French Grain Sack DIY * Sparking JOY Series

Hello Everyone! Thanks so much for visiting Sweet & Simple Magazine.

This past week I have been listening to the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I like to listen to books since my eyes tend to be tired at the end of the day and it's nice to lay in bed playing one of my phone games and listen to a book to wind down from the day. I'm always looking for something to listen to on my Audible account and looking to see what everyone else is recommending. My first thought was why is everyone reading a book about organizing and cleaning.

Why on earth could this be such a popular book and BORING. But there was literally nothing else I could find that interested me so I thought why not. Let's see WHY everyone is reading this book. It started out a bit slow like I thought it would and then all the sudden BAM, I began to get why everyone LOVES this book. Marie is talking about a lot more than just organizing your house. She is helping you make over your whole life. I mean the whole thing from the clothes you wear to the food you eat to the way you see life. And it's all based around the Magic of Tidying Up.

I am already seeing the changes in my life and all I've done is sort through my clothes and throw away a few dishes. I even threw away some dirty dishes because why on earth would I want to wash another dish I didn't like!! It is giving me relief from stress.

Marie's book is about SPARKING JOY. The tidying up part is how you begin to fine tune your abilities to see what gives you joy and what doesn't.

With that I am starting a new Series here on Sweet & Simple: Sparking Joy. The series will include things that Spark Joy for me and hopefully for you too.

As I was looking through Pinterest today. I came across this simple coffee table makeover from Tweak and Style with stripes and I remembered that I love French Grain Sack linens. It sparked joy in me. I love the texture, the stripes, the colors and the vintage feel of them. I had forgotten I loved them.

The beautiful grain sack striped dresser pictured above at the top from Musing from a French Country Cottage would bring me joy. I can imaging storing my craft supplies in it and every time I go to create a  new project I would lovingly open the draw and choose my papers, glues, paints etc from its drawers. The entire process would bring me joy because I loved the beautiful dresser my supplies are housed in.

I then came across this lovely bench DIY makeover from At Home with the Bakers and thought how nice to sit on a bench with fresh blue stripes and a number on the corner. You could even add more joy by making that number meaningful such as your lucky number or the number of people in your family or the number of your grandchildren. Then, every time you walked past the dining table you would see it and think of those special people or the meaning of that number- Joy Sparked!

You know that extra chair you have around to grab as an extra seat when needed? It sits to the side waiting for when you need it. I have beautiful vintage chair that I bought at a thrift store years ago that is our side chair. It was a steal at $3 considering the same chairs were going for $125 at a local antique shop. I love it but it needs a makeover. Confessions of a Serial DIYer found a great chair and made it over with french blue stripes. Don't you just love the shape of the seat. It has inspired me to paint my chair like this too.

The best thing I think to come of this Sparking Joy is that this sparking joyful ideas. I have been humming and hawing over what to do with my kitchen table. It's a farm style table that I did paint over the top with a beautiful taupy tan color but it hasn't quite seemed finished. All these projects have brought me to sparkingly joyful idea. The color is the perfect background for adding some grain sack stripes. I share the project with you soon.
xo