I Love You Ross!

No--my husbands name is not Ross.  And its OK--cause at this moment even he is in love with Ross!  Why do you ask?  Because the other day when I was shopping at ROSS for one of the only times in my life (but will certainly not be the last) I found this:

Now let me back up--I had wanted a LARGE clock to hang in our family room--but DARN THOSE THINGS ARE EXPENSIVE!!  Even the ones at walmart were about $80!  Too rich for my blood.  So I had found a medium sized one at Fred Meyer for $30 and I had a $10 off coupon thing--so I could rationalize spending $20 on a new clock. 

So this is what I had for a couple weeks.

It was cute--but to be honest--I was still disappointed as it wasn't the big clock I had envisioned on that wall.  But I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never be willing to shell out the cash for a bigger one.  I was just going to have to learn to live with this one. 

So when I happened to find this one at Ross--I about fainted at the price!!!

YES--THAT SAYS $4.99 PEOPLE!!! (And as I walked thru Ross carrying my massive clock everyone stopped and asked me where I got it and how much it was.  And then they all died--just like I did--when I told them how much it was!  Even the Ross checker did a double take when the price rang up and then told me that I just got a really good deal!  Like I didn't already know!!!)

Anyways--about the clock.  Even though it was beautiful as it was--it wasn't exactly the colors I wanted--but I knew that I had a can of ORB at home that would do the trick!

The awesome part too was that when I got it home and took it out of the box, I found that the clock part is made to come out easily from the metal surround--much like a piece of glass comes out of a picture frame. 

So I didn't even have to tape off anything!  I just popped out the clock and gave it a little coat of paint!

BEFORE ORB: 

AFTER: 

And sitting pretty on my wall: 

Before:

Mid Before:

After:

Now THAT is what I had imagined the wall to look like!  And I accomplished it for only $4.99!   And I get to return the other clock and get back my $30!!

I think it really does a great job balancing out the room.

Thank you Ross!  I promise I will be back very soon--and if you could arrange to have the perfect curtains for my bedroom there next time for super cheap--that would be great!

Spray Paint Helps the Family Room Along

OK, if you have read my blog before or know me at all, you know that I LOVE SPRAY PAINT!

And of course with a new house I have found a plethora of things that are crying out for a spray paint makeover.  Today I will show you a couple of the MANY I have already undertaken.

When we moved in the family room had this lovely white and gold ceiling fan:

Well--no--I didn't spray paint THAT ceiling fan.  Instead I found another fan at our local Re-Store for super cheap.  It was PERFECT except it had light wood fan blades (which I somehow forgot to get a picture of!  Darn it when that happens!)  They were almost the color of my table--UNTIL they got a shot of brown spray paint.

Much better!

The other thing in this room that was SCREAMING at me from the moment I saw it was this GOLD/BRASS TRIM on the FIREPLACE!  

I couldn't wait to spray those babies up!  

So that's just what I did. 

Those pieces come out super easy (especially when you have your hubby take them out for you).

And after a couple coats of this awesome stuff:

Bye bye brass!

Ahhh.  Much better.

(Except we obviously still have some work to do on this bad boy!  But still--what an improvement!)

I think those two little transformations really make a big impact on the room.  And I guess it also helped that we have changed just about everything else in the room as well!

BEFORE (with Previous Owners Furnishings):

AFTER:

And of course this is not a TRUE after picture yet--as the fireplace is still in a state of demolition and none of the base board trim had been painted white and put back on, and the mantel and windowsills still need a coat of white paint...but at this moment this is where the room stands and I am pretty darn happy with it!