A Little Different

So there's something I've noticed about all of the blogs I read. Almost every one of them is written by a twenty-something with an adorable husband/fiancee, a fixer-upper, newly purchased home and a perma-smile (maybe because they have an adorable bald child or their own vintage style). That's not me. It's not to say that I'm not a happy person. I am. The difference is... I'm as single as it gets, living in a rental home with dingy, white walls unable to be painted, a roommate with the perfect relationship, and a little black dog. At least I'm still in my 20s.... at least for another year.

I work from home, which means that I'm horribly sick of looking at empty walls and bad furniture. In fact, I think I may be going completely stir crazy sitting in this house all day long. As I'm sitting here typing, I'm thinking, "I hate you, cheap DVD shelves, I HATE YOU."

So the way I've decided to fix this hatred is through thrift store shopping, blog reading and spray painting everything I touch. I wish I could say that I have the creativity and know-how to come up with incredible ideas and designs, but I don't. I blatantly steal ideas from the blogs I read, and try to make them my own. I started small, and I'm wanting to go big.

I started off going to a few garage sales to buy some frames and came up with these beauts...

"Oh hello there ugly frames! What's that? An ugly owl. I think I'll take it!" Now, I must have looked like a pathetic mess when I rolled up in the Corolla, because the girl gave me everything for free. FREE. That's right. She did ask me to "take care of her owl," which I found to be equal parts funny and creepy. Mostly creepy.

So what'd I do, you're wondering? I went to Hobby Lobby or Michael's (can't remember which now) and bought myself some overpriced spray primer and spray paint. I'll be going to Walmart from now on, even thought it's my absolute least favorite place on the planet Earth. Walmart frustrates me more than when I'm watching a TV show live, and can't fast forward through the commercials. NOT COOL. Sorry, let's get this choo-choo back on track. So here's the super fun (/sarcasm) part. I tried to use the primer, but the primer decided to come out as a solid rather than a liquid. It looked to be a mixture of cottage cheese and asbestos. It left a horrible texture on the ugly owl. Oh well. I gave up on the priming and started in on the spray painting. My roommate and I had decided upon a black, white, and blue scheme in the living room. Basically, between the two of us, those were the colors of furniture we already had. Neither of us are rolling in the dough, so we're not really looking to go all out with the decor.

I just went nuts with the blue paint. I even grabbed up an ugly, little white cherub I had been given as a kid. Although I'm not even the slightest bit religious, I used to have a thing for angels. I figure the owl needed a winged friend.

As far as the frames go, I can't do wood. I'm not that natural kind of girl who can do earth tones. My roommate has found a gorgeous mixture of modern wood, greens and browns for her room. I can't do it. It just doesn't fit me. I'm still in my black, white and red phase. I do damasks and antique, painted furniture. I had to make the frames black or blue, no wood allowed. Here are the results, a first attempt... don't judge me.

Welcome, blue owl, to my empty mantle.