$100 Room Challenge | Foyer Reveal

Y'all - I am so embarrassed by how behind I am on getting this room finished and blogged. Especially when it is so tiny. But the painting of the bench & shelf - it has taken me a lot longer than expected. Phew. So let's get down to business shall we? I will first show ya all that I was doing leading up to this reveal with all the pieces!

First things first - the darn bench. This darn bench. I have no other words to say to this darn thing other than - DARN YOU DAMN BENCH. Ah, I feel better now. Can someone tell me why I ever thought giving markers to guests to write a well wish on a perfectly fine bench would ever be a good idea? Why Brittany WHY?! So here is the dilemma - last week you seen that I stained the bench in hopes that it would cover the marker a ton. [CLICK HERE]. It actually wasn't so bad. I thought hey, that should paint over well. wrong. So, so wrong. I threw one coat of paint on and the next morning, sure you could still see the marker. But I expected that it would need two, maybe three coats. Little did I know. SIX. SIX. SIX!!!!! Six coats of paint later and I swear the marker shows through even more with every coat! At this point, I was ready to burn the bench.

Now let me just throw this little side note in - I was using an interior wall paint. (I know, I know. This is part of the problem.) However, y'all I'm participating in a contentment challenge and I have such a slew of paint and I'll be damned if my husband is right and I can't commit to no spending for three months. (Unless I am committed to something already, for example, the $100 Room Challenge.) Sometimes it can be a real challenge being so stubborn. :)

So I had to come up with an alternative option. I love ticking stripe anything & I don't have any in my home. So my next grand idea was to cover as much of the permanent marker with spray paint and just give up on the words not showing through.

So I eyeballed my paint stripe lines and took a can of spray paint I had left over from our dresser makeover in our upstairs guest bedroom and went to town. I did end up having to throw another layer of white paint on the sides where I didn't cover because I can never make things easy for myself. :)

I pulled the tape off and there was a little bleeding here and there but I wasn't so concerned since I was going for the distressed look anyway. (My hubby would probably say I like this look because when I mess up a project - I was just giving it some charm and character. LOL.)

While all this was drying, I was on my 3rd coat of paint with my shelf. It was looking pretty dandy & distressed as well. ;) Charming, of course.

And while that was drying - I started to shop my basement and guest bedroom closet. I had a lot of good stuff waiting for a place to call home. And of course in the midst of looking for things to display - I started to clean out the junk and then got caught up looking at old pictures and old craft supplies...phew. This is why I shouldn't clean. :)

So this brought me to my last project for the room. The lighting. I hate the semi flush mount boob light. I mean - it's certainly not the worst thing in the world, but it was killing my vibes in here. And I mentioned to y'all before that I would love a lantern style pendant light in there. And by golly, when I say I want something certain, I have to have it.

I tossed back and forth the idea of a drum shade over the boob light & while it certainly wasn't a bad option, I just wasn't in love with it. So I headed out to the flea market in hopes of being able to do some trades with some vendors if I could find a chandelier light that I could make over and give some love to. But with my luck - lamps. Lamps everywhere! No chandelier lights. ( The flea market I regular at has 3 looooong buildings. And out of those three buildings, not a single vendor had a pendant light. Go figure, right?)

So then I set off to the Habitat for Humanity store. I walk right into an entire space with pendant lights. All sorts that could use some sweet love. And then I spotted it. It was sparkling and I swear lights were glowing behind it. (Or it could have been the lamps turned on behind it...we'll never know.) It was a 3 candle light that resembled a lantern. It just needed a spray of some black spray paint. It was $30. And since I committed to this challenge prior to my contentment challenge - I took the plunge & bought it.

I stared in the rearview mirror the whole drive home to all the beautiful-ness this light was going to bring to the entry. Ahhh. We got home & the little guy was sleeping in his car seat. The stars were aligning. I look at the old boob light & I swear she laughed at me. I take that lantern light and put it side by side with the boob. WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING. The lantern was too long for the foyer. The door would never be allowed to open. BLEEEEEEEEEEEP. If it wasn't for Liam sleeping - I would have tossed that light onto the floor and popped open a bottle of wine. I was never meant to finish this challenge. I check the receipt - ALL SALES FINAL.

This can't be happening right? "Oh it's happening sweetheart." (<- I'm saying this in the voice of the insurance commercial. You know the one??) So I hop online. I found a barn lantern pendant light. $30. 3 in stock at my local Home Depot just a hop, skip & a jump away from me. Done. Deal. I'm getting it. And I'm going to use the lantern light in another room. Or plead & cry to allow me to return it to the store. Store credit maybe?

So, after all the shenanigans. The putting the space together. Just everything - it's finished. Hallelujah it is done! So, please friends - come take a peak inside. :)

And for good measures, here is the before:

And the after again:

It's a small space but I'm so happy with how it turned out! So let's talk money!

I am currently still participating in a contentment challenge so I was determined to spend no money if at all possible! To use what I had already on hand! So that is just what I did! Other than the light!

Black Door Paint: $0 - had when I painted the exterior over the summer!

Magnolia Wreath & Door Hanger: $0 - made & had when we got moved in 2 years ago!

Bench & Paint: $0 - had from our wedding & stash collection of paint!

Shelf & Paint: $0 - had sitting in the garage waiting for some love!

All Decor: $0 - shopped my home and moved some pieces into new spots!

Barn Light: $31.90 - Home Depot!

Y'all, I did this space for $32. Thirty two! I think when you are determined to use what you've got, makeover it in some way and save, save, save all your left over paint & supplies - the DIY projects get easier & cheaper! I guess really we should call this project of mine - "How a $30 light helped transform a foyer?".

I hope you all enjoyed my space and thank you for being so patient as I deal with life these days!! Come see all the other blogger friends who have finished their spaces too! And on time! ;) Click here!!