DIY Painted Table Runner

I am a frequent and proud visitor of the Walmart clearance aisle. Most of the time there is not much there, but a few weeks ago I found this bamboo table runner which I really liked for only $5.

However, when I got it home it ended up looking kind of dull... so I had the idea to paint a design on it!

I printed off four different flower designs in two different sizes.  Then I cut them out to use as stencils.

When I was positioning them on the runner I was careful to not let the same flowers get too close together.  I also found that it looked best if I let some of the go over the edge.

Then I just painted the flowers in variety of coordinating colors, again being careful to not let the same colors end up next to each other.  I really love how it turned out! What do you think?

New Layout Design!!

Check it out!!  Things are looking a lot different around here lately.  In the past few weeks I have been looking around at other blogs a lot for some ideas of what to do with my own.  I love working on my layout, and I really loved my old one, but I realized something.... it was way too busy and cutesy...

So I've working over the last couple of days to come up with something completely NEW!  And I am really loving how it is turning out so far!

I am still in the process of making some finishing touches... but let's face it, I always will be!  So I would love to hear what you all think!  Do you think it is a good change, or do you like the old layout better?  I'd love to hear your tips and suggestions :)

Coat Rack Re-vamp

A long while ago, my mom gave me this old accordion style coat rack.  It is quite rickety, so I used to use it to keep my necklaces on.  I just recently took it from my room at home in my parents house to my dorm room. But it didn't quite fit in here, because this is what it used to look like:

Cute, but kind of boring, right?  Well it is amazing what a coat of paint can do!! I had some leftover turquoise paint from a bookshelf I painted awhile back, and it was perfect for this project!

Here is the finished product, minus the scarfs from above:

Much better!  I love giving old items a new life, and it was super easy!