Seeing Green

Upon reading the May addition of Martha Stewart Living in which the concept of "color" was featured, I was inspired to try a small-scale project for the blank space above our mantle. The grand idea was to collect several old picture frames, paint them white, and replace the pictures with different patterns and shades of green fabric.

mantle-before

A combination of trips to Goodwill, JoAnne Fabrics, and Home Depot found me ready to get down to business. Following the instructions on my spray paint can, I thoroughly sanded all the frames and applied the first coat of paint. Peter was a huge help from the beginning and re-painted the frames once the required drying time was up. In the meantime I spent way too much time at JoAnne's, pouring over their vast selection of home decor prints, but finally come away with 5 yards of varying greens.

our open garage was the perfect place for the start of this project

A three week hiatus later (while I hosted several 'showers' at the house), and after some much needed motivation (thank you Peter!) the project came together beautifully. We ironed the fabric, carefully manipulated it into the frames with the help of a random bottle of craft glue, and just tonight, hung them all up above our mantle (okay, Peter measured, nailed, and hung them while I supervised). The next step is to find some "filler" for the actual mantle. I'm thinking a trip to Moe's Furniture and a glassybaby or two will do the trick!

mantle-after

I especially love the floral and horizontal stripes patterns

Next project on the list: backyard garden! We spent our 9 month lunaversary hauling 180 bricks from Home Depot to our yard and I can't wait till we have a nice, sunny, (and free!) weekend to get our hands dirty and start our yard beautification project with the help of the"Edibles" garden book that arrived at the library this week...come on summer!