I'm obsessed with metallic paint, part 2....and 3

Another post that is not about my precious little nugget munch! (Seriously, where do I get these nicknames??) I'm getting crazy over here at my blog, peoples. So, if you read THIS post, then you know about my recent liking to these metallic paints I bought at Hobby Lobby. Well, after the successful dining room project, I decided to take my metallic paint elsewhere in my house.

My husband and I have been thinking about our backsplash in our kitchen for quite some time now, but haven't really wanted to spend the $$$ on all the tile, grout, labor, etc. to get it done. Soooo I had this idea! Why not use that beautiful metallic paint on the backsplash and give ourselves a nice, new, (cheaper) original-looking backsplash! I cannot believe how it transformed our kitchen. It was a little hard to JUST paint the backsplash because they it leads into some of our kitchen walls (see below), so I ended up painting those walls too--and I love it. Makes me wonder how I lived with those awful white walls for so long.

Take a look at the pics and I hope you'll agree it's a nice improvement!

BEFORE (ugly white walls and backsplash)

BEFORE (more ugly white walls and backsplash)

BEFORE

AFTER!

AFTER

AFTER!

Ta-dah!! What do you think?? It warms up our kitchen so much, and I really think it is an easy solution for a kitchen lacking a backsplash. Oh, and FYI, this is the same brand of paint I used in the dining room, but this color is called Champagne Gold. LOVE!

And while I was at Hobby Lobby picking up the paint, I started looking for something for this other project I've had floating around in my head for a while. I've been wanting to make a cute coat rack to go by our front door where I had blank wall space.

So I purchased this:

And turned it into this:

I used the leftover paint from the dining room to paint the wood, and purchased one piece of $0.99 of ADORABLE scrapbook paper and glued it in the center. Turned out pretty cute, right?

Oh, and I painted the frame too:). It used to be black, now it is champagne.

Ok, and ONE MORE recent project I have to share because it was just so easy!! I had this wall in my guest bedroom that I've been meaning to improve/update. So, I went to Michaels and bought 4 frames on sale for $5 each, and 4 pieces of really cute scrapbook paper (again), and made this! Love the way adds some cheer to the room!

Peaceful?

Let's be honest, us moms can often end up spending a lot of time in our homes. Sometimes the hassle of getting together bottles, diapers, toys, burp cloths, etc., and working around nap times, can discourage us from venturing out of our houses, causing us to sit at home watching trashy daytime TV. But there is only so much of that we can do before we go crazy. So we often find ourselves seeking solace in places like Super Target just so we can get out of the house and maintain our sanity. And we treasure those times, right? We look forward to that car ride to the grocery store so we can zone out, listen to music, and find a little peace.

But recently our car rides have sounded a little more like this:

Peaceful, right??

Any mom's out there got any suggestions for how to keep a baby happy back there while driving?? I miss my peaceful times in the car!

DIY Home Project

Can you believe it?? I am actually going to write a post where I DON'T talk abut my child!! But just for good measure: Lola is the cutest little nugget on the planet! Ok, I'm done. Wait, one more thing-- for the past 2 weeks she has been sleeping til at least 9:30am!! That's 13.5 hours straight, y'all. She definitely has some Hinckley genes in her.

Ok, now for my real post. As a stay-at-home mom, I have been DYING to flex my creative muscle lately, especially towards decorating my home. Decorating is one of my FAVORITE things to do in this world. In fact, one of my hobbies is sitting down with a cup of tea and browsing through home goods store catalogs or decorating magazines and dream about all the things I would do to my home if only I had a money tree in my backyard. Because unfortunately, it usually entails spending a bunch of money so I have been "fasting" from decorating lately:).

But every once in a while, I'll dream up something I can do that doesn't break the bank. Heck, it barely even chips it. And this happened to me yesterday...

There are certain areas of my home that have been, eh hem, "neglected". Meaning they kind of got ignored when we first moved in, and I haven't really thought much about them since. Too busy I suppose. Anyways, lately I have been working on going back through those "neglected" places in my house to see how I can spruce them up in an affordable way. My dining area was one of these places. See, for months now I have been thinking about painting the backs of my built-in "china hutch", but couldn't decide on what exactly I wanted to do. All I could think of was how I wanted something a tad metallic, but wasn't sure how to make it work. I started brainstorming when I couldn't sleep Monday night and came up with an image in my head that I wasn't sure if it existed. So imagine my surprise when I found THIS online at Hobby Lobby! It was exactly what I was looking for.

So here is what I did with it...

Built-in hutch BEFORE (forgot to take one with all the stuff on it, oops)

BEFORE

AFTER (without decorations)

AFTER up-close (you can really see the shimmer here)

AFTER with decorations! (please excuse the ugly wire cabinet doors. That is another project for another day...)

AFTER up-close. I actually updated some of my decor as well. Hobby Lobby had 50% off mirrors yesterday so I purchased this mirror and used it as a tray to set out some of my pretty glasses that were previously hiding in the cabinet. LOVE!

I fell SO in LOVE with this paint that I started brainstorming other ways I could use it in my house...and then it hit me. There is a spot above the love seat in our living room that I have been looking for a painting or wall art for some time now. But everything I liked was too expensive! So I decided to get crafty. I purchased THIS stencil, also from Hobby Lobby, and painted a pattern on the wall! I love the way it turned out and it was soooo much cheaper than purchasing a painting, or something of that nature.

I am so happy with the way everything turned out yesterday! And I especially love that the paint was only $7.99, and I didn't even use the whole jar. Gotta love sprucing up your space for next to nothin'!

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go see where else I can use this paint in my house... ;)

Lil' Punkin'

Here is our punkin' on Halloween! (I warned you that we use the word punkin' a lot when referring to Lola:))

Getting posed pictures is A LOT harder these days! Sister is BUSY!

And here is a pic of me and my cousins Brian & Brenda with their punkin's before trick or treating. It was a popular costume choice!

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!