Frame | It's Great To Be Home

A blank wall in my office was staring at me for months. Taunting me. And begging for something to snazz it up a bit.

After awhile, I got tired of all that taunting and begging, so I whipped up a little freebie DIY wall art to add some personalized personality to that blank wall.

I found an old puzzle of a map of Dallas (woohoo!) in my “closet of random things” and mounted it on teal scrapbook paper in an Ikea frame that I had on hand.

Gotta love a free shout out to your hometown!

This post is shared with Between Naps on the Porch, Cottage Instincts, Making the World Cuter, It’s So Very Cheri, Twice Remembered, The Girl Creative, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, The Persimmon Perch, A Soft Place to Land, A Silly Little Sparrow, Today’s Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, The Thrifty Home, and We Are THAT Family.

Along Came Poly

If you checked out last month’s post on Bower Power about polystain, then you know it’s a miracle product. Polystain is awesome because it allows you to stain and protect wood in a single step by combining stain with polyurethane. Last weekend, my mom took it upon herself to single-handedly keep Minwax in business by polystaining just about everything that she came across.

While taking a break from decorating her house for Easter, Mom tackled a slew of sad little pieces with just a few coats of Minwax’s PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany. A rich stain instantly transformed this plain oak frame into the perfect surrounding for a sweet bunny print:

The pastel, floral base of this lamp was off-putting to Mom so she never used it. After a few coats of polystain, the base was neutralized and the bunny lamp was finally allowed to participate in the Easter festivities. Turns out polystain works on more surfaces than just wood!

Mom recently converted my old bedroom into this warm, inviting guest room. (What, did she think that guests wouldn’t like the electric purple room of my youth? Whatev!) The newly slipcovered wing chair looked great in the room, but the medium-toned wood on the chair legs simply didn’t blend in. After a few coats of polystain the wing chair blends perfectly with the deep chocolate brown that accents the space.

This little bench is the piece de resistance. With stains and a dull oak finish, this bench had seen better days. Now it’s a gorgeous mahogany tone that will look great in any room of the house.