Wooden Crate Update

As I wrap up this home DIY project experiment on the blog, I'm happy to say it's had a surprising impact on our home.  We've ended up changing a lot of things in the process, and I am excited with the design transition we're making as we really sink into our home in a new way.  We're here all the time these days with a toddler who goes to bed at 8:00, so I think it's really important to be excited about the space in which we spend our time.  Who knew blog posting was the fire my little {er...} tush needed to get the ball rolling?

My last project will focus on an area that guests see as soon as they walk in our front door.  It's a small bar, and we've had a myriad of things on the bar during our tenure in our home.  It's a very functional piece in our house, as we use it as a buffet when we have people over for dinner, or a bar when we're having a more casual party.  We love celebrating in our house, so we try to entertain {dinners, hang outs, holidays, whatever} at least a couple times a month.  So I knew that whatever I did for this space was going to get moved a lot.  

This week, I started with pretty blank slate.  I had thrown some pumpkins on their after a dinner party on Sunday night, just so we'd have something.  But they didn't do much for me.  After perusing Pinterest, Google, etc., I opted for a simple basket that I can update with the seasons.  I saw a super cute one at Fred Meyer a couple weeks ago, so the little one and I headed out this morning to see if they still had it.  They did!  But it was too expensive for the $15 budget.  So I found it's little brother, which at 25% off came in at just the right price, and started planning.  Originally I planned on painting "fall" on it, but I opted to paint the word "fresh" on the basket to get more use out of it.

Here's the project step by step:

step 1: I chose a font I liked and printed out the word "fresh" in the size I wanted.

step 2: Scribbled with pencil on the back of the page for tracing.

step 3: Determined the spacing on the basket.

step 4:  No picture - oops!  Traced the word onto the front of the basket.

step 5: Painted inside the lines I had just traced.

Voila!  Here's the finished product.  It looks fresh, am I right? 

Here it is, with some yummy apples and fresh flowers from my garden.

The breakdown:

Basket: $12.74 at Fred Meyer

Paint: already had, no new cost

Flowers: from my yard, no new cost

Apples: from our fridge, no new cost

Total cost: $12.74 and 15 minutes.

Did you enjoy the 15 Minutes, Under $15 weekly challenge?  Did a project end up on your to-do list?  Let me know what you'd love to see on the blog in the coming weeks.  I love to hear from you!