Sneak Peaks and Some Ramblings

I promised to give you some sneak peaks of Jack's nautical-inspired bedroom, so here you go! I'm not finished yet, but I'll show you some of what I've been working on.

This old, peely, chippy, blue wooden hook-thingy (aren't I technical??) is what started it all. Literally. I bought it at a barn sale for $2 and it sat out on my porch for a while. I sat and stared at it one day and all these ideas came flooding into my little brain.



I painted this wall, which is in front of the closet, with chalkboard paint. How fun are chalkboards??

I'm afraid I'm obsessed.

Oh, and you can see a little bit of the curtains I made. Talk about easy! I found the fabric yesterday at a fabric outlet for $1.99/yard and bought some rope trip to tie them. It took me about 1/2 hour to sew them - easy peasy!




I created a little reading area in front of the wall. Not that my 18 month old can read yet, but whatever. He's brilliant. He'll probably learn in a few months.

I found the red book organizer at Goodwill and the metal hanging basket is from Ikea (cheap! cheap! cheap!).




I painted this sign from old boards found in our basement. It'll go on top of a dresser in the room.



And Avery & I made this sailboat out of branches and a drop cloth. It goes over the bed, which still needs a boxspring and mattress.


So, there you have it! I'll give more details when I finish up the room. It has been so much fun working on it! I can't even tell you!

I love working with a "theme", although I'm trying not to get kitchy and cliche with it, which can be easy to do.

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And, just because, here are some thoughts I'm mulling this morning:

1. What if, instead of focusing on the things that we don't have, we would focus on how incredibly blessed we are.

2. What if, when we make more money, instead of buying more things that we probably don't need, we would save it, bless someone by giving it, or figure out how to make our money stretch further.

3. What if, instead of putting so much of our energy into toys, getting the latest and greatest thing, pining for what we want or think we need, we would put all that energy into being more efficient with what we already have.

These thoughts have been challenging me a lot lately. Especially as I am working on the house renovations. And you know what? I'm finding that I can be a lot more creative when I have to improvise and use what I have or find things for little to no money.

And really, I think that people who use what they have to the fullest potential are much more creative and interesting and inspiring, then people who just buy whatever they want, just because they can.

Melissa at The Inspired Room got my wheels turning on the subject with this post.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my ramblings! What are your thoughts?

"Do what you can,
where you are,
with what you have."

-Theodore Roosevelt

(one of my favorite quotes)