Projecting my way to 30

Since coming up with my "30 before 30," I have been in a state of do, do, do.  (I would be much further along in my list had I added some of these things...is it too late to change?)  In the past week, I have...

1.  Rearranged the furniture in the kitchen.
2.  Scrubbed the oven/stove from top to bottom, including the little "catchalls" underneath each burner.
3.  Decorated the front of our little home with beautiful potted mums.
4.  Given my kitchen table a "facelift."
5.  Purchased some new decorative items for the stove.
6.  Made use of some of our fabulous wedding gifts (see napkins, napkin rings, placemats, berry plates, and spoon rest, among other things!)



You may also notice that one of my "30" is halfway complete in these photos.  #17. Redo the artwork in the kitchen.  If you haven't seen my kitchen, recently or ever, you may not know that Jeff and I changed our color scheme from brown,blue and green (seen in the background of the second photograph) to red, black, and white when we registered.  We've slowly been phasing out the green/blue loveliness in exchange for some of our new things, including fabulous new curtains!  I still have some work to do on them, as I'd like to shorten the length and create a vallance for our door, but we are well on our way. 

To add to our color scheme, I found some cool red chargers (that work both in our color scheme and for the fall and winter holidays!), and some retro-inspired polka-dot fabric that I'm using as wall art.  I think this is a good tip if you like prints and aren't looking to spend a fortune for art.  Simply frame a fabric you've fallen in love with (for me, those are the dots!)  I plan to spray paint our now-brown frames in a gloss red (pictured above), and create a J and an L on each large frame in red, sort of as a monogram.  I'd love to have them done by the weekend, and considering all the "projecting" I've been doing to relieve stress, it's not too hard to imagine this becoming a reality!

Not pictured, but still very much a reality, are the four "30" projects that are in the works. 

1.  New cafe curtain rod....

I bought a cute curly-cue curtain rod and hook set for the kitchen.  Both are black wrought iron-esque, and just delightful!  The plan is to put them up this weekend!  Halfway there!

2.  Living room art....

I have been dying to make a picture collage behind our couch for the longest time!  I have a million frames from our family photo display from our wedding, and I bought an adorable monogram picture frame display that has room for eight or so pictures.  I plan to make this large frame our anchor piece, and put all of our pictures (including some from our wedding, when I finally manage to make that happen!) around it.  I can't wait!  Not there...but plans are working their way through my brain!

3.  Bedroom art....

I'm all about the fabrics right now.  Our new bedspread from Target is yellow and gray.  I'm still in search of appropriate frames, but I bought a light, buttery yellow fabric to go in them (whenever I find them!)  I'd love to find some fabulous silver frames to highlight our color scheme.  Halfway there....

4.  Headboards galore....

Taking inspiration from many thrifty decor bloggers, I have been in search of the perfect headboard to refurbish.  I have found a ton of ideas, including these:

They are all beautifully to-die-for...my problem?  I began to think about what would happen if I can't find the right headboard by February 19th.  If I do...when am I going to have the time to actually do all of this WORK?  And, for that matter, WHERE?!  Our townhouse doesn't leave much room for home-improvement projects.  I started to get a little nervous....

So, as I've already said, I was out on this beautiful fall weekend, doing my premium bargain shopping extravaganza (I do mean it: I went to Burlington, TJ Maxx, Target, JoAnn's, Ross Dress for Less, Kohl's, Pottery Barn Outlet, KMart, Walmart...not to mention the fact that I visited some of these establishments more than once!) 

I decided, mid-shop, that I would look for newer, less expensive headboards...and found one that I absolutely LOVE at PBO, so much so that I'm taking Jeff to see it tomorrow (and hoping to high heaven that it is still there!)  They're currently having a 40% off the lowest marked price sale on headboards, so think of us tomorrow...send us some good vibes, and hope that my perfect headboard is still there, waiting patiently for a good home!  If it is...we only have to figure out how to get it here! 

(If you click on the headboard link, imagine JUST the headboard!)