I really should be sleeping....: Paint

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Some Sneak Peaks at what I've been working on lately.....

A dining table and chair set for the shop. My biz partner here did the table while I tackled the chairs.

Re-doing the older girls room which includes paint, bedding, curtains, blankets and possible new furniture...

A Union Jack buffet (inspiration from Miss Mustard Seed) for the shop.

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As you can see....its been a bit busy around here. Plus summer is in full swing. It seems that our summer is busier than the school year, if that's possible. Will put up more picture and tutorials soon...I hope!

Painted Chevron Dresser {Tutorial}

What's a girl to do when her hubs leaves for a week and takes one of four children AND its spring break?

Well, I painted.

A lot!

All winter this lovely thing has been sitting in my garage begging to be painted. We had a little warm weather and I had some free time, so I got busy.

My first step was to locate all my supplies. After a long winter, it took awhile. Turns out I'm not so great at cleaning brushes. I'm the wrap-and-put-it-in-the-fridge/freezer-because-I'm-going-to-use-it-again-soon type of gal. Then I run out of time and forget.

Don't do this.

Clean your brushed as soon as your project is done. This way, when you finally get some time....you won't be looking EVERYWHERE for your brushes and can't find one....cuz they are all frozen in time with paint...and you have to resort to a small roller.

Supplies:

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White and Duck Egg Blue

Brush (not a roller! :)

Sanding Block

Painters Tape

Tape Measure and Pencil

New Knobs (optional)

I LOVE ASCP because there is no priming involved. You just remove knobs (if applicable), clean your piece and starting rolling.....er, I mean painting. In this case, using a roller happened to be a blessing in disguise. This dresser has a wonderful texture and rolling preserved it.

Can you see it?

After two coats of paint, I let her dry as I went inside to fix three remaining children lunch, and put one down for a nap.

Then I tried on the new knobs I had chosen.

Total sidebar....I took my girls on a little errand to Hobby Lobby to pick out knobs...what a fiasco. There were way too many choices! I couldn't make a decision and my barely three year old was "helping" (no sense of design yet). I ended up walking out NOT purchasing anything because I was so overwhelmed and stressed out with three kids in a store that has a lot of breakable items. (Remember...hubs was out of town, so I HAD to take them with me.) Went back the next day with a clear head and walked out with these wonderful 50% off glass knobs.

Measuring and taping off the chevron was the next step. First decide how fat or thin to paint them. I wanted mine more on the fatter side for two reasons. First...I think it looks better...less busy. Second....completely selfish...less taping! :)

I marked off the top and bottom points of the pattern and equally spaced them across and down the dresser. Then started taping...point to point, up. Point to point, down. Make sure you tape the outside of the stripes you want to paint, which means inside the ones you don't want to paint. (Which is why the taping looks uneven.)

I also took a razor and "cut" the tape above and below each of the drawers since I kept the pattern "framed" inside the dresser edges. (Picture is out of order, but wanted to show the tape on the drawer supports.)

Before I pulled the drawers out and started painting, I marked a tiny "X" on the spaces I was supposed to paint. Just to make sure I did the right ones. Then painted the drawers first, then the supports (see above.)

Ahhh....not bad for a day's work.

The next next is distressing a bit, so I went at it with my handy dandy block sander. I hit some spots heavily and the also gave the front and all over light sand to soften the edges of the chevron.

Finally, a coat of AS clear wax, brushed on and buffed off.

Adding the glass knobs was the finishing touch!

I'm so happy that you can still see the crackly texture.

I wish these were the colors of my house, because I love this one. Unless the hubs lets me redo the entire first floor....this won't fit in. :( Oh well, it will go up for sale as soon as the shop is finished with its remodel in a couple of weeks.

What a difference a little paint makes!

Soon I'll show you everything else I painted over spring break....

Oh...and its for sale here.

Framed Magnetic Chalkboard {tutorial}

This project has been 18 months in process, maybe longer. It started one day ~~drooling over the~~ looking through the pottery barn magazine when I found something similar to this....

...and being the DIYer that I am I thought....I can make that! So I approached dear hubs with it and he begged and begged and begged me (well, not really that much) to JUST BUY IT ALREADY. (I think its was like $150+ before shipping. Hmm....hubs telling me to buy something at Pottery Barn and I'm actually have to think about it? (It's a sickness, really....icanmakethatitis.)

So, after careful consideration, I actually bought it. Yep. I hit "add to cart" and then "checkout" and then I waited and waited and received the email that said it was on back order for 5 weeks and then waited and waited and waited and received another email that it was on back order for 8 weeks and then waited and waiting and then finally....

I got the email that said it was discontinued and my card was not charged.

This is the world telling me that its ok to want to make things, right???

So I did. And I love it!

Here's what you need to make your own:

Backer board (MDF, plywood, whatever) cut to size

Sheet metal, cut to size

Metal primer

Chalkboard paint

Baseboard or trim moulding

Paint

Finishing nails and glue

Here's how ya do it:

First go buy your backer board. (Then let it sit in the garage for a few months because its like 115 degrees all summer and too hot for hubs to work outside, plus he won't let me use the circular saw....which I don't get because I use the compound miter and jig saws just fine, plus the drill and nailer, and I drive his 4 children around in a car all day which is much more dangerous.)

It would probably just be easier for the store to cut it for you then you can skip over step 1b.

Or you can just wait until your BIL comes to town so he can cut it for you.

Mine is 4' x 5' (yes its big!)

Call a sheet metal place and have them cut you a piece of sheet metal slightly smaller than your board. (I live in small town USA, so I'm sure your city/town will have a sheet metal place.) I ordered mine to be 45"x57" to give me an extra 1 1/2" border all around (you'll see why later).

Adhere your sheet metal to your backer board using heavy duty construction adhesive. (Pardon the picture taken at night with my cell phone.)

Using an automotive primer, prime the sheet metal in a well ventilated area. Its kinda stinky. I did two coats.

On your next free day(s), paint it with your chalkboard paint. If two coats are good, three are even better. I knew this was going to be a permanent fixture in our kitchen and with four small kiddos in the house I thought it safe to ensure its longevity with more coats of paint.

Here's the part where I can't find pictures. My children have been playing with my phone lately and I'm thinking they might have "accidentally" deleted the pics of the trim etc. so I will try to explain thoroughly.

Measure and cut your baseboard trim to size. I mitered my corners and dry fit it first with clamps, to make sure it fit. Measure twice, cut once, right? Then I painted them before I attached them. I was not about to create an extra step of having to tape off the chalkboard and risk the paint pulling up with the tape.

Using the same construction adhesive you used to attach the sheet metal, draw a line of glue on the wood border, place your trim down and then clamp. I used a finish nailer to nail in place. I made sure I put my nails towards the outer edge (where you can see the wood in the above picture). This is why you want your sheet metal cut smaller than your backer board.

Then fill and paint any holes and the mitered corners. Here's a shot before I filled the corners.

I decided that I didn't want to wait for the hubs to return from his business trip so carried it into the house myself. Wow is this sucker heavy! It sat like this for a few days because I didn't have the heavy duty hanging hardware I needed.

I found the right hardware for the weight and then hung it....once again by myself.

I wish I had a nice pretty before picture with the chalkboard surface all crisp and black, but this is what happens when said children are in the house....

Here's my version....and the whole reason for the board.

Our weekly menu gets put up so there are no questions about what is for dinner....except this week....on M/Th/S/S (must get planning).

The kids weekly bible versus and "book-it" pages are on the other side...

...put up with these cute fabric button magnets (another tutorial to do.)

And its all tucked nicely in the alcove of our breakfast nook.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Plywood $15 (and I have some leftover for another upcoming project)

Sheet metal $29

Chalkboard paint (already on hand from a past project)

Baseboard $20

White paint, on hand

Nail and glue, on hand

Total cost: $64

Not a super cheap project, but it sure beats the $150+shipping for the PB one, plus mine is much bigger and the exact size I wanted.

Here was the push to finish it....I used it as a scoreboard for a friends sports (soccer) themed baby shower.

Laundry Room Paint Color

I have had a few requests for the "oops" color that I put in my laundry room. Since the paint can had the color information ripped off of it, I grabbed my handy dandy Sherwin Williams paint deck to compare colors. Since we have NO natural light in the laundry room, I compared the color both in the room and then outside in natural light. These are two colors that came the closest.

SW 6515 Leisure Blue SW 6242 Bracing Blue

Hope that helps! :)

Laundry Room Counter

Its finally done! My laundry room counter. This is a project that I have wanted to do since we moved in over 4 years ago. I knew I wanted some sort of counter over the washer and dryer, but didn't want to pay for it...so I made it myself for about $40 in lumber.

Here's the before. I had the hubs cut a sheet of MDF to use temporarily, but temporarily turned out to be a long time. Let me just say that this room is tiny! So tiny that the door from the living room into it and the door to the garage out of it almost touch when they are both open. Its really hard to get a picture of the room.

I've been looking at wood table/counter legs to use but they were too expensive. Luckily I happen to come across these beauties at the antique store where I sell my painted furniture. They were a titch dirty, but for $5 a piece...Yes. Please!

Tried them on for size to see where I needed to cut and started building.

But....since I was getting a new counter, I needed a new color on the wall first. This is an oops color that I slapped on and LOVED!

Here is the structure underneath. Screwed into the studs in the back and the legs in front. (I would love to give you more specifics of exactly how to build it, but I just kind of wung-it.) I added a couple more cross supports than are showing...just in case. I knew I wanted the farmhouse table look, so cut and dry fitted the planks, then painted the boards and built the top in the garage.

I ended up securing the two strips at the end to make the top removable and not have to worry about scraping the walls if/when I needed to remove the top. If I made it permanent, something would go wrong with the washer and we'd need to rip it apart. So...getting a little creative I made the top able to completely lift out. (Oh and last night....our washer started leaking. :)

The top is one piece, supported with boards perpendicular underneath and put together by pre-driling and screwing from the underside (does that make sense?).