Iki Express: The Shelves: Before (during) & After

Good Morning Bloggarinas.

Happy Tuesday to you. Today is the third of *five* Christmas parties I have to go to this week. Sunday night was the Baptist women's Christmas dinner (we are not Baptist but a friend invited me and it was so very lovely), last night was the Tunica Fire Department Christmas dinner and I was extremely proud of my fire-fighting husband!

And today is our office Dirty Santa Party. We all bring a gift under $20 and something to munch on, and have a little mid-day party. Although sometimes I complain about my job, I really do feel so thankful and blessed to have a job that I don't hate (not all the time at least), and a supportive team to work with.

Okay so on to today's 'Before & After'....

Back in September, I posted about the built-in shelves in our TV room. The shelves give me a hard time because I am always trying to make them look 'just right.' Many nights, we will sit on the couch and watch 30 minutes or so of TV and after the show is over I realize I have no idea what went on because I was staring at the shelves, brainstorming ways they could look better.

It's a problem.

Really.

So this fall, when doing my decorations for Halloween and Thanksgiving I came up with the idea to do all black picture frames with a few splashes of color thrown in.

Then, one night, while not-watching an episode of Law and Order, a brilliant idea dawned on me. I'll do the same type of thing with my Christmas shelves only do the frames in a cheery, seasonal, RED!

While this is a cute idea, I was plauged with the problem of finding 10+ frames, all the same color red. And what an expensive project this would come to be.

So I decided to DIY it up one weekend while Tom was in South Dakota hunting. My house became a crazy maze of craftiness for about 24 hours, and the end result was well worth the blood, sweat, and spray paint.

So after cleaning out my closet, I made a trip to Goodwill to drop off three garbage bags full of clothes I had been holding onto since 2003, and pick up some used frames.

The color of the frame, and the contents of the frames did not matter because I'd be changing all that.

Here's what I came home with:

I think I got 11 frames for around $30. I got various sizes and styles for a fun look.

The contents of some of these frames were funny.

This one wasn't so bad....a nice little Magnolia, the state flower of Mississippi.

Then there was this one. Kittens. Typical.

And another kitten...this one more pensive.

Wait....what's this hiding behind the pensive kitten? A wedding picture from 1972! I checked the back of the photo to see if there was a name or any information but there was nothing. I like to think their names are Sherry and Chuck.

I wonder why they covered their picture with the pensive kitten and then gave it to Goodwill? Maybe Sherry and Chuck are divorced now....sad.

Anyway, moving on...

I also found these little ditties at the Dollar Tree for $1, so I got two.

After purchasing all my frames, I took off the backs. Some were easier than others.

And took out all the 'guts' of the pictures...i.e. pictures of Sherry and Chuck, and kittens.

Next, I was ready to paint. I bought a couple cans of red spray paint...the FUSION claims to bond to pretty much anything, and as it turns out this claim is true.

I opted for a bright, cheery, red....aka 'Safty Red'....aka what they paint Stop signs with. heh heh.

I got an old sheet and spread all my frames out on the grass. Be careful where you do something like this, as spray paint is going to get every where. I opted for grass because if some gets on the grass...no problem, it'll just be Safty Red until new grass grows.

But if you do it on concrete or on a wood patio you might get in trouble with your husband when you wind up with paint on your porch or driveway.

Next, I got to paintin'.

These frames needed two good coats on the front, and one on the back. Since I knew they would all be on shelves and the backs wouldn't be seen, I was able to just give the once-over on the backs.

Craft carnage. Looks like a crime scene, yes?

After the frames dried, I put in my own pictures. I had a variety of pictures printed at Walgreens. I tried to find old funny Christmas and New Year's pictures of Tom and I with friends and family.

Once you put your own pictures in the frames, simply put the backs on them. Some of these are kind of bunk, but like I said it won't matter what the backs look like because no one will ever see them.

Ta-Da! Me and Tom at Tacky Christmas Party 2008:

Here's the finished product, waiting patiently on the couch until it's time to arrange them on the shelves. Don't they look proud and shiny with their new life?

So here are the shelves before, decorated for Halloween. For Thanksgiving, I didn't change much. Basically just swapped out a jack-o-lantern for a regular pumpkin....stuff like that. The color scheme was basically the same.

And AFTER!

I think the monochromatic-ness (that isn't a word, I know) of the frames keeps it from looking too 'junky.'

I just added some fun Christmas decor that I already had, and a little bit of mesh, and VOILA!

One of my favortie things on the shelves is this 'Merry & Bright' sign I got at Marshall's last year. So cute with the jingle bells!

And I love this sweet picture of Tom and I at a New Year's Eve party back in 2007. We were newly engaged and all in love and goofy. And I'm kind of digging that gooby thing I'm wearing on my head.

But my absolute favorite picture is this one of Tom and Parker on our wedding day! Such sweet and beautiful lifelong friends. I have told Tom it's important for us to remember and think about Parker a lot because he was so loved by us, and important to our family.

And this picture just captures the energy that day...Tom laughing, having fun, and goofing off with 10 of his best friends while waiting to get HITCHED!

So there you have it...The SHELVES: Before (during) & After.