Spray Paint & Fun Days

So I had some big plans for my off days this week that involved lots and lots of paint. But as it turns out, this weather is just too good and my hubby has the day off work. So we decided to spend the day with our new little guy Brady.

We adopted him recently from the local Humane Society and he is the best little guy. So we’re gonna go roam around in the Bronco, play at the park and just generally enjoy a rare day off together. Life’s just too short, ya know? So I just have a quick before and after to share this week. I’ll get to the big stuff next week. 

Before 

After

This is why I love spray paint! And painters tape. Have a beautiful weekend!

My Must-Haves for a Cozy Fall Porch

It’s finally my favorite time of year. Fall is here! There is just something about fall  that feels like renewal. I don’t know if it’s just the break from the smothering humidity we get in the south, but I feel like I can breath again. With that feeling comes along the need for change. And the need for salted caramel lattes from Starbucks. Oh. My. Word. Have you ever had one of those things? Forget the pumpkin bring me the salted caramel.

Anyway, since we like to spend time on the porch, especially this time of year, I decided to give it a fresh new look and share my “must-haves” for a cozy fall porch.

1. A seat big enough for two. A bench is perfect for a porch. They’re typically small but still big enough for two. I painted this one with three coats of plain old white paint that had been sitting in the basement for-ever. I used this to paint it. 

This thing is where it’s at! It’s the Graco Spray Station 1900. My brother-in-law gave me this for Christmas and I will be forever grateful. It would have taken days to paint all those slats by hand.

2.Pillows! Pillows are really a must-have in any situation though, right? I made all of these (except for the sequin pillow and the large brown and white pillow) from leftover fabric remnants and an old shower curtain.

3. A cozy throw. Perfect to curl up in on a chilly night while reading a good book. I picked this one up at TJ Maxx. It’s soooo soft.

4. A tray. You have to have a spot for your coffee or hot chocolate. Or wine. ;) I made this tray from an old picture frame and pretty wrapping paper.

5. Pumpkins! Is there anything more fall than pumpkins? I could go crazy painting and decorating pumpkins but I limited myself to just two. I spray painted these then blinged them out a little. I added a monogram to the black one using nail trim. For the white one I spray painted the backs of some iron-on leaves and hot glued them to the pumpkin.

So do you think I missed anything? So looking forward to hanging out on the porch as the nights get cooler! Happy Fall Ya’ll!!

Linking up at some great blogs this week. Hop over and check them out! Liz Marie Blog / A Stylish Interior / The Shabby Nest / Start at Home / Suburbs Mama / DIY Showoff / Rain on a Tin Roof / The Blissful Bee / The DIY Dreamer / Simply Designing with Ashley / One Project Closer

Bedroom Makeover: A Much Needed Change

Hey y’all! Hope you’re all having a great week. Mine has been a little rough. We had to say goodbye to our sweet little Lola. She was our furry baby and it was devastating to have to let her go. But I won’t dwell on that. I just want to say that we are so thankful to have been blessed with her in our lives and we SO appreciate all the kind words and prayers from everyone.

Anyway, I had been planning to give our bedroom a much needed freshening up and after what happened this week it seemed like the perfect time to just get in there and get it done. It was a GREAT distraction. There are still a few more things I want to do, like paint a white wall, add some artwork, and add a new light fixture and some accessories. But I did get a lot done and now it feels fresh and crisp. Exactly what we needed. 

Check out these before pictures.

This is what I’ve done so far. 

• Painted the bamboo chair in white and gold. Covered the seat cushion in a grey/white greek key fabric. 
• Reupholstered the headboard in a bright white fabric and added a nailhead trim. I used a table cloth from Target. 
• Replaced the wooden storage bench with an upholstered ottoman. 
• Pulled the white duvet cover from the guest room and kept the Nate Berkus indigo pillow shams. (If you’ve been following for a while then you know I was determined to use some of that indigo blue bedding). 
• Added one of my DIY Gold Painted Pillows along with some other new and old toss pillows. 
• Added a new rug from Garden Ridge. 
• Hung a set of mirrors above the bed. I found those at Target. I was trying to create the illusion of a taller headboard. 

I totally believe that if you make your home a happier place you’ll be a happier person. That was pretty much the goal this week, to make our home a happy place to be.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a beautiful weekend!

Linking up to some fab linky parties this week.

Liz Marie Blog

If It’s Not Baroque

The Shabby Nest

Suburbs Mama

DIY Showoff

Rain on a Tin Roof

Homecoming

The Blissful Bee

A Stylish Interior

Coral Chest: My Obession Continues

As my obsession with coral gets totally out of control I find myself wanting to use more of it in every room.  I am totally obsessed with coral. I found this chest at a thrift store and it was in great condition. It’s the perfect size for the guest room and it has a decent amount of storage space. It was screaming to be painted coral.

This is the before.

Once I got it home and started painting it I was pretty surprised to find this.

It’s from Pier One! I’ve never bought any furniture from Pier 1 and this piece is the real deal. It’s actual wood.

I painted this piece starburst orange which is a Benjamin Moore color but I used a combination of Valspar and Glidden paints.

Since I wanted to use the original ring pulls WITHOUT the plates behind them I had to make an adjustment. I used Plastic Wood to fill in the holes that had been drilled to hold the plates. Plastic Wood is perfect for this kind of job because it can be painted or stained.  Once it was sanded and painted there was zero evidence of the outer holes.

I spray painted the pulls with metallic gold spray paint by Ace Hardware.

Then I used Rub-n-Buff in gold leaf to paint these weird little accents.

Much better.

It’s perfect next to my little chair with the DIY spot fabric.

I finally have a little extra storage for my clothes which means it doesn’t constantly look like a clothes bomb exploded in here. So are you obsessing over anything lately? I would love to know I’m not the only one!

I’m linking up this week at the following AMAZING blogs.

Liz Marie Blog

Miss Mustard Seed

Suburbs Mama

Finding Fabulous

DIY Showoff

Give Me the Goods Monday at Rain on a Tin Roof

A Stroll Thru Life

The Blissful Bee

Domestically Speaking

Not Just a Housewife

Start at Home

 

I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

Here I go changing my mind again. I just CAN’T decide what I’m doing about our bedroom.

I was going for something like this.

decor pad

So I painted the room Bittersweet Chocolate.

But then I found this bedding.

Nate Berkus

I fell in love with it and was thinking I wanted to mix it with some pretty yellows but that just wouldn’t work with the Bittersweet Chocolate.

Plus I’m still not over my obsession with coral-y pinks. So I put this together on Olioboard.

I love this paint color called Storm but I really don’t want to paint again. I know, I’m all over the place. So my dilemma: Do I work with the Bittersweet Chocolate or paint the room? Again.

Am I Crazy? Reupholstered Dining Chairs

White upholstery is scary. Granted we don’t have any children. Well, not human ones but we do have three furry ones and they love to sit on the dining chairs. And of course by sit I mean wallow. Plus there is also the whole food thing and my clumsy factor.  Well, white is what I really wanted on these chairs so I went for it. Life’s too short to worry about it. Plus, they’re just chair seats. Right?

This (below) is what I originally covered the seats with. I loved it at first, but got tired of it pretty quickly. Then, when I moved the dining furniture into another room the fabric REALLY didn’t work. So when I found some white fabric on super clearance at Hancock Fabrics I jumped on it.

I removed the old fabric with scissors, a screwdriver and pliers. Then, before I cut the fabric I measured the width and length of the seat to determine how much fabric each seat would need.  You basically just measure the width and length then add about six inches to each side.

Then I ironed the fabric and started stapling. I hate using the staple gun. I’m always afraid I’ll point it in the wrong direction and lose an eye.

Keep in mind when you go around the corners you have to kind of pull and gather the fabric so it pleats and you don’t get any wrinkles that show on the top.

Then I cut all the excess fabric off. This is when you cover the bottom of the seat with another piece of fabric so everything is nice and tidy. Yeah, haven’t done that yet. In fact I’ve only recovered one chair so far, which is why the whole table isn’t pictured.

I think the white fabric looks so much better with everything else going on in this room.

Pretty soon I will have this table and chairs totally finished. You can see what it used to look like here.

So do you think I made the right choice?  Do you use white upholstery in your dining room?

I need to know these things :)

Happy Weekend!!

Pinterest Adventures: Dog Beds

I’ve been using Pinterest a lot lately. There are so many beautiful pictures and great ideas to be found! Sometimes I pin things and sometimes I don’t, even if I love it. I try to pin things only if it’s something I know I want to try or if it inspires me in a major way. Many things I have pinned and forgotten about but there are many things that I have actually tried. A lot of them have been successful and some others not so much. Anyway, I thought I would share some of my Pinterest adventures here.

Anyone that knows me well knows about Lola. With itty bitty legs, she’s unable to hop up on onto anything so she spends a lot of time on the floor when we aren’t home.  So I’m always on the lookout for cute dog beds that she can hang out in rather than the hardwood floor. Imagine my excitement when I found this tutorial on Pinterest  on how to turn an old side table into a four- post dog bed!

The original source is lucydesignsonline.com.

This is the table I used to make the bed.

Well actually, I used one that looks just like this. We had two of them. This one is still a nightstand.

I took the top shelf off and painted it with a sample of paint I already had. Then I sewed the cushion for the bed using leftover fabric from the headboard in our bedroom. All that was left was to sew some cute little pillows using fabric scraps.

A free custom dog bed. This is why I love Pinterest!

So do you use the things you pin? Show them off! Post a link in the comments below. Come on, you know you want to.

Guest Room Update

So I’ve been trying to get our guest room under control for a while. Not that we  have overnight guests that often but you know,  just in case. It’s really just a room where I keep my clothes and there happens to be a bed in there.  So it’s a guest room/my (totally messy unorganized) closet. It pretty much always looks like a clothes-bomb exploded in there.  Anyway, I wanted to put a pretty dresser in this room since I needed some storage and when I came across this one at a thrift store I knew it was perfect and I knew I wanted it to be white.

I started by applying two coats of primer. Then I applied  two coats of a creamy white semi-gloss. After that I dry-brushed one coat of a flat bright white, just to take away a little bit of the shine and to give it  a little dimension.

Then I painted the hardware with the pewter Rub n Buff I got for Christmas from my sweet husband.

I had never used Rub n Buff before but have always heard great things about it. Turns out they are all true. This stuff is awesome! It was so easy. I just applied it with my fingers then let it dry for a couple of hours.

This is what it looked like when I bought it.

And this is what that corner of the room used to look like.

The mirrors hanging above the dresser are all from yard sales. I spray painted the black one and the square silver one.

I would love to have a huge wall of  vintage mirrors one day. You know, like something you would see in Elle Decor or House Beautiful. These will have to do for now.

 Now that I have the dresser wrapped up I have some other ideas for this room. Like making a headboard, organizing the closet, maybe a chest of drawers……

Be back soon!

DIY Abstract Art

I have always loved abstract paintings. The problem is every time I find one I just can’t make the commitment to buy it. I’m not saying they aren’t worth what they cost I’m just saying I’m a girl on a budget.  Well I remembered that I had some old canvases from a (failed) diy project.

I also had some black paint. So I decided to make my own artwork. I used this piece from Little Green Notebook as my inspiration.

I had to cover up the hot mess that I made before so I started by applying primer. I applied the primer with a roller then went over it with a wide paint brush in quick back and forth strokes. This gave it a “grittiness” that added a nice texture. I had to do this three times to fully cover the old paint.

Then, I took another wide paint brush and painted black messy lines in a similar patter to my inspiration piece. Next,  I took a smaller paint brush and added a little grey paint. I tried to randomly “muddle” it into the center to make it look a little messier.

 I put it in the living room near my new coral door but I’m going to be changing up that area pretty soon.

So I moved it to the kitchen. It turns out that is the PERFECT place for it.

Have you ever painted any abstract art? I would love to see it!!

Coastal Inspirations

So we are back from a week at the beach but I still have beach livin’ on my mind. The sounds, the scents, the colors, oh how I love all that beachy goodness. Everything about being at the beach is so inspiring. I used to dream of living in a home that was straight out of Coastal Living.

Well my taste has changed a little since then but I still LOVE all things coastal. So I brought back a few things that would add a little coastal charm to our home.

Seashells! (of course)

One morning as I was walking I found a couple of these awesome shells. Are these capiz shells? (If anyone knows please comment below). And why have I never noticed these before? I thought if I could find enough of these they would look really cool in some sort of glass dish or jar in the dining room. Still haven’t finished the dining room but that’s another story.

Next, I found these!

The colors and shapes of these have a great coastal feel and they are perfect for collecting small things like jewelry, keys, and makeup brushes. The best part is that they were only $1.00 each! I found them at this cute little thrift store near the beach. They had SO MANY things I loved and lots of great furniture, such as …

THIS!

I found this little chair sitting outside the thrift store just waiting for me. I’m a sucker for anything wicker, cane, or bamboo. Hello gorgeous! The chair and cushion are both in great shape and it’s actually really comfortable it just needs some paint and new fabric. I can’t wait to get started on this I just have to decide what I want to do with it..so many possibilities!!

So, after a week of relaxation, great food, and much needed time spent with my little family I’m feeling thankful, inspired,  and ready to tackle some projects.

So long summer…..