This year I got inspired when I received a few gifts. I was given dishes, a place setting for four people, that match my decor in my kitchen. We’ve been going for a sort of Italian/Tuscan Bistro type of a look, at least those colors anyways. We like the rich mustard yellow and the depth of the dark reds and greens often used in Italian decor. I got a few other things that further compliment our style in our home and what’s really great is I was lucky enough to receive a gift card for a substantial amount!

Here’s the inspiration part I promised, lol. I used my gift card to buy paint and paint supplies to paint my kitchen the colors that will complete our look for that room. I’ll post pictures here tomorrow when we’re finished with it all, we started last night after going out to buy the supplies on a spur of the moment type decision. I toyed with buying a new game for my Nintendo DS, or buying clothes from my favorite store, I could always use more to wear to work.

But I finally decided what greater reward and appreciation of the gift than to use it for something that won’t wear out for at least ten years, guaranteed?

It’s something that the whole family can appreciate. That’s what I call a gift! When the room is done I plan to send a thank you card to the person that gave me that card with pictures of what they enabled me to get with their ever so gracious gift.

So here’s what we got at Wal-mart:

One $10.00 kit of painting supplies with:

2 rollers
An extension for the roller wand;
& A pan we can use the rollers in with paint.

2 cans of paint, $12.50 each for Semi-Gloss:
1 in a rich maroon
& 1 in “Golden Sun”.

(We had a drop cloth already from our new home owner’s kit).

We took a painting from the wall our kitchen to compare the swatches of color with and had them color matched.

So far we’re very pleased with the outcome and we only spent around $35. We’re painting part of our dining room and our entire kitchen, our island and a hallway.

That’s a lot of damage. ;D

This just goes to show you can make a big change in your home without spending a small fortune, sure we’ll decorate further, but over time. We got our paintings at a local discount store and, well the rest you’ll see when I post the photos - stay tuned!

All of you have a safe and very enjoyable New Year’s Eve and I hope you don’t have too bad of a hangover to stop by tomorrow to see what I’ve been doing on my New Year’s. :D

Note to my regular readers: You may have noticed a few of changes in the sidebar - all the same stuff is there, I just cleaned it up a little for your uncluttered viewing pleasure.

See you tomorrow - same channel!