Painting: large and small

So I saw on someone else's blog about spray painting patio furniture. I have a set that I picked up at a yard sale about 3 years ago. It was in decent shape then. It has since gotten worn looking and a little rust here and there. The hail storms we've gotten have really beaten it up.



After seeing it's not that hard, I went to Lowes and picked up the following:

So first, spray the rust inhibitor in the spots where it's the worst, and let dry for a couple of hours. I was doing this out in 90 degree heat, so it dried instantly, but it was too hot to go back and paint, so I left it for the rest of the day.
Day two, I got an early start after dropping my daughter at school. I laid an old sheet underneath each piece, which you can pick up at the thrift store, and is great for large projects. Also, it doesn't stick to the furniture, like paper does.
So just start spraying, doing a light, even coat, working from top to bottom. I used satin sheen, which I really like.
This is the first time I've used the Valspar brand spray paint, from Lowes, and let me tell you, I LOVE it! It is by far the best I've ever used, and I've used ALL the brands.

Here are the after pics.

My little angel day dreaming on the new glider

Literally looks like a brand new set!
Of course, then I had to go buy new cushions for the seats, which I got at Home Depot.
Paint project #2.
I took this fruit holder, and spray it black, from white. It looks so much better, I think. Would you care for a sweet clementine?

Then there's the little ceramic dish, that started out an avocado green. It screamed "Save me, please take me home and paint me!"

Doesn't it look so cute, spray painted black, and repurposed as my new sponge holder?

And last, but certainly nor least, was the painting of our house.
I told you in a previous post, that the former homeowners were PPP, or pink passionate people. Our carpet throughout the house is pink, the kitchen (which was promptly painted upon move in) was pink. And hey, they didn't stop there. The entire exterior of the house was... you guessed it. PINK.

Seven long years we've lived with the pink, and not by choice!

Our three final choices....

The hardest part of getting the house painted is picking the color. After 10+ samples of paint over the garage, we finally settled on Sherwin Williams Nomadic Desert. We also ordered Black shutters for the windows over the garage, to dress it up a bit.
I love the way it turned out!

What do you think?

No, our house doesn't say Howdy on the front, I just covered up our address with a friendly greeting, in case there are any stalkers reading today.

My friend came over early last week, and said she drove right by my house, because she always looks for the pink house when she drives up my street! Funny, huh?
Have a safe and blessed week, girls!

Shelf project idea and laundry area 95% complete!

Happy Easter weekend, ya'll! It is rainy and very windy here today in Colorado, but that persistant ol' sun that we enjoy so much is trying hard to peek through the clouds! I really wanted to go out and work in the garden this morning, but it'll have to wait for another day!

We are going to my niece's house this afternoon to have an Easter egg hunt and enjoy some good food and good company.

Here is the shelf makeover I promised you. Remember the before from my last post? I bought it at a thrift store, and didn't look on the back until last night, when I went to spray paint it. It's marked Longaberger! What a cool find! I almost was afraid to paint it, and then thought, well, I hate it the way it is, so here we go!

Here's another pic of the before:

First, removed the pegs. To do this without losing your mind, take a kitchen towel, and wrap over each peg to protect the wood. Take your hammer, tapping firmly on the end of each peg, to loosen from the hole. Wahlah! Pegs are out!

Then I spay painted it black. Note to self: DO NOT buy the cheapest spray paint, thinking you're saving money cause well, spray paint is spray paint, right? WRONG! I had to do about 1,000 coats to get it to cover, and I just about threw the shelf across the room. (Just kidding, but close!)

2nd note to self: DO NOT think that matte spray paint, and flat spray paint are the same; they ARE NOT. Flat is awful, so I had to finish the shelf off with a satin finish spray paint. Then all was well in Chickadee's land.

After everything is painted to satisfaction, measure your shelf, and pick a coordinating scrapbook paper to accent your shelf with. I settled on paper #3, after trying assorted prints that would go with my family room downstairs.

I then decoupaged the paper onto the flat front under the shelves edge. Feel with your fingers for the original peg holes, and push gently to open the hole back up. Then take your pegs, and pound them back in with a hammer, making sure again to protect your wood by covering the peg top while pounding.

Here is the finished shelf. I love the vintage look of the pattern on this paper. It is old letters and postcards

A close up

Here it is on the wall, complete with all it will hold. Underneath is two metal bins I got at a thrift store a few weeks ago, that are marked PotteryBarn (I'm all about the name brand!). They are perfect to hold all of Macie's shoes.

This area I created with the shelf and the bins sits just as you walk in from the garage into the family room. It's the perfect spot for her to hang coats, her backpack, and drop her shoes.

I feel so organized, what can I say?

My laundry room makeover is also almost complete. Read about it here. The only thing we haven't yet done is to move out the W/D and use our stick on tiles to complete the floor. We did finally get the cabinets hung, and I put my knobs on the doors last night.

I don't have a pic of the before, but trust me, it was bad.

The walls had so many nail and screw marks, and it had never been painted since before we moved in. There were open shelves, so you could see all the junk we were storing on them, all jumbled and messy.

I painted it with a color called Navajo White, took the shelves down, and replaced it with my Craigs list cabinets. Added knobs, put a clip on shade over the bare hanging bulb, and added a nice pull chain.

I pulled all the metal together, color-wise, by using my oil-rubbed bronze I talked about previous.. Like I said in my other post, really underwhelming for most people looking at the pics, but HUGE for me, with how bad it was before!

My lovely new pull chain!


New knobs with new finish

My clip on lamp shade with spray painted finial

Now I just need to add a cute little sign, or some rub one vinyl lettering, to spruce it up a bit more. Thanks for tuning in, and let me know what you think!

Have a safe and fun Easter, everyone! God bless you all!

Projects in the works

Well, I'm still waiting for my laundry area to be complete! My husband needs to enlist the help of a friend, to help hang the cabinets above the washer and dryer, so seriously, who KNOWS when that will happen!

I did drag him to Home Depot this afternoon, however, to get a few small things. I picked out 4 knobs to spruce up the cabinets, a cute pull chain for the lightbulb, a clip on lamp shade to cover one and same bare hanging bulb over the W/D. Yes, you can buy a clip on to dress it up. Cool huh?


All of these items had their own shade of metal, from ugly gold to silver, to a fake aged bronze. I saw on someone else's blog, about this Spray paint by Rustoleum called Oil rubbed Bronze.

Here are the pieces, waiting for their friend, Mr. Spray paint.

Here is a before and after of two tall standing lamps I've had for years, that were that bright gold. Cool back in the day, but not now! Yuck....

Awesome with their new coat of Oil rubbed bronze!

I will be spray painting the knobs, finial for the clip on, and the pull chain, which will spruce up the laundry area greatly!

Also, I saw my friend at the salon I work at using this cool stick on "tile" which is actually vinyl tile. You seriously just peel the back off and stick down! We will be installing this on our cement laundry floor, under the W/D, to make it look finished.

We picked a very neutral color called Mojave White (mainly cause it was one of the cheapest!) The whole box, which will cover a 12x 12 area cost $28! Super cool!

When we get it done, I'll post some pics!

I also finally completed my Spice up your Life Sunday challenge to pick out some flowers for myself. If you haven't participated, read about it here.

I was soo wanting to get tulips, my favorite, but I broke the mold and got a Freesia plant, which has beautiful blooms, and can be planted in my garden as soon as it warms up here in Colorado. I just has to take a pic of it in front of my patio door, showing the snow that has returned again today!

I also completed cleaning out all of my paper clutter, and although I don't have a large space, I have conquered it for now!

All incoming mail goes into the brown basket, instead of getting dumped on the kitchen table.

The black and white caddy next to it I made at a class at Archivers. We painted a plain brown caddy with cream paint, then covered it with cute patterned scrapbook paper. Then we designated each cubbie for certain things, like bills, notes, pens, receipts, etc. It has cute areas on the front to add pictures.

This is a cute pocket to hold receipts, which fits into the caddy.

If you are very crafty, you can probably do this yourself, to create something similar!

I was unable to creat a framed board for clipping notes, etc, to, because I didn't have the wall space in my kitchen to hang one, darn it!

Also, stay tuned for a super cute idea for kitchen decor using these below:

Have a crafty Saturday!