Independence Day Fun

Here's a peek into our sun-soaked Independence Day this year!  We loved spending time with great friends and celebrating our freedom as "One Nation, Under God".

Spray Paint? Oh Yes, Please!

I might possibly be able to write a whole book on all of the things you could spray paint.  It works absolute wonders and I'm convinced that whoever invented it was inspired by God to do so.  Here are a few things I've spray painted:

Landscape Lights  (Hammered brown Rustoleum from Lowe's)

They were speckled hunter green and black...not to my fancy.  I had to completely take each one apart but it didn't take much time and they got a much-needed bath.

Exterior House Lights  (same hammered brown as above)

They were worn silver and rust was movin' in.

Our Mailbox (yes, I love the hammered brown)

You can see it's 'before' picture on this page.  It was just a little too drab for us and since our house got a fresh coat of paint, it did too.  I also have in the works to paint our monogram "T" on it and spray paint little metal numbers that will be attached to the post.

Frames (Valspar spray paint from Lowe's...super cheap at $3.50 a can!)

Read about how these came about here.

Thrift Store Bowl (Base painted with satin silver Rustoleum and bowl with Valspar's white)

This pretty little bowl used to be stained and icky, now it looks like new!  After painting it, I put a coat of polyurethane on the inside so that fruit can be placed in it without tasting like spray paint...not sure if that would happen but just wanted to make sure.  :)

Planting Pots (Valspar's Mediterranean Blue)

I got thrifty one day with these. Read about this fun project here.

Getting spray-painted white soon:  Our blinds.

I've been going back and forth about painting these.  Since we've moved from having cream trim in our house to clean white, our blinds no longer match and they just look dirty.  We thought at first that we'd just save up the $150 or so to replace them but we have so many other things that we'd rather spend that money on that they'd probably never get replaced.  So, I've decided that I'm going to try one and see how it turns out.  I mean they come in all sorts of colors from the factory so they're obviously 'paintable', right?  Well, you can be sure I'll post about that day! 

These are just some of the things I've revamped (or am about to revamp) with a can of spray paint and my little pointer finger. I've also painted ceiling vents, the hinges and pegs on all of our doors, outlet covers, vanity lights over the mirror in our bathroom, baskets, and a wrought iron bench. I've had a friend spray paint an old brass chandelier to make it look stunning and another friend fix a scratch on her bumper with some of this magnificent stuff. It seriously covers almost anything and most things without needing a coat of primer (and my pointer finger is toned to the nines)! I've found that the best way to go about spray painting something is to cover with a few thin coats, with drying time between each coat, instead of one thick coat that can start bubbling and/or dripping. Spray using smooth back-and-forth motions instead of quick, shaking movements. Also, make sure you protect yourself from fumes while you're using spray paint! Spray in a well-ventilated area and if you're outside, make sure you're spraying so that the wind is carrying the fumes and paint away from you.

Have fun and watch the transformations begin! I'd love to hear stories and see your spray-painted creations so share, share, share!

Erb Update

Thought you might like to know how my little herbs are doing so I took a snapshot of the cute little things.

We had basil a few nights ago in our tomato sauce and it was mmmm...so good!  I haven't gotten to make anything that I've needed the other herbs yet (I'm not the biggest fan of cooking) but I like to eat the chives raw...they're yummy!  The oregano is so soft and smells so good I'd just love to just stick my nose in it for an afternoon.  Most especially though, I love how the green pairs so well and looks so good with my spray-painted pots.  I'm not saying I'm a pro-gardener, but for my first time growing edible things, I'd say green is a good color for my thumb.  :)  

Next Stop...The Office/Guest Bedroom

We're moving on to the final room...the office/guest bedroom and someday to be deemed the nursery.  Here's the plan:

The Closet

 It's going to get painted white instead of remaining the grundgy, cream color that it is.  We're also going to re-organize it since it's become the place to throw odds and ends.  As for the curtains, we're not sure if we'll keep them or replace them with real doors.

The Filing Cabinet

We inherited this filing cabinet for free but it needs a little love.  It'll probably get a fresh coat of white paint and I'll make some cute labels to make organizing paperwork more fun.  :)

Window and Bed

We're going to make a long headboard that will be padded and upholstered to make this twin bed a day bed.  As for the window, I want to make curtains and maybe a roman shade to dress it up.  Then, at a later date...a.k.a. when I learn how to sew...I'm going to make a cushion for the window seat. 

The Bookshelf

Not sure yet how, but I want to either paint or find cheap, cute wallpaper to put on the back 'wall' of the bookshelf that will add a little flair.  :)

Of course, the walls and trim will be painted in the whole room.  I want to try and save a little money by using and/or combining leftover paint we already have.  Since this room will one day, God-willing, be a nursery, decorating will remain pretty basic and neutral until we can go to town with it for our little bean sprout!

Should be a fun time!  Stay tuned to watch the transformation!  

New Chairs...Or Almost New

We love finding furniture at thrift stores or garage sales for a few bucks that needs a little TLC.  Most of our furniture actually fits that bill.  We bought our dining room table right after we got married for $100 at a thrift store and recently, we went to town re-upholstering the chairs for $25!  I've found that if you really want to make things pretty with not a lot of money, you have to be really patient.  I've been looking for fabric for our dining room chairs for a few months but haven't been able to find any for cheap enough.  To re-upholster chairs you really need a fabric that's a little thicker and will hold up after repeated "sittings".  Most home decor fabric is upwards of $15 a yard and I needed around three yards to do six chairs but I didn't want to spend more than $25.

Here's what our chairs looked like before:

The fabric wasn't ugly but some of the chairs did have some small stains on them, and always with used furniture, who knows what the chairs have been through.

One lucky day however, I found some fabric that had caught my eye a few times in JoAnn Fabrics on the clearance table!  I paid $5 a yard for it!  To keep it clean I picked up some stain-guard spray from Wal-Mart and sprayed each piece of fabric before placing it on the chairs.  With Anthony helping me, it took us about 10 minutes to make "new chairs". 
Here are the steps we used:
1.  Remove all old fabric and also make sure all old staples are gone.
2.  Wrap new fabric around seat making sure it's on straight - most important
     if you're going with a geometric pattern.  Our chairs are roughly 21" x 17" and
     we wanted 2" of "left-over" fabric around the back to make sure there was enough
     room for staples so we used a half-yard of fabric per chair.  (One yard of home
     decor fabric usually measures 36" x 54" so we cut them into pieces measuring
     36" x 27".)
3.  Staple about 1 inch or so in from fabric ends (so that fabric doesn't rip) starting
     with the middle of two sides .
4.  Staple the middle of the other two sides and then staple corners (corners will look
     bunchy from the underside of the seat, just make sure they aren't from the top).
5.  Place staples every inch or so to make sure fabric is nice and secure.
6.  Re-attach seats to chair and Wa-la!

Luckily, the existing foam padding on our chairs was in great condition so we didn't have to replace it.  To make sure your fabric has no chance of ripping, you can also use sewing tape, placing it in-between the fabric and staple gun.  Also, I completely washed each chair down with a bucket of warm water and wood-cleaner before re-attaching the new seat to make our chairs nice and shiny-clean.

Here are the chairs after the update:

So, $15 for a durable home decor fabric and about $10 for a stain-guard spray gave us a beautiful update worth much more than that!  The best thing is that if we ever decide we want to change our dining room's look and get a new dining room set, we could probably sell this set on craigslist for a profit.  I like those kinds of projects!  I also have a dream to someday (hopefully soon) take sewing classes and learn how to re-upholster bigger pieces like the $5 rocking wing-chair we have or a couch.  How sweet would that be! Then I could put up tutorials on how to do that!  

Have a blessed day!