Hello, Spray Paint, My Old Friend

I {love} watching someone's expression when you tell them you are planning to spray paint. Mainly because it's the same face I would have made about a year or two ago. The first blog post I ever read about spray painting furniture left me in complete disbelief - jaw dropped, arms crossed. It just couldn't be that simple...could it?

But project after project, I'm amazed at how ridiculously easy (and quick!) it is to transform just about anything with spray paint.

Above is the lovely I purchased for $2 at a thrift store. I walked in looking for a fluted or scalloped dish of some kind for my kitchen and this fit the bill perfectly. Except for one thing...it had to be white.

See, these are the colors I used to decorate with...all autumn colors. Had I had this little yellow dish a few years ago, it would have been perfect. But since we moved and I painted my kitchen a super bright fun green, I've been sticking with white accesories and a few earthy neutrals.

But for $2, I knew it was a great spray paint candidate. Until this project, I had never spray painted ceramics or pottery. I started early this morning before the heat and humidity could take over and laughed out loud when I read the back of the can that said to only use it when temps are below 95 and humidity is less than 85%. That would mean pretty much never in Texas.

But one thing is for sure when spray painting. Bugs will always find the wet paint...

Despite the bug glitch, the project turned out exactly as I'd hoped. The spray paint went on smoothly, dried quickly and didn't leave streaks (imagine how many brush strokes there would have been had I used regular paint?!).

I used a semi-gloss because it is what I had on hand, but in the future I'll remember to use high-gloss for ceramic pieces to keep the original sheen look.

Perfect.

**It goes without saying, but dishes that are spray painted probably aren't food-safe. Check your labels!**

What have you spray painted lately?

Linking to:

Fresh Coat Fridays >

Garage Sale Vanity to TV Console

Oh, sad little garage sale desk. I found it with a $15 sticker on it and offered the seller $10. She gladly took it. I think even she knew that I was going to have my hands full refinishing this one.
It had been passed down through her family, serving alternately as a vanity and desk. When I opened the drawers to check it out they were crammed full of papers, crayons and all things little girl. It was filthy, but in relatively good shape. I just knew I could make it pretty.

Once I started working on it, I really wondered if I hadn't bitten off more than I wanted to chew...

There was wood glue that was well past its prime, scrapes, scuffs and marks everywhere.

Even alphabet stickers.

The drawers weren't in awesome shape, but they were an easy fix. Especially since they won't be opened and closed every day.

I wiped the entire thing down with wet rags. You wouldn't believe the amount of dirt and cobwebs I cleaned off. {OK, my husband cleaned off the cobwebs...}

Then I sanded it down with a power sander. It was my first time to use one, and I must say it makes a world of difference. I don't know that I'll ever go back...

After I wiped it down again and let it dry, I primed with Kilz spray primer, and added two coats of leftover white paint we had in the garage. And voila...

The knobs came from Hobby Lobby's half-price sale. They were $13 total and totally worth it. I think they really made the piece.

Right now, the computer and Xbox/DVD player sit on top, but I'm cookin' up a strategy to hide them underneath. And those cords are going into hiding ASAP.

Remember my blue chair? I still love her.

I originally envisioned this piece in my entryway but I don't think it's going anywhere.

After all that work, my totals are... $10 for the vanity, $4 for primer, the paint was leftover and free, and the knobs were $13.

Total: $27! Not too bad!

Doesn't it give you the garage sale-ing itch?!

Linking to:

Kojo Designs Fresh Coat Fridays

Sad Clearance Tray to Magazine Rack

Our magazine situation is out of control. Not that we buy a lot of magazines, it's just that the ones we do get tend to grow and reproduce when they live in our bathroom. The way our master bath is laid out, the toilet is in its own little room (think closet). It's nice, but because of that, there's really no room for anything else. So the three magazines that turned into 15 (not kidding) were really bugging us.

So I started dreaming up ways to decrease the magazine clutter because eliminating it all together just wasn't going to happen. I knew a wall-mount magazine rack was what we needed but I refused to pay full-price for a pre-made one...so you know what happens next...
I started looking for a cheap serving tray that I could turn into my own version of a magazine rack. Then I ran across this price tag the other day at one of my favorite decor dives. To be honest, I'm such a tightwad that I really didn't want to pay more than $3...but this tray was sturdy and well made and $6 isn't too crazy. Plus, those magazines had to go!

The before. First I primed it with Kilz spray paint and then gave it a good coat of Rustoleum's Heirloom White spray paint.

I did feel a little better knowing I had clearance paint at home to use on the project. 50 cents for paint!! I'm not an impulse buyer, but it's difficult to keep me from the "oops paint" section of Home Depot.

I didn't have any paint brushes small enough for the job I wanted to do so I swiped one from an old make up kit I had tucked away. A nice Merle Norman angled brush. I know, I know. Look away...

I picked out my stencil online and first tried tracing onto wax paper with the intention of cutting it out...but then soon realized that there was no way I could cut those rounded edges well. If you like this stencil you can find it here.

(I really do know how to trace...those black streaks were to show me where I had already traced...haha)

So then I remembered a tutorial I had seen from Infarrantly Creative where she used pencil to transfer stencil to a painted surface. See her really great idea and step-by-step here.

I followed her steps and the pencil transferred the stencil perfectly and quickly!

Then I just filled it all in using my oops paint and make up brush. After it was finished it still needed "something" so I added some fleurs using another (real) stencil I had on hand.

The tray was cute now, but it wasn't going to hold magazines to the wall very well as is. So using some wood glue, I added some leftover moulding we had in the garage to the front of the tray and let it dry overnight.

The finished product. The arrow is showing you the moulding in the background...that's the project that gave me some leftover moulding to work with. It's our breakfast room chair rail that is a work-in-progress.

And I'm not showing it to you mounted because, well, you don't want to see my toilet. But here she is hard at work holding the two publications you will always find in my house: the BIBLE and Texas Monthly.

The only thing I purchased was the tray for $6.80. Everything else - paint, primer, wood glue, moulding - I had on hand. Not too bad for a fun and easy project that will really help us organize a small space!

I'm linking to:

CSI Project (sorry girls, couldn't get the button to load)

Saturday Sneak Peek

It's Saturday, so you know where I've been.

I shouldn't have gone. I'm sick. And it's raining. But I just had to make one quick garage sale run. And boy am I glad I did.

I picked up two new projects and I'm looking forward to a healthy rain-free weekend to get a jump on them. Until then, here's a little sneak peek of one of the before's.

And just to show how well I married...I was about to head out the door and my husband stopped me, asked me if I needed any cash and pointed me towards his wallet. Be still my little beating heart.

From Retro to Hello!

One of our dear friends gave us this orange rocking chair a few years ago. They were cleaning out a storage building unit and let us come rummage through before everything went to Goodwill or the dump. I was barely pregnant at the time (so barely that we hadn't told a soul) and in the back of my mind I thought, Oh, I could put this in the nursery!

It lived in our office for a few months. I got more and more pregnant. I would look at it, rock in it, and dream about our baby-on-the-way.

Then we babysat one of our friend's babies.

Not only did this puppy squeak to high heaven, it also "travelled" as you rocked. All things I hadn't noticed until I was trying to rock a fussy baby to sleep.

I knew that she was well-built and had so much potential so I couldn't just throw her away. But I knew for sure that I was going to be that mom who ordered the bland but quiet, stationary glider rocker. You do what you gotta do.

So I prettied her up using the same technique and tools I used to beautify my Lots of Potential Chair. Then I sweet talked my mom into helping me reupholster the cushions. $14 later, she was better than ever and she sold within an hour at a local baby consignment sale.

I'm really starting to love the glazed look but haven't attempted it yet. Have any of you tried your hand at glazing yet? I'd love some pointers!

Linking to:

Rosette Lamp Redo

So I was walking around one of my favorite home decor dives and saw these beauties:

I stopped in my tracks. Love, love, love them! Then I looked at the price tag: $60! That made me stop in my tracks again. NO way am I paying that for a lamp. It just ain't happenin'. So I went on my merry way until one day I ran across this bad boy at Marshalls.

Yep, the price tag says 70 cents!!...the price was right for me to dive into a new lamp project. If it didn't turn out lovely as all get out, then all I'd lost was 70 cents and some leftover fabric, right? Just in case you've got the urge to revamp one of your sad little lamp shades (we've all got 'em, sister), here's a tutorial of what I did...not necessarily the right way.

I hot glued the fabric to the underside of the lamp edges. I didn't want trim or fringe or any of that nonsense so I had to hide it on the underside. If you are trimming the lamp, you could leave unfinished edges. Lots of fabric bulk at the ends - you'll trim it later.

Now it looks like this: smooth and sleek. I had to use two layers because the tweed on the original shade was showing through. I folded under the edge that showed where the fabric meets on the back of the lamp shade, but I might go back and use some bias tape or something similar to hide the fold a little. If it stays in the back though, no worries. No one will see it!

I cut about 1" strips out of the muslin. (This is all leftovers and cheap!)

Then I sat down in my favorite craft chair. Remember when I made her beautiful?

To start each strip, I folded it into thirds and folded the end under, securing it with hot glue. Like this:

You may want to omit this step. I was inconsistent and didn't do it throughout the entire project. But I will say that it made it easier to keep the frayed, cut edges of the fabric from poking out everywhere. It's up to you. Fold the entire strip of fabric into thirds and smear the tiniest of hot glue every few inches to keep the fold secure.

Then pick a spot and get started! I put a good dollop of hot glue on my folded under edge of fabric and held it firmly in place for a few long seconds. I didn't want everything to fall apart half way through.

To make the rosettes, I literally just wound the fabric around and around itself, placing glue underneath the edges every so often. It's no science.

Then place more wherever you'd like.

I have waited to post this because I wanted to find just the right thrift store lamp base for it...but I couldn't hold on to this project any longer. It was just too easy and it's already gotten so many compliments from friends, that I wanted to share it! So, here's my dirty little secret...

I just set the new shade on top of an old one (it doesn't fit this base) so you guys could see it and so it could be shown off until I find its permanent home.

Not too shabby for 70 cents and a little bit of hot glue, right?

I made two sides because I couldn't decide which design I liked better. You'll have to let me know which one you prefer:

Side 1:

Side 2: Thanks also to Show and Tell for a little design inspiration!

I'm linking to:

Trash to Treasure

A SOFT PLACE TO LAND (Sorry, Kimba! Couldn't get your button to load)