Kids have a way of springing things on you – it just comes with motherhood territory.  Friday, my daughter announced to me that she was expected at the social event of the season.  Okay, it was just another invitation to yet another kid’s birthday party, but it happened to be taking place that very afternoon.  Need gift, need it wrapped, pronto !

In the past, whenever these kinds of social events had arisen, I always found myself scrambling for wrapping paper and ribbon.  It drove me crazy.  I had no place to store wrap in my office and I didn’t want to store it under the bed.  Then I thought, hey, I’ll use the space behind my laundry room door.  Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.  Genius, I tell ya.

I searched around online for a quality organizer, and even considered buying one like this, but most of the consumer reviews said it was junk.  Then I had a light bulb moment.  Light bulb said, “Gurl, what the heck are you thinkin’ ?  Git yer beehind on down to Lowe’s and build yerself yer own, dagnabbit !”  So I did, lickety split.

This project took about two hours total from start to finish over the course of two days, but now I have this great little wrapping paper organizer and I’ve maximized storage in a place I wasn’t using before- behind the laundry room door !   Yeee haw !

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I started working on this idea a few weeks ago, and finally got around to finishing up this little experiment of mine just the other day.  I wanted to create some original candles with plain glass containers and soy wax for the holidays and to give as gifts. 

Here is the first of the four candles I created.  This version has a cranberry tinted soy wax inside a plain glass oval container – it is painted and embellished with a glittery seasonal message. 

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I heart strippers. 

No not those kind.  I knew your mind would go there. 

No, I like the kind of strippers that take layers of paint off an old piece of furniture.

Last week, I was working on a dresser and nightstand combo for my brother’s bachelor pad.  I found this set at the local thrift for $25 dollars for the pair.  They’re solid wood !  However, the chipped pistachio green paint job was not the shade we were going for. 

So with the help of a chemical stripper, I took them from this:

To this:

I picked these pieces because of their modern streamlined design and the pewter hardware.  Also because they were inexpensive and the perfect size for his small bedroom space.  He rents in San Francisco where large bedrooms are very rare.  I thought it a good idea to strip the paint off of the pieces to get right to the wood so we could start over with primer and paint.  A chemical stripper was the fastest answer. 

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Lately, I’ve been inspired by several bloggers to embellish some glass objects with frosting.  What finally motivated me were these etched glass wine bottles I swooned over at my favorite shop in St. Helena called ‘Vintage Home’.

Not only did I want to enhance some decor, I also had a practical purpose.  I needed to transform my glass bath cabinet doors from a clear to opaque surface.  So last week I grabbed some of Rustoleum’s ‘Frosted Glass’ spray paint to conduct some experiments.  In the end, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted with the results. 

I must say that this post was almost titled, “Somebody Stop Me”.  When I’m armed with a product that makes me giddy, I need someone to hold my arms tightly against my body, look deep into my eyes, and say to me:   “PUT DOWN THE CAN.  STEP AWAY FROM THE FROSTED GLASS SPRAY PAINT.”   I didn’t stop using the stuff until the can was empty.  And all of the other glass in my home is now breathing a sigh of relief. 

Here are the five glass objects I enhanced with (yet another) can of spray paint. 

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