Painting Furniture Lessons

Today, I am sharing some lessons I have learned about painting furniture.  I have divided these simple tips based on your ability, so even if this is the first piece of furniture you have ever painted, it will turn out great.

Beginner

• A great finished product, starts with proper preparation.  Sandpaper and a good primer are your best friends.
• Practice makes perfect.  Buy second hand furniture at garage and estate sales to refine your technique.



Estate sale globe painted with spray paint.

• Pick the right paint.  Spray paint works well for smaller pieces with lots of nooks and crannies. Latex paint is fine for larger pieces.

Intermediate

Once you have honed your skills, try some of these tips to up the ante.

• Mix your own paint colors.  I like to use leftover latex wall paint to make custom colors for furniture.
• Try different painting techniques like distressing.  Paint a base color, then a contrasting top coat.  Use sand paper to remove the top color in areas that would typically show wear like corners.
• Change up the paint finish you are using.  High gloss gives a modern look, whereas a flat finish will look primitive.

Advanced

Now you're an expert...have some fun.

• Mix your mediums.  Paint and stain are a great combination, or mix your paint colors for a contrasting look.
  
• Decorate with paint.  Try polka dots for a child's room, or stripes in the entry way.  If you don't have a steady hand, use painters tape or stencils (buy or DIY).  
• Try different types of paint like chalk or milk paint.

Vintage Puzzle Chalkboard- DIY

In honor of Earth Day, I am sharing a great reuse project.  Vintage wooden puzzles are always something I come across at estate and garage sales.  Sadly, over the years of children playing with them, they often end up missing pieces and incomplete.  Such was the case for this USA map puzzle.

Industrial Style Light Tutorial

 Industrial chic is everywhere right now, and I must admit I have a little design crush on this look.  It is such a perfect mix of new and old, rustic and modern.  Today I am turning a salvaged metal cage into an industrial style pendant light.  Let me show you how.

This project began when I found an old and very dirty metal cage at a flea market.  I brought it home for $1 and knew it was the perfect starting point for a new light, after some cleaning of course! Also necessary to this project is a light cord (I usually buy mine from IKEA) and a vintage style light bulb.  The bulb was the most expensive supply. You can typically find them at any hardware store for around $10.

This particular cage opened to accommodate changing the light bulb, but I did need to find a way to keep it closed the rest of the time.  I used a simple fine gauge wire and threaded it through the two openings.  You will want to use a wire that is easy to bend.

Next, screw the light bulb into the cord, and insert the light cord and light bulb into the cage.  Use the wire to tighten the cage around the threaded end of the cord.  Once it is secure, cut off the excess wire.  Be sure to turn the pointy end of the wire under, so there are no sharp edges exposed.

And there you have it....a great vintage looking industrial pendant light.

The only thing left to do, is to find the perfect spot to hang it in your home.  I think I could cuddle up with a good book right here!

Changing Out a Light: Tips

 Updating a light fixture is a home improvement project that you can easily do yourself.  In less than an hour, you can replace an old, boring light with something great.  There are many tutorials and videos out there to tell you step by step how to change out a light.  In fact, the instructions that came with my new fixture were excellent.  I just wanted to share a few tips, I have learned along the way.

Trophy Talk

At an estate sale last weekend I picked up two small trophies.  This sale was a bit odd, and I was sure that I was going to leave empty handed.

Another DIY Art Project

I have another great art project to share with you today.  It is quick, cheap, and sentimental...all my favorite things about a DIY art project.

Quilting

When a friend has a great idea, to collect meaningful pieces of fabric and put them together in a quilt for our mama-friend-to-be, you say yes!  Even when the question is can you take all this fabric and put it together into a quilt.

Banjo Light Tutorial

Today I want to share how a broken banjo became a light.  Even if you don't have a broken banjo or a broken stringed instrument of any kind, you can basically turn anything into a light.  Hopefully this will inspire you to look at everything as a possible lamp!

Making a Banjo Light

After this banjo broke (so sad, right?), I removed the strings.  Be careful when discarding strings.  I always put mine into an empty cereal box to make sure my pets don't find them.  

Four screws hold the back of the banjo on, also called the resonator.  Once this is removed you have easy access to the inside of the banjo.

I removed the neck, as this was the broken part of my instrument, by loosening the nut and washer.  You could always leave this part intact though. 

Two holes are needed.  One that is big enough to accommodate the hanging bulb, and one for the ribbon hanger.

Slide the cord through the larger hole and screw on the bulb.   Use a low wattage bulb.  I also like a cord that has an on/off switch.  These can be purchased at a hardware store for about $5.

To make a hanger, form a loop from ribbon or twine.  Insert the loop into the smaller hole and tie a nut  to the ribbon (see photo above).  I recycled the nut that was holding the banjo neck in place.  This will prevent the ribbon from pulling through the hole once the banjo is hanging.  Make sure to use the proper hardware when hanging this light...it is heavy.  And of course, do not leave this light on if you are not home.  Depending on the bulb used, it could get hot. So it is best not to leave it unattended. 

Thanks for reading!!

DIY Chalkboard: Pinterest Challenge

I'm excited to be participating in Young House Love's Pinterest Challenge.  My "pinspiration" was this sweet little chalkboard made by Mark Montano.

Stool Upcycle: Refinishing Tips

I finally finished a small scale furniture refinishing project, and I am excited to share it with you.  I had been looking for a child sized chair or stool for awhile, and was excited when I spotted this one at a garage sale for $2.00.  The finish was in poor condition, but I knew I was going to change that anyway. While I have painted furniture in the past, this is my first try at distressing.  Here are a few things I learned along the way.

Steady as It Grows

Just wanted to give ya'll a little update on the garden.  It is growing like crazy! Here is a record of what is growing well, and the areas for improvement.

Best Feet Forward

I wanted to share a quick little, free project that I finished over the weekend.  It was such an easy craft, with leftover supplies I already had around the house.  It started with four wooden knobs that were replaced during this Ikea hack.  I sprayed the knobs with some high gloss blue spray paint, that was leftover from previous projects. 

Pincushion Tutorial

At a recent yard sale in my neighborhood, I came across a box of 6 mason jars for $1.  I find mason jars hard to resist.  I always buy mason jars when I see them, because they are so versatile.  I use them for storing craft supplies, in the pantry for dry goods, and they also make great drinking glasses!  As if you needed another reason to hoard the mason jar, I give you the Mason Jar Pincushion.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Planting a garden is one of the tasks that is quintessentially Spring.  I'm not really a gardener, but I do like having fresh veggies and herbs at the ready.  The soil quality in my area isn't great, so a raised bed is the ideal solution.  I bought a pre-fab raised 4x4 bed kit at the hardware store for about $30.  It is made of cedar, and is easy to assemble and move to the ideal spot.

After removing the existing grass,  I filled the bed with three bags of organic garden soil.

Last year my garden became a favorite spot for the neighborhood cats to come and "visit."  So this year I used some garden fencing and metal stakes to protect my crop.

A mixture of seeds and established plants is the best combination for me to start the garden.  I like to buy the herbs from the garden center so I can start using them right away.  Most of the veggies grow pretty well from seeds.  This also helps keep the cost of your garden down, as seed packets are often a fraction of the price of the plant.

This year the garden consists of mint, rosemary, basil, corn, cucumber, beans, radishes, carrots, beets and lettuce.  I have had good luck with all of these herbs in the past and many of the vegetables.  This is my first try with lettuce, so I will certainly keep you updated as it progresses.

I am certainly not an expert, in fact I often have trouble keeping my house plants alive.  However, I'm sure there are some garden experts out there, so I will leave the comments open.  Feel free to share your best gardening tips and tricks.

Happy growing!

Word Art- DIY Tutorial

Typography, word art, and subway art is a trend that I am glad to see is popular right now, because it is really easy to DIY!  I needed a large piece of art for above the couch in the family room, and of course I was on a budget.  So I was excited to try my hand at creating some word art of my own.

Batten Up!

I have been reading about board and batten, and pinning all the great DIY tutorials for awhile now.  My extra bedroom, which at the moment houses the ironing board and paper shredder (well there are actually two paper shredders, I keep breaking them by shredding too many piece of paper at once :)), needed some architectural detail.  It is a very boxy room, with one small window.   At some point, this room will probably be an additional guest room.  It seems that many of our guests are used to sleeping in a larger bed than the double bed that is in the current guest room.  So having an extra sleeping space, even if it is an upgraded air mattress would be ideal.  But back to the board and batten...the room needed some interest, and a focal point.  Board and batten was the perfect touch, on trend but still a classic wall treatment.  And my father-in-law, who is very handy, was in town visiting.  Sounds like the perfect time for a house project!

Art Update

I like to keep things fresh and interesting at my house by changing out art and accessories from time to time.  I recently acquired a great concert poster from one of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers.  I have attended a handful of shows in the past, but was never able to buy one of the limited edition posters.  Well this time I was early enough to procure #81 of 100 posters printed.

Backyard Before and After

After almost four years living in the same house, I feel like most of my original DIY projects are done.  It is kinda sad, because I love me some DIY.  But also you have to feel a sense of accomplishment.  One of the final projects on the list was the backyard.  It was finally finished last summer, and I never shared the results with you all.  I thought you might enjoy a little summer inspiration in February.

The previous owners had installed a wooden deck right outside of the backdoor.

Christmas (Fortune) Cookies

In an effort to be honest, I must admit that I spent the weekend after Thanksgiving watching The Real Housewives and pinning things on Pinterest!  I did this all guilt-free....as I deserved it after all that cooking and entertaining.  While on Pinterest, I was searching for some cute ornaments that I could DIY.  I found this awesome fortune cookie ornament tutorial created by Alissa on the blog 24-7-365.  Now I am not going to do another tutorial, because frankly I couldn't do a better job than Alissa did.  However, I will tell you the shortcuts I took.

The Missing Piece

Thanks for taking a little break from food prepping and table setting to catch up!  I wanted to share a quick little art update that I made this weekend to my picture collage wall.  You can read about creating the wall here.  I had bought 2 wooden state puzzle pieces at one of my favorite vintage stores, just because they were so sentimental and sweet.  See I grew-up in Illinois, and got married in Indiana.  So when I saw these little guys, I had to have them.