Home Renovation on 'Catch-all'

So finally I got around the painting the big elephant we saw 

every time we entered our home and came up the stairs.  

There is so much varnish on all the oak in this house! 

This is a picture of what we faced when we moved in.  

Orange and green walls and browns and green in bedrooms.

The story behind doing this project is simple…this wall will not be around for long (fingers crossed).  We plan to remove this shelving unit along with the mirrored closet.  This will deepen this space and open up into the kitchen.  The header that is open to the ceiling will be removed half way up exposing the kitchen all along that big wall.  This way it will have a much more open concept, without showing all the mess in the kitchen after I cook.  If you catch it in the picture, you’ll see the ‘oak’ cupboards/storage wall (another elephant) just inside the kitchen that will also be removed.  We will replace this with proper cupboards on the other side of kitchen and add an island. 

You can't really see in these pictures, but where I painted the dark blue, there are slight imperfections in the coverage.  
Note to self again: just because Chalk Paint can be used over varnished items, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sand it.  The paint covered lovely but I should have sanded my little heart out to make it velvety smooth and then applied the coats of wax.  Because of the thick, bumpy coats of varnish, I think it affected the final look.  Oh well, it works for now, and it looks so much better.  

The next plan is to paint the gold trim around the mirror.  I’ve covered it in black duct tape and then I’ll use chalk paint to cover.  The rest of the wall will be the same as the shelving unit.

Well, time is precious and I need to finish this wall before any other big projects can start!

Bonny

A Dining Table for Two

 

Isn’t she gorgeous!

 

 

 

I just love the look of this table.

 

What started as a natural pine table turned into this soft shiny luxurious table that we’ll use as a dining table in our tiny rental home for 3 months.  Our gigantic dining table will be packed and stored for our new home in Alberta.

 

I started with a dark blue base coat of my own chalk paint mix.

Then I streaked it with Versailles chalk paint.  Wasn’t quite happy yet with the look so . . . I sanded, added more dark blue streaks, more Versailles streaks, more sanding.  THEN . . .

I knew it needed just a little something more, so I cut out a leaf stencil and painted this on ‘sloppily’ in the Versailles color.

 

Then the wax, and I ran out of clear wax so I had to use dark wax. This is what added the deep luxurious tone that absolutely love on this table.

 

That’s the fun part about taking a piece of furniture that isn’t going to break your bank account and just start playing.   Who knows what masterpiece you’ll create.

GITNO

 

In case you missed that . . .

Graphite Is The New Orange

See the post on the original ‘orange’ door here.

 

Originally I thought Orange would add the 3^rd color “splash” in our bedroom but just couldn’t love the color enough to make it work

or to add more accessories to help it work….so I changed the door and added a softer pink/orange/rose color to our bedroom.

 
  

I changed the knobs on the top from brown to blue & white.

Also changed the wooden hook plaque to match.

Then I changed out the small hooks on either side to a more

bold look and added some accent white.

 

 

 

My photos are not the greatest today. 

*that's why this photo is so small but it gives you

the whole door.

Our lighting in the bedroom is quite dim and it was too

cold outside to take photos. 

I  didn't want to ask the hubby to move the door a

round the house to find good lighting as it's a very heavy solid door.

 My time for blogging and painting will slowly fizzle out for a few months are we go thru this moving phase. 

I’m not sure what anything will look like but

hopefully I can do some things to keep sane.

Have a good day!

 

Decor in 1954

Happy 60^th Anniversary to my Mom & Dad!

 

 

MARCH, 60 years earlier and I wonder if my mom ever thought about décor when she was setting up her house when she was newly married.  I’ve never asked her what the style was in March of 1954.  I don’t ever remember her spending a lot of time changing curtains with the seasons, buying pillows or arranging flowers in a vase.  I do know she spent a lot of time sewing so I believe this was her passion.  I know she kept us girls clothed in dresses and she made blankets and aprons and I don’t remember all the things, but I remember the sewing machine was always open and there was material around it. 

Technology today sure plays a big role in showing and recording our passions.  If I could take a peek at a color photo of my mom & dad’s first home in 1954 or see a photo of mom holding a quilt she had sewn or sitting at the sewing machine, THAT would be awesome!  Then I wonder,  are we way off course today spending too much time DIYing.   There seems to be so MUCH stuff and ideas that we could get a little off course.  When I look at old family albums, I see photos of reunions and holidays all containing people.  People are what’s important and we need to remember them.  Maybe I should take more photos of my passion in décor with a live person in the shot so that it would make a better keepsake.  Can you image how much more meaningful our photos of DIY projects would be if we made sure there was a loved one captured sitting at the table we just re-finished.  I think I may concentrate on making this a goal for 2014. 

 

Now for a few pictures of my living room and the new colors for spring.

Thank You IKEA for a good start!

 

You’ll notice there aren’t any people in these photos so I’m going to try to be better at creating memories while photographing my passion for décor.

 

 

I don’t think I’m done with Spring in our home but It’s only March and we still have snow so just wait.

What colors are in your living room this Spring?

Graphite & Stain Together Forever

This is my first attempt at a two-toned furniture re-do and I really must say it turned out pretty good. I think a lot of it depends on what color you love to paint and where you leave the natural wood to show.  The combination has to work.

 

Every piece I buy has some story of course.  We sometimes visit the Thrift Store on Saturdays but this particular weekend the furniture area was pretty picked over.  Lonely stood this square table.  I loved the curvature of the legs, the lip on the top, the width that framed the top and the height.  For $12, I really couldn’t go wrong even if  I did nothing with it for years. 
That’s only 2 fancy coffees to give up really. 

BUT, for some reason we walked away.  LATER that week, I called the store because I couldn't get it out of my mind and it bugged me that I didn’t buy it.  It was still there waiting for me!  I even took my lunch hour to go get it leaving only 20 minutes for eating.  No, they are not open after 5:00.

So, in my basement I turned it around several times debated what to do.  I knew I was going to paint it Graphite but it needed a special “wow” factor.

So, here’s what I did.

 

I started to sand parts of it.  The wide border around the top and lip was sanded and prepped for stain – the same stain as our woodwork in the house. 

 

Then I sanded just the corners of the legs.  Later, I would distress the paint to reveal the natural wood and the wax would hi-lite it. 
That’s the beauty of Chalk Paint. 

 I didn’t need to sand the entire table. 

 

Now the paint.  This photo above is without any wax so it looks very dull.

Yes if you noticed I did sand and stain the lip and then painted right over it. 
WHY you ask? 

Because I wanted this affect.  A little distressing to reveal the stain beneath.

I used clear wax first to soak into the paint then dark wax to give a richer tone.  Here you see the corners soaking up the dark wax.

Eventually I think I will get a glass top just because this table is used A LOT .

Have a good week.  I’m getting onto the next project in the basement.

Home Tour - Christmas 2013

Welcome!

 

I’m not going to talk a lot about each picture, so just enjoy the simplicity I used to decorate our home this Christmas.

 

My little angels welcome you.

 

These candles are from my mom.

Maybe not something I’d have bought BUT

Since they were in their home for years,

They are important to me and I think I really like them.

 

Now for some evening twinkle.

 

I wanted more “twinkle” this year and less ornaments.

I really love the warmth of lights at night.

When candles are lit and lights shine, that’s warm and cozy to me.

 

This antler is actually my dads.  It’s not faux, it’s the real thing.

I did put a little gold paint on it for the season.

 

Another antler (unpainted)

 

 

My little angels are waving good-bye from this angle, so I guess that a good-night to you.

Thanks for dropping by.