Sunday, January 22, 2012

Table Remix

Wrong coloring, lamps too small, bad accessories... all wrong!
Perfect lamp shape/size, great colors, fun staging!!! LOVE


This past fall I desperately needed a sofa table. So trying to be thrifty I painted over my high.glossed.particle board.desk which I received on my 12th birthday. I figured it would be okay to paint it (since it didn't go with my current decor). Above is what I came up with. It served its purpose until I grew tired of the beachy blue. Last Sunday (1/15/12) I decided that since I had a few hours before David returned from the camp I would conquer this little project. (Not to mention that I found some amazing PB knock off lamps at Old Time Pottery {$20ea} that needed a more adult look). I drug the desk outside and decided not to prime since I had only painted it a few months back. I rubbed a candle on the surface in a few placed where I would want to remove/distress the paint later. I used the leftover sample paint from the knobs of my dresser project to apply two coats (with a roller). I sprayed the dated looking brass handles black (which didn't go very smoothly, but I no one really sees the handles so I didn't fret). Once I had the dresser in place I decided it needed some distressing. I drug a chain across the top and scraped the surface where I had applied the wax. I finally stopped the destruction after 5 minutes and realized I had messed up. I had taken too much off and it looked like a 5 year old had destroyed it... I quickly went back to the garage, grabbed the paint and with a dry brush went back over the areas where too much blue was showing. The final finished turned out GREAT!!! I found things around the house to stage the table with and Voila! It was perfection.



In the daylight.
Accessories and a close up of the finish.



Saturday, January 21, 2012

David is 24!




I can't believe David is already 24. I have my birthday next month and it is really hard to believe we have been married for 2 years. We really have grown up together and I am so glad to celebrate this milestone with my best friend. Happy Birthday David!


The banner his sweet mom made him!




Go Bama... Oh and happy birthday David





Opening the 2011 champion shirts I got him
Opening what I made

I painted him a watercolor of Trent's touch (for his office)
Watercolor of the National Championship Game


My mom bought these yummy cupcakes for us.

Painted Chest



before (it was quite beat up)
I have had in my mind for months that I would find a three drawer dresser to paint for my spare room. I looked and looked around town to find the right one.
Fortunately I work at a furniture consignment shop.

Every time consignor came by with a truck load of goodies I scanned all of the pieces looking for my gem.
Primed
Early November we had a man come by with a trailer filled with furniture he used to stage homes. There it was...my perfect dresser and better than it being the right shape it was already pre-priced from an email my boss had sent. At $150 I didn't wait another minute. I called David and after a huffy conversation he agreed to bring the Jeep to pick it up (I am the master of persuasion). So we got it home and it fit perfectly. Now the hard part...to paint or not to paint? Do I distress it or re-stain it and show off the maple wood? This just got tricky.



Finished product
    I took to the internet, scanning blogs, high-end furniture websites and Pinterest. After perusing techniques and finishes I finally decided to paint and distress the chest. After a trip to Lowes (where a nice man showed me everything I would need) I was ready to sand and prime. {side note: wear gloves to prime or buy paint remover.}

After prepping I stood the pieces up on four bowls to get it off the ground. Then I started to roll on my blue/gray semi gloss paint . I used a brush to get the tight corners. Once dry I realized that it was already perfect and I would be nuts to intentionally scrape and beat my shiny and fresh dresser. So there it was painted and perfect and that's how it would stay I finished the project by painting the knobs a brownish gray (remind me to only by sample size paint jars...cheap and the right amount). Once fully re-assembled I fell in love. This project turned out fantastic and was relatively easy!

Friday, January 20, 2012

The Start!

Well Hello! I have a blog, and I am learning what to do with it...
Since I practically use my Facebook as a blog I figured I should go ahead and make
 the move to blogging. I think this will be a good outlet for my photography/projects/commentary even if no one else reads it. I can't promise my spelling will be good or my grammar will always be perfect but that is so not the point of this. I also want to somewhat document the tales that I have to tell. It's good to have a place to share what's going on with me and David (the husband). So that is the start. That is the driving force for this blog and I look forward to sharing the good the bad and the (in my opinion) utterly hysterical!

...and a picture for visual interest.