Hanging Things Like MacGyver

Confession time - We have lived in our house for almost four and a half years, and I am embarrassed to say that I really have not decorated it. Well, not completely. There is only one room left that is the builder's standard white, and that is the guest room aka the room we dump stuff that we aren't really sure what to do with. The rest have been painted in our favorite trio of blue, green, or brown. At one point in time, I was super ambitious; it was when I was pregnant with the first Little Man. Check out what I made Hot Stuff help me with when I was a crazy pregnant lady:

See that beautiful stripe? That has been there for 3 1/2 years, but nothing else has been hung in that time. You know how people like to make a kid's room colorful and entertaining, perhaps even educational? Apparently I don't believe in that philosophy. So with the recent development of my crafty side, I decided that decorating the house is a top priority. But, as a Thrifty Girl, I cannot bear to spend large sums of money on decor (not can I afford it!). I have been keeping my eye out for good deals, and the other day at Homegoods I found not one but TWO great items for the dining room! To say that I was excited was a bit of an understatement. I may or may not have done a happy dance. Especially because three plates and two pictures were only $30 total! Cha-ching!

Now my only problem was hanging the plates. I had no desire to spend additional money on plate hangers, plus I am not really crazy about how those look anyway. But what to do? I went back to one of my dearest friends for advice - Pinterest! Seriously, I LOVE this site and I may have a bit of an addiction. I found this idea - use a paperclip as a hook! GENIUS! Of course, I didn't have any paperclips in the house, but I am much more comfortable buying a .99 box of paperclips that what it would have cost me for the plate hangers. I got to work with The Little Men looking on asking what I was doing 9 million times. Because when your kids are 15 1/2 months apart, they get to that glorious question asking stage at the exact. same. time.

First I opened up the paperclip, and bent it around the ridge on the bottom of the plate so that it would sit relatively flat on the wall. Then I went crazy with the glue gun, because I wanted to be sure there was enough glue to hold it on and not let it fall off.

It worked like a charm! All I had to do was tap a nail into the wall and hang my plates! Now, because I only have 3 plates, I had to decide where to hang them until I can add to the grouping. So I just went with a diagonal line for now because it filled the space the best. However, I am still on the hunt for more plates, so stay tuned!