Spring Free

Good Friday morning to all. I had to chuckle in the midst of my excitement last night when I read about Lindsay's $5 Challenge (see yesterday's post for more info.), because all day yesterday while taking care of sick people, I kept thinking of ideas to "springify" my house without spending any money. I don't know, something about vomit and narcotics makes me dream of bunnies and Easter eggs.

So...I have been working like a madwoman last night and this morning to bring my ideas to reality. One of these days I'm going to have posts written and scheduled in advance, but for now, I'm still flyin' by the seat of my paintbrush.

On that note, I'll start with the painted stuff. Did you know that spray paint doesn't come off your fingers?

My overall color scheme in my great room is gold with red and black. I wasn't sure how to lighten up this look without there being too much contrast between the usual decor and the new spring stuff. I decided to add some "Heirloom White" (on of my favorite Rustoleum colors) and a little aqua. I have noticed red and aqua together in home decor lately and loved the combo. There is also some aqua in the rug in my family room, and in the scrapbook paper art above my sofa. Look here to see that.

I started with this:

Maybe I should have saved this one for a Trash to Treasure Tuesday post, because it sure is trashy. After a beatdown with Heirloom White spray paint and some stencils, now she looks like this on my mantle.

Just in case you're thinking I must have gone out and bought some aqua paint, I mixed some of the leftover apple green paint from my dining room, and some blue craft paint that I had to get this color. Love it.

My apothecary jars were filled with kosher salt "snow" and wooden snow flakes, now they look like this:

Those are plastic eggs from last year's Easter egg hunt. I spray painted them, then sponged on some of the aqua. A dusting of Expresso Brown spray paint finished them off.

I had this pillow in the closet, and some plain plates that I had bought awhile back on clearance at Meijer. ($2.60 for 4!) I used the same stencil and aqua paint.

I changed a wall in my kitchen from this:

To this:


Just kidding. Those outdated items above now look like this:

Now, I'm out of Heirloom White spray paint. Since this is a zero budget update, I can't go buy more, so my last two ideas are unaltered rearrangements.

Display your food. As more fruits and vegetables come into season, I love to use them in my decor.

These pears are naturally the color of spring, so no spray paint needed! I set the bowl on top of some gardening books on my kitchen table. Maybe they'll inspire some outdoor planning!

Last, but not least, I switched out some wintery decor in my foyer from this (fabulous snowman prints from an Ohio artist):

To this (fabulous still lifes from my uber-talented children):

There you go! Spring updates for your decor that cost absolutely nothing! I'm sure you've got some things stored away that you could update and use to "springify" your house without spending a dime. Now, I've got to figure out how I'm going to spend those 50 dimes for Lindsay's challenge!

Now I've also linked to the fabulous Decorating Spring Fling at The Decorating Voice.org! Click on the button to visit, link up your post and enter to win an I-pod!