Ya gotta have ART...

Gotta love Pinterest. 
That's where I discovered the myriad of uses for the economical canvas drop cloth. If you've been using them to just plop a can of paint on and catch paint drips, you are definitely missing out.

I had an ottoman that needed a new slipcover (because I shrunk that last one in the dryer) and I saw plenty of Pinterest posts that used these drop cloths for upholstery and curtains. Since the natural color of the drop cloth was perfect for my ottoman, I popped into Home Depot and snagged a large medium weight one for the ridiculously reasonable cost of $14. And I knew that after sewing the slipcover I would have plenty of cloth leftover for another project.

After rearranging my dining room, I had recently vacated wall that needed BIG ART. But BIG ART = expensive.
And I am cheap budget conscious. I was also up for the challenge to inexpensively create some big art myself.

On Pinterest, I searched for "large abstract art" (because if it's abstract, no one can complain "Hey, that doesn't look like anything) and I found a painting that I thought I had a chance of sort of  recreating. My husband (of little faith) was skeptical, but since it would only cost us the materials for the wood frame that the canvas would stretch over and my time, why not go for it?

Have I ever mentioned that I have a boatload of leftover paint? I believe I have. Anyway, I wouldn't even need to purchase any paint for this project. If I didn't have the color I needed, I could probably mix it from the stash that I had.

I stretched and stapled the drop cloth over the 3' x 5' wood frame my husband made (total cost $17), then primed it with 2 coats of leftover flat white latex paint.

Then the fun began! Armed with a color copy of my inspiration painting, courtesy of Pinterest, over the span of a week, I painted, waited for paint to dry, then continued painting. And I was able to just use brushes I already had from other house painting projects. At some point I realized the painting looked too angry, so I eliminated some of the more jagged bits.
But now, I'm super happy with the way it turned out (even if it bears little resemblance to the painting I was copying). And my doubting husband is pretty impressed with it, too.
So, here it is, hanging in my dining room!

What I learned from this project:

1. It's fun to push yourself to try something new (especially when you know any failures won't cost you that much).

2. Got my BIG ART for $17. (I don't count the cost of the drop cloth since I had to buy that for my slipcover project, and I figure any leftover material, like paint, is just bonus. 

3. Not sure how I lived without Pinterest.

Backsplash bash...

We recently looked at our kitchen with fresh eyes and decided that, while still in great shape from the remodel we did only 8 years ago, it was a bit dark. We were hosting Thanksgiving this year and my husband posed the most hilarious question to me about a week before the holiday, "Do you want me to start on this project now before Thanksgiving?"
   Yes. I want our kitchen to be completely torn up while I try to cook Thanksgiving dinner so that a cloud of fine dust will settle on our turkey, and green bean casserole.
No, of course, I don't want you start yet! (even though I would never make green bean casserole).

Before - Dark

So after Christmas, we had the "Countertop Guys" (yes, that's their actual name) replace the medium gray laminate with a speckled white solid surface counter top with an integrated white sink. So nice! And we were even able to resell the cast iron sink (a previous CL steal for $85) along with the old faucet for $50. And two pieces of still usable countertop got posted to CL in the free section (love passing that on for someone else to use!)
     Now the dark mosaic backsplash needed to be replaced, as well. I'm not really a fan of subway tile (exactly why would I want a place where I prepare food to remind me of NYC subways?), but I did find a longer version of it that I liked on Craigslist for a $100, a great price.

After - BRIGHT!

My husband did an awesome job chiseling out the old tile (no small feat!!) and replacing it with our bargain purchase. We decided on a stacked pattern instead of the traditional brick pattern with light gray grout. After he was done, we still had 3 boxes of the white tile left over. We managed to resell the leftovers for $45. So our kitchen backsplash cost us a total of $55! Can't beat that. The kitchen is so much brighter now and even looks bigger.

What I learned from this project:
1. Well, my husband learned that removing the old mosaic tile, that he so lovingly installed a few years ago, was a MUCH bigger job than he had anticipated. He may think twice about tackling a project like that again.
2. He also learned that tile sometimes has small variations in size, so you need to pay attention when laying it out.
3. I learned to stay out of his way and be grateful he is so handy (but I already knew that)!