New year and new paint = a new look

The fresh paint job inspired me to spruce things up a little around here.  : )

Living room before:

And after:

We used to have this verse taped to a tiny TV when we were newlyweds. Years ago I decided to make it look a little better ; ) and framed it and it has always hung next to whatever TV we have had.

Because of our 'massive gift' we were kind of at a loss as to where to hang it because there wasn't really any room left. : ) But then we felt the conviction of what it says and hung it smack dab below the TV even though it looks a little odd because it is always a good reminder. Amen!

Kitchen before: (during a December birthday party last year)

And one this year:

And the kitchen after:

Hubby the painter is SOOO glad I am over my 'green  phase'

 Zac gave me this cute glass vase that his girlfriend had filled with candy for him a year ago or so.
I saw some DIY twine ball tutorials on Pinterest and made some since I already had twine. They are apparently big bucks to buy at Pottery Barn.

 Let me say I LOVE TWINE! But there is totally cute twine and there is ugly twine, in my opinion. The cute kind costs an arm and a leg! : ) But since I already had it, I was a happy camper and made these twine balls for $2. (thank you Dollar Store) Yahoo! Then I bought the other decorated balls at Ross. (a bunch of them were $5 and you can't even buy the plain Styrofoam balls for less than that at Michaels)

So there they are:

Pinterest also had a cute idea for what I could do with a bunch of my antique books. I LOVE antique books!!!!

 Tie them together with TWINE! So I did! Have I mentioned I love twine. ; )

Hubby thought one stack of books was cute but he's not so sure about 3.  But I always tend to overdue a good thing! : ) (evidenced by more cute balls on the coffee table)

I would never  have shown my baseboards to the world expect that now they have fresh paint. LOL! And I LOVE fresh paint way more than twine! ; )

I had this vase and found these ....what are these? Cute grassy, swirly, straw things! And they found a home by our front door. They must have some kind of scented oil on them, because they smell great when you walk in the door.
So, this week, we finished painting, I 'put away Christmas,' had fun decorating and I certainly didn't get on this thing nearly enough to balance out all the Christmas/birthday goodies I ate!

Speaking of birthdays! Tomorrow we get to celebrate Zac's! He'll be 20! Whoo-hoo! : ) Love that guy! What a blessing he is to us!

~Becky