playing with paint

In preparation for turning our dated second hand buffet into a super cool master bath vanity with a driftwood finish, I decided I had better play with some paint. I didn't want to practice on the buffet, so I used free hardwood flooring samples as my guinea pigs.

I started by using a liquid deglosser. Since the buffet has a wood veneer finish, I plan on sanding only very, very lightly. I think the deglosser will give the paint a little extra oomph to stick. Zinser primer will help as well!

I used three tones of paint: very pale gray, medium gray, and darker brown gray (official fancy names at the end of the post). For the first sample, I started with the darkest shade, painted in on, waited 20 seconds, and rubbed it off with a rag.

For the sample number 2, I used the darkest shade again, in one thin coat, and did not rub any of it off.

For sample number 3, I used the lightest shade in one thin coat, and did not rub any off.

Sample number one received a second coat, this time with the middle shade of gray. Again it was brushed on and rubbed off with a rag.

Samples two and three both received coats of the middle shade of paint.

Here's sample two with with second coat of paint rubbed off.

And here's sample three. Note that the paint was not sticking very well to this sample. It was very glossy to start with, and I should have used a second coat of deglosser on this one!

To finish sample one, I brushed on the lightest shade of gray and rubbed it off with a towel. The color was much lighter than what I wanted, so I took a tiny bit of the darkest paint on a dry brush and used that over the top. 

I did the exact same thing to sample number two.

For sample number three, I brushed on the darkest shade of gray and rubbed most of it off with a towel.

So what did I learn from my painting party? I love the "grain" of sample number one. Dry brushing with minimal paint is the way to go if you're looking for a rustic, weathered finish. However, I like the color tones of number three the best. So, my plan of attack for painting the buffet? 1. Sand, 2. degloss, 3. prime, 4. lightest shade of paint (valspar tempered gray), 4. medium shade of paint (valspar aspen gray), 5. darkest shade of paint ( valspar seine) (all dry brushed over the primer), and 5. a coat of clear sealer.

As soon as the summer humidity says goodbye, I'm going to throw on my painting clothes and get to work!

Have you every created a faux finish?

<3
Hattie

A whole lot 'o painting going on

Remember my precarious pile of furniture and accessories?

These beauties in the rough just needed a little TLC and paint to provide just the right touch of fun and storage for the craft room/office makeover.

First up, the only new piece of furniture in the pile, a pine IKEA dresser.

This piece had quite a few knots, so I gave it three coats of Zinsser primer and two coats of American Accents semi-gloss white. It fits perfectly under the IKEA work table and will hold my ever growing fabric stash! I’m still deciding if I want to stencil something fun on the knobs - maybe numbers or flowers?

Buried under all the “stuff” (which will be spread out once three other shelves are hung on the wall) is the little shelf that could. This shelf survived my college bathroom and my brother’s college bathroom.

The finish was in pretty bad shape, so it also received several coats of Zinsser and two coats of American Accents.

I found this spice rack at the Goodwill outlet. It was already a dingy white.

I mixed two blue shades of Folk Art acrylic paint to get the perfect aqua. It took three coats to cover this little guy.

I picked up this balsa wood shelf with baskets at Michael’s several years ago.

I also gave it several coats of my aqua paint.

Once the paint dried, I used mod podge to jazz it up with a little scrapbook paper.

This grungy pizza pan received a good scrubbing, and a light coat of RustOleum metal spray primer.

After the primer dried, I applied three coats of Folk Art pumpkin acrylic paint to turn the ugly pan into a funky magnet board.

Finally, this mini set of drawers went from ho, ho, ho

To sweet and pretty,

To a new makeover with aqua sides and orange feet.

So, what’s left to do in the office? Hang shelves and art, arrange everything, and recover the seats on the two chairs. It’s coming along!

I’m linking this to Wendy’s lovely party!

 

<3

Hattie

Bedroom switcharoo

I hinted earlier in the week that an innocent trip to IKEA caused a whole lot of moving, painting, and shaking around the roost. Our bedroom and office/craft room have been in a state of upheaval for most of the week, but the bedroom is finally starting to take shape.

Let’s take a look at the bedroom before:

Note how low the TV is. You can’t see it, but the TV is sitting on an old school desk I used as a TV stand during my grad school days and for most of our marriage. The cubby in front was perfect for holding the DVD player. I liked this arrangement quite well until my parents gifted us a super comfy pillow top mattress. The new mattress raised the bed a good six inches, blocking part of the TV screen. Another downside to the school desk was that is lacked storage, something we needed much more of in our little bedroom.

Here’s my side of the bed and nightstand:

Now for some after photo fun!

We moved the school desk into the office (more on that next week) and replaced it with my nightstand.

This gave us the extra storage space we needed. To fix the height problem, we purchased a pine nightstand at IKEA for $14.99. Three coats of Zinsser primer and two coats of American Accents semi-gloss white paint later, and we used it as a topper for my old nightstand.

I still have to do some cord wrangling and concealing, but I’m much happier with the new look. I also need to figure out new artwork for over the TV, and attempt anything that might possibly hide the ugly HD antenna us over-the-air TV folks need. Anyone know if you can paint those suckers?

Since I was now nightstand-less, we moved another piece of furniture from the office into the bedroom.

This antique marble-topped washstand came from my Granddad’s estate. It took a lot of wrangling, but by moving Brad’s dresser and the bed over as far as they would go; we were able to squeeze in the washstand.

I love the way the wood picks up the colors in the bamboo blinds and the brown storage box on the night stand.

I also like that my nightstand and Brad’s dresser are now much closer in height. The only thing that bugs me is that the bed is no longer centered under the window. But, when you live in a tiny cottage, you get used to little quirks like that!

Have you done any furniture switching lately?

<3
Hattie

Picture this

Yesterday, I checked another item off my to-do list and finished up my gallery wall project.

Remember what the wall looked like before?

Here’s the big after!

I like it so much better! Let’s take a look at how the frames went from mismatched to beachy!

Before – serious looking black:

After – perfectly shabby white:

Before – dated roses:

After – beachy blue:

Before – yellowed white:

After – fresh and crisp:

Before - pale blue with a few chips:

After- Lovely darker blue:

Before – very fancy silver:

After – Beach cottage white with a fun mat:

Before – no frames:

After – dollar tree frames with a two coats of blue paint:

Before I went putting nail holes in the wall, I played around with some ideas for how I wanted to arrange the frames. I changed this arrangement slightly to work with some nails that were already in the wall.

I’m so happy I made this simple change! It only cost me two bucks, and it ties the hallway to the living room. An added bonus is how much more roomy the stairway feels without those shelves jutting out.

Are you putting off a simple change that will make a big difference? – Go do something about it! You’ll be glad you did!

I'm joining Frugal Friday @



<3
Hattie