To Paint or Not to Paint?

This wire basket is one of my thrift shop finds and one of my props for my first craft show.  The basket looks fresh and new, thanks to the new coat of white paint.  I used Rustoleum Semi-Gloss White spray paint to cover it.


I’m still torn on what I should do with this piece.  I was thinking of trying chalk paint on the chest.  But I’ll think I’ll leave it the way it is for now.  Ideas?




As Always,

Make Your Own Serving Tray Tower

In my last post, I showed you some of the thrift store finds I bought.  With some of the thrift store items I wanted to make a serving tray tower to display my items for my first craft show.


Here is what I used:






Here is my plan:


First, I needed to spray paint the trays and candle stick.  Since the trays were in rough shape and the candle sticks were brass, I didn’t have a problem painting them white.  I have always disliked brass finishes.  I also find it easier to paint items if I haven’t owned the item for years and I’m not emotionally attached to it.  Since these were thrift store finds, I had a clean conscience painting them.


I just used 2 coats of Rustoleum spray paint in semi-gloss white to paint the trays and candle sticks.  I painted the bottoms first and when everything was fully dry, I turned it over to paint the top.


It was a little tricky to find the center of the trays so the finished piece would not be lopsided.

Originally, I used my hot glue gun to glue the trays to the candle stick.  But of course on the way to setup for my first craft show, the top tray came off and I had to re-glue it with Gorilla Super Glue.   But everything is holding up well now.




Loves it!

As Always,
Sandra

My First Chalk Painting Experience

A while ago, I got my order of Annie Sloan chalk paint in ‘old white’.  I was impatiently waiting for my mail to arrive and I was a little taken back when it showed up on my doorstep in a dinted can, but thankfully no leaks.


I’ve never worked with chalk paint before and I was excited to give it a try.


My first test piece to experiment on was a small crate wooden crate I got from the dollar store.  I bought this little guy a couple years ago and never painted it.  I figured if it turns out that the paint is awful (although I knew it wouldn’t be), I would not have damaged something I was really in love with or expensive.  But I’m a pretty cautious person, so I took baby steps.


The next item I had plans to paint was the plant pot for my huge and creepy looking Yucca plant.  We have had that plant for years.  The poor thing has seen better days.  If you look at the plant from a different angle you can see that it leans extensively and it has hardly any leaves at the back.  So it stays in the corner of the room and is doing quite well in our new house in its spot.

The brown/terracotta colored plant pot fit in with the decor at the old house, but it seemed to stick out like a sore thumb in this house.  Time for a change.


So I got to work and first tried my hand at the small dollar store wooden crate that usually lives on our kitchen table and holds our paper napkins.  I wasn’t sure what to expect with the chalk paint but it is very easy to work with and covers very well.  I wanted to see how the paint would hold up on different surfaces and decided to try a plastic plant pot that was passed down from my mom and was in rough shape.

I made a little work table out of a flattened diaper box placed on top of a Superstore green grocery tub.  Yep, you can laugh, I know I did.  But it actually worked pretty well.  Normally, I would paint in the garage but my husband was doing some work in there.  Plus, I had no idea how I was going to move that huge Yucca plant pot to the garage to paint.  So…


I stuck the huge and heavy pot on an old towel/rag and painted it right there in the living room.


I gave all the items 2 coats of paint using my new Annie Sloan paint brush.


I have never spent this much money on a paint brush before.  But it is very well made and very comfortable to hold, well worth the money.

The final step is to seal and protect the painted surfaces with wax.  Never having worked with a wax before I didn’t know what to expect.

Even this poor little can got a dint.




Luckily, the clear wax was easy to apply and using the brush worked really well especially because my projects had little groves and corners to work in.  After applying a light layer with the brush I buffed the wax off with a soft painter's rag.


All the projects turned out really well for me and are holding up nicely.  It has been a few months since I have painted the items and even the plastic plant pot from my mom is in great shape.  I was a little skeptical, but so far so good.

Before

After

The white plant pot looks so much better compared to the terracotta color.



My husband thinks I’m going to get sick of white, since I’m painting and adding white everywhere in our new house.  I can’t see it happening.  The good thing about white is I can easily add a pop of color and it will totally change the area and give it a new look.  When I’m bored or want a change, I can just change the pop of color.  Much easier than changing more expensive and staple items when I get tired of a color.

I can’t wait to try painting with this color again!  Have you used chalk paint before?

As Always,
Sandra

Sprucing Up Register Covers

I’m sure many homes have this same problem…

Dirty and rusty register covers.  We have a forced air system to heat and cool our house.  As a result, we have register covers in all of the rooms in the upper levels.  After a while, register covers get dirty and can even start to rust.  The register cover in our main bathroom was looking pretty gross with rust.




Here is what you can do to make your register covers look better without spending lots of cash to replace them.  Give spray paint a try.  I used Rustoleum Semi-Gloss in White (costs about $10 for a large bottle, which would be enough to cover multiple register covers).

First, wipe the covers clean with a wet paper towel or rag.  You don’t need to clean them super well, try to get most of the dust off if nothing else.  Make sure the register covers are completely dry before you start spray painting.

I took my register covers outside on a large piece of cardboard (a flattened diaper box actually).  I also wear gloves so I don’t get spray paint all over my hands.  I’m a pretty messy painter!

Start by turning over the register cover so the underside is facing up.  Give it a few quick light coats of spray paint to avoid runs.  My cover was pretty rusty so I made sure to coat it well.  Let it dry.  I brought my cardboard with the register covers into the garage for the night.

The next day, I took them outside again and turned them over and spray painted the other side (the side you normally see).  I coated mine well with light coats to avoid drips and runs.  Again, I brought them in the garage to dry for the night.  Depending on your climate, the covers may dry faster or slower.  If they are tacky to the touch, give them more time before turning them over to finish painting.


This register cover is for our bathroom but I gave it a try in our dining room to see the difference once the register cover is in the floor. Since our bathroom does not have any natural light, pictures hard to take in there, so I decided to show you how it looks in the dining room instead.

Here is the Before…


And the After…


So much cleaner.  Do you have any quick ideas for spray paint to save money and give something a new clean look?

As Always,
Sandra

Painting our New Home

Our new house was really, REALLY dusty (sorry previous owners).



So we got in cleaners to help us out.  I’ve never hired cleaners before, but I would definitely hire them again.  We hired cleaners to clean the kitchen cabinets, wash the walls downstairs, clean the light fixtures, clean the carpets and tile and wash the windows.  Basically, the whole house got a spring cleaning.  And it needed it.  There was no way I would have had time to clean this new house, finish packing and still watch the kids.  Not to mention, the painters were still painting right up until we moved our first box and piece of furniture in on Saturday, May 25th.

We hired painters to paint the main floor including the bedrooms and the bonus room above the garage.  The house had oak trim and beige walls and a dark ceiling.  The previous paint colors were General Paint’s Tequila (8672W) for the walls, Muddy River (8674M) for the ceiling border and fan blades and Wooden Oar (8675D) for the textured ceiling.



Our new house was built in the year 2000 and needed to be repainted badly.  The walls were full of nail holes and scuffs.  I didn’t mind the colors they originally chose but I wanted to brighten the place up.  So together, my husband and I chose a white and gray color scheme.  The ceilings were painted white and the walls were painted Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.

We originally used Gray Owl in our old house in the upstairs bathroom.  For our new house, I wanted a paint color that would be good in all rooms on the main level including the bedrooms and baths.  I also wanted a color that would go well with our stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and also with the oak kitchen cabinets.  We may decide to paint the kitchen cabinets white in the future.  Before we moved in, we just didn’t have enough time to paint the cabinets and it would be fairly expensive to complete.  Right now, I feel I can live with the original oak cabinets being unpainted because all the oak trim was painted white instead.

Yep, I said it… ‘all the trim was painted white’.  I know many people will be mad/sad that we decided to paint the oak trim.  I felt the oak trim was overwhelming and distracting.  I wanted to freshen up our new house and make it look more modern.  The oak trim was painted Oxford White by Benjamin Moore.

I’m very happy with our decision to paint the trim, ceiling and the walls.  The fresh coat of paint makes the new house feel more like ours now.

We did paint the garage on our own.  Originally, I believe the walls and ceiling in the garage were the same color as the walls in the rest of the house.  We used 2 coats of Benjamin Moore’s semi-gloss in white (straight from the can white, no tinting) to repaint the walls and ceiling.  We didn’t worry about patching any nail holes, since it is only a garage.  But we did take the time to clean the walls with a TSP solution, thanks to my paint store expert.


Personally I’ve never heard of TSP, but I’m also not a professional painter.  I just asked Wikipedia and here is a little info: ‘Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is a cleaning agent, lubricant, food additive, stain remover and degreaser. It is a white, granular or crystalline solid, highly soluble in water producing an alkaline solution.  TSP is still in common use for the cleaning, degreasing and deglossing of walls prior to painting. TSP breaks the gloss of oil based paints and opens the pores of latex based paint providing a surface better suited for the adhesion of the subsequent layer.’   Who knew, not me.  It definitely works because we only used it on the walls and not on the ceiling and I noticed a difference on how the paint adheres.

Our garage is so much better and brighter!  Now we can actually see in there! In the pic below I just cut in with the paint around the door.  BIG difference…


We haven't painted anything in the basement.  Likely, that will wait for at least 6 months.  We have plenty of other things to complete around here.  Like… unpacking the minefield of boxes littering our basement.

As Always,
Sandra

I'm closing comments for this post due to numerous spam comments.  If you would like to comment or ask a question, please contact me at sandrapaul@live.ca.  Thanks!

Downstairs Paint Color…

Here is our new paint color for downstairs….

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White.  Such a huge difference from the light green paint we had before.  So much brighter!  In the end, we decided to paint the bedrooms, living area and bathroom with this new color.

Our basement renovations are almost complete.  Early November the sewage backup happened and we have been working hard to get the basement completed so we can finally use the space again.

Right now we are cleaning up the mess and I hope to post pics of our new basement soon.

As Always,
Sandra

House Tour 2012: Kids' Rooms

Little Boys' Rooms

The boys' rooms are the two doors on the right.  My older son's bedroom is at the far end of the hallway...

After

Just for giggles, here is a before pic of the hallway from the opposite direction...

Before

Our home's previous owners loved their peach paint!

Blue and Orange Bedroom

When we were deciding paint colors, we wanted bright colors.  We also wanted colors that would work with the room for a few years.  We decided on Behr's Sapphire Lace (S-G-570) and Volcanic Blast (S-G-210):

Choosing a combo of white, blue and orange... here is how it turned out... (I was sure to choose and orange that would not be to peachy!)

Using Frog Tape we almost completely eliminated paint bleed on our painted stripes.  Well worth the extra money!  We did have a little paint bleed, but it was from not adhering the tape properly to the in all places on the wall.

Source

I made an alphabet picture for the wall, as my son loves letters!  I printed out the letters on card stock paper.  Next, I cut them out and stuck them to blue wrapping paper using double sided tape and framed them in an IKEA frame.

An old dresser we got years ago from a garage sale, got a few coats of the same blue as the walls and we added new hardware to update it.  The other wood dresser needs an update, and is still on the "To Do" list.

Orange Bedroom

My younger son's room is a lighter shade of orange...

Pittsburgh Paints Candied Yam 123-6

 

I love this shade of orange, it is bright but not over powering.  The orange gives the room a warm feeling and it is easy to match other colors to this shade of orange.

We decided on an animal/zoo theme for this room.  Gender neutral, we used this room and theme for both of our boys before we knew we were having a boy or a girl.

Our oldest son had this room first, and it was pretty much decorated the same way when he was in it.  When we were pregnant with our second child, we moved our oldest son into the room down the hall.  This way we could have the gender neutral animal theme room for our new baby.  Not to mention, this room is a few foot steps closer to the master bedroom, which makes getting up in the middle of the night with the new baby a little easier.

The changing table is second hand, given to us by family.  The table works wonderfully in this room.  I store diapers in a basket on the shelf so they are easily reached.  Extra blankets and sheets for the crib are in the drawers at the bottom. 

The Ikea striped lamp on top of the change table adds a punch of color to the room.  The lamp also worked really well when the boys needed a diaper change in the middle of the night when they were younger.  The light has a dimmer switch so the amount of light could easily be adjusted.



This white clock is originally supposed to have family and personal photos placed in the photo holders.  Instead, I found images from the web that fit the zoo/animal theme in the room and printed them on photo paper.  Next, I cut out the animals and stuck them to white paper which would fit in the photo holders around the clock.  To hold the animals to the paper, I used double sided tape.  I seem to use double sided tape for everything!!!

The IKEA PAX closet is great because inside there are 6 pull out drawers.  Perfect for storing and sorting all the baby clothes.

What colors or themes have you used to decorate your child's room?

As Always,
Sandra