Odds and Bookends ~ Hello Boudreau!

Meet: Kelly from 

Kelly has a sweet blog full of a wide variety of interests. I love her mantra:  “Life is not about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.”  Love that. A great reminder for 2012 – create your best life. Today, Kelly is sharing a fun and inexpensive DIY project:

images via Elle Decor

1.Amethyst Bookends 2.Shell Bookends 3.Steer Horn Bookends 4. Agate Bookends

I especially love animal figurine bookends so I decided to make my own. Guess how much my bookends cost me! 4 bucks. I got my cute little elephants for $1 each…don’t you love them?

All I had to do was spray paint them with gold spray paint and I started to get the look I was going for. [which would be the “i’m really heavy, not hollow,” look]

After I painted them I’m in the process of glueing together two pieces of wood for the “L” shaped ends. Then I’m glueing the elephants on so they look like they are pushing and holding up the books with their tusks.

For all you know they could be 10 pounds each of solid brass! I think they are going to turn out pretty coolonce my elephants are on the wood “L”and get up a little higher. I’m really happy with the outcome!What do you think? What animal would you make your bookends? Target had a whole bin of different plastic animals to choose from!

CREATIVE and so cute!  What a great idea…perfect easy project to get you DIY’ing in 2012!  I know I’ll be keeping my eyes open for something fun to DIY my own bookends. See more from Kelly at

 

Ps. Kristin is featuring my script drop cloth curtains today in her Tuesday’s Treasures party!  Woo hoo!

 and a very special “Thank You” to Gwen from The Bold Abode who presented me with not just one amazing gift, but 3! Three super cute favicons for my new DIY Show Off site! See it up there in on the web tab? Adorable! On a day when my dad would have been 70 and I was missing him, Gwen gave me a big virtual hug and a smile and if you’re looking for some inspiration and encouragement, you need to stop by and visit her. I promise, she’ll make you laugh.

Hallway Library

I love this little library that Amy from A Little Busy shared in the project parade.  Amy and Brian took an overlooked wasted space and created a little library.  Shelves in a hallway corner – genius!  

Hallway before:

They took off the chair rail and baseboards…

They used beadboard paneling for the back of the bookcases…

Brian built the frame work (not even a mild injury stopped him from getting back to work).

I love this part!    Amy says, “After the base went in and before he nailed it down we put in a letter to future homeowners and a copy of that days newspaper.” 

Shelves up and ready to be caulked, primed and painted.

Amy lined shelves with this pretty contact paper…

All done – a little library to organize her homeschooling books.

GREAT job, Amy & Brian! I love that it looks original to your home, built-in like it was always there.  What a clever use of unused space!  Thank you for sharing your creativity!

Want to see the cutest laundry room/mudroom makeover, a pretty kitchen, other DIY projects and adorable family stories?  Pop over to A Little Busy!