The Prettiest Inbox You Ever Did See

Remember when I assured you I was still working on projects, I just hadn't finished any?

Well get ready to see some fun reveals, people!

I've got plenty of projects to work on - the hubs has issued an ultimatum on my growing stash of projects in the basement (EEK!) - and I have lots of time on my hands now that my half-marathon is over.

Let the creativity resume!

I found this piece years ago at Ross.

Loved the price ($5 maybe?).

Loved the distressed sage green.

Loved the flowers.

Loved that it could hold some cute decorative plates in my kitchen.

(please excuse my icky kitchen cabinets)

Except this piece never actually held plates, plural.

This little stinker has the funniest spaced shelves and no matter how hard I tried, its shape was never conducive to any plates I liked well enough to display.

See the square plate on there right now?

That plate has a twin to go on the top shelf, except that it won't fit on the top shelf because the bottom plate sticks up too far.

Oh the dilemmas in my life, right?

 So there the lonely shelf and plate hung.

Totally drab.

Mostly useless -

except for every so often when the hubs would use it as a mail catcher.
(as seen above)

Drive me crazy will ya?

Bills sitting out for the world to see?

Okay, so I don't have quite that many visitors in my kitchen, but still...

I don't like having my financial business just lying around the house.

And then it hit me.

**LIGHTBULB ABOVE MY HEAD**

Re-purpose, baby!

This piece obviously wasn't cutting it as a plate display so I needed to think outside the box.

First, I gave it a little makeover with some Krylon silver spray paint.

Then I cut two small strips of wood an inch shorter than the width of the shelves.

After sanding each strip I marked and drilled two small holes into each one.

Each strip of wood received a light coat of Sherwin Williams Creamy followed by a little distressing.

I stenciled the word "IN" on one and "OUT" on the other.

Lastly, I cut four pieces of thin wire and hung the "IN" and "OUT" on the shelves, like so:

I love it!

For $5 (wire and wood) I turned this piece into something we actually use.

It now hangs in our command center.

TA-DAAA!

Finally completing this area was such a relief.

You saw the desk makeover back in July.

Now we have a place to work on the computer, jot down our grocery list and miscellaneous notes (dry erase board tutorial to come), keep tabs on our to-do's with the Honey Do Board, and organize our incoming and outgoing mail -

all in one spot!

You know how much my OCD self loves this kind of organization.

You're getting two before and afters today.

{BEFORE}

Plate display

{AFTER}

Turned mail organizer

{BEFORE}

Laundry/hallway

{AFTER}

Turned command center

Next up?

A Halloween costume.

I am a DIYer mommy after all.


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