Brandon and I took advantage of a recent storm and did some foraging around the neighborhood. We found a fallen maple trunk that we grabbed for our future pizza oven or fire pit use.

We also found these huge pine cones from a neighbor’s tree. I had scoped them out as I was driving home from the store, so we brought a bag to pick up the good ones.

After letting them dry out for a bit — and un-critter themselves — I set up my spray painting station on the patio and got my most favorite metallic gold spray paint from Rust-oleum. I can’t get enough of this stuff.

After spraying on the first coat, I posted this photo to Instagram and Pinterest and it’s brought me more traffic than anything else I’ve ever posted. Ever. And not just American traffic. I’ve had blog viewers from Bulgaria, Australia, Finland, Ireland and the UK, among many others. Thank you, Pinterest!

I used a fun basket that I had purchased from the Goodwill ($1.99) and spray painted it a deep red, Rust-oleum Regal Red, to be specific. It took a few coats and turned out really great. Perfect for the gilded pine cones.

I sprayed the pine cones a few more times and placed them in the new red basket. I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?

And a shot of our cozy living room, decked out for the holidays.