My Simple Valentine's Day Decor

I finished putting up my Valentine's decorations this week-I used a lot of simple whites and tans with just a hint of pinks and purples and my favorite aquas and yellows too. I admit I never used to decorate for Valentine's Day, rebelling against the whole marketing scheme to get us all to overspend, but it has become special to our whole family ever since we adopted our middle son almost two years ago on Feb. 14th! So, from now on it is "happy gotcha day" here at our house and I plan on overdoing it for my sweeties with chocolate and treats and sweets (oh, my!)  

I made the XOXO pennant as a photo prop for a wedding my husband photographed this summer thought it would be nice for love day too, so I draped it over my chicken wire frame. I painted the backing of an old frame with chalkboard paint and wrote the "be mine" message to hang next to my pennant. 

I still love these felt and lace heart dangles hanging in my windows. I made last year using starch and Mod Podge-it was an experiment that turned out nicely.

The paper hearts that hang on my key hooks were made from watercolor art my kids made, and then I cut out the shapes and used a hole punch to hang them. The chalkboard "LOVE" message was made by painting the backs of the frames with chalkboard paint, so I can change out the messages whenever I want to=the interchangeable chalkboard frame. 

The subtle "LOVE" garland that hangs on my fireplace was made from cut out circles from the translucent plastic from milk jugs. I then drew my design with a permanent white marker.

Looking forward to our big love day celebration and wishing you a happy Valentine's Day too! Next, I'll be sharing some reveal pictures of my kitchen and bathroom projects. Hope you stop by again to see what I'm up to and check out the rest of my tutorials! 

I link up with these parties. 

Fireplace Facelift: Before & After

On Black Friday this year, I wasn't in those crazy lines at the stores. No, I was at home, in my grungy painting clothes, ready to transform my fireplace!  I had decided that before we got our Christmas tree this year I HAD to do it. The heavy dark fireplace was overpowering the space for too long and was really bugging me.

The brown painted brick had been coated with a shiny poly finish and I had wanted to change to something brighter and softer ever since we moved here almost two years ago. I had painted other rooms first and put this off because I had never painted a fireplace before and it looked like a tedious project. But it actually turned out to be much easier than I thought and it was finished less than a day!

Here's what it looked like before and what I did to update the look:

Because of the shiny surface on the brick, I decided to use the same floor primer and paint I had used on the floor for my Boys' Bedroom Makeover.  I only used a brush, not a roller which went on really smoothly. I loved color, called "historic white"and how it softened up the space. 

And here's what my fireplace and mantle looked like when I was done: 

I am so happy with this transformation I feel like I could stare at it all day. I love the clean, modern look and how my mantle, tree and garland pop against the lighter colored brick and floor. Good riddance to my ugly fireplace!

Linking up with these parties.

Two Ways to Reuse Vintage Christmas Lights

Here's an easy repurposing Christmas decorating idea I thought of while my husband was stringing up lights outside. We like to put the big fat vintage looking lights out there. But one strand wasn't working. Instead of throwing the whole thing out, I unscrewed the lightbulbs and put all the blue, green and white ones inside of a hanging lantern in my dining room.  

Then I filled a mason jar with the warm colors, red and orange.

I like it because it's fun, easy and unexpected. And I'm not piling lightbulbs into a landfill...
Next, I'll show you my fireplace facelift. Something about Christmas coming gave me the itch to finally paint the dark brick to transform the look completely. Stay tuned for the big reveal! 

Linking up with these parties

Ten Thrift Store Furniture Transformations

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Whenever I go into a thrift store or garage sale, I love to look at an old, outdated piece of furniture and dream up how it could be transformed with a fresh coat of paint or a yard of fabric. And if you've been following along, you might know I've worked on a few furniture transformations this summer, like my Pottery Barn Knock Off Chairs and Shaker Style Cabinet Revamp.

But since I'm trying to avoid being a hoarder, I can't always buy all the furniture I see but it's still fun to think about. (My new rule for myself is to find a few things I can donate every time I visit a thrift store so it doesn't all pile up!)

Better Homes and Gardens recently posted some before and after shots that will simply amaze you. You would never know they were faded, worn out pieces of furniture  you'd walk right past  at a thrift store. I was so inspired and loved the eye candy so much I thought I'd share it here on the blog:

Can you believe the fun and modern standby above used to look like this?

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

What would you do with an old chair like this? 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Here's what BHG did with a bright coat of spray paint, a new cushion and fabric flowers.

Here's what their bookcase looked like before: 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

And after! 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Here are a few more beautiful ideas.  You can click on the picture to see what the pieces looked like before. My personal favorite is last but not least...

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

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Can you believe this gorgeous headboard used to look like this? 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

Are you inspired to go scour some thrift stores or garage sales to see what you can turn from trash to treasure? I definitely am. I will be working on a set of chairs for a friend these next few weeks--can't wait to show you what I do with them!

 Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! 

Shaker Style Cabinet Revamp

One of the big projects I've been working on this summer has been my bathroom makeover, changing up paint, lighting, mirrors and adding storage after I took out a medicine cabinet. I am almost done, but wanted to do another post update on my progress.

I got a good deal on this shaker style cabinet I found at a consignment shop a few years ago. It was originally green with these cutesy, horrific pink cherries someone had painted inside it. So, I painted it white with blue distressed doors and it sat in my living room for a year and a half.

Until I needed more space for storage in our small bathroom. After taking measurements I found out the cabinet would fit perfectly in the upstairs bath right next to the tub. Like it was made for that space!

The nice thing about this cabinet is that the doors pop out-how convenient for me and my idea adding chicken wire after painting a cheery pop of tangerine orange on the shelves.

my finished cabinet!

I used small baskets to hide toiletry items neatly in the cabinet

As a finishing touch, I added chicken wire easily with wire cutters and a staple gun so the pretty orange shelves could show through.

I can't wait to reveal the entire bathroom remodel-new lighting is in, new mirror, paint colors too. All I need to do to finish is create some homemade art for decorating the walls. I found some good deals today at Saver's that have lots of potential to be transformed....stay tuned for the big reveal!

Linking up with these parties.

Transportation Stenciled Kid's Table

What would you do with this table if you found it at a garage sale? 

I wondered the same thing when I found it at my neighbor's sale last summer. It must have been their daughter's nightstand because her name plus a crush's name had been scratched into it, complete with little hearts all over. Still, I knew it had potential to be something amazing. But I needed to wait for my mind to be inspired...

 So, it sat untouched all winter until I was remodeling my boys' bedroom  and I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. 

I love browsing through expensive catalogs like the Land of Nod for ideas I can copycat on my budget. They had a lot of cute transportation-themed ideas I wanted to try for the boys' room. I could easily do this because I already had these fun Martha Stewart craft stencils of cars and street lines and a whole lot of paint colors. 

I was ready for my table revamp! 

Here's what I did:

First, I painted the table with bright orange latex paint.

Then, I applied my street line stencils with a foam brush. (I used glow-in-the-dark craft paint for fun.)

Finally, I added my cars after the street lines were dry, using navy and aqua blue. 

After a finishing spray of acrylic sealer my table was done! 

It fits perfectly wedged in between the bunk beds with a tiny fan propped up on it and adds lots of color to the room. My two year old loves using the track to push his cars and trains on- it turned out to be the perfect play table.
(Come and see what I did to their entire room! click here for the big reveal!)

The nice thing about experimenting on cheap furniture is that you don't have to worry too much about messing things up-you didn't pay a lot to begin with, and paint is so forgiving.

So, if you haven't painted furniture before-what are you waiting for? What potential treasures do you have waiting to be given new life with a fresh coat of paint?

Linking up with these parties.