Sunday, April 3, 2016

Staircase Facelift using a Target Dollar Spot find and Ikea Frames

Do you have a large landing in your staircase like I do?  Are you unhappy with the wasted space?  If so, I might be able to help.  Since we've moved into our home, we've had all sorts of things hanging up in that awkward location but not one of them looked quite right...
until now.
 I have always been inspired by this project from my beloved (but now on permanent hiatus-sniff! sniff!) blog, Young House Love.  If you want to be inspired and have a good laugh, I strongly suggest you read their design blog from the beginning.  John and Sherry have a way of making you feel like you are their BFF.  Unfortunately, I just couldn't find the time or had the energy to collect as many different frames as they did. Enter everyone's standby for home decor-IKEA.
We bought 9 Virserum frames for $12.99 each and by the time they (painstakingly) made it on the wall in a perfect formation, I realized that I hadn't actually figured out what should go inside.  So I found a few odds and ends around the house that reminded me of my boys (class pictures, artwork) and put them in.  The problem was, it looked so "messy."  What would PLAN B be?  
I had no idea until April 1st.  And that's NO joke, lol.
 Shortly before 2016, I found this gorgeous calendar at Target's Dollar Spot.  I should have bought 20 of them instead of 1.  I knew it would have an important spot on my wall in my home office but as I ripped off the month of March today, I realized how perfect these pages would look framed on the wall in my staircase.  Suddenly, I had a design vision and I already owned everything I needed.  How often does that happen?
 Now I know what you are thinking, "Doesn't she know it's April already"? and yes, trust me I do.  It just so happens that there are NINE months left in the year and I have exactly nine frames to fill. #nailedit
 Now I get to look forward to the rest of 2016 multiple times a day.  And the gold shimmer seems to be glittering a little extra brightly around my #39forever birthday on the 15th.
A word of advice for all of your high traffic hanging spaces in your home-buy sticky tack!  The name  might be different, but the results will be the same.  My version is actually blue like the brand I used to buy in France. You should be able to find it at any home renovation place or most major supermarkets in the office supplies aisle.  It's about $5 and works great to keep things fixed on the wall.  I love to use it to hold paint chip samples in place and in my classroom too.  

Happy decorating!