DIY Custom Wall Art

Lately I've been busy making little changes all over the house.  I just finished a fun little project for my laundry room, and I'm eager to share it with you!

My poor laundry room had reached the point of chaos, so I've been working on a budget-friendly redo.  The room is small, and this back corner of my laundry room is just big enough to hold laundry baskets and a small shelf for folding clothes.  But I want it to be a cheerful space.

Inspired by images from the mid-20th century, I decided to go for kind of a retro feel in this little room. I found the red clock on clearance at Target; it was just what I wanted.  To go with the clock, I used a vintage tablecloth that had gotten a bit too ragged to use as a tablecloth to create some decor.

For this wall art, I simply spray-painted and distressed a couple of pre-packaged frames from the shelf at Costco, where the twin pack cost around $15.  They were originally black, but that look felt a bit too heavy for this room.  Distressed white is just right.

Then I cut and starched a couple of pieces from the tablecloth, taped them to back of the mats, and popped them into the frames.

If you look closely, you can see a small stain that couldn't be removed from this panel.  But I don't think anyone is going to be looking that closely at the art in my laundry room!

Aren't they cheerful and pretty?  And the best part is that they cost me nothing other than the cost of two inexpensive frames, a bit of spray paint, and a little time.

Now to finish the rest of the laundry room so I can show it to you.  Ahem.  Since this will include finding the mates to about 50 odd socks, this may take awhile.

For now, I'm so happy with custom art pieces!  What do you think?

I'm joining Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading
and the Framed Fabric Ditto DIY Challenge at Fieldstone Hill Design.

A shared story

One of the loveliest traditions of our church is weekly communion, particularly because our practice is to have members serve communion to one another.  We all line up and proceed to the front of our worship space, where our fellow members offer the elements, murmuring "Christ's body broken for you" and "Christ's blood shed for you."  It's a beautiful time.

This week I was talking with our Associate Pastor about last Sunday's service.  He told me that he'd asked a lady to serve communion who at first demurred, "Oh, I don't think I could." Puzzled, he asked why.  Her answer: "Because I have a prosthetic hand."

Turns out that her prosthesis was not an impediment at all.  This beautiful lady held the cup steady as worshippers took communion.

But she was surprised that the pastor didn't know about her prosthetic hand before Sunday.  He told me that she'd said, "I just assume. . . "

And before he told me, I could finish her sentence.  I knew what she said.

She said, "I just assume it's the first thing people notice about me."

Of course.

I know that feeling all too well.  That's exactly the way I feel about my birthmark.

Oh, how I wish this were not so.  I'd certainly never noticed the lovely woman at church had a prosthetic hand.  The pastor had never noticed.  Almost nobody had noticed.  Yet she assumed we'd all seen it.  She was certain it's the first thing we saw.  But it's not.

She is not defined by her prosthesis.  I'm not defined by my birthmark.  And despite our self-consciousness, those attributes are not the first thing that people notice.  It's not that people don't notice us; it's just that they're too busy looking into our eyes, listening to our laughs, hearing our voices to see the imperfections that seem so glaring to us.

The truth is, some people know us well and never notice.

Now, I say "the truth is," but I'm still learning that it's the truth.  Last May I wrote a post about dealing with both the ugly and the pretty about myself.  Imagine my surprise when a woman I'd known years ago contacted me about that post.  I knew her well.  She was my junior counselor at camp, which meant that we worked together and played together and slept in the same room together.  We did everything side by side during that time at summer camp.   There's no telling how many times we changed into our swimsuits right there in that room.  Yet when she wrote to me, she told me that she just couldn't remember that I had a birthmark.

Honestly, I still have trouble believing that.  But I know she's a truth-telling woman, so I'm trying to believe it.

Turns out that a lot of us have trouble believing the truth about ourselves.  This week I saw the video called "Real Beauty Sketches" produced by Dove as part of its Real Beauty campaign.  I wept as I watched it.  If you haven't seen it, I urge you to watch it.



And please tell me: is this part of your story, too?

Dining room changes

A couple of weeks ago I asked y'all for your opinions regarding my dining room, and I really appreciated your help!  Nearly all of you voted for me to leave the top of the china cabinet OFF and to use the base as a buffet.  Obviously, it's not as tall as a traditional sideboard, but I think it works.

So here's what I've done with that large wall.  I love the way this big mirror shows up against the blue walls!

From the side, with the lamps turned off (where you can also get a great view of the return air vent!):

I know the mirror is very gold and the lamps are mostly silver, but I think I'm fine with the mixed metals look.  The lamps are actually mercury glass, so there's a lot of gold flecking in them:



And you can see a bit of the chandelier in this photo, which is bronze.  Lots of mixed metals!  I think I like that, but I'm still not quite sure.  Do you think it all works together harmoniously?



You might recognize the big mirror as the one that used to hang on the wall of crosses in my living room.

At the request of my husband, big changes are underway in the living room.  I actually hired professional design help for the very first time, and I'm excited about giving that room a whole new look.  I'll be sharing those changes soon!

So what do you think of the mirror in the dining room?  Do you think it works?

I'm joining these fun parties:

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays