Little Projects Take the Longest

This may not be true for everyone, but it’s true for me. Some of these little projects take forever to finish only because they take forever to START. See this chair…

I’ve had it as long as I’ve had my other chairs which were made over when we bought our house almost two years ago. I didn’t finish them at the time because the table we had wasn’t big enough to hold six chairs. THEN I got a larger table that is the perfect size for the room, it just had to extra chairs sitting around mismatching like crazy…

They may look like the green chairs, and they are EXTREMELY similar, but they aren’t. One is a gala apple, and the other a fuji, at first glance you can’t tell at all but on closer inspection, you can. Anyway, off came the seat so it can be recovered.

I bought extra fabric at the time I did my other chairs knowing that these would also get redone down the road. I didn’t know it would take me two years, so it is definitely a good thing I bought it when I did since it’s no longer for sale. I badly wish it was because I want this fabric for my master bedroom curtains. Oh what could have been!

I didn’t even take off the old fabric, I just put it right on top. I did “test it out” to see if I could see the fabric underneath it in the sun. Nope, onwards.

Align, staple, pull, staple, pull, staple.

Staple

Staple

Staple

Fold

Staple

Staple

Screw back into place. How’s that for a tutorial? I’m awesome.

No more clashing! Why did I put off a half hour project for so long? I’m glad the fabric swatches aren’t wasting space anymore. It makes me want to put to use so many other items laying around the house and TRUST ME there is puhhhlenty of that going on.

I think I’ve convinced myself I like having the chairs mismatched a bit with the paint and wood. I’m mostly talking myself into it because I REALLY don’t want to sand, prime and paint anything right now or in the foreseeable future. Laziness prevails.

At least it looks intentional now, it only took TWO years.

I Don’t Paint EVERYTHING

Technically, I am not responsible for this makeover, I’m simply reaping the benefits. Back in my teenage years when I lived with my parents, I had an orange oak dresser in my room. (I think you know how I feel about the orange oak.) Let the record show that I do appreciate wood grain. How embarrassing is this photo. Mega.

My mother, ever so kind and hard-working, stained this dresser. We almost got rid of it because we didn’t like the color.  I think it’s much improved from the before but who knows, maybe I’ll paint it someday! It’s now hanging out in my master bedroom and provides much needed storage. Hooray for hardworking and inspiring moms!

If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to painting. Like an ACTUAL painting, not just the walls. It’s on canvas, for rilz.

Nothing a Little Chalk Paint Can’t Fix

Not too long ago I did a little redecorating in this corner. It was all fine and dandy, but there was something sinister lurking on that tabletop.

It had been through a lot, like a candle gone wild with full on burn marks and leftover wax that isn’t well witnessed in the photo above. I had some VERY detailed plans laid out for this table.  Ladies and Ladies, exhibit A

I so make the best plans. That’s been written on the table for, oh… 5 months. After planning and scheming for months, I finally busted out the foam roller and man’s greatest gift to mankind… chalkboard paint because that’s what miracles are made of kids-chalkboard paint and cupcakes. Please don’t argue.

One of the hardest parts about such a simple project is WAITING THREE DAYS before conditioning it. At least that’s what the directions say, but truth be told, I haven’t followed those instructions on previous chalking projects and it came out fine. I guess I was in a rule following mood. Conditioning makes future marks easier to erase, and this is what it looks like.

Ta-Da! So helpful, so useful, so chalky.

Before you get all, but I liiiiked the whiiite. It was so light and airy. What’s done is done. The plan was laid out and there was NO way around it, I tried to appeal but my motions were denied. (I’ve been watching too many legal shows, Damages is by far my favorite.) Just take a close look at that tabletop and the place setting! See, you could EAT off of it. No need for real plates! Or even food! It could be just like the feast in Hook, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to recreate that seen, so I pretty much do on a daily basis. People think I’m weird, but I’m just surprised they don’t know what I’m doing.

So that’s all folks. I’m happy with it. I’ve always wanted a chalkboard table top and now I have one. My wildest dreams have come true. So I guess this is the end of my blog, I had a good run!

Just kidding, there’s plenty more to come!

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Confessions of a dining room

This is the one room in our house that has gone through the most changes.

This is the wayyy before, like when it was sold to the former owners before.  I’m just glad I didn’t have to take down any wallpaper. It wouldn’t have scared me away, but it sure makes my life a lot easier.

Our very first walk through of the house. HATE that light fixture.

By the time we moved in, they had already patched and painted the walls, not bad just meh. That table is from Target and was the first furniture purchase I made for the house.  While it may look fine in this picture, the scale was off and I wanted something bigger. Plus, I got my lovely West Elm chandelier with birthday money! Love is capiz.

I sold the old table for 70% of what I paid for it. How’s that for awesome?

I bought this table from craigslist for FORTY DOLLARS! Excuse me, I still get excited about that. It was painted brown and burnt orange with some type of weird harlequin design on top, but it was so easy to look past it. I painted it “Foggy Mirror” by Valspar and coated it with a bajillion layers of polycrylic. Ta Da! New table!

I made some paintings for the wall to replace the beach picture, I need something with a little more weight.

And then I painted the frames white, which I am still on the fence about. Oh yeah, it might be hard to tell but there are some new accessories on the table now.

It’s actually the entire contents of my kitchen cabinets because… I tricked you! This post isn’t about my dining room. It’s about my current project.

THE KITCHEN CABINETS!!!

I started this a year ago and only painted the lowers on one side. I thought, it’ll be great I can do it at my own pace without tearing the kitchen apart.

No… Just no. It does not work like that. I do not work like that.  I’m a let’s just get it all done now kinda girl, and I’m lying to myself anytime I think otherwise.

Yuck, that “honey” looks so much worse in photos. Here you can see what I did a year ago.

It was about time to declutter and reorganize. I was up until 1:30 last night painting and organizing. Oddly, it is so energizing! I always feel immensely better when I know things are in there place.

This is both sides primed now including all of the doors which are in the garage. I opted not to paint the insides for now. Mainly because I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew. I painted the insides of the built in cabinets in the living room and it was a PAIN. I don’t even see the insides. Maybe down the road I would like to do something interesting like paint it a color or line it with grasscloth. For now, I’m leaving as is since we’ll eventually replace the counter tops and the sink (Oh man, don’t get me started on the sink…) and we’ll put in a backsplash. I didn’t want to make any rash decisions when it came to the cabinet interiors.

I can’t even begin to describe how good it feels to get the ball rolling on this project. This past year, hasn’t been an easy one and by getting this done, I kinda feel like I’m punching all the past year’s problems in the face. Take that, problems!