Meet my monochromatic friend.

A preface is needed for the pictures below.

 Every morning I wake up and stare at the chevron wall art that is on our bedroom wall. Sometimes I will lay in bed thinking, "wow, I should have spray painted more lids. Maybe I should start saving lids again. I think I need to go buy more shoes so I have lids."

Or, "I need something else on the wall. Maybe it isn't the wall, maybe it is that ghastly yellow chair? I really need to reupholster that chair. I wonder where I put my staple gun. I should really clean out the garage, maybe the staple gun is hidden in there."

Do you get my point?

I get gray hairs just laying in bed...thinking about a wall. Yes, I wake up in the morning and think about a wall.  

A few weeks ago I finally decided that I was going to add a lamp to the top of our dresser, thus to also help me stop thinking about "the wall". The lamp base was a beauty with it's intricate details, but all of that was overshadowed by it gold goodness. The lamp shade had that 70's-tastic yellow glow to it and it smelled of moth balls and dust.  

So I removed the clothe from the lampshade so that only that bare bones of it was left. Then I gave both the base and the shade a nice coat of Kilz Primer and Krylon White spray paint.

When you look at this picture please be aware that I know there is no light bulb in the lamp. I am waiting to find the right vintage edison bulb. 

And yes, the finial is still an outlandish gold color. I had to actually look up what a finial was because I was  going to write, "The twisty screw on top of the lamp."

Finial sounds way more professional, don't cha think?

I thought a skeleton lamp shade with a white base would be the right touch to complete my wall. I wanted a piece to go along with my chevron wall art that was simplistic in nature, but still made a bold statement. 

I wanted a piece that made me wake up in the morning and say, "Hello wall, why don't you look just lovely today." 

So be real with me. What are your feelings about my monochromatic friend?

{My House Mondays} Books are made for more than just reading...

Happy mornin'/afternoon/nighty night friends!

Way before I started this lil' blog I still crafted and made things--I just didn't expose my crazy ideas to the entire world. One of those projects included the nifty book wreath that hangs over our mantle.  This project was my first true experience with a glue gun. I am surprised I still use my glue gun today because not only did I burn the hello goodness out of my fingers, but I also dropped the glue gun in my lap--I'll spare you the horrific details and the words that I yelped.

Way back in February when I posted my Valentine's Day mantle I got quite a few emails asking  how I made my book wreath. I would love to do a step-by-step tutorial for all ya'll, but I want to spare my fingers the pain. Instead, I will share my deepest, darkest book wreath makin' secrets with you.

Okee-doke.

 I took a book and torn out the pages and instead of just folding them one way I folded the pages two ways, which I think added extra texture to the wreath. I did a "S" fold and a tube fold that was larger at one end then the other. comprende?

Then I folded the bottom of the pages so I would have an area to dab the glue to attach it to the wreath. 

Then I stuck those babies all over a styrofoam wreath form.

And that's the full blown story of my book wreath. Whip out those glue guns, find a dirty romance novel and get your glue on.

{My House Mondays} Here's the skinny on de-cluttering.

Let's be real, mkay? I have a lot of stuff. I like my stuff, but occasionally I have to purge it. So here's the skinny on my de-cluttering method. It's scientific if you think about it, or not...

About twice a year I get my Martha Stewart on and I deep clean my house. In the past I have decluttered by either shipping stuff to the thrift store or chucking it in the garbage can. This system has failed me because I end up keeping things that I will never use/wear again.

Sooo, I changed my de-cluttering system. Now, when I do my semi-annual purge I have five boxes handy: a consignment sale box, re-spunkify box, friends n' family box, thrift store box, last chance box, and a big, big garbage box. I have found that by having more options I am now able to get rid of a lot more stuff.

Here's my method....

Consignment Sale: In our community we have a semi-annual consignment sale. When I am de-cluttering I usually put items in this box that I want to get rid of, but only if I can make some of my money back. This box usually has new or slightly used clothes (baby clothes and high quality adult clothing), furniture, appliances, toys, holiday decorations, and sporting equipment.

Re-Spunkify: This box is full of shirts, towels, blankets, and sheets. It's basically all the stuff that I know I am going to cut up and make into different things, it's overflowering...

Family n' Friends: If I don't think an item will sale in the consignment sale, but I know someone in my family can use it, I will then put that item in the friend n' family box. This box usually has clothes, toys, books, blankets, linens, and toys.

DI (Thrift Store): My thrift store box is usually full of things that I know I won't be able to sale or are of no interest to my family. This box is  full of random dishes, old bedding, clothes that no wants, and a lot of random crap treassures.

Last Chance: The last chance box stays in my basement year around. If I have an item that I just can't part with then I put it in this box. If during the following year I pull out and use it then I will keep it. However, if it never leaves the box by the time the a year rolls around then I get rid of it.  If I didn't use it in the past year, the best bet is that I probably won't use it ever again.

Garbage: Some things just have to be chucked folks. seriously. dolls missing eyes, oven mitts with holes, puzzles missing pieces, clothes with pit stains, really these things need to just go. Nothing is more frustrating then buying a puzzle at a thrift store only to find out it is missing five pieces. flip.

Trust me this system is tried and proven by a true hoarder, that would be Hunk....

Okay, I lied, I am the Hoarder. Here is a brief glimpse of my consigment sale pile (I had to take it out of the box crate to sort it).

Now, I guess it is time I do  declutter/deep clean  my desk, any takers on helping me?

I'm hookin' you up with the downlow at Spunky Junky this week...

*Don't forget to leave a comment to win $15 in store credit from ShicShoppe!

*The Spunky Junky Linky Party is still going on until Tuesday night so make sure to link up all those great projects!

*Head on over to One Month to Win It to vote for your favorite "wear green" project! I made it through first week, thanks to ALL your awesomely cool votes! You guys rock!

:)

In Case you were wondering...

It seems like everytime I go on vacation I then need a vacation when I get home. Just one long enough to get laundry done. Just so happens that I do get that today. Punk got sick while we were gone and I took him into the doctor's office this morning.

Conclusion: He has RSV. Snap.

Our Doctor said as long as his saturation is up tomorrow he won't have to be admitted to the hospital. I am crossing my fingers and toes that he is ok. I think we have already spent enough time in the hospital, with him being a preemie and all....

So while Hunk and Punk are curled up in bed with the bug I am trying to get caught up on laundry, dishes, blogging, and orders.

So here are a few things coming up that might interest you or not...

So ladies and gents the polls are open and the pictures are up! Head on over to 1 Month 2 Win It to vote for your favorite project! I am not  allowed to say which project is mine but I am sure you will figure it out...

The voting ends March 9th so with a "big purdy please" skedaddle your lil hiney over there and vote!************************************************************************************

Don't forget to go checkout the awesome giveaway I am doing at Daily Vitamin F. You have until the 10th to register to win this lil' lovely!

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I am racking my brain because I knew there was one more thing on my non-existant checklist I was suppose to write about....ughhh! Don't you hate when that happens?

20 minutes later I figured out two things that I forgot.....

My House Monday is today. I am going to show you our rustic beauty. enjoy.

Maybe if it wasn't so frack a lackin' cold outside I would have taken more pictures, but I was in shorts and and an abnormally large t-shirt so I popped out took a pic and popped back in. I am still defrosting from mini vacae.

The mini vacae was cold.
really. It was VERY cold. I don't even need to describe it...

....because a picture describes it perfectly.

And even after our artic adventure I still love Hunk. It's true love when you are willing to freeze to death for some fish.
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And last but not least. I am changing things up a bit with the Feature Friday Linky Party. I will still be doing it, but from now on I will feature my favorite projects the following week DURING the linky party. In case you were wondering why I hadn't featured any projects yet...
peace my loves!

{My House Monday} I Kinda Like Green Doors....

So yeah, our house is full of a lot of green doors. Every door to be exact. Wait--minus our front door, it's not green , it is wood and brown, and Hunk said, "NO, we will not have a green front door!"...boooorrriiinng.

Our builder, who is a fantastically (is that a word) awesome guy asked us if we would be interested in painting ALL our doors. He thought we would be a fun experiment. haha. So we I said, "YEAH!" And ya'll know how much I love green so I figured I would go with a more subdued color.

Hunk 'bout had the heart attack when he saw my beauties for the first time. really. a. heart. attack. I mean who wouldn't want a couple green doors in their house?

I think they are kinda spunky....

Want to give your hubs a heart attack? Well, go pick up a can of Sherwin Williams Semi-Gloss Ryegrass.

That will do the trick.

{My House Mondays}Sneak Peek at the Good ole Master Thrown Room

So Punk threw up on me last night. Projectile style. Then he threw up again and he got a direct hit on a fresh pile of clean clothes. awesome.  So let's just say that my house is kind of resembling Hoarders today.

I also am camera-less today. Sister #3, Kelty, took my trusty Nikon to shoot engagement photos of Sister #2, Kambrie, and her strapping green bean beau. Camera is still MIA, along with sisters, so I am rekindling an old friendship with my Cybershot today. It really is an epic friendship.

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So there are a few new things in the mix right now. First, I am almost done with the master bathroom which I am pretty excited to show off. I just need to finish a few touches, dust a few shelves and then I should be da-da-da-daaaaa ne!

I also promised you a tutorial of this platter last week, right? Believe, I heard all about it from Kambrie, "You promised to post a tutorial, and you didn't , and I was mad, and blah, blah, blah..." She rambles a bit, but I still love her. Anyway, I did promise and I am sorry, I am actually trying to finish another piece to go with it so I can take pictures of the final product together.

I, Halsey, solemly promise to post it tomorrow (that's for you Kam).

In other exciting news I am one of the 12 finalists participating in a cute competition called One Month to Win It

Over the next month the 12 participants will compete against each other based on challenges created by the judges. Every week three contestants will be eliminated. AND YOU the readers get the chance to vote on the projects you like most!

The first week's challenge is, "Trash to Treasure -- at least 1/2 of your project must be from the thrift store, trash, or curbside treasure." Awesome, huh? This challenge is totally up my alley and I already have some pretty sweet ideas!

Sooo, I would love it if you would all come check it out! The voting will begin on March 7th and it will end March 9th!

Not My House Monday. HA!

Sooo, it seems like every Monday is crazy. Maybe it is because I procrastinate during the weekend and then I seem to be scrambling once the week begins to get everything done. But in my defense...today was one of those Mondays where no matter how hard I tried I managed to get nothing accomplished.  It took me 50 minutes to drive 10 miles with only three stoplights in my way.

 The maximum speed I reached today was only 40 mph.

Disclaimer: yes, I was driving while taking these pictures, and no Punk was not in the car, and yes, I managed to keep both hands on the wheel while taking the pictures...hence the slant.

The weather was awful, bad, horrible, down right nasty today. I missed the turn into my subdivision twice, I slid through two stop signs, and I had to get out and clean off my windshield wipers three times.

So while I had so many things to do on my list today like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. I only managed to make it through town (safely) and I also got this done...

Isn't she a beauty? I figured it was about time that I gave my poor camera strap some love. Come back tomorrow for a tutorial on how to make this lovely.

{My House Mondays} Checklists are overrated...

So I had big plans for this past weekend. HA. Don't kid yourself Halsey. Okay, then--third person narrative-- weird. My big plans involved cleaning the D-Day reactment that I call my home. I even had a nifty checklist. It had all the things I needed to do on it with a cutsie little box by each item so when I finished I could put a cutsie little check in it. How many did I check off?

Zero.

 Task one: clean my closet. nope.

 Task two: grout shower and hang up poor shower curtain which has been on the ground for a month. Net.

GASP! AHHHH!

 Task three: Clean up Punk's new favorite toys. nada.

Task Four: Clean up the clothes, shoes, straightener, Walmart bag (weird), and counters of my bathroom. Nowayjose'.

Task five: Throw away all the random crap laying around on the floor in our spare bedroom. Hide the buffalo rug that is in the corner. Yep. Psych. It is all still there.

Task six: GROUT the spare bathroom tile. no, but it does have a shower curtain so at least we can pretend we are clean, civilized human beings.

So there you have it, my nothing accomplished weekend....except for the new blog look...yep, got that done. I also managed to go for the last 72 on nothing but pizza, hot wings, 7up, and a two day old juice box.

Reality is a dirty deal....just sayin'

Spunky Junky's Living Room

So when we built our house we decided we would put our mantle in the corner of our living room. Our vision was to put the television on top of the mantle and then center the furniture so that the mantle would be the focal point of the room.

Well, that didn't happen. First, our mantle is so high that when the tv is on top of it, Punk can't see it. Secondly, when we rearranged the furniture so that it was facing a corner, it then closed off a large portion of the room.

ahhhhh, the frustration!

I laid in bed at nights wondering how I could fix our corner mantle dilemma!

 With the help of this our good friend, who is an interior designer, we finally came up with this idea. Here's why we set it up this way...

Because we only have one living area upstairs, it has to serve as an enteraining spot for friends and family as well as a living space for our day-to-day living.

Since it is a VERY open space that connects directly to the kitchen and dining area we wanted to enclose it in a manner where it would be cozy during cold days and movie nights, but still open enough for large parties.

Furthermore, since the front door is located off to the side of our living room, we wanted to create a segway where guests can walk into the house without walking "through" the living/entertaining area.

 I don't know if it is because we live in Montana or not, but our house has a very rustic theme, of which I am starting to pull away from (much to the dismay of Hunk). Because of this our house is accented with a variety of knick-knack antiques.

For instance, I wanted this steamer trunk to be a bold accent in our living room so I set the tv on top of it. Not only is it a unique entertainment stand, but it provides some added flare to the room.

 Since our furniture is not against the wall I also needed to find pieces to put behind it so the back of the couch did not become a focal point when looking at it from the dining area.

Bareback couch in middle of the room=bad, bad idea.

Accents behind the couch that tie it into the living room= good idea.

Finally, storage, storage, storage.

 Since our living area also serves as a place for our 15 month old to live as well, we needed to create unique ways to store our movies, magazines, toys, and blankets.

What's your favorite feature of your living room?

{My House Monday} There is something about traveling...

There is something about traveling that just turns my life upside down for a few days once I get home. I have this bad habit of cleaning my house before I leave. I guess I like the feeling of walking into a clean house once I come back from a long trip.

I love being able to walk into my bedroom, throw my bags and bags or junk on the floor and then just fall into my bed and think, "ahhhh, I am home."

However, big emphasis on the HOWEVER, this sweet peaceful feeling doesn't last long. As soon as the bags begin to open, my house turns into the latest episode of Hoarders.

I wasn't lying. really. my house becomes a chaotic mess of clothes, bags, shoes, food, random tourist junk, and a plethera of papers and mail.

The peaceful ambiance of "ahhhh I am home" has officially faded into a pile of dirty socks.

{My House Monday} Our Kitchen

You want to know a little secret of mine?  I love to view blogs just to see what the interiors of the houses look like...and I am totally one of those people who looks in windows when I am walking past houses. Does that make me creepy? Don't judge...please. I can't control it. Anyway, I guess it is time that I let you in our little world.

 So, obviously, this is our kitchen. When we built our house I wanted an open feel that would allow me to work in the kitchen but still be able to visit with Hunk who is very often watching sports in the living room.

One of my most favorite features in our kitchen is the large countspace, at first I was hesitant to the low counter, but now I love it.

 While, I love most things about our kitchen the only feature I can't stand is the vaulted ceiling. I have no idea how to decorate the space, and I am kind of over the stars....SOOOO if any of you have ideas on how I could make the space above my cabinets look totally awesome...well, let me know.

Some of my other favorite features include: the white antique bowls from my Mom, my glass candy jars, and the large apothecary flower bins on my countertop.

So there you have folks. BTdub dont be deceived by the cleanliness...Hunk tells me on a regular basis that if there is a countertop I will find a way to cover it.

On a crazy side note I got some new necklaces.

They are great alone, BUT they are amazing when layered together. Check them out here. And the best white tee to wear with boyfriend pants and a chunky belt? Haines v-neck tees....you can get a pack of four for uber cheap at Wally World.

{At Home} Treasures...

This past weekend we headed to my parents house. Lately, they have been craving a cuddle and squeeze from Punk. I mean, REALLY, it has only been one week since they last saw him...but I guess I will give them a break-Punk is their first gran-baby.

I love going home. I love the quietness, the clear blue skies, and the ability to drive for miles and never see another car. Most that know me would agree that I grew up in the MIDDLE OF NO WHERE. No exaggeration.

Anyway, my Mom is a collector of everything. Everything that is cool at least. She always manages to find screamin' deals at garage sales and she always stumbles upon the coolest antiques and nic-naks.

While, I was home I raided her collection of treasures and this is what I wanted needed to bring home.  Hunk would call it all junk, I disagree with him...completely~

I love these vintage threads. The colors are so rich and vibrant and the spools are so amazing...and made out of WOOD!

 While at home I stopped at the local thrift store and picked up this ceramic owl for Punk's room. Isn't it adorable?

My mom also has a large enormous gigantic collection of buttons. Around just about every corner in my parent's house is an old mason jar of buttons. Lots and lots of buttons. Can there really be too many buttons? And, I found some OLD OLD exacto blades-lovely, just lovely.

These boots are to die for. Why? Well, first they are burnt orange and lime green. How cool is that? Secondly, my Dad made them! He is a man of many talents! I begged and he finally gave in and gave them to me...I have some awesome plans for these boots...and it involves Christmas! Aren't you excited to see what I do with them, well if not, I am ;)

Lately, I have also had this fetish with glass. Glass apothecary jars, glass candy dishes, glass canisters, and now I get to add these amazing glass bowls and lemon strainer to my collection.

Remember how I said my Mom loves buttons. Well, I wasn't lying...

 So, while my Mom loves buttons, jars, and antiques toys, my Dad loves leather. In his defense he is a saddle maker so of course there would be LOTS of leather in his shop. I figured that I would help him "clean up" the scrap pieces. yeah, I took home a ton of scraps. Aren't these colors cool?

I even managed to make something out of some of his leather while I was home, but you are just going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out what it is...

What are some of the amazing treasures you have found!!! Who knows--I may just feature your blog or website on Spunky Junky if it is just too cool not to share!