Lace dresser

So before I start can I say how bummed I am to not have gotten a before picture? Argh. But no way I am undoing this great work to show you all. The last couple weeks have been crazy and I have neither successfully been running or doing many projects.

When we moved this little gem in the waiting was shoved into a corner of the garage,  I stacked some things on it and it waited for us. I should also let you know thst I started with a simple coat of milk paint but wasn't really feeling it and never got around to finishing it.

I was chatting with a friend and brainstorming what to do with a DIFFERENT project, when I decided to try it on this little piece. Now it is finally out of my garage and I can stack a zillion other things on an actual shelf and have a clean garage....amazing how this type of thing works!

For this project I decided to use spray paint. I figured if it didn't work the worst case was the little dresser would remain a lost cause.

I used the rustoleom 2x primer and paint for this one. I started painting the entire base in "summer squash" satin finish and then painted the drawers a simple grey color before running to the fabric store.

This is where great things happened,  I ran into the fabric store, grabbed a simple, cheap lace and some fabric to line the bottom of the drawers and headed to get it cut. During this process I see the fabric of the lady in front of me, also am lace fabric, much more durable and a lot more detail work, so I swapped my fabric when we got to the front. And I am so happy with how it turned out. This lace was part of the bridal collection so it was a little more expensive,  but it was also on sale....and on top of that I was able to use the same piece multiple times. Again I am insanely happy with it!

Still have to put a coat of poly over the entire top....and like all projects I am searching for perfect drawer pulls. ....but I love!!!!

Monterey kayaking

On Thursday ( yes this is delayed) we took advantage of the beautiful day and the fact thst we had company,  it was a great excuse to get out of town and head over to Monterey for the day. We went kayaking in the bay...best idea ever, but my abs still hurt! Not a single one of the 4 of us was brave enough to bring a phone or camera on the adventure, so all the amazing otters, seals, and sea lions that we saw will have to stay in your imagination.

Because I love you all I did include an image of an otter that we saw off of the wharf. Pretty great adventure. I can't believe all the trips we have taken over the years I have NEVER seen a wild otter. I saw dozens on Thursday,  it made my heart perfectly happy!

Another thing is usually the Bubba Gump bench is full of people so we can't take pictures on it, but Thursday no one was there so we got a little touristy and the hubby and I both took one. You know you are totally jealous!

The hubby on the bench. 

Life is like a box of chocolates,  oooooo do I love chocolate! 

Otter!

My beautiful little sea otter friend! 

Bike ride

For months my bike has been staring at me. We moved it with the tires off and I kept looking to put the tires on. The great hubby finally did it for both of us. Then I waited for the garage to get armed so we could park them in the garage. Then they stared at us another 2 weeks.

So embarassing! Cycling is something that I honestly love and enjoy, and I have let way too much of that stuff that I enjoy pass me up the last 6 months or so. Sad!

Anyways since we had the morning off together,  the weather was nice, and face it that I am sorta on a roll, the hubby and I rolled out yesterday morning to finally hit the road.

Next time I slack off for a few MONTHS will someone please remind me that I need to be out there more because getting started again is such a literal pain!?!??!

I hurt from my saddle a bit,  and did more pedaling than gliding but was still gliding a lot....I am working on that part friends!

On a side note I am getting ready to paint the living room. I will be back soon with colors for votes (I am not the best at picking these out) problem is we have to secure a ladder and get some sample paint to slap up on the wall next to the fireplace. If you know me you know thst it will be about 3 hours thst I can handle the samples being up before I go paint crazy and get everything. So I have to be prepped before actually picking a color. O man will I be happy to get those white walls gone!

I am also planning on doing a wall stencil on the back wall behind the couch. ...any ideas or opinions about that?

Exercise again

Since we moved in early February the extra large bike lanes and other runners have been out there taunting me, reminding me that I too should be out there running and riding.

Now thst we are at the 2.5 month mark our bike tires are finally aired up and put back together,  and today I hit the road. 

After a nice average length hike around Yosemite Monday with my family that came from Kansas I am feeling the hike. I can feel my muscles with the pain that reminds me that I need to get out there more and how good it feels to have been out and moving around. After a short jog Friday (I am actually embarrassed to say how short) I was feeling it a little....wayyyyyy more than I should have for a short jog, so the hike on Monday pushed me into gear.

I got a chance to use my handy little running belt from Groupon for the first time as well. It really does fit my keys and phone nicely for a run. I am not sure yet if I appreciate the fact that I can have my phone with me without looking or if I would kick my splits and speeds up a little bit if I were monitoring it a little closer.

Enjoy some pictures from the hike the other day. . . It has been a few years since I wondered around Mariposa grove and made the drive up to Glacier Point.

Big fallen old tree. 

Grizzly Giant

Bridelviel falls. 

Our family

Sometimes as I write I feel like I should include the two little puppy babies in our family.

There two, Molly the beagle basset mix, and Tiger,  the corgi mix, make my entire world. You will probably see regular updates about them. Currently Molly is in the dog bed in the corner and Tiger is sitting next to me and enjoying watching the news. He might not enjoy it as much if he understood it. Molly probably does understand it and that is why she isn't watching.

We got Molly when she was a puppy about 2.5 years ago,  she will be three in about July.

We just adopted Tiger from a different shelter about a month ago.....he is somewhere between 2.5 and 4. He is also missing a tooth in front, which we didn't notice until the vet showed me yesterday. He was probably abused somewhere along the line,  but he is the most loving and mellow little guy. When we first got him we separated him and Molly during the day, because you have to be safe and we were not home. He managed to destroy a few blinds as well as an entire door frame in our bathroom. I think he just didn't want to be alone and knew Molly was somewhere. Now they really are the best friends and totally love each other.

General Finishes Milk Paint

So we decided to go with the milk paint when redoing a small cabinet for our TV stuff for 2 reasons: 1. we just happened to be at the store so it was very convenient. 2. We were able to buy it by the pint and so we knew we wouldn't have a giant thing left over.

We got the paint in Basil, and it is a pretty good color. We were also able to use the same pint (every last ounce of it but didn't need another one) for a second shelf thst we forgot we had as we were cleaning out the garage. Now they match and make a very simple statement.

For the first one (cabinet) I finished it with the Annie Salon clear wax, because I loved the feeling of the wax and I already had it on hand.

For the second one I bought a quart of the finish glaze to cover it, the quart mostly for the project that I currently have in progress in the garage. Progress meaning one coat on one drawer.....so we will save thst for another day.

I also like the way that these turned out I love the soft green color, how easy it was, and that I could spend a little less on paint and not have some unused left over....it was a win win.

Re-gouting the tile

This was one of the first imperfections and what bothered me most about our new home, maybe even more than the pink fireplace. It was how the grout started out. At first I thought it was dirty and some elbow grease and baking soda scrub would take it out. Well it didn't take long to discover that it was not overly disgusting (which is a nice perk!) But that it was really just a horrible grout color. Seriously like a brownish pink....how do people come up with that?  Worst idea ever and it has NEVER looked good

So it stared me down, and I knew that if I ever wanted to feel like my kitchen was actually clean that it had to change,  and it had to change fast. (Eeby jeebies from a messy kitchen and all that stuff) so I started looking around and I found "grout refresh" in a small skinny bottle. I read about it first and then searched the grout section high and low. It turns out this stuff will recolor it AND seal it all at once. 2 months and a lot of coffee spills later and I still have white tiles! 

Here is how it worked:
After I picked up the grout refresh (in white) I stopped at the dollar store for a six pack of tooth brushes. A few quick lines down the tile and a little rubbing in and TADA! So much better....which is fabulous. It took me some time (sits for an hour after) to scrub off the excess either a little green scrubber without using water for 24 hrs but it was totally worth it. There are a feeling spots that were too globby and a bunch thatI will have to redo but not bad at all. For the second half of the counters I got a little lazy and went well over my 1 hour set time. ...so I just used dome 409 and an old rag to get the excess off....it worked ok but I can tell which part I took time on.

Overall the product is great and I love it,  totally worth the elbow grease and time it took! (Which wasn't that long) imaged attached!

Fireplace redo

OK this was probably the project when we moved that I was MOST excited about,  I mean the pink tile didn't really bother me, but it was definitely not the hubby's favorite part of the new house. I looked into how to fix it right away, and kept finding results on an epoxy based paint with massive fumes where you should leave the house for a day after doing. This was not a project I was ready to dig into yet. 

It wasn't until I had a long bonus day off and was staring at it that I got motivated and using Annie Salon Chalk Paint crossed my  mind and I started searching around. The next day we went down to the shop here and found a simple cream color and asked about the top coat. It was that easy!

The fireplace itself literally only took a couple hours with dry time. We used Chalk Paint in Old Oche and topped it with Annie Salon lacquer. Simple and beautiful!  It will really pop once I paint the walls...ahh painting the walls....time for a new project?

Update and Projects

Ok, so you probably all wondered about what happened to me since releasing my blog....and by that I mean you wondered if I ever started the blog that I said I started, because I didn't really release the link to anyone.  Although I have still had page views so that is something?

Anyways an update on us and our life and my attempts and promises to update on a regular basis.

2014 is already full of both good and bad adventure, but what more did you really expect?

The hubby and I close on our first home the beginning of February, and let me tell you homeownership is a total adventure.  We got a great place, with enough little projects to keep me (and hopefully the blog) entertained and happy, but nothing that NEEDED done to make the home liveable or comfortable. Meaning it was pretty move in ready, but a lot of things to cosmetically change to make me happy.

I will close today with a short list of the things that we have done, and hopefully link back later as I update them with details and pictures, you know the type of stuff to make you all totally jealous.

* Redid our fireplace (this was a pretty big must as it started out with pink tile)
*Fixing the pink tile in the entry way as well (the hubby is putting the lacquer on as I type this)
*90s yellow oak cabinets redid with a dark espresso finish
*90s lighting bog and fluorescent lights exchanged for track lighting in the kitchen
*New fixtures and hardware in the bathroom (the shelf is drying as I type)
*A cute bookshelf with a fabric background
*Another dresser redo (drawer pulls on their way from amazon!)
*Re-grouting the tiles in the kitchen
*Front door color (and a light fixture to match)

We also got an adorable little patio set, and all sorts of exciting new kitchen goodies on a somewhat regular basis, really just salads but they are still yummy (remind me to write later about a great BBQ chicken salad I made!)

Some future projects planned
*Desk for the spare room re-painted and getting some side hardware out
*Big upstairs bathroom project (might have to wait awhile)
*Stencil an accent wall in living room
*Paint living room
*Redo handrail for stairs

Ok so now that we are all occupied for a significant amount of time, me in both blogging and projects and my fans wondering what on earth I am up to...right.  The issue with painting most of the living room (and how much I HATE taping!) is that our ceilings and walls are really really high, so basically I need to look into hiring someone.....but Then life gets busy and I think about re-arranging furniture etc. and I think about dealing with my white walls longer.   Most of our flooring was pretty new when we moved in, so that has been really nice, just the unfortunate tile choice of pink o my!

Thank you for reading, hopefully I will be back with more soon! (Just need to sync phone pics, can I do this wirelessly?)

Painting furniture comparisons

Ok my dears, first thing is first, I haven't shared this link with anyone....and in 3 days I still have 84 page views! Evidently I am pretty popular, so hello out there to my new friends and potential fans.  No really just be my friend, I don't think that I have the time or energy to have fans. 

So again, I am really looking forward to 2014, 4 days in and I can almost say that this will be the best year ever!  Lots of stuff is crazy, but I still have a pretty good feeling about where things will be a year from now.

So the back story:

I will try to keep this brief.....this summer over vacation (literally like 2 hours after vacation started) I decided to revamp our dining room table set. 

My husband and I bought the set 5 years ago before we got married at a yard sale.  I redid the cushions and the table has served us well.  As far as a table goes it was great, but the color wasn't making me happy anymore, (you can read more about my table redo here) so I NEEDED to change it up. 

The purpose of this blog post is to compare the different ways to redo furniture with paint......so here I go!

For my table I needed foam brushes and rollers
Extra glossy paint (it took me just over one quart)
bonding primer (I had to buy an entire gallon)
Polyurethane topcoat

Results:
I LOVE my table I LOVE the cushions in their new pattern.  The problems? I find it REALLY irritating that I had to buy SO MUCH bonding primer, and that I BARELY needed the 2nd quart of paint.  The good thing is that I now have it to fix the small chips that I am having here and there.  I need to put another poly topcoat on this thing......but the timing.....BLAH! 

I think that this process worked out really well for this project, 6 months later I STILL smile when I look at my table and thing that I changed it up so much.  It is also a nice place to sit with my cup of coffee and computer when I have actual stuff that needs to get done at home. 

The Dresser:

I also love my dresser! 

The backstory: 39 years ago when my parents bought their first house they became landlords at the same time.  It wasn't really their immediate plan, but it worked out well for them, and 39 years later for me.  One of the tenants that moved out somewhere along the line left behind this dresser.  At the time it was something that probably deserved to be left behind, that broke my dad's heart, so he fixed it up.  I am not sure exactly what he did to it, or when this dresser came into our home, but it has been mine longer than I can remember.  I believe he put some new finish on and cut some wood to make the drawers in better shape. 

When we got married I took the dresser, again it has ALWAYS been mine.  It was the idea of redoing the dresser that started the table project after all.

I went with Annie Sloan paint for this project, and I have become totally and completely obsessed with it since then.

For this project I used:
Annie Sloan chalk paint in Provence
Annie Sloan Clear Wax
Annie Sloan dark wax

I also used what I had of the grey paint on the inside of the dresser drawers, totally not nessacary but makes me smile.

I started with the base coat of the Provence paint, it looks similar to a baby blue as you get started, the dark wax made it look more greenish, if you want it to stay closer to the blue side then stick with the clear wax.

I did 2 coats of the Provence and then did a layer of the crackle medium before another coat of the Provence.  I LOVED the crackle! For one it was really neat to see and watch, for another?  I love my dresser!

I also love the wax! Much easier to work with than I thought! And the really cool thing about Annie Sloan? When all the tutorials and videos tell you it is really forgiving they TOTALLY mean it.  I didn't have to be panicked about messing up like crazy, cause it was all right there and I could just go back over it.  I started with just one drawer to be safe but I didn't have any disasters that made me start over!   I LOVED the look that the tiny bit of dark wax gave the piece.

BEAUTIFUL!

The last piece is still in process so hold on:

With this I wanted a vibrant brave color....and I picked yellow.  Still not sure on the use for it, and I picked a chair that had no use for the time being.  Mostly this little project is just an experiment in the painting techniques and such.

For this one I picked up a 3 buck sample of Valspar paint at Lowe's.  They were able to tint it for me and the color options are pretty limitless.  I added a heaping tablespoon of unsanded tile grout (5 bucks for a big container)  and stirred it well.

The first application was a little streaky, looked pretty bad and the details of the chair made it reallllllly irritating.  I actually ended up begging the hubby to help me out because I was getting frustrated.  But he is pretty great and DID help me, so now t the results!

I am still not really happy with my chair, in fact I didn't bother moving it so my dad took It and it is on their back porch at the moment....which is where I got it from.

This was a good project to mess around with as the chair was free, and the sample was cheap,  but I don't think that I will be doing much more of this one like ever, the texture was bad and it didn't cover well at all. On top of that I was already irritated because at Lowe's buying the sample I dropped another paint sample all over the floor and messed up my favorite jeans and my favorite sweater. The sweater is wearable.....my jeans.....not so much :-(

Here are some pics from the recent projects.
Note:the chair was bad enough not to shsre, and I am still searching for the perfect knobs for the dresser, I was in the process of redoing some but they got lost in the move :-(

hello 2014...totally cliche?

So if you did a search I have a feeling that statistically January 1st is the most popular blogday of the year, and often the ONLY blog day of the year.

I tried 2 years ago to do a new thing a day and blog about it. The blogging was going to take way more time than I actually had.

Fast forward to today and I learned that I have gotten pretty good at doing the same thing multiple times in different ways, so I can conpare different ways for all my fans to choose from.

I am really looking forward to 2014, while some things make me crazy nervous so many others will be fabulous,  I am ready to get going!

Stay tuned for 3 different ways to redo furniture,  the post that pretty much got me going on this adventure.

I found over the last week how much fun it was, and something relaxibg thst the hubby and I can do together on the weekends. How excited I get ovwr redoing one thing really is embarrassing,  but the rush of a finished product is totally addicting!

Stay tuned I have some time before I might give up on this idea.