Workin' With What Ya Got- Staging Your Home Or Just Shufflin' Stuff Around

As you know, I love to use what I have (work with what ya got) and move things around in my home. I don't do it on a daily basis, more like a monthly basis or whenever the mood strikes me. Lately though (especially since it is summer), I have been in some sort of a blog slump.

I call it the "blog blahs".

I can't quite get motivated to do fun little crafty things.
Or create a cute table scape from scratch.
Heck, I haven't even picked up a can of spray paint in weeks.

....yes, I am feeling alright.......


Maybe its because it is summer time for a stay at home mom and all you sahm's will know what I am talkin' about.

My life is filled with wiping tears, butts and sweat off of brows.Cleaning up room after room of spilled cheerios, half drunk cups of kool-aid, having week-long sleepovers at my home (am I the only mom in the neighborhood?? :), chauffeuring the kids to the ---- fill in the blank here...pool, library, mall, play dates, zoo....----, chasing the three year old at the pool who seems to be running on an energizer battery, ( I see you moms of older kids just sitting in the water and talking to your friends. And yes, I am totally jealous), dousing summer colds and high fevers, making favorite snacks at all hours (mom, can you make that awesome popcorn that I love??? At 10 o'clock at night??) and making special dinners that have no nutritional value just 'cuz its summer (while I eat my 300 calorie meal, sigh)...you get the idea.

So at the end of the day, I just don't have anything left for myself.
Not even for a little spray paint therapy.
It works, try it.

So please forgive me if I am not up to my normal speed and I promise to have more energy soon.
Just give me until the 23rd of August. ;)


So here is what I have had the energy to do around here lately- work with what I have. I read about Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick and how she spent all of July not spending any money for anything creative or decor-like and I loved that and immediately  thought, " I want to do that". Not that I spend lots of money on decor each month but she wasn't even spending money on things like spray paint or decorative knobs.

Nuthin' at all.

So I am thinking of doing this for the month of August. I am hoping this stirs the creative juices instead of putting out the flame. Now, Sarah does have lots more decor options on layaway (read- in her basement) than I do but I am totally willing to give it a try.



Remember when I rearranged my livingroomdiningroom? 
 
Yeah, that happened (according to my Picasa folder) on July 1st.

So I guess I do rearrange more than once a month but this arrangement was just not working for our family
.

Here is what it looks like now:

See the angle of the couch?? I love this! At first I wasn't so sure but the more I looked at it, it really started to grow on me. Plus I took a picture of it and loved the way it looked through the lens. Here is a tip: when re-arranging furniture in your home to create a new look, take a picture with your digital camera and then look back at it to see if you like it. Sometimes it just helps to see it through the eye of the camera. Almost like having a good, honest friend to tell you how it really looks. :)

I love that the couch is not right up against the window but you get more natural light while sitting there and it looks cozier.

Money spent on this change-up??

Zero. 

So after doing this little floor move, I started to feel the creative juices begin to flow and off I went.......

Remember my little tray above that I tried to make less 4th of July and more summery? Again, not sittin' well with me. It still looked like the 4th of July on my buffet. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I just wasn't feelin' it anymore so I looked no further than my mantel:

I loved the look of this but as we head into August I wanted a little change. Especially since I have been looking at the same mantel since the end of April and we know how much I love change. It is amazing it hasn't changed in three months but somehow it escaped my wrath.


Until today, that is.........

I took off the mason jars with lemons and made it more simple. Just the geraniums, the stars and the clock (not shown) are up there now. I am gettin' antsy to get my fall up there....I know, I know.....


As I said, I took down the mason jars with lemons but they are not ready to retire just yet:

Don't these colors look great together? It just pops and doesn't scream 4th o' July...again, not that there is anything wrong with that....

Then I went in to the kitchen and saw this little gem that I created back in June:

I love this Goodwill creation but I love to cook and use my kitchen and this baby was gettin' in my way so I took out the chalk and created this:

Why the number? 
Because I love me some numbers.

Why the number 4?
Because that is how many awesome human beings occupy this home. :)

So I blogged about this project a few weeks ago:

When I turned a Lang calendar frame into a tray and I mentioned that I wasn't sure what direction I was going with it since I had originally sprayed it with chalkboard paint but knew I had options.


Here is what I opted for:

I love this much better but I didn't use chalk paint on it yet, just good old fashioned regular chalk.
Because I like to leave my options open.....:)

Cost of all of these renovations- $0.00

I love shopping my house and I never feel guilty afterwards. :)



I am linkin' up to the following cool parties: