Basement Photo Collages

Although our basement is finished, it was in sad shape...as in just blah.  It was painted a light yellow and nothing on the walls.  Literally, NOTHING.  When you have 3 young boys who have a lot of young friends that like to throw things as well, you really just avoid the inevitable. Ya know :)  Now that my boys have gotten older, it's time to take back the basement!  Adult space!

We hung up the dart board and set up the folding poker table.  I will not be showing close ups of the poker table!  Many spills... and that's all I have to say about that (in my best Forest Gump voice).

These pictures are of Wildwood, NJ.  We vacation here every year.  The kids are never to old to hear "watch the train car please".  We love the games and rides, the sounds and food....oh the food.  There really isn't anything like it.  We get slices of pizza that are bigger than my two hands put together! The funnel cakes...the cheese steaks...the fried oreos...the saltwater taffy.  I have to stop!  It's really what these pictures represent.  Some of the best times of our lives were at the Jersey Shore!

I just used an online editor to make them black and white (it's a phase I'm going through) and then printed them on regular paper.  No need to have them printed anywhere but home.  FREE!!  I got all of the small black picture frames at the dollar store!

 Yes...we LOVE Elvis.

I haven't thrown darts in years. Years I tell you!  Hubs, who by the way is very good at darts, and I decided to play one night..well let me show you my first 3 throws:

I have to document this because it will NEVER. EVER. EVER. happen again!  I am at peace  :)

White Picture Frames Collage

I have so many pictures of the kids, vacations, family, celebrations...fun times.  Literally hundreds of hundreds of pictures!  OK, thousands upon thousands :)  Since I take at least three shots of every photo I take, thank the heavens for memory cards!  Those (goodness gracious I forgot what those things were called that we use to put in the camera...those rolls..film rolls!!)  film rolls in the camera use to be such a pain. For real!

I have wanted to do a collage with black and white prints with white frames for so long, but I didn't want to spend a fortune either.  IKEA is about an hour away and it just doesn't seem worth it to drive that far, for white picture frames...who am I kidding...I never leave IKEA without a fully loaded car. It. is. impossible. And is why I rarely go.  So what is the next best thing?  Thrift Store!  Check out my good luck!! All for $10.50! Hello 11 frames for $10.50 :)

When a girl wants a paint job done quick, I wouldn't know what to do without my Rust-Oleum!   :)

Via

They are about to be beautified!

Take a look.  They are so clean and fresh looking.  Btw... I went to JoAnn's for fabric and was looking around as always.  Then.  Lo and behold!  See through frames!   They were 50% off (they forgot to change the sign and shouldn't have still been on sale) AND I had a 20% off total purchase coupon!  Ka-Ching! Seriously, friends and family think I have a slight problem when I get a good deal because I have to make sure EVERYONE knows!  Notice the exclamation points...I'm still a little hyped up :)

I hung them on a wall in our basement.  We spend so much time down there and needed to fill up a very long wall.

I have the other side of the basement to show you in another post.  Til then....keep rockin!

Mirrored Desk....Office update

I definitely am "agreeable" to grey :)  The color is so refreshing, clean and crisp.  It is not blue at all.  The different shades of grey throughout the day are all beautiful.  I really can't say enough about not having to repaint this room!

I bought a mirrored desk!!  It did not break the bank....woot woot.  Seriously, I got a great deal! I couldn't believe it. It's the Lusetta Mirrored Desk from Joss and Main.  It arrived a week early!  Hubs didn't know the desk was coming and that I was painting.  He walked in after work and saw it "ready".  Whew, he loved it :)  I'm not going to tell him right now that ALL of the gold walls need to be painted, as I still love being married to him!  

See the pen holder my little peanut made for me.....love my baby!

Yes that is a wine decanter!

I am so inspired sitting in the office now... I may have to write a book! ha ha

Dunt Da Da Da..... the color for the office is.....

I hope I agree as well :)

Here I go and I'm not off to a good start.  MY ladder, that I love, is MIA!! Seriously....how does a 10 ft ladder disappear?  I had no choice but to improvise.  Feast your eyes on the beast...

I feel that I must preface the following statements, "that I may or may  not have had breakfast" before beginning MISSION GREY and therefore was not thinking clearly!   

OK...soooo I carried this monster, BY MYSELF, through a few openings that I now need to touch up.  (Just pretend that I couldn't have brought it directly from the garage and through the french doors...yes those french doors in the picture and directly into said room.)  Oh and getting the ladder open, almost didn't happen.  I had to lean that sucker without busting the doors (opening them probably would have helped) and bringing down the ceiling fan!  I may have, slightly, torn my rotator cuff to keep it from falling but, definitely more important, I'm on a mission!  I only used the ladder for the cut-in, in that particular corner, because I couldn't fit it around the furniture and the ceiling fan to finish the rest of the rooms cut in's.  {Oh, did I not mention that I like a good challenge. and that when I paint I do not move furniture out of the room???} nope, no way, fugetaboudit......I will work around any obstacle and touch up as needed ha ha.

Here we are primed and I'm not loving the look.  Wow the original color looks infant poo a little pumpkin spice, no?  I really do not want to repaint this room if I do not like the color.  When taking this picture, I realized I forgot to take out the screw, fill it in, let dry, and prime.....to be continued!