Paint!

It all started with the Garage Door. I had pulled into the driveway and did not like the matchy-matchy brown of the door with the house. On several of our walks we had seen other homes with nice fresh white garage doors. It made the house color stand out. Our house really needed some updating on the outside. Since we have a new baby at home though, projects must be quick and easy. I got the bug to go purchase some paint and update the front of the house.

Before painting the garage door

Before the door matched the house and nothing really stood out, but our front door. Our house blended in with out yard really really well. I guess that is kinda our fault because we always forget to water the yard in the summer time. Thanks heavens for Oregon rain to water it in the Fall, Winter, and Spring time! :)

After painting the Garage Door

It took about 4.5 hours to paint the garage door. I did three quick coats, 30 mins to paint, and about one per hour with an hour to dry in between. I used a roller on a handle, and one paint brush. I was big on convenience, so I used an old paint brush I could just throw away.  This was a super cheap project. Home Depot was running their paint sale, so I got a rebate on all of the paint. All told I only spent around $60 to update the front of the house! That is a deal to me!

Tips:

• Put plastic down under the garage door before you start to catch an drips. I did not and have a couple of spots of drips. I put it down after the first coat and it was  a big help!
• I did all the trim with a brush and used the roller for the centers of each square.
• Make sure to open the garage door a couple of times and in between coats so nothing dries to the frame.
• Take breaks to let the coast dry.

Supplies

• 2 Buckets of Behr Paint and Primer White Outside Paint. We used semi-gloss to help with dirt stains.
• 1 2 inch Chip Brush
• 2 Rollers
• Roller Brush with Handle
• Paint Tray
• Tarp or plastic to put down under the door

Literary Themed Party Part 3- Pennants String

So one of the easy but really impact highlights of the decorations for the party was the book pennants. I used brown grocery bags as the pennant material and glued triangles of book pages to the top. I then sewed up the top of triangles with my sewing machine and traded twine through the top. It took me about 2 hours to make 3 pennants. I spent: $2.99 for Twine at Home Depot, about $3 on bulk books at the GoodWill Bins, and used grocery sacks I already had for free!

Above the dinning room

Close-up of the pennants

Above the sliding door

The pennants had a great look hanging up all over the place. They fit in well with the books and had a nice subtle touch.

I used my sewing machine for a quick nice looking seam.

Cutting out triangles

Gluing the triangles

More shots

Close up

Super close up

Some of the books I got at the Bins

Overall this was a quick and easy way to make some really nice decorations for the bridal shower. Plus, afterwards, I liked the pendants so much, I used them in my own classroom for a nice school touch.

Literary Themed Party Part 2- DIY votive holders, vases, and food trays

So it has been a crazy year and I am super behind on posts, but finally, here are some of the instructions on how to make some of the great decorations that we used at the Literary Bridal Shower. For the final pictures go look here: http://www.homelifescience.com/2015/12/literary-themed-bridal-shower-part-1.html

All of my supplies together prior to work time!

So the first decoration that I pulled together was a simple food tray. I found the glass tray at a GoodWill and then picked a book with lots of text but not any text that really stood out. (Don't want to reach for a snack and see a bad word :))

Here is the step 1 in the food tray

I cleaned the glass tray bottom and then using decoupage glue, fanned the pages out along the bottom. I actually wanted the pages to stick out around the end. I just made sure to cover both sides of the pages well with the glue so they were nice and stiff.

I added book pages to the bottom of a party tray to add to the theme. 

The finished tray ready for food!

I took some old clear class votives that I already had and decoupaged the pictures from a science text I picked up at the local GoodWill Bins for a dollar. I just ripped out the pictures and then layered them onto of the glasses in hopefully a random order. This was such an easy project and went super fast. 

Some of the pages with interesting pictures on them. 

I decopaged the pages from a science book onto small votives. 

For vases I wanted to have something that would not ruin the vases themselves, but still it the nice literary theme. 

To make the vases, First rip out the pages from a book or use a hobby knife to cut a straight edge

Second, tape the first page down to the glass. Third and so forth, tape a page about an inch over and wrap around the vase until all of the glass is covered. You only need to use a small piece of clear scotch tape on the inner edge. I then tied a piece of twine around the outside to finish up the look.

      

On the left we have the clear glass vases, while on the right we have the finished project. 

These were some simple projects that took maybe an hour all together to complete. The longest part was waiting for the glue to dry. Also, making sure that glue was all the way dried prior to me touching it. :) Ok, so I got excited and kept picking things up and getting glue everywhere. 

I still have the candle holder votives from the party and they look great as accents in my house. I even have people compliment me on them. I love the little touch of nerd with the science photos. When I was making them, I also made a few using old sheet music that turned out great. If you wanted to go a musical route, that could be a great option.