Okio B Designs

I stepped outside of my comfort zone by choosing some new paint colors for our living room and dining room. For the dining room, I chose a sea foam green/blue. The hubby painted it over the weekend.

This is a before and after photo. The yellow was the original color (to the left). We painted both rooms with the yellow and it was/is starting to grate on my nerves.

I like this much, much better!

And another view of the old with the new. The living room is getting a soft gray. Both colors are from Benjamin Moore but I can't recall the names. One is Opaline, I believe. Saw them together in an issue of HGTV magazine and they worked very nicely together.

Hoping my hubby gets to the living room this weekend!

Jeanine

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Remember that birdcage that got a bit icky after being left out all winter? Well, I was able to get in some painting yesterday and here it is now:

It took quite a few coats of paint to cover up the rust, but now it looks fresh and clean again.

The bottom was a bit crusty - even after re-painting it - so I covered that up with some faux moss. The stack of books are vintage bibles I picked up over the years at various garage sales.

The little bird on top is from the Dollar Store. I wish they still sold them because they are adorable!

It's perched right now in the tea room until I find a more permanent home for it.

Jeanine

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Wishing all of my bloggy friends a very happy Easter!

Jeanine

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I've been hoarding glass jars like a squirrel hoards nuts. I had a teeny bit of free time this week to start embellishing some of them.

I started by adding distressed French book paper to each jar. Then I added different rub-on transfer images to the paper.

For this one - which is my favorite! - I also added a strip of burlap and some white twine.

The finishing touch was this lock & safety pin.

I simply wrapped twine around the top of this one. It's all it needed.

I wanted to keep this one feminine and dainty to go with the dress form image, so I added a little bow and some tea-stained seam binding.

Each one is filled with faux moss and some of my French script candles. Simple touches to add about the house.

Jeanine

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We spent much of our weekend, cleaning the yard and taking the boys into Manhattan, so I didn't have time to devote to any projects. And the boys are off from school this week, so I'm sure I'll have even less time for crafting but here are a few things I worked on, picked up and have plans for.

I picked up this pretty spring wreath at a garage sale literally a stone's throw from our house. They had some great vintage seltzer bottles I would have loved to grab but for $28 and $30, I had to pass them up. This wreath was just $2 so I, of course, grabbed it!

This is actually the second time I've made over these candle holders - also a garage sale find (from last year). First I used chalk paint on them and they just sat and sat in our garage. I dusted them off this past week and decided to re-paint them black. I love the design and details, but not sure where to hang them in the house. They might end up in my Etsy shop.

And this is one of my projects for the week. Yet another garage sale find that took a serious beating over the winter. I forgot to take it in and well, you can see what the elements did to it. So it needs a fresh coat of paint and some spring touches.

And for some exciting news: my sister Kathy from Creative Home Expressions has a new weekly blog series called "the Artist Behind the Etsy" and guess who is her first guest?! That's right: me! You can check it out here.

Jeanine

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I picked up a vintage metal bulb planter at a local garage sale last summer. I wanted to give it a quick makeover and a new purpose: a photo holder.

I didn't think to take a before picture - boo! This is a side view so you can see that it is indeed a bulb planter.

I started by giving it a few coats of white spray paint. Once the paint was dry, I used my hot glue gun to add some grungy clips to each side of the tool.