Christmas Time

 Christmas Time

Every Christmas for the last four years I have been away for most of the season working. I was out of state or just out in the field. So lovely wife, who is very frugal and very good at it, will take on the task of taking care of all the Christmas shopping. She makes sure my kids have what they need as well as always gets them what they want or something close to it. She also takes care of what I need as well as her own. I never feel its fair what she does for me. I appreciate it though so every year I try to do something for her to show that I care and just so there is something for her on Christmas morning that she was unaware of. I scour the pages of pins on her Pinterest account and I will pay attention through the year and keep notes in my phone or my tablet. She is one of kind so I try to be a one of a kind. So today on this Christmas day I thought I would share a few projects that I came up with over the past few Christmas's.

Our last house didn't have a fireplace. She absolutely loved having a mantle to decorate per season or for holidays. I didn't make anything elaborate I did create a simple and affordable shelf.

It was really simple. I found this clock on Black Friday at my local Hardware store. It is a 30" clock so I tailored the shelf for scale with the clock. The battle with project is that we lived about three hours away from any real good home decor stores. I had to run into Salt Lake one day and I used this time to hit the stores and find the accessories that I felt completed the ensemble as well as fit our taste and the feel of the home at that time.




The So here is what I came up with she of course, loved it but it did get changed and altered as time went by. Sorry about the glare. At the time when I started taking pics of things it was to post on Facebook to show people I didn't really think I would be writing about any of it. 

 So as for this year I have had to work every day of the week except Saturday's so I haven't had time to do anything for her. I also had no Idea what to do for her so until about two days ago I had nothing. I always want what I do to mean something and to show that I appreciate what she does for me.  Luckily I think it came to me. I got online and started checking prices and putting in orders. I had no idea I could get it done so quickly nor as cheap. 

So here is my big empty wall it sits adjacent to the love seat in my family room. I felt that it needed something. I wanted to fill the space with something subtle that didn't take all the attention away from my feature wall but still added its bit so I did.

So here is what she woke up to this morning. I was going to put them in a box and let her open it then I decided that it what be kind of fun to just hang them up where I wanted them. so she could see what I had in mind.  

Here is what is hiding beneath the wrapping paper. I taped off the wall so I can paint it tomorrow a lighter gray so that the contrast of the white pops. It is simple but it fills the space and reminds me of happy my family is. I am painting tomorrow and will try to a photo that looks good once its done. I think it is going to look quite incredible.
This  morning I woke and went to the paint store and had them shake my paint that has been sitting around my house. I painted the wall where the pictures are. Now that I am done I wish I would have gone a few shades darker with the gray. My wife however disagrees.



 It is subtle but the three tone paint really helps the pictures pop. I took some photos of how I get straight paint lines and not having your paint bleed on to the ceiling or trim. I will link it here once I get it uploaded.