Free Paint Project

***Disclaimer-This post was originally started in June of 2012. I only recently finished getting all of the after pictures and putting all of the finishing touches on this post. Last summer when I had my third child and started working on my master's degree I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I have had to learn to say no to additional commitments, loosen some of my expectations on myself regarding housekeeping and manage extra hours away from home to take classes and finish school work while working full time and being the primary caretaker for my family. While the past year has been very challenging, it has also been amazing! I am so proud of all that I have accomplished and feel so empowered that I can do anything I put my mind to. With three years left until I finish my degree, I still have a long road ahead of me, but know that all the struggles will be worth it when I finally become a school counselor.***

When I saw the commercials advertising a free quart of Clark and Kensington paint from True Value, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. The paint giveaway occured on a day that I was in Dubuque visiting my family, so I begged my mom to go with me. When we arrived the gentleman at the paint counter told me that the free paint was an interior flat paint and that they only had dark base left. Though I wanted a gloss or semi-gloss, the flat would work. And I wanted black, so the dark base was perfect. They mixed me up a quart of their color "Ace of Spades" and I was on my way. Since moving into our home almost three years ago, I have wanted to paint the buffet and hutch in our dining room. I bought the buffet at Goodwill several years ago for around $40 and loved it. Unfortunately when we moved the buffet did not fare very well and wound up scratched and a little worse for the wear. Being as the buffet is made of particle board and not solid wood, it looked more shabby than chic.

I took the buffet apart and gave it a light sanding so that the paint would have something to stick to. Then gave it two light coats of paint and finished it off with a coat of poly. We also added a new back to give the buffet a little more stability. After putting it back together I could not stop starring at what looked like a brand new piece of furniture. Even my husband, who was a bit skeptical, could not believe how good it looked!

After the buffet turned out so well, I could not wait to get started on the hutch. I purchased the hutch off of Craigslist for around $100 after moving into our house.

The hardware was a bit dated and it was also a little worse for the wear, but two coats of paint and a coat of poly made her look brand new again! I also removed the decorative brass, choosing only to keep the hardware necessary to open the doors.

Though I love the look of both pieces, I decided during the process that refinishing furniture is not for me! While painting the furniture I had the contents of both cabinets scattered all over my dining room and kitchen, making cooking and cleaning very difficult. The amount of time required to refinish the cabinets was also difficult for me as I have very little patience. I had difficulty waiting the appropriate amount of time to let the paint set well before doing another coat. Though the cabinets look great, I can notice some imperfections in the paint job, such as places that did not get even coverage or places where the paint had not fully dried before I tried adding another coat. I used a foam brush to add the poly to the hutch and wish that I would have waited to purchase another brush. I feel that the foam brush left more visible marks and lines in the poly. Finally, there was a lot of hardware with the cabinet and I wish that I would have separated the hardware to lessen the headaches I had with putting it back together! I learned a lot for the next time that I attempt to refinish something, but I think that it will be a long time before I decide to do something like this again!

Wood, glass and vinly pumpkins, Oh my!

I may be going a little overboard with the pumpkins for fall, but I can't help it! I recently updated my pumpkin topiary with a little bit of greenery from the Dollar Store and I absolutely love it!

Then I found this little wood napkin holder at Goodwill for only $2.38.

I had my ceramic pumpkin and a fall table runner on the table before I found this little guy and it was a pain to take them on and off the table every time we ate.
The napkin holder is perfect because it allows me some decoration on the table, but it is practical because I do not have to take a ton of stuff off of the table every time we use it!
Next up are my glass pumpkins, which I made last year and never showed off. I originally saw these in Family Fun magazine and followed the tutorial to make my own. When researching to find the original article, I happened upon this blog that gives a good tutorial using crepe paper instead of tissue paper.

Basically, you cut tissue paper into strips and then modge podge it to the outside of a glass jar. I had some random Ball jars, orange tissue paper and black construction paper on hand and whipped these up in about an hour. I love the glow they give off with a tea light!

The magazine article also pictured a Frankenstein using green tissue paper, but you could do so many different things, like candy corn, a witch, or even a ghost. So fun and cute! This would be a great project to get the kids involved in as well.
Finally, while cleaning out my mom's garage this past weekend, I happened to find some white dryer duct. My mom told me to toss it, but I walked past the trash can to my car. My family thought that I was nuts to want to keep it, but they knew that I would have something up my sleeve! I saw these adorable pumpkins that Allison at House of Hepworths made out of aluminum dryer duct and spray painted orange. The dryer duct that I had was white vinyl. I love the look of white pumpkins, so I decided to make one first and spray paint it later if I did not like the white. I decided to use materials that I had on hand, so I cut a toilet paper roll in half and rolled it up to make the stem. Then I tied some green gift ribbon around the stem and curled it using my scissors. Finally, I hot glued a leaf (leftover from my topiary project) to the top.


I had enough dryer duct to make 4 pumpkins, though one was kind of short and I burned my fingers trying to pull the two ends together. It was totally worth it! I love the look of the white pumpkins, but I especially love that this whole project cost me absolutely nothing!
I am linking this post to Allison's Hooking up with HOH party.
What fall decorations have you made lately? I would love to hear about them!

More Architectural Art

Over the summer I worked on expanding my letter library for architectural art. I do plan on trying to sell some pieces as soon as I have a variety of letters to choose from. I found that the best way to build up my library was to make architectural art for friends and family members. This allows me to see how the pieces will look and also to practice on technique and see what my actual cost will be.
My mom requested one after I gave my sister the first one that I made in our family gift exchange last Christmas. It only took me nine months, but I finally finished one for her:

Next, I made one for my brother and sister-in-law who are celebrating their 1 year anniversary.

My mother-in-law requested one after I gifted one to my brother and sister-in-law for their recent wedding. I did not want to use the exact same letters, so I came up with a plan to use architectural letter photos from their favorite vacation spot, Pensacola, FL. While on vacation there in March I captured most of the letters that I needed, and filled in with photos of letters that I took near our home on the river:

Finally, Randy and I had a Couples Shower this past weekend. I knew that I wanted to make an architectural art piece for them because it is so unique and personal.

All of the recipients loved their personalized piece, but not as much as I enjoyed making and gifting them!

Start of a gallery wall

I recently moved a family photo from our living room to the basement stairwell and thought that it looked too sparse. What better way to beef it up then to make it into a gallery wall. I have seen several gallery walls on blogs that I read and really like the look of them. I went to Goodwill looking for a few cheap frames to use in my gallery wall. I scored two large oval frames and an 8x10 square frame for $2.38 each. Immediately when I saw the oval frames, I thought of silhouettes, which I have also seen on several blogs.

I spray painted my frames silver to match the existing frame on my gallery wall. Then I took these silhouette pictures of my son and daughter.

I got my son while he was playing with his trains. I love how his mouth is slightly open.

Because I wanted to put my daughter's hair into a ponytail, it was more of a struggle to get her to cooperate. She was not very happy with me!
After printing the pictures at home on my computer, I simply cut away the background leaving only the silhouette. I traced the silhouette onto black scrapbook paper and cut it out. I also cut a piece of white scrapbook paper to fit over the frame back. I attached the white paper to the frame back and then attached the black silhouette approximately in the middle. After cleaning the glass, I reassembled the frames and admired my little cuties.

I proudly showed my husband my newest creation and his first thoughts were, "My grandma had some of those at her house. I never thought they were that cool."
Despite my husband's lack of enthusiasm, I love my silhouettes! I added them to my gallery wall, which I can now officially call a gallery wall because there is more than one photo on it, and I love it!

I plan to add to it as I find frames. I would also like to add some vinyl monograms or quotes. Finally, I envision moulding like Decor Chick's to beef up our small hand railing. I can see it all finished in my head and I love it!

Architectural Art

What do you see in this picture?

And this one?

And this one?

Did you see the letters A, N and W?

My cousin recently received a frame with architectural letters spelling her last name. Upon seeing it, I knew that it would be the perfect gift for my sister for Christmas. I immediately began searching online and found that it would cost at least $150 to purchase one, which was way over our limit of $20. I was disappointed, but began to wonder if it were something that I could reproduce. I took some inspiration from the webpages I viewed when researching "Architectural Letters" and walked/drove around town snapping pictures of anything that looked like a letter when viewed closely.

After uploading the pictures to my computer, I cropped and edited them. I then ordered copies of the pictures. I could have made copies of them on my own computer, but just included them in a large photo order I was already making.

I went to Goodwill and picked up these large frames for $2.88 apiece.
I also purchased a piece of foam board for $2.99. I removed the contents of the frames and cut a piece of foam board to fit. I then arranged the photos for her last name on the foam board to get a feel for the spacing. Once I figured out the appropriate spacing, I stuck the pictures in place using double sided tape and a level to make sure that the pictures were straight. Finally, I spray painted the frames black to go with her decor before finally putting it all together.

I also made one for myself:

On this one for myself, I cut some of the letters thinner than others, keeping the height and spacing uniform. The one for my sister was uniform in height, width and spacing. I changed the width on the letters for my name because of limited space with a longer name and also to crop out some of the background which I was unable to crop using the stores tools for editing. I think that both methods worked well and looked nice.
Since my family only just celebrated Christmas today, I was really getting antsy to give my sister her gift and see her reaction, but it was totally worth the wait!

It was just the reaction I was hoping for, she loved it! Actually all of my family members loved it. They loved it so much that my mom and 2 sisters-in-law were asking me to make them one as well! I guess I know what to give them for upcoming birthdays or anniversaries!

I am linking to Thrifty Decor Chick's January Before and After Party.

I am also Hooking Up with Allison at House of Hepworths.

Finally, I am linking to Debbie from Debbiedoos Newbie Party here.

Chalkboard

I recently purchased this chalkboard at my local Goodwill for $2.50.


I had been looking for a chalkboard or something that I could make into a chalkboard to cover a hole from a large built in intercom/stereo in my kitchen. When we first moved in the stero was a dark brown. At some point, I hung newspapers and covered everything with drop cloths in order to spray paint the stereo white in hopes to make it blend into the wall more. Painting the stereo white did help to make it less noticeable, but because we have an undercabinet radio and the intercom was not functioning on the unit, there was no reason to keep it.

I knew that I should have taken a picture of it before I unhooked the stereo, but in my haste to remove the ugly intercom and hang up my great find, I totally forgot! This picture shows a similiar unit that used to be in our master bedroom.

Right after removing the stereo/intercom, I hung my new chalkboard. My husband walked through the kitchen as I finished hanging it and said, "That's great, but what are you going to do when it is not Christmas?" (referring to the snowy scene that was modge podged to the chalkboard. I shook my head that hubby does not know me better than that and explained to him that I would be removing the Christmasy picture and replacing it with something that would better match the decor in my kitchen. I immediately peeled off the Christmas picture using a kitchen scraper and my nails. Once it was a clean slate I dug through my scrapbook stash for some apple paper that I adore. I cut it to size and modge podged it in place using a cotton makeup applicator since I did not have any brushes handy. The applicator left some strings behind, which I just picked out before going over everything once more with a fresh applicator. I left the chalkboard hanging right on the wall to dry.

Now I just need to purchase some chalk!

Dining Room

Hunter green carpet! That was all I saw when we first walked through the dining room of our current house. Though it was in pristine condition, it was still hunter green! Can you say, "The 90's called and wanted their carpet back!" I know that hunter green and cranberry was a popular combination in the 90's because those were the colors of my teenage bedroom! Needless to say it was hard to look past the carpet to see the beautiful wood railing, nice fireplace and built in desk area. This is what the room looked like after we moved in in October 2009.



In January 2010, we hired a contractor to rip out the carpet and put new laminate wood flooring in the dining room. He also put in a new tile hearth on our fireplace. I am willing to tackle lots of home improvement projects, but definitely did not want to undertake such a large project by myself, especially since we had our son's first birthday party in less than a few weeks. He ripped out all of the flooring and started installing the new laminate the same day. Within a week, we had all of the furniture back in place.



I believe that the room has a bit of an old world, country style. Here is a breakdown of the elements of the room: The window treatments were another bargain find at JCPenney's. I got 2 of the panels for $1 each. I hung them on top of an existing cornice box, but I needed one more to fill in the gap in the middle. I went to every JCPenney's within a 50 mile radius and could not find another one to match. My wonderful husband stopped at a Penney's on a business trip and found out that they were clearanced because of a mistake in which the company used different dye lots. Fortunately we found one that matched for just $25.
We added a hutch which we found on craigslist for $100. I filled it with all of my fruit themed teapots from my sisters bridal shower which were all found at Goodwill for dollars a piece. The buffet was also a Goodwill find for $40.

I would still like to put some coordinating glass tile around the fireplace and possibly paint the surround. I have also been contemplating adding some crown moulding. Finally, I have wondered whether I should paint the hutch and the buffet black to match, possibly leaving the tops as they are to match the dining table. I'm not necessarily the matchy matchy type, but both pieces of furniture are a little worse for the wear and could use a facelift. What do you think, paint the buffet and hutch to match my table, leave as they are or paint them another coordinating color?

Personal Shopper

My sister recently moved into a home that she and her husband had built. The house has lots of potential and she is looking to decorate it on a budget. One area in particular is calling out for something- a large cutout/shelf in the living room wall. We did some shopping while they were still building the house and she told me that she would like to get some large jute vases to put in this cubby. We found some at Kohl's that were $30 to $50 each, definitely out of the price range. I have told her that we could look for some large glass vases to cover in jute ourselves, like The Thrifty Decor Chick, but my sister is a little scared of do-it-yourself projects. Well, recently I went to Goodwill to drop off some of my husband's clothes that he was no longer using. While I was there, I decided to go in and browse. I looked through the kids clothes on my way to the home decor. I was just browsing the shelves when a jute vase about 3-4 feet tall caught my eye at the end of the aisle. I grabbed it up without even looking at the price knowing that it was perfect. When I did look at the price tag, the $10.38 seemed kind of high for Goodwill, but I knew it was still too good a deal to pass up. I wanted to suprise her with it when I went to visit this weekend, but I was too excited to keep the secret for more than a few hours. I can't wait to take it to her this weekend and see how good it looks in her house! Just call me a personal shopper, if I know of something that you are looking for for your house, I will be looking for it while doing my shopping just as if it were for my own house!