22 Oct 2017 Funky Frugal: Pinterest made personal

by Tanner Cangelosi 

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love that I can find recipes and decorating ideas at the drop of a hat, but I hate that I feel like I want to eat my body weight in chocolate lava cake and do crunches while simultaneously packing the perfect lunches for my kids with sandwiches in the shapes of dolphins — whew — and then feeling like a failure when all I do is eat the lava cake.  

But, I was recently at a decorating standstill in my bedroom. We had a huge dresser with a massive box TV that sat on top of a dresser. The TV had a green cast color to it and just needed to be retired. But with six kids, we don’t just go buy amenities when we feel like it. So, we just waited. And waited some more, but then my brother helped his friend move and we hit the jackpot. His friend was discarding an old flat screen TV. He grabbed it for us. It pays to have great brothers. 

Next, I went back to my old friend, Pinterest, looking for the most decorative look for a hung flat screen TV. I found a picture of a TV hung with all kinds of art placed symmetrically around it with mirror-like items shining on top of the table beneath the TV. Loved it. So, we got rid of our green cast TV and cleared the chest of drawers. Right away, without that massive TV, the room felt so much bigger. 

I then found items that were made of mirrors, like a beautiful vase and jewelry box that a dear friend had given us. I grabbed some photos of my kids that I had in another part of the house and a little wooden sign that needed a home.  

I found my favorite piece for $12 at Salvation Army. It was a beautiful, old oil painting of a pond with three swimming swans. I felt it was calming and just right for our master bedroom.

Above that painting, I needed a balancing gray piece, but I couldn’t find the right one, so I got my paints out. “Come and rest” was the phrase that kept rolling around in my head, so I just painted it on the wall. 

This project cost about $30 total because of the free TV and most of the items I used I already had. I now love snuggling with the whole family on my bed to watch a movie together. It feels like a little bit of Pinterest is in my messy home! Just a little bit.