Chalk Paint Refinishes

    Over the summer, while visiting my sister-in-law, I was introduced to the art of chalk paint refinishes.  My sister-in-law had done several pieces in her home and they were simply gorgeous!  She walked my through the steps and encouraged me to give it a try.  We visited a shop there that specializes in refinishing furniture for people and selling pieces.  The cost difference in purchasing a finished product and finishing your own is at least 4X's less DIY.  It is a little time consuming, but definitely worth every minute.

   My oldest son had this small dresser that was my husband's when he was a kid.  My son liked it but asked if we could paint it blue.  We found the perfect color at the shop in Colorado and purchased the other supplies needed.

The items you'll need are:

• Chalk Paint (Annie Sloan is the brand we used.  It is about $40 a quart, but it goes a long way.  There are also several tutorials on making your own if you google it, but I haven't tried this so can't give any tips!)
• Light or Dark soft wax (depends on the finish you are wanting.  You can purchase a dark Finishing Wax from Home Depot or Lowe's for about $10.00.  The light wax can be found from any Annie Sloan distributors.)

         

• A large stippling brush
• Regular size paint brush
• Small paint brush
• Cheese cloth
• Acrylic Paint
• Petroleum Jelly
• Fine sand paper
• Something to refinish

Here is the dresser my son wanted to have painted blue.  It has nice markings on the drawers and lots of scratches and dings to give it lots of character.

1.  Remove all of the hardware.

2.  This next step can just be skipped if you like the wood color and that is the color you want exposed.  If you would like a lighter or darker choose an acrylic paint to suit your taste.  Use a smaller paint brush to apply the acrylic paint to anywhere you think you might want to expose off after the chalk paint is applied.  Good places would be the edges, gouges and scratches, and carvings.  Remember, just because you put the acrylic paint there, it doesn't mean you will be exposing all of it, only some will come through with the sanding.  You will want to apply 2-3 coats of the acrylic paint to make sure it is covered well enough.

3.  After you have all of the acrylic paint on, use the petroleum jelly and apply a layer on each area you want exposed.  You don't want this very think but thick enough that it will allow the chalk  paint to come off.  If you put it on too thick, it will strip much more of the chalk paint than you want off. 

4.  Apply a layer of the chalk paint.  Let the paint dry and then apply a second coat.  Let it set for about 12-24 hours.

5.  Once the paint is completely dry, use your sand paper to remove some of the paint distressing it a bit.  You will be able to see glossy areas where the vaseline areas are.  Focus the sand paper on these to show the color underneath.  Expose as much or as little as you like, just don't make it uniform.

6.  Once everything is exposed you want, use your stippling brush to apply the soft wax back and forth over the painted areas until everything is covered.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes then use about 12 inches of the cheese cloth to rub the wax until smooth.  Apply a second coat of the wax and repeat with the cheese cloth.

7.  Reapply the hardware and display proudly.

~Stacy~

Homemade Home Decoration

   I have been receiving the "All You" magazine this year and it has some really good ideas for home decorations.  This one caught my eye because I am in need of some balls to go in a decorative metal bowl on my sofa table.  I have been looking for a while for something I like and finally found these!  The lady who made them had said she likes to recycle things into things for her home if she can.  This idea she formed from cereal boxes.  Super cute!  We go through cereal boxes a lot in our family so I decided to try it.

   For this project you will need an empty cereal, acrylic paint, and the normal size gold or silver paper brackets.

1.  Cut your cereal boxes into 8 strips 3/4" inches thick, by 10" long.  (Do this times how many balls you want to make.  My large cereal box made 3).  I also made one 8" long so I could have a variety of sized balls.

2.  Lay the strips out (preferably on something plastic) so you can paint them.  Use a sponge brush (or small paint brush) and put 2 coats on both sides.  (I used a cardboard box for round 1 and found the strips stick to the box and you'll have to repaint them several times).  You could also choose a spray paint color and spray the strips.

3.  After they are all dried, poke a hole in both ends of all 8 pieces so you can attach them with the silver brackets.  On 2 of them, also poke a hole in the middle too.

4.  Place one of the strips with 3 holes on the bottom, add 2 more of the 2 hole strips, another 3 hole strip, followed by 2 more strips.  Match up the holes of one end and put one of the brackets through the holes with the bracket points facing the inside.  Once you have the bracket in, separate the segments evenly.

5.  Take another bracket, also facing in, and gather the 6 strips in, lining the holes up onto the bracket forming a circle.

6.  Take the remaining 2 strips and another bracket, line the 2 ends and the middle hole of one of the strips and place the bracket through.

7.  Circle the 2 strips around to the other side and line up those holes with the remaining middle hole strip.  Place the final bracket through.

8.  Display proudly!

Hope you like these cute decorations!

~Stacy~

Cheap House Updates

    We are doing some changes in our house I wanted to share.  These are easy things that can be done by anyone, on any budget!  These things can make all the difference in the world too!  The first one I have done is our powder bathroom downstairs.  I was a nice beige color, but it was painted in the builders grade flat paint.  I HATE flat paint! 

 

 

This only took me about 4 hours total and 2 coats of paint.  I used a semi-gloss paint in here because it is the main bathroom my little boys use (enough said I hope) and our friends use when they come to play.  This will make it easy to wipe walls and keep clean.  I did use Benjamin Moore paint at Ace Hardware for about $30.00, but I also really like the Walmart brand paint which is only about $17.00!  I guess I should probably tell  you all the color of the paint too, just in case you love it too!  It is "Bourbon" from Lowe's 'Autumn Harvests of the Appalachians' collection.  Now, I can't guarantee it is still there.  I have honestly had this swatch taped to my bathroom wall for almost 4 years.  I don't know what I was waiting for!!!!

 

 

 

Another one I am currently working on is re-staining our fence.  We have one of those cedar fences that most of the people I have seen in the south just let weather and turn gray.  I am not a fan of that.  I feel if you are going to spend the $2-4,000 on the fence, you should keep it maintained by staining it.  For around $90.00 and about a days work of labor, you can do that.  I have always used the McCloskey brand of stain before and used a $15.00 sprayer, but this time around I was not able to find that brand of stain ANYWHERE!  I ended up having to use the 'Flood' brand.  It looks like paint so don't be alarmed like I was when I opened it up.  I am using a small roller because it would not work in the sprayer, but the roller is working very well!  The stain is going on beautiful too. 

 

                          

The section in the middle is what the fence looked like before I started staining!  Down the side and to the right are the color after.  What a difference, huh!  (Can you see the neighbors grey fence?  They have not ever stained their fence and they had theirs put in several months after ours.  I stained ours originally about 3 months after we were in the house and this is only the second time I will have done it, so you can see how well it has been protected).

 

So, I finally finished staining the fence today!  It has taken me a little longer than a day!  but, can you see the difference between my fence and the neighbors?  Do you see why I say spending $90.00 is worth it to keep your fence looking nice?  Fences like this will cost anywhere from $2,000-$4,000 depending on the size of it, so why would you want to let it just weather and turn grey?    Anyhow, I will get a better and closer picture once my husband has mowed the lawn!  Ha, ha!



 

    Do you have any walls that look like this behind the door?

 



What about even worse, like this?

 

We do have doorstops on all of our doors, however, the doorknobs are still banging into the walls creating lovely little, or large dings and holes in the wall.  So here is what you do:

 

For a small one, you can get soft doorstops.  Walmart has packs of 2 for just $2.97.  Get a small container of putty, which will probably be enough to fill all of the dings in your home.  Again, you can get one for about $3.97.  Fill in the hole with the putty and let it dry.  Repaint over it so the soft doorstop will stick.  Once it is all dry, hold the soft doorstop equal to the doorknob and slowly push it to the wall until you get it pushed on tight.

Here is the final product.  Works like a charm and you shouldn't end up with a giant hole!

 

The larger hole will take a little more effort.  You will need to get a wall hole repair kit.  You can purchase this from anywhere that sells home supplies- Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Walmart, etc.  It costs about $10.00.  Here is what you'll do from there:

 

1.  Once you have your kit, sand down any rough edges around the hole.  Then attach the repair metal square, sticky side to the wall, over the hole as centered as you can.

2.  Apply a generous helping of plaster/putty over the top of the metal sheet.  You may have to let it dry as I did and do a second coat of it.

3.  After your 1st or 2nd coat is dried and you do not see the mesh plate or any sign it was there anymore, sand down the putty until it is smooth.  Wipe off the area and the wall area around it and paint over it.  Then you are able to follow the same steps as the smaller hole to apply the soft doorstop.



 

~Stacy~