Wedding Wall

I just love projects that I think are going to be a) easy and b) inexpensive. My wedding wall has turned out to be neither of those things.

We have a random plank of wood in our hallway that I painted to become our "wedding wall"--a wall of the weddings we have been in over the years. On Black Friday I went to the Goodwill to buy 5 different frames, all a little different, to hang the photos. Easy. And they were 50% off that day. So I spent $9 on 5 frames.

After settling on the images and laying the frames out on the floor, we decided to hang the frames from the middle-thus they are centered to the yellow plank, not by hanging from the typical top spot. Enter challenge to hang the suckers.

Because these frames were from all corners of the retail world, a few had the teeth, some had popout holes, etc. Either way, all were not in the right spot. I needed something to affix to the middle of the frame and then could stick to the wall. Enter 3M Command Strips. I know everyone swears by them, but they did not work. At all. ONE of the Velcro sticky variety claimed to hang up 3 pounds. I think most of the frames weighed less than one. We had up to 4 sets of those little buggers on a frame and they still fell from the wall. Sometimes during dinner, sometimes in the middle of the night which is always good for the heart. I'm pretty sure I spent about $25 on those damn things. And then my favorite frame fell and broke. Awesome, who doesn't like 5 trips to Michael's in one week. So I purchased a new frame. And then we tried the stick-ems another way and again, frame dropped, and broke. Make it 7 times to Michael's because I forgot my coupon the first time.

So, here we are, probably $40 later, but I do have the wedding wall, thanks to my resident handy man.

Wider shot towards the front door:

I excel at blurry photos in three feet wide hallways. Yet, the "wedding wall" does bring a smile to my face at each walk-through.

Dining Room Chairs Redux-update

UPDATE-"before" photos found! We waited an hour and half for dinner on New Year's Eve so it was the perfect time to delete all of the 2010 photos that had already been uploaded to my computer...or so I thought. I KNEW these were on there, just stuffed between baby showers and Halloween. The one with the cushions attached was deleted in my feverish routine but you can still see them on the ground to the right.

Detail shot:

I think it gives the "after" a bit more impact.

Well I can't find my before picture so that makes this post severely lack impact. Therefore, I'll call upon my best storytelling skills.

Imagine a dingy beige chair with an equally dingy ecru seat cushion. Imagine scoring the 4 chairs for $50 on CraigsList and then taking a month to do the transformation. In reality it can obviously be done faster, but we didn't have a dining table to set them with, so no immediate rush.

And voila! The after:
Yeah, it does not have impact without the before. C'est la vie.

Eye on the Target

I love, love, love Target. I can get the bulk of my shopping done there for a great price and just fill in the gaps at the grocery store. Their clothes are super cute too. Just today I was drooling over a J. Crew dress on sale for $80 and then found a similar look for less at just $25-hello bargain shopper! I even splurged on a belt just because I held out on the bigger purchase.

Their clothing section brings me to my main point. Does anyone else find it annoying that the numbers they give you don't hang on any of the rods available in the room? It has a hole in it, which I guess is just meant for the behind the desk of the worker-but why on earth do we just have to find an awkward place to put it, along with our own items to try on, actual clothing, and purse. I have yet to figure that out.

In the Mood for Shoes

My current need/want/desire are neutral wedges. I need a little lift in my life and something that can go with a variety of ensembles.

Current loves:

Current retail price: $100. I'll say $50, Bob. Yep, estimated retail value.