Mom's (and Dad's too I guess) front room!

I have been wanting to blog about my Mom's front room for a while now, but have been so busy! My only free time is in the evenings (after 9:00) when all the kids are in bed! And tonight I actually have an evening where I don't have a can't-put-it-down book to read and so I figured I'd blog!

As you know, Dad & Mom got home from South Africa in June and my little sister and I had been talking about re-doing my Mom's front room while they were gone and have it be a surprise for her when she got back. I was so excited to get started, especially since I discovered the blog All Things Thrifty about the same time they left on their mission.

So Staci was in charge of talking to Mom to see what she absolutely didn't like or didn't want us to do, but Mom was all for us doing it so she didn't have to worry about that she didn't care! Which made it loads of fun for us!

First there was the painting! I don't think Mom's walls had been painted for quite some time and they had always been cream colored so we went BOLD! (at least with one wall:))

This is also the closet to a "before" picture that I have...forgot to do that before we started painting!!

Also notice the light fixture. We went "thrifty" and decided to use spray paint to paint Mom's old fixture and just purchased new light covers. I thought it turned out pretty cool and you couldn't even tell it was the same light...again wish I had before pictures!!!

Anyway, my project while I was at home was to make Mom's curtains. Well, I had seen this window valance over at All Things Thrifty and LOVED it and so I thought I'd give it a go! It turned out wonderful. Just hit this LINK on instructions on how to make one!

I also made the curtains which was a task in itself! I was rather impressed with myself for making them seeings as how I'd never done anything like that before and am NOT a seamstress!! I also followed instructions found on All Things Thrifty for the curtains.

This isn't the best picture...I was having issues with my camera, but you get the idea!

Notice the pillows on the chairs? I also made those and my sister-in-law helped with the cute little lace flowers...also an idea from All Things Thrifty!!

Here's another picture of the "finished wall" (And Tony playing the piano...one of the 2 songs he knows!:))



We also did a wall with all the grandkids pictures on it. It started out as a wall to put all the nice pictures of all the grandkids, but after talking to my sister we decided to do something a little different. Here's what we came up with instead!

Makes me laugh everytime I look at it!! Notice Dad & Mom there in the middle? This was a picture they took while in Alaska...just as goofy as all their grandkids!:)

I was pretty nervous to see if Mom would like it or not (don't know if Staci was too) but she tells me she really likes it...but I've had dreams otherwise. So if the next time I'm in town and her wall is back to cream...I'll understand!:)

I really wasn't too worried about Dad...this is his sense of fashion...

Don't ya just love the black socks!!:)