Old to New

I Just completed a project yesterday that is one of my favorite displays now in our home. A friend of mine got white matted 8x10 frames from IKEA for $5.99 for pictures and I instantly loved the simplicity of the frames and even more the price! I have been to IKEA several times, put them in my buggy and then taken them out because I didn't want to add "one more project" to my list before the baby comes. Our friends, the St. Clairs, came to visit last week for NYE and Heather and I made a CHILD-less trip out there. I begin to think clearly, hmm....imagine that?, and I bought 4 of the frames. I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. I thought about leaving them blank and filling them with our new family of 4 pictures when Maggie comes along. But I can not stand to leave a project unfinished and I didn't want to wait. Then, I thought about going to a craft store and finding some fun print of scrapbook paper and filling the frames with different designs. I also thought of finding free printables on pinterest, but didn't see what I was looking for.

So, all of a sudden it came to me! Ryan's grandmother always gives him old construction books from his grandfather, "Trees", for Christmas. I love old books and place them around our home for decor. I realized that one of the books had 8x10 pages and once I started flipping through, I knew it could not be more perfect. Trees was a civil engineer, and Ryan followed in his footsteps getting his degree from Auburn in the same. They both have a huge love for woodworking and construction and Ryan loves using his antique tools from his Trees.

The coolest part of it all, is as I was flipping through the book, I found notes from Trees that he had marked pages of which projects he would complete. I also texted his grandmother to show her my finished project and she explained they bought this book together in England Chippendale. People would come in and point out in books what they wanted made and then they would make it for them. Trees just bought the book himself and made the furniture himself. Impressive!

So with some scissors, tape, and some serious measuring for a grid to hang, here is my final product:

The book: 

Marked pages in the book: 

All four together before hanging: 

Close up:

I am pleased!

Now to hang some curtains, sell our car, and encourage Ryan to finish his honey-do list...

nesting is in full force.