Projects, projects!

Since we moved into our home May 5th, I've taken it upon myself to add color and style to this bland, white, house. Although I have pretty much decided what to do with most of the house, I only have a small budget every month with which to accomplish this. So I must be strategic in my spending/planning. My first month's project was to paint the family/breakfast/kitchen area and add pulls to all the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms (pics in a previous post). Then I painted Wesley's room and bought new towels/bath mats for my bathroom (pics to follow...at some point). The past couple days I've done projects I've been putting off: Wesley's paper-mache tree and painting the front door.Wesley's tree -- my son's room was inspired by this picture:

I mean, it's kinda the coolest thing EVER. Of course, I do not have the budget needed to create such a room... nor do I have the space. BUT it is my inspiration non-the-less. Since I don't have the means to cut down trees or whittle large pieces of wood to look like trees, the next logical answer is chicken wire and paper mache. :) I bought 2 shades of brown paint to make it look like bark and I intend to add leaves and vine just like the above photo. Step one took an entire day (with an 8 month old things take 10x longer than they normally would). Here's the paper mache tree:

I know it might be hard to see my vision, but I think it'll look really cool. I plan to hang Wesley's letters from that branch over the crib... I'm so excited! Bamboo fencing, leaves, vines... I can't wait for it to all be done! Anyway, it's hard to get stuff done in the place your child sleeps... so it might take me a while to finish. I highly recommend finishing the nursery before the baby arrives for this very reason -- it's a little hard to avoid when you move though!

Anyway, on to the front door. Our house is a cute, red-brick house with cream trim -- so cute! BUT it was just "missing" something. I decided that something was a pop of color on the front door. Here is a pick of the house before:

And here's my painted door!

I think it adds just the right touch. What's next? Well, painting Wesley's tree and then the guest room -- gotta get ready for some visitors from Alaska! ;)