Junk in the Trunk

Whew! Yesterday was exciting! If you missed the buzz check out #pinterestchallenge on twitter or the post below! We would super love if you can join in the Pinterest Challenge and be inspired to knock something off your Pinterest to-do list!

Not that long ago we went to Elephants Trunk in Connecticut. We started going last year and have been successful with each trip. This year we got about three rows in before we found the "golden" piece we wanted to adopt. One problem, she wouldn't quite fit in our trunk...

Never say die! I bet the people at BMW never thought their emergency kit would be used for fitting

junk in a trunk. Just one tiny screwdriver, and we were set!

Joey just took the wooden frame off our secret piece, and she was finally ready to come home.

A ton of sweat later we were back on our way to New York with some prized possession. This time we bought only art. The secret piece above, and some fun stuff below!

If you can't quite see because of the glare it's a creepy boy in a kilt pointing and a black and white photo of an all-girls school class. Lurv. Call us weird, we don't care. :)

We don't quite know where we are putting the creepy boy, or what to do with that gaudy frame, but we found a home fir the black and white picture right away.

And what's with the big 'ol piece that didn't fit in the trunk you ask? Let's zoom out and see!

Ta-da! It's a prohibition Schlitz sign! Being Schlitz couldn't sell beer, they sold their syrup! It's a

bit worn and has a ton of character. It's made of tin and framed in wood. It just so happened to

fit perfectly over the table Joey made. A few more angles for your viewing pleasure...

We are super loving it. It's the second thing we have hung on the wall to date. The first, if you missed it, wasn't that long ago! Oh, the panic of hanging something perfectly!

So now that question at hand is, what to do with this creepy boy? Is it too whack-a-do to hang in a very open space? Think neighbors and new friends seeing it in the living room or foyer. Perhaps in the upstairs hallway or a bathroom. Thinking. Thinking....

Tell us what you would think if you saw this bad boy hanging out in an entry way...

Pinterest Challenge Anyone?....

Huh? The Pinterest Challenge? What the heck is that? Oh...I bet you want to know. I bet you

want to know really bad!

Clue numbro uno. It involves myself along with these lovely ladies above. Clue numbro duce....

check out the video below for an entertaining explanation...

I laughed so hard I cried the first time I watched the video! In case you have a choppy connection or are at the work place (I won't tell your reading blogs!) I will break it down for you. Sherry from YoungHouseLove.com, Katie (who had the brilliant idea!) from BowerPowerBlog.com, and Emily Henderson (yea, that Emily Henderson!) from StyleByEmilyHenderson.com (and HGTV Design Star Winner and Host of Secrets from a Stylist, in case you live under a rock) along with me from JoeyandLana.com (you are here, duh!)  have self issued a challenge to knock a project off of our Pinterest "to-do" list. 

Our project?! We won't tell. At least not yet. We will provide some clues for ya though.....

1. It's super quick and easy!
2. It was scary to do!
3. It was totally worth it!
4. It involved a spray can
5. We did it in the kitchen
6. If I give you too much detail now, there would be no surprise for next week!

Maybe, just maybe you can guess what we are doing by sneeking a peek at my pinterest? Hrrrmmm Nacy Drew, what do you think it is?

Want to join in? Pick a Pinterest project you have wanted to get done, and meet us all back here, and here, and here and here next Tuesday (August 2nd) to share what you did. It could be anything! Quick and easy, tried and true, or totally massive. Just make sure to include a link to the original pin and post it was pinned from. Grab the banner on the top of this post and use it for yourself when you join us!

By the way, none of us were paid or asked to do this! Katie had a great idea, and we were all game. Pinterest has no idea what's going on. We just really love it, and think this is a fun way to knock a project off the list. We hope you join us!

Joey Has Something to Say...

Ah, the moose head... Let me tell you a bit about how it took a year of waiting for the right deal, a few months of waiting for it to arrive, and then finally another year before we could find a suitable
place to hang his shiny head.

Lana had her eye on this guy for quite a while. Periodically reminding me how much she loved him and knew exactly where he was going to live in our home. I agreed, we probably needed a stately white moose head. So, Lana kept watch from her shopping blind, waiting patiently to pull the trigger. Then, one day, without warning, she announced he was ours.

We unwrapped our newest prize to find... a broken antler. Oh joy of joys!

Luckily, we had ordered some weirdo, fix all, putty off the TV. I mashed it together with a rubber mallet, (I didn't feel like my hands were mashing adequately) and jammed it into and around the offending antler. 60 minutes or so later, a little light sanding and a quick pass with some glossy white spray paint, and our moose was worthy of a place in ol' Teddy Roosevelt's collection!

But where to put him. We had recently done a little work on our mud room, and with the cedar interior, we thought it would make a fitting home. So, I took some measurements, decided he wasn't going to fit, and proceeded to try and hang him anyway. After exhausting myself and drilling 4 unnecessary holes in our wall, I took him upstairs, removed his antlers and placed him gently in a wicker basket full of sheets.

And there he lay until a few days ago when we sat up in our chairs and declared that we would not be beaten by a lacquer moose head!

Lana and I made a decision that right above our fireplace, on our newly painted wall would be a perfect place to display our once again beloved friend. So I got my drill and some screws that I very scientifically tested in the hanging brackets on the back of his head.

And then I hit a snag.

On my first attempt hanging him up I just did some guess work on where the holes needed to be drilled into the wall. Hence I ended up with twice as many holes as mounting brackets. I needed to find a way to mark where the mounting brackets fell on the wall without x-ray vision.

And believe me I tried a few ridiculous things (like cramming a pencil in the bracket and pretending it would stay level and true while I marked the position).

I ended up getting some painters tape and laying one strip the full length of his neck and another one right over the mounting brackets. I poked some holes where the screws would eventually need to land, removed the tape, and placed it on the wall carefully remembering to check my placement with a level. The tape very kindly told me where to drill and I only ended up with two holes in the wall and a level moose!

And yes, I know that anyone with any experience (or keeps instruction booklets) would probably have a better/quicker/less contrived way of marking the wall, but this made my day.

And I wish to pass it on to you, dear reader, to use as you see fit.