Shutters

Serendipity was with me one day when I visited a local thrift shop, and I came across a set of three shutters.

They had obviously been painted before, as I could see a little bit of yellow underneath a dirty green color.  As I was on the hunt for something to fill a little wall space in my living room, I decided to take them home with me.

Luckily I always have a little paint on hand  ;-)

I used some sample pots of some other greens to give them a little more color.  (Yes I know it’s hard to tell the difference, but it’s there.)

Then I slapped on some orange acrylic paint…

I used vaseline on some of the colored areas, also concentrating on the edges.  It makes the funny little patches you see in the next coat of black (and for the black I used spray paint—I am an equal-opportunity painter).

With your bare hands, you can simply rub the paint off wherever the vaseline was to show the colors underneath.

      

Next I used more vaseline, then a coating of creamy white paint—plus a few splashes of some more green and even a little gray.  I think all together I used about 7 different colors of paint on these shutters! 

And this, my lovelies, is the finished product.  I love how it turned out!  I adore the chippy-ness of the finish and the layers of color. 

These hang above my couch…in my living room that has been completed for months…that I have never show you…

…I’m going to try to resolve that this week!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Chelsey’s Bookcases

My friend Chelsey has had these Grandma-bookcases (literally) for quite some time now.  Probably two years ago we talked about the “how-to’s” of painting them—but this year, she finally decided to just have me do the work!

The bookcases have some really pretty details on the doors and on the crown molding.  The right one is actually more of a “secretary” with a pull-down work surface.

Chelsey thought all the brown was bringing her living room down, so we went white!

She may not know it, but the white I used is the same color that is on the trim in my house!  When you find one that works, I say, stick with it!

I will admit that this was NOT my favorite project.  Unfortunately, the main construction of these pieces is laminated particle board, and it did NOT want to be painted!  It took one coat of primer (which obviously wasn’t sufficient) and FOUR coats of paint to cover!

I used a dark-brown glaze (antique walnut stain mixed with Martha Stewart glazing medium) to bring out the pretty details.  Plus, there was lots of “natural distressing” on these pieces already—the glaze makes it look like it’s on purpose!

…and I played with PicMonkey’s “Urban” effect for the following pictures!

I miss Picnik—I felt like I was just starting to get the hang of it!  But PicMonkey is very similar, so that’s good—for me!

Anyway, I think we brought Grandma’s furniture into the new millenium!

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This project was featured at Decorating Insanity.

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Decorating Insanity	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

Another Cedar Chest

One of my sisters lives about 45 minutes away from me.  It’s not too far…except that it’s TOO FAR too much of the time!  We both like to watch the on-line classified ads, and the funny thing is that everything I want seems to be near her, and everything SHE wants seems to be near me!
Anyway, my sister loves cedar chests as much (if not more) than I do!  Last summer I finished this one for her:

She is an amazing seamstress, and she needed somewhere to store her vast collection of fabric.

The hunt didn’t end there…next there was this one which she wanted to have refinished for her oldest daughter.

I painted the base in a soft gray “oops” paint that I transformed into homemade chalk paint.

I used a black glaze to highlight the pretty moldings…

…and I painted the handles with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.

I used “ebony” Minwax stain (for the first time) on the top of the chest, and I really liked it!  I think it took three coats to get the color as dark as I wanted, but I like that you can still see the wood grain through it.

The bottom drawer had originally been felt-lined, but the felt had—shall we say—“decomposed” over time!  I sanded out the fuzzy remains, and then lined the drawer with a fun pink fabric (I used Mod Podge under and over the fabric to seal it in there).  I think it is my favorite feature of the whole chest!

Just yesterday I picked up another cedar chest for my other niece…so I need to get motivated to paint some more furniture!

…and…the weather needs to warm up!

Unfortunately (but predictably), the groundhog saw his shadow, so there’s six more weeks of winter for Utah!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Stylish Once Again
Thrifty Décor Chick Before & After	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

The “Painted Hive” Coffee Table

Last fall I was contacted by Shelby, who was interested in having me re-do a coffee table for her. She wondered, “Had I ever seen the round table at The Painted Hive?”

Have I ever!

Kristine’s beautiful furniture makeovers are an integral part of my Pinterest “Great Furniture” folder!

Shelby brought me this lovely coffee table which she had found on KSL.com, and asked me to refinish it ala “Painted Hive,” although slightly less distressed.

The base was painted in a Behr Ultra paint color-matched to Sherwin-Williams “Creamy” paint. The top is stained with three coats of Minwax Antique Walnut stain, and then I hand-distressed and glazed the base to bring a little “age” to the piece.

I love the way the white shelf looks on the bottom!

Shelby also brought me this little pine table to get a similar makeover.

She planned on replacing the knob herself, so her it sits—knobless…

…but I think it will be a great complement to the “Painted Hive” coffee table!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Stylish Once Again
Thrifty Décor Chick	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

The Way They Were Meant To Be

I have tried my hand at a few different image transfer methods, but I haven’t been terribly successful.  After several failed attempts, I used my overhead projector method to make this set of bar stools:

…but I was never terribly happy with them.

THESE, however….

…turned out much more like what I had in mind!

The images all came courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.

I painted the bases of the stools with DIY chalk paint.

…and I made the image transfers with my inkjet printer and a transparency sheet!

…more on that to come!

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Someday Crafts’ Whatever Goes Wednesday
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Mod Vintage Life	Redoux
Thrifty Décor Chick	Stylish Once Again
The Graphics Fairy	My Repurposed Life

Inspire Me

After wanting to tackle an armoire for several months, I ended up with TWO in the course of about a week! The first one, a television armoire, I turned into a sewing cabinet here. The second one started out like this:

Yep, it’s in two pieces, and the top one looks funny because it was upside down when I took the picture of it!

This piece had really beautiful trim work, but the cloth-and-wire treatment in the front of the doors was just…weird. And grungy. Eww.

I decided that I wanted to try gray again on this piece. Remember the gray buffet? Well, I really did take in my “custom” mixed color and had Home Depot color-match a quart for me!

With some gray paint, black glaze (and oil-rubbed bronze paint for the pulls), the bottom turned out like this…

…and the top turned out like THIS!

Yep. Mirrors. This piece needed them. But let me warn you…mirrors are expensive. The two mirrors for the doors cost MORE than I paid for the whole piece to begin with!

See the reflection of the new stairs and the suitcase wall? Not to mention my legs!

But I can’t really bring myself to regret it. My friend MJ and I had a brief—and sad—experiment with cutting Walmart-purchased mirrors…and we ended up with mirror shards all over the kitchen table! (Note to self: even if you have scored the mirror…DON’T try to use a hammer to make the break.)

I had a little fun with the interior of the armoire:

You know how I love to put numbers or words on everything! I decided this piece needed to be “inspirational.” Maybe words like “dream, create, imagine” will inspire the new owner to make the most of each day’s opportunities!

Well, it can’t hurt!

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This project was featured at Redoux and Stylish Once Again.

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Linking up to these great parties:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Thrifty Décor Chick’s Before & After
Hookin’ Up with House of Hepworths	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Mod Vintage Life	Redoux
Thrifty Décor Chick	Stylish Once Again

Cedar Chest with DIY Chalk Paint

I think I’m frugal.

My husband calls me cheap.

Like that’s a bad thing! (Whatever.)

What does that have to do with furniture?? Well, it means that despite great temptation, I have not made the switch to chalk paint. Despite all it’s good qualities, I can’t justify the price.

However….

Last week Sherry from No Minimalist Here posted about how to make your own CHEAP chalk paint!

I was very intrigued.

Sherry gave three suggestions for additives to make your own chalk paint: calcium carbonate, Whiting powder, or Plaster of Paris. Reading through the comments, another suggestion from Carole at Maynard Greenhouse was to use unsanded tile grout was to use unsanded tile grout, and that’s what I chose to use because it’s what I found first! Note: the grout comes in different colors; I bought white.

I started with this cedar chest I bought off a classified ad:

It was advertised as a “Mediterranean-style” chest, and I don’t really know what that means…but I’m going to go with it!

I mixed 2 T. unsanded tile grout with each cup of ordinary latex paint. It gets VERY THICK, so I diluted with at least 1/4 c. water, I think…then I got to brushing! And despite my misgivings, I did not sand or prime.

The paint was still VERY gritty, no matter how much I stirred it (I would love to know if the other homemade versions are the same). However, as it dried most of that magically disappeared. And…there were no brush marks!

I was virtually painting in the dark, so I noticed the next morning that I had some drips. I got out the sandpaper. With latex paint, sanding drips is usually a disaster, as it all just peels off, and I never seem to be able to make the flaw blend in again. With the homemade chalk paint, that did NOT happen! I was able to sand the drip down until it was invisible, with NO peeling paint.

I painted the whole chest with two coats of red (the same red I used on the retro buffet), but I wasn’t feelin’ the love.

So next I combined the leftovers from the three sample pots I used to paint the gradient dresser, tossed in more unsanded tile grout, and painted again.

Much better.

I glazed this piece with a diluted white acrylic paint, and then I also distressed it quite heavily.

True to the hype, the paint sanded away into powder. That also got rid of the last bit of grittiness. You do have to sand A LOT, though. When it’s smooth, it feels just like…chalk!

There was one spot which, when sanding, peeled away as latex paint is wont to do. I attribute that to a not-very-well-mixed spot of paint. When that happens when I’m distressing a piece, it makes me cringe…it’s SO hard to cover up a spot that peeled away.

This time, though, I “filled in” the bare spot with two coats of the DIY chalk paint, and sanded again. You can’t see a difference.

Overall I would say I’m quite impressed with the DIY chalk paint. The biggest ‘con’ in my book is that it would not go through my Harbor Freight paint sprayer. And let’s face it, painting spindles and detail work by hand takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R! And I don’t think you get as good of coverage or as smooth of a finish that way.

But since it’s also a bugger to sand spindles and detail work—it may be a bit of a wash!

I finished this cedar chest with Minwax paste wax in natural. No, I haven’t purchased the more expensive/better waxes either—I told you I was cheap frugal!

So, will I try it again? Absolutely.

Am I going to give up on latex paint for furniture? Not for the moment.

Just another tool in the arsenal. And that, as Martha would say, is a good thing!

I would love to hear your thoughts about DIY chalk paint (what versions have you tried?), as compared to Annie Sloan, or to latex paint! What do YOU think the pros and cons are?

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This project was featured at Mod Vintage Life.

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Linking up here and The DIY ShowOff.