Adding a Decorative Touch of Color

In the midst of all my fall nesting, I did manage to create a couple of inexpensive decorative objects to add to my Master Bedroom and my boys' room.

Sometimes these small little touches can make an otherwise ordinary room, a truly fabulous one.  As I've mentioned in prior posts, I've been remodeling my bedroom, and recently started on my boys' bedroom.  For my room, I wanted a pop of the same blue that I had used on my Night Stands, Benjamin Moore's Wedgewood Gray, on my dresser!  I love the versatility of a serving tray. You can find them almost anywhere.  T.J. Maxx always seems to have some really adorable ones.  However, because I wanted a certain color, I knew I would need to paint the tray.  Well, I happened to stumble across some unfinished, pine trays at A.C. Moore, during one of my last visits.  There were various sizes, and styles.  They even offered a tray with folding legs!  The price for the tray.....$5.99, and with my trusty 40% off coupon, I snagged it for just over $3.00.  It's nothing too fancy, but exactly what I was looking for.

It actually was sanded fairly well, so I just took some fine sandpaper and sanded any areas that might have felt rough to the touch.  Since the tray had never been stained or painted, I didn't feel the need to use primer.  I simply took out the left over Benjamin Moore paint I had from my night stand project and began painting.  I used a small angled brush to paint all the corners, and sides, and any other small areas that a roller would not fit.  Then I used a small foam roller to apply the paint to all the other flat surfaces.  I applied two coats for good coverage, lightly sanding between coats.  Here's the finished, painted tray

And here it is on my double dresser in my bedroom.

I haven't quite decided what I should put in the tray.  But I just love that little pop of color that is carried throughout my entire bedroom.

But, I didn't stop there...oh no, I mentioned that I added some accents to my boy's bedroom.  Well, when I was cleaning and reorganizing my hope chest, I found several old picture frames.  I found two identical wooden frames, that were sized for 5x7 photos.  Well, no more than a month ago, we had my cousin, who is a very talented photographer, take our family portraits.  I love to use photos as art, and when decorating.  So, I purchased a 5x7 print of each one of my boys, individually, painted these two wooden frames and placed them in their bedroom.

Here's what the frames looked like before I transformed them

 They were actually olive green in color.  Well, my sons' room contains a lot of Navy Blue, so I thought I would paint them navy.  For this small project, I knew I didn't want to spend for a quart of navy blue paint, so I took one of my son's shirts (which was the exact navy blue I wanted) to Lowes.  They scanned the shirt and color matched the paint to the shirt.  I actually purchased a sample size of Valspar paint for $4.  This is an excellent alternative, if you only need a small amount of paint.  It was more than enough paint for these two frames.  I simply sanded the frames down to take off the polyurethane, and then began painting.  Again, I used a small angled brush to get the paint in all the nooks and crannies, and then went over everything with a small foam roller.

I applied 2-3 coats of paint per frame.  Again, I opted not to prime them first, as I was going much darker with the paint color than what was already on there.  I'm pretty happy with how they came out and they add, again just a nice pop of color and a really nice decorative touch to their bedroom!

Really quick and easy to do.  And, it only cost me $4, plus the cost of the prints!