When my impulse was improved upon and implemented awesomely.

So, I get a burr under my saddle from time to time. Especially if I think I can take an awesome idea and make it work for even less money. I also love one-of-a-kind creations and prefer authentic pieces of art work over prints.

My husband also has a Mr. PSE (Problem Solver Extraordinaire) syndrome and sometimes my creative thriftiness and his engineering mind used to working on a shoe string budget coalesce into brilliance.

We were hunting for pallets to use on another project I was dreaming up and tossed several into the back of our minivan.

Several evenings later we decided to assess the wood we had found and Mark pulled out a fantastic small pallet that we had tossed in because we liked the look of the wood. I wish I had the forethought to show you the before, but here is the in process.

 He and Zeke hand sanded all the little splinters and points out of the pallet and it became this wonderful shelf.

Which now hangs in our downstairs bathroom so if you come visit you will see it though at the moment it looks more like this.

In fairness, I want to claim credit for this awesome idea, but my husband was the one who saw the potential and executed the plan. I have a good partner in crime. 

My day in pictures 3-4-15

First things first, littlest people need food!

Then little people can swing while kitcheny things happen.

Like sweet potatoes and eggs and turkey.

Then assess the house for the zillion-ish projects to be done.

Went to get poster board for my son.

And worked on a table project.

Of course I also worked from home on my "paid" job, and made dinner, and took care of kids, and answered a zillion questions and about 2 dozen other things. But, I forgot to take pictures of those. 

The completion of "the big N"

Very exited to have finally finished this on 1/29. All in all I probably had 10 hours end, but most of that was done in 30 min chunks since a hot glue gun and an infant don't mix well. The only cost I had in it, besides time, was the spray paint. (And honestly, I loved that part! I have been spray painting all kinds of things!) I am quite pleased with the finished product. 

The Big N

It now hangs above our new buffet table with another of my recent projects, The shelf above the buffet was salvaged out of a dumpster - well, more accurately the wood was. I sanded it, rubbed it with stain to match the buffet top and used shelving brackets from Ikea ($4 ea.) to create the first of our reclaimed shelves. All in I think there is perhaps $10 (brackets, stain and sandpaper) and about an hour of labor. You will be seeing more of these around our house.

Of note as well is the blue seated chair which we picked up for $5 at a thrift store. I haven't yet decided whether I want to repaint the seat base. Thoughts?

Below are two other little projects. Diffusers are expensive to buy in the stores, and since I just recently purchased my first round of essential oils, I thought I would make my own. These bottles were $2 a piece from Walmart. I am brain scrounging items around my house I might use for more, but I loved these two little bottles. Bamboo skewers are the reeds. I used baby oil (which I found a site online that said I could) for a base, but am not pleased with it, so there will be modifications made when I can figure out what I prefer. 

House improvements

Two weeks ago my mother came over and helped me finish pulling up the carpet in the main portion of the house. Here are pictures of the floor:

I still need to repaint the baseboards and put in quarter-round but progress is being made!