My Attempt at Rustic Elegance

The last year or two there has been a fun trend of in-home painting parties or group parties at bars or other venues where you and your friends get instructions on how to paint the same picture on canvas while you have a few beverages and socialize.  That trend has started to run its course and is being replace with "rustic" sign painting.  I have wanted to do one of these painting things for a long time and my dream finally came true when I was invited to a sign painting party at a friend's house.  There were five options to choose from, several colors of stains and paint washes for the background you could pick and many bottles of paint to choose from at the party. 

I picked this ND sign with a little hometown heart.  I left it on my current home although I thought about moving it to my original hometown.  I thought, wherever I end up in the future, this sign can be a reminder of living here and life as it is now. 



I am so proud of this thing!  It really took hardly any effort.  The stain was already on there, as was a stencil so all I did was paint the white state and the blue letters.  After it tried we could "rough it up" with sandpaper and pound in the hanging hook on the back.  Then the lady running the event sprayed it with a sealant. 

You might have (but probably not) noticed that the background of that picture is the dining room table.  The very table that I, a few months ago, decided to turn into the designated lego storage surface.  Well, that surface became a nightmare.  It was so packed with lego sets and loose blocks that there wasn't even room to play without pushing things out of the way which resulted in many legos on the floor where Milo could get them.  Then, Milo started standing and reaching up there and pulling things off.  Also, I just got sick of looking at it. So, over several organizing sessions while Ben was at school, I sorted each set into a ziplock back with the directions, threw away most of the original boxes from the store, and looked at direction books to match up many obscure pieces to their proper sets.  It was not an enjoyable way for me to spend my time.  It was worth it though.  The dining room is back, even though there is a blue plastic tub full of zip lock bags shoved in the corner. Hopefully a cute basket or box will catch my eye at TJ Maxx or somewhere so I can put them in that instead. And Ben seems happier too now that he can play easier.  He is rediscovering sets that he hadn't played with in awhile.  Tessa also likes it.  I shouldn't overlook her.  She is getting to be a good lego builder. 

Yesss!  A place to display some Halloween decorations!  This display will be improved when we get some pumpkins and gourds in here. 

The kids loved getting out the Halloween box.  We hung orange lights in their windows and the dining room window and there are window clings stuck all over the house.  Ben had to try on the baby pumpkin costume.  He got stuck and started screaming and thrashing like it was a straightjacket. 

It will fit Milo perfectly this year!  And even if it didn't fit perfectly he would still be wearing it!