Messages, Mugs, and Magnets

The kitchen has been coming together nicely but I had this big empty wall in my dinette. The room felt unfinished.

I had been brainstorming a way to display my mug collection as well as looking for a place to jot down little notes and hang a few photos, etc.

There were so many ways to display my mugs. I had a hard time picking one. I decided to go with a peg board for something different. 

First I went to Lowes and picked up a pegboard. The one they had was a brown, thick cardboardy material (I believe I just invented the word "cardboardy"). I thought I could simply spray paint it white then cut it down to size. I lugged it home and gave it a few coats but the material was too porous to paint. No matter how many coats I gave it, the brown still bled through. I wasted a lot of spray paint. Frustrated, I decided to check a few other places to see if they had anything that was already white. Home Depot had this pegboard for $8. It was white and was already the perfect size.

All I had to do to make this work was screw a board on the top and bottom so that there was enough space to put the pegs in (they wouldn't work if it was flat against the wall).

Then I bought some pegs and started putting them where I wanted.

Easy and cost about $20 total!

I got the idea for the chalkboard from my friend Margeaux (check out her blog here -http://www.thisniftyearth.com/ - it's fabulous!). She has one hanging in her house and I always thought it was so cute!

I got this oil drip pan from Walmart for $12.

I primed it then gave it two coats of chalkboard spray paint.

What a perfect time and place to list my 2014 resolutions.

Here are a few of my goals/resolutions for 2014:
1. Prayer daily - I want to discipline myself to spend 10 minutes straight in prayer each morning. 10 minutes doesn't sound like much but I'm starting small. My scatterbrain gets off topic real easily...
2. Budgeting - I am starting Dave Ramsey's "envelop budget." I plan want to purchase this house completely on my own as soon as I can. I will post the specifics on what the "envelop budget" is soon.
3. Blog 4 times/ week - the holidays definitely got me off schedule. Starting fresh today.
4. Pullups - got to have a few fitness goals!
5. 5 minute plank 

I also think it's important to have visual reminders of specific long term goals to keep yourself focused and committed (No matter how far away they seem). Here are a few of mine:
1. Buy this house completely on my own (as I mentioned earlier)
2. Purchase a small truck
3. Full self employment - I will one day support myself with my home furnishings/accessories business and interior design services.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY and a little glimpse of my hopes for 2014,

Han