Maybe Matilda: Letter in a Frame Door Decor, or, Why I Should Stop Being Dumb and Start Decorating

Friday, July 22, 2011

Letter in a Frame Door Decor, or, Why I Should Stop Being Dumb and Start Decorating

I've been awfully busy lately trying to make our new little apartment feel like home. My husband and I have rented since we've been married, and this whole time, I've been saving all my decorating ideas for when we buy a house. How dumb is that? 

I just recently had the revelation (thanks to Jaime of Crafty, Scrappy, Happy, who does the most amazing job transforming rentals to reflect her style) that not being able to paint walls does not equal not being able to decorate. Makes sense, right? But for some reason I've spent the last 4 years living in what are very obviously student apartments. How about I start living in an apartment that I wouldn't be embarrassed to invite people into? One that actually reflects my personality and style?

So, for my first effort to make this apartment a little less we're-renting-this-dump-so-we-don't-really-care-what-it-looks-like and a little more welcome-to-our-home, the front door seemed like an appropriate place to begin:
 (By the way, nice work guessing what this was from the extreme close-up photo in this post! The winner is definitely Kim who predicted "book letter picture frame wreath"--holy specific guess, Batman! Right on the money!)

Do you ever have one of those projects that ends up coming out 100% absolutely completely in-every-possible-aspect different from how you imagined it? That's this one for me. First I was just going to make a berry wreath, until I remembered that my one attempt at making a wreath in the past led to merciless mocking from my husband (much deserved mocking . . . it was rather stupid-looking) and an inglorious demise in the dumpster. Then I thought I'd make a moss-covered letter B (our last name is Brown; so exciting, right?) until I found the moss at Joann's . . . dude, did you know it's like $7 for a package of moss? Moss! The stuff grows for free on rocks! 
Then I remembered a frame I'd bought at the thrift store ages ago (and to think Jeff tried to talk me into tossing it when we moved . . . for shame!), and painted it red. Then the wooden letters were on sale for $2-3 apiece at Joann, and I tore some pages out of a book I'll (hopefully) never get around to reading, and slapped on a little bunch of rolled flowers that my mom, sister and I made but never used for anything, and voila. Door decor complete. Total project cost . . . maybe $5? $6? Not bad, especially considering I couldn't have even bought a stupid package of stupid moss for that amount.

My sister and I enjoyed a moment of dorky excitement when we noticed that the very first piece of the very first page we tore from the book and mod podged to the letter just happened to say "the letter B" . . . surely the gods were smiling upon this project.
So there you have it--my first project in our new place, hopefully a good start to making this little place feel like home rather than just the apartment.

 And there's the door in all its alphabetical glory for you. And I'll leave it up to you to decide if our door has a bit of a fun house mirror effect, or I truly have one elephant leg.

24 comments :

  1. lol @ Elephant leg! It turned out so cute - I like it better than moss!

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  2. I love this project!

    Yay for decorating :)

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  3. I love this! I've always been a bit of a nester, no matter where I am living. I think it is important to be comfortable wherever you are living! Good for you! :)

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  4. Yaaayyy I am so so so excited that you are going to embrace decorating your "just for now" rental space! And I have to say I am more than a little excited that I played a part in your inspiration! Just think of apartment decorating as a trial and error way to learn what to do and not to do in your "real" place! I LOVE how your project turned out! Totally something I would do---you know how much I love book pages! Super super cute!

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  5. Oh i love it!! What a cute idea! Maybe if I make one I'll snag pages from my Granny's Harlequin Romance Novels...wouldn't that make for an interesting "greeting" for my guests?! ;0)

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  6. Super cute! I think it has a lot of personality (like you). FYI--sometimes you can find moss at Dollar Tree for $1. Not sure how many $1 packages you would have needed to cover your B, though...

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  7. great idea! I also rent a student house and sometimes I need to make it feel like "home", but it's quite difficult when you rent a space and you can't do much. but this seems like a great idea to start, hope to see more related posts :D

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  8. Here a page from the Dollar Tree website so you can see what they have:

    http://www.dollartree.com/floral-decor/floral-arranging/202c204c204/index.cat?index=40

    The prices listed here are the bulk prices, but you can buy individual items (each $1) in the store.

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  9. haha. I've been saving most of my ideas for when I own a house too! Everywhere we live is always so undecorated, it bugs me so much. I've been adding things slowly in this place we've been at for a year, I'm trying to decorate.

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  10. forgot in my comment that I really like your framed B! it looks really great!

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  11. Oh I love this! I would never have thought to frame it like you did, very cute.

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  12. I love that I always end up laughing out loud when I read your posts. Thanks for the elephant leg comment. And I love the frame--so cute!

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  13. So cute Rachel! We are renting temporarily too and I have also justified NOT decorating but you have inspired me, m'dear! Love the frame- way cute :)

    Happy weekend!
    :)Kristi @ Lolly Jane

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  14. My now-husband always had the same philosophy as you when it came to decorating rental spaces, and it drove me crazy to visit him in his barren apartments, since I'm the kind of person who goes all out hanging pictures and everything, even if I'm only going to be in a place for a couple of months. Even with ugly "builder's white" walls, you still deserve to live in a place that feels like home!

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  15. I love the B and I totally get this! My husband and I have rented for 12 years! Ugh! And I have lots of ideas saved up too but I think it's important to make even your "temporary home" homey. Thanks for this post! :)

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  16. Love it!! Check out Dollar Tree if it is near you. Moss is affordable, CHEAP!! Visiting from Flamingo Toes party!!

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  17. I really love the way this came out! It was absolutely meant to "B"!!! (So sorry... ;D)

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  18. I just {LOVE} this project!! Thanks so much for such beautiful inspiration C=

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  19. That happens to me all the time - my vision goes out the door based on supplies I have or can find. I'd say this is a happy improv though - I love the look of open frames as wreaths!! And it must have been destiny - how funny about the book page!!

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  20. I love this!!! It's so beautiful, and creative! Good job!!!

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  21. Oh, and I'm glad the butt crack thing made you laugh! :0)

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  22. Very cute! We are moving this week, and I am eager to really decorate the new place to our own tastes -- even though we are still renting, this is our first time living without roommates!

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  23. i've been searching for something to make for our front door... this just might be it!!! thank you for the inspiration!

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  24. I just adore this! In fact, I pinned it. And I just picked up my very own $2.99 B at JoAnn's ...

    ... next stop, Salvation Army for a frame ...

    :)

    Linda

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