Let Your Creative Side Shine!

I have been attempting to find balance in my life. This has been going really well. Over the past few months I have been really trying to be more creative. I love being creative and I have let a lot of fun hobbies go by the wayside because of all of my work, school and volunteer commitments. My hobbies bring my family and I closer together and I have really missed them. When I paint, my daughter is right along with me painting. When I sew, she is right there cutting and handsewing. When I do something with furniture, my husband, father and kid are normally somewhere close by. It's great.

I have been letting the creative juices flow. I have been working on my other blog: http://shallowpockets.wordpress.com/ and I am having a blast.

Check out this week's posts. Today, I posted my table transformation http://shallowpockets.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/table-transformation/

I had this sofa table that didn’t quite go with anything else in my house and then there were the letters that my child scratched into it when she was 4. We tried covering it with table runners and other items, but it was just about to be thrown into storage. I didn’t want to totally get rid of the table. I purchased this from a furniture dealer at a flea market when my husband and I first moved in together (memories) and I absolutely hate wasting good furniture! So a makeover was in order.

My house has more of a french country feel and so I tried painting and distressing it.

I just love how it turned out. I started out only lightly distressing it, but then I just couldn’t seem to stop! Some may think I overdid it, but I love it. It really pulls my great room together now (although the great room still needs a lot of help).

You don’t have to get rid of something because it no longer fits your style. Try freshening it up. You could paint and leave it alone or you could paint it and distress it, stencil it, or apply contact paper to the top. Add fun new knobs and maybe a skirt to an old table. Let your imagination run wild and save that old piece of furniture from the landfill. There are times when no matter what you do the piece just isn’t going to work in your home. Don’t keep it, but don’t toss it. If you live in town, set it out by the curb on a nice day. I guarantee someone will grab it in no time. I have gotten some really cool pieces from curb shopping. If you don’t want to do that, stick it in a yard sale, give it to a friend, put it on Craig’s List or freecycle.org, but don’t throw it out. It will work great for someone else.