My Sweet Things

Good Morning! It’s another beautiful, crisp, sunny start to my day. I’m getting ready to tackle a project that has been on my to do list for awhile. I have two built in bookcases in my living room. I do love the design and for a long time I liked the warmth that the brown tones provided to the space. Well, these times they are changing! When I look at them now, I want them to be brighter and bring more light to the space. I have been going back and forth on the idea of painting them white. The entire room is trimmed with oak crown molding as are the windowsill, doors, and baseboards. If I paint them white would I then need to paint all the room trim white as well? I would love your opinion on painting them. Would you do it? Am I brave enough to change out the entire look of the room? Will my puppy stop eating my legs? Questions. Questions! How can I brighten them up with out painting? That my friends is the big question. Let’s take a look at the bookcases.

Tada! Brown bookcases. The built in bookcases are great and in addition to the color, there are a few other things that need attention. Those spot lights shining above the fireplace leave light spots on the gloss finish of the backboard. Not a fan of that at all! I have tried to move the ceiling lights around but they leave a light spot wherever they shine.

The backs of the book cases are dark and dull and everything on the shelves just blends right in. I need some POP people! I do have too many things on these bookcases and I’ll be moving things around. I do love my books but they need some arranging!

I had a drop cloth in the basement that I cut to fit the back of the bookcase and I placed it inside the back of the left book case to see how it would look. While it did lighten it up, it’s just not what I was looking for. I would like more color. I thought about painting the backs but I’d like the option to change them up and the thought of re-painting them often, is well, not appealing.

I had another idea I tried out that I thought would do the trick and yes, I am liking it very much! I will be headed to JoAnn’s soon to gather the rest of the materials I need to complete the project. Wish me luck friends! If things go as planned, I should have the new look completed in the next week or so. I’m taking baby steps to add some color, it won’t involve painting and please tell me friends….Would you paint the bookcases?

Cheers to a Happy Sunday!

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Happy Friday! This morning I am going to share some photos I took with a sweet little gadget called the Olloclip. What’s an Olloclip? Well it’s a quick-connect lens for the iPhone4/4S. It includes a fisheye, wide angle, and macro lens. It is small and fits right in your pocket! I received mine for Valentine’s day and I love, love it!

Here is the Olloclip. The wide lens you see attached to the clip is the fisheye lens. It comes with a rubber cover lens cap, which clips on and off easily. The piece you see unattached, laying in front is the wide angle lens, it also has a cover for it. In this photo, the macro lens is on the back side of the fisheye lens and you screw off the wide angle lens in order to use it. Very simple! The carrying bag is made from a microfiber material that can be used as a lens cleaner. This is especially handy to have when I use it outdoors which is very often.

To use the Olloclip you have to remove the camera case. My case slides off easily so it’s no problem. I just slide the clip on the side of the phone and the Olloclip lens sits on top on the phone camera lens and you are ready to go!

Here is a shot using the macro lens. This photo is straight out of the camera with no edits.

I received this table top tripod and a iPhone 4 tripod mount as gifts so I opened them up and gave them a try. I don’t have the steadiest hand and I knew these would be a big help with camera shake.

Here is my set up.

Here is the photo using the macro lens. Pretty neat huh?

This is what a photo looked like close up with the camera phone not using the Olloclip macro lens.

Here it is with the Olloclip macro lens.

I took this photo a few days ago hand held using the macro lens. No edits done.

Here is a fun shot using the fisheye lens. It does a good job of rounding things out!

Playing with Maggie and the fisheye.

The Azaleas are booming in our back yard and this is a fun perspective. I do love the perspective you get using the fisheye lens!

Hello world. This is the view looking up from our backyard.

As I mentioned before, the Olloclip also has a wide angle lens. I have not used this lens often but here is quick shot of my backyard so you can see the difference. I stood on my back deck in the same location for both shots. You can see the difference using the wide angle lens as there is wider view of the yard. I love this little gadget. I carry it with me in my purse and I do use it quite often. It is a fun photography tool and I do love my photography! If you would like to read more about the Olloclip click here for their website. It cost around $69.99 and it’s worth every penny!

I am linking up to some great parties this week! Check out all the inspiration! Serenity Now

It’s all good. ~ Donna