An "Art" Project and New Front Porch Lights!

While we're waiting to finish painting the outside of our home, which we HOPE to finish by this week-end......... It makes me kind of "nutty" to be still when there's so much to do, so I try to get as much done as I can. Right now, the outdoor painting is at a stand still, for me, because I've done all that I can (safely) do alone. I don't like to climb on the 20 ft. ladder when hubby is at work and it's just me and the children here, alone. Now, i HAVE been, but I've also had some close calls, so I've decided to wait. But NOT.

A couple of weeks ago, I received my new Country Living magazine!!!! I was flipping through (until I have time to really go through it!) and saw this piece of art from Pottery Barn. Now it said that it was $400. No! It must be a typo.....but, then again, this is Pottery Barn....let me check this out......Nope, no mistake. It is, indeed, $400. Well, $399.oo for 50" square. Here it is. Now even if that were anywhere in the universe near my budget, as much as I like it, I just couldn't.....

So I decided to try to "knock it off." Now, the original artwork is wood pieces, but hubby's a little busy with work and all and I've got these 2 blank walls (on either side of the fireplace) staring at me (actually, I have more than that, but these were really bugging me!!!) So I waited 'til Hobby Lobby put their canvases on sale and went by and picked up 2 of them. These are 2' x 3' and I think that we paid around $15 for the pair.

So I got out my crooked yardstick, a ruler, a couple of pencils, pink eraser.......
and measured and drew the lines.............. this seemed to take a million hours!
Now it was time for the brushes, paint, (yay, more painting!!!) paint tray, and masking tape. I chose dark colors to match the colors that will be in our home.... I think....
Well, this is it - one of them, anyway. The other is almost identical -- I like symmetry to the point of boredom, at times. I hope that you're not too disappointed. Sorry that the picture didn't turn out; I just could not get a good picture... I'm not really happy with them, but I can't put my finger on it. They're flat, for one thing. They need something, but I'm not sure what??? Texture? Antique-ing? If y'all have suggestions, PLEASE share 'cause I'm really at a loss. I haven't been able to think, clearly, about it or even decorate properly (hence the mess in the picture, below). Heeeeeeelllllllllppppppppppp.....????
Okay...........now for something good -- I think?!? These were our old porch lights -- rusted and broken. See that one over to the left, it stayed upside-down all the time! Isn't that funny?
Hubby trashed them...... we've been donating the light fixtures we've re-placed but not these.

Broken or not, I could see someone shabby-ing these up with some white paint or painting them a bright turquoise or..... y'all are just so creative!
These are the new ones! Home Depot only had 1 of the original ones that we had chosen for the porch, so we went to Lowe's and had to start over, again, with the choosing! Lowe's had more, anyway. Funnily enough, these even cost less! Yay!!!!

We really like them, though. The five of us chose, together! We feel like it "goes" with the look we're after. But the front door does NOT -- so we're off to pick up our front door, today. Yep, hubby won and we ordered a front door from Home Depot. It came in, the other day and this is hub's first day off, in a while, and we're goin' to town!!!! We have to pick up more supplies and run to the big grocery store.

Y'all, thanks for stopping by to visit! In my next post, I may have something shockingly, funny to tell you........we'll have to see if I can get my nerve up, today, to go through with it.....

Many Blessings, Julie