Moving from "As Is" to "Just Right" in Your Home



As Is Vintage Eye Glasses - Etsy


I'm calling you out (and I'm calling myself out too)! Yes, you! You are living with your house "as is" and it's about time that you move on. When you go to a second hand store, you expect to find items labeled "as is." If you buy it, you plan to fix it or better it from that condition. No one would buy a product in "as is" condition and leave it that way. But we do it with our homes! We leave our home in the "as is" condition. Enough is enough!

From Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/micslovespink07



From "As Is" to "Just Right"

One way to move on from having a home in the "as is" condition is by recognizing the areas of the house that are commonly ignored. Just because it's always been that way, doesn't mean that it is just right! For some, the area ignored is the garage, an extra bedroom, or a corner. Maybe all that is left alone is a pile sitting by the bed or a basket of clothes to be mended. No matter what area is left untouched in your house, it is time to pull back the curtains (or pull up the blinds, whichever the case) and get busy in your ignored area.


Moving from Room to Room

Each room has areas that are in "as is" condition. Maybe your pantry is an area that gets messy repeatedly and never gets straightened, or perhaps your laundry room has piles of lost socks sitting on the dryer. Why not upgrade your "as is" areas into being "just right" areas? Make a plan and make your life a little easier and a little more livable!


Just Right Doesn't Stay Just Right

Perhaps you have a room that was "just right" only that was four years ago! "Just right" can digress into "now wrong." You have new needs, new likes, and just as your life progresses so should your home! Keep your home moving forward and update those rooms that were perfect at one time, but need a change in order to keep up with where your life is at now.

In Our Home Sign

Maintaining It "Just Right"

Whenever you have a life change, your home may need a change as well. In order to maintain your home as a perfect dwelling, you have to recognize new needs that you have. Obviously, if you have a new child in your home, you have plenty of decor needs that will have to be thought through in order to make your home "just right." However, even a new job or a new hobby can bring about the need to update your home decor. You may need new storage for your new job in order to keep yourself organized. Or maybe your new hobby would be more relaxing if you repurposed a corner of your living room into a hobby corner. Think and rethink in order to maintain your home as it should be every day of the year!

Though we shouldn't settle for "as in" in our homes, remember the words of this plaque.  The home can look great, but what's more important is how you relate to others in your home! ;-)


From Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pattisprimitives

Repurposing with Blackboard Paint

Repurposing with Blackboard Paint

I love repurposing.  When I see a picture of an object that has been recreated with a new purpose, I get a warm feeling inside.  If I love a home decor item, I hate to part with it.  Repurposing makes it possible to hold on without being a packrat!
Today, I'm blogging about repurposing with Blackboard Paint.  Whether you use traditional black or get all fancy with the colored paint, you can repurpose like nobody's business by simply painting an item with the blackboard paint.  Why have a frame, when you can have a blackboard frame?  Why have a jar, when you can have a blackboard jar?  Not only am I inspired, I am simply rivited by the accessibility of the chalkboard paint!  What do you repurpose with chalkboard paint?

Chalkboard Cabinet Door

chalkboard cabinet door

Whether you utilize a cabinet door from Home Depot or paint the door in your kitchen, using a cabinet door as a blackboard is a great way to repurpose and multipurpose.  In the kitchen, a cabinet door painted with blackboard paint can serve as a menu list, a reminder board, or even a grocery list!
Etsy Shop: http://www.ShabbyChalks.etsy.com (closed)

Chalkboard Dresser

chalkboard furniture



While you may be tempted to throw out your dresser when it is helplessly dinged and suffering from damaged corner, why toss when you can sand it and repaint?  Sand the edges and soften the dings, then paint your dresser with blackboard paint!  Check out how awesome this dresser looks with blackboard paint.  Not only can you play tick-tac-toe, but you can pattern the drawers and leave yourself reminders.  Label drawers on a shared dresser "his" and "hers" or in a shared child's room mark their names on their drawers.  The possibilities are endless!

Etsy Shop: http://www.furnitologist.etsy.com

chalkboard repurposed board book

I'm not sure about you, but my son has so many board books that I have them coming out of my ears.  Looking for a way to move on from the toddler years?  Repaint and repurpose them with blackboard paint!  Check out this blogger's Chalkboard Board Book Tutorial.  She gives excellent advise on completing your blackboard painting project.
Blog: http://whipup.net/2011/09/10/guest-blogger-series-creative-chalkboards/ (post gone, but still a great idea!)

chalkboard wall

Why stop with furniture, books, and decor?  If you want to make a statement that changes with a stroke of a piece of chalk, then paint an entire wall with chalkboard paint.  Check out this bathroom wall that was painted with chalkboard paint.  Elegant and entirely flexible!  Suppose you tire of polka dots, no problem!  Paint stripes on Friday!  Christmas time?  Draw holly or snowflakes.  Your blackboard wall of destiny is in your own hands!

Blog: http://www.mytrendytykes.com/2011/06/get-creative-with-chalkboard-paint.html (This blog also is gone.  Still a GREAT picture and idea!)

Start Your Project Blackboard Painting Supplies

Buy it here --> Blackboard Paint

Chalk and Eraser

Item to Repurpose

 Supplies Needed to Make your Own Chalkboard Paint

2 Tbsp Non-Sanded Tile Grout

                         1 C. Flat Latex Paint

Amazon Affiliate

I am an Amazon Affiliate, so if you choose to purchase any of the products advertised on my blog from Amazon, I will make a little pocket change.  Thank you for supporting my blog!

Repurposed Home Decor

Examples of Repurposed Home Decor from Etsy

We all have them.  Home decor items that no longer serve their purpose, think Ariel with a drinking glass.  The desk that was supposed to help the family pay the bills that instead is a host to papers of all sorts in assorted stacks and piles.  The wreath that looked wonderful for a few months and then lost a few shades to the sun.  The question isn't whether we have them, but what to do with all these items that take up space and no longer serve their original purpose.

Repurposing means taking an item and redefining what it is used for either by using it in a different manner or giving it an overhaul.  This either takes loads of creativity or a nudge in the right direction.  These days repurposed items are hot commodities.  Why have the same old objects when you can have new products created with the old ones?!  Let your mind expand and your imagination run wild while we look through some creatively repurposed items found on Etsy.


repurposed spigot towel rack

Here before you is a work of art, a towel rack composed of spigots.  Since I personally cannot resist placing my towels on dresser knobs, what could possibly be better than instead placing my towel on a wonderful spigot?

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElijahsAttic



map wreath

You see an old atlas where another might see a stash of charm.  Why throw away what you can use?  This wreath was made with old maps, and you can do the same with an old atlas or even a book that has outlived its usefulness.  Rather than seeing these things as one more item taking up room, consider repurposing them as craft materials!

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Houseof3

repurposed spice rack vanity organizer

If you upgrade your spice rack, don't get rid of the old one.  You can use it in your bedroom or bathroom!  Repurpose your spice rack as a vanity organizer.  Hang earrings on the front for easy access and place nail polish, perfume bottles, and make up in the spice holder.  Excellent way to store your beauty items and an excellent reuse of old home decor!

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/packratdiva

suitcase nightstand

When is a suitcase no longer a suitcase?  When it's a table!  This vintage suitcase has been repurposed as a nightstand.  Not only can you dream of traveling beside such a classy piece of furniture, but you can also pack your bags . . . or your nightstand with plenty of books.  Storage and style!

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MrsRekamepip

Repurposed Home Decor = endless options

The options are endless for repurposing home decor.  An old coffee table can be painted to serve as a children's train table.  An old vanity can be sawed in half to create to seperate bedside tables.  Now, before you get ready to throw an household item away ask yourself if you can reinvent the item through repurposing!