DIY Chalkboard Paint

Chalkboard.  The must have for all crafters and for the little child inside of you that has always wanted your own big blackboard.

I turned an old wooden mirror from something like this:

To this: 

And I used my very own, homemade chalkboard paint!  I am in love with it.  It's seriously my new favorite thing in our home.  I cannot wait for all our nieces and nephews to come over and make a mess of it.  Not to mention all the grown adults who I'm sure will have something to write about (i.e. "Drew was here", etc.).

The How-To:

I started out by priming the mirror with my Krylon white satin spray paint.  Then I went after the frame with this beautiful blue spray, also by Krylon.  I didn't worry about taping it off since I was painting the primed mirror anyway. 

Now the fun part, the chalkboard paint!

Martha Stewart has come up with the perfect way to create your own chalkboard paint in ANY color.  Most of you probably have at least a cup of leftover colored paint lying around your attic that you could use.  I had some black paint left over from our door, so I stuck to the regular 'black board'.

For small areas, such as a door panel, mix 1 cup at a time.

1. Pour 1 cup of paint into a container. Add 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Mix with a paint stirrer, carefully breaking up clumps.

2. Apply paint with a roller or a sponge paintbrush to a primed or painted surface. Work in small sections, going over the same spot several times to ensure full, even coverage. Let dry.

3. Smooth area with 150-grit sandpaper, and wipe off dust.

4. To condition: Rub the side of a piece of chalk over entire surface. Wipe away residue with a barely damp sponge.

That's it!  You can use ANY color of paint you have.  The possibilites are endless.  I'm already thinking of other items I can paint around here...  But the next stop for chalkboard paint?  My niece's bedroom.  She's doing one whole wall with purple chalkboard paint.  The 13 year old inside of me is super jealous excited for her. 

Another plus, I came home to this the other day.  But on the negative side, there's a brown guy cruising the city with pink chalk fingers.  Ahh, mi amore. 

Try this!  And if you already have, tell me about.  Anything different you used the paint on?  I'm thinking about doing some planters on my kitchen counter.  Risk taker! :p

Love Like Crazy DIY Wall Art

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  It was a super busy one for me.  There were lots of little projects I wanted to complete and like normal, not enough time in the day.  On top of that, my sisters, niece and I had a day trip to visit my parents in Lynchburg planned for today. 

Fortunately, I was able to finish each project by weekend's end with a little elbow grease and a good husband.

The one I'm sharing with you today, is a little lyrical art project.

I love love love this song by Lee Brice "Love Like Crazy".  It's inspiring and a good daily reminder.

What I used:

1/2" Plastic Stencil (on hand)

1" Plastic Stencil (on hand)

Small art paint bush (on hand)

Grey paint we had leftover from our master bath (on hand)

Canvas print from Ben Franklin at 50% off : $7

Total cost of project $7

All I did was exactly what you think.  Sat on my butt for a good while and painted each letter on with a stencil.  I counted the lines I wanted to print ("Be a best friend" = 1, "Tell the truth" = 2), and used painters tape to remind me how much space I had for each line.

I love it and it's a great way to really personalize something in your home.

And the traditional end of the post random shots from our girls day trip to Lynchburg.  First one is the sweet country store we stopped by to check out their antiques.  

The beautiful leaves shot is from a stop in Appomattox. Came out beautifully and I'm hoping to print it for my hallway art collage... You'll hear about that later.  :) Have a great week everyone!



Grow Baby Grow

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  We got a bit rained out, so our kids-to-candy-ratio was definitely on the candies side this year.  Which means we have way too many treats around our house at this moment.

Tomorrow is our official 6-months-in-the-new-house anniversary and  I'm finally ready to unveil the before and after on the new house color AND the grass.  This is in no means a how-to on painting OR grass growing.  Neither of which I had any part of this time.  Well, besides picking the paint color and painting a half a panel on the back side of the house.  That was my "I want to try!" moment with the paint sprayer.  :)  You gotta at least try, right?


If you recall, we picked Pale Honey from Behr.  Check out that post here if you missed it. 

First up is a picture of the first time Matt cut the grass back in May. 

And now the new do...  You can also see the new tree and the freshly painted walkway.

Here are a few more waaaay before pics to get us started on the house reveal.

First up is a picture from before we even purchased the house.  The bank posted this when they first put it up for sale.

Yikes.

The below shot is from when we first moved in, before any real updates.  Well, besides the-house-has-a-new-owner-update.

And the after. 

New grass, japanese maple, house color, door color, and porch colors.

There's still more to do, as always, but we're taking it slowly and loving most minutes of it.  Can't say every, because c'mon we're only human.  There's the good, the bad and the ugly in beautifying the nest.

Hemi seems to like the smell of the new grass and presents his very own "gifts" as an offering to the seedlings.  Yeah, we're now trying to stray him away from the front yard.  Matt is the new grass nazi as he gently instructed the trick-or-treaters to please go through the driveway.  I can't blame him though.... It's a good lookin' yard, love!  ;)

Putting Down Roots

Lets start with an olllld pic of the house.  Before the new house color, barnyard red door and painted porch.  Even before the mailbox area was fixed up.

Do you see what I see?
Well besides a beautiful day in the VA, and the depressing house color...
It's a front yard completely bare of any trees.  On one hand, yay to not having to rake a pile of leaves.  But on the other hand, it seems so... well bare. 

We didn't do anything drastic, but it's definitely a step towards a more welcoming exterior!

*Thanks to our awesome neighbors who donated a Japanese Maple they were getting rid of, which sparked this project!

The hubs was out there for hours prepping for the tree...  

Seriously, that was a lot of digging.
He finished up with new soil, fertilizer and mulch.  Oh, and lots and lots and lots of watering. 

And now we have a little summin' summin' in the yard and still not a ridiculous amount of leaves to rake up!

It's starting to change colors with the season now.

And because Mattchew got me a new camera for my birfusday, here's a random close up.

We love the new addition!  The hubs was so afraid it wasn't going to make it through the replanting process.  But it's been in for a good 3 weeks now and it looks great!  We need to do some trimming, but I guess that can wait a bit longer.  Although, I have been tempted to go out there and do it now, I can't.  Matt just may drop kick me.  I have no patience, but I'm trying!

Leafy Love Art

Ok, I know I was all about fall a week ago, but the 50 degree morning we just had made me regret it already.  I was not a happy camper as I walked the puppies this morning while it was freezing and drizzling. 

Anyhoo, a few months ago we found this neat print at Ben Franklin.  Normally, it was priced at $24.99, but it was on clearance for $4.99 so we picked it up! 

As you can tell, Hemi loves them...

I've been keeping my eye out for some 12"x12" frames that weren't $20+ each and it took me this long to find something that would work.  I found these 13" x 13" pictures at Garden Ridge at $7.99/each and scooped them up.

They actually weren't being sold as picture frames, they're really just framed art.  But at that price, I tore through the back to remove the art that came with it, and remade it for my leafy love prints.

Because they were bigger than I needed, I used a sheet of posterboard and cut to size for the mat to frame each picture.

I also used these photo sticker squares to keep them in place once framed and hung.

 Here's another one of the art pieces before I removed the slightly cheesy leaf art that came with the frame.

And here are the final pieces after finally finding the right frames, throwing a bit of a tantrum because taking out the staples in the back were a bit of a b*, cutting out the new mat, reframing and hanging them. 

Oh, I forgot to mention resweeping the kitchen after I shot staples all over the floor as I yanked them out with pliers.

Even with my tantrum about those stupid staples it was SO WORTH IT. 

For less than $30 I have 3 pretty good size art pieces that go perfect in our entry hallway.

.

Oh, and right after I finished them, I found these at walmart that were probably half the size  for $17.76 per set of 2.  So if you, theoretically, could buy 3 it would come out to be $26.64.  

So comparing my project to these at walmart: 
Almost exactly the same amount of money spent, mine are twice as big and shall I be so bold as to say cuter?... Yes, yes I will. 

Love when that happens!

PS randomness: If you haven't seen Bridesmaids yet:  Do it.

Easy Peasy Fall Wreath

 It's fall!
Am I the only one that has been rocking boots for the past few days since it's officially time?
Every year my birthday falls within a day or two of the first day of fall, but I've never been more excited that the season is here.  Maybe it's because of the blistering summer we've had.  Maybe it's because the Pumpkin Spice Latte is officially back at Starbucks.  Or maybe it's because we have our first home we get to decorate through and through.  Either way, let the fun begin.

I first saw a square fall wreath on Pinterest so I checked out TDC's blog (link is at the end of the blog) and was inspired to make my own. 

Supplies I needed:

- Foam Board (Dollar Store)

- 5 Bundles of leaves (Dollar Store)

- Scissors

- Hot Glue & Sticks

- Xacto Knife

Measure the board and decide how big you'll want it.  Cut out like so:

Don't worry if it's not completely straight or pretty, you won't see most of it when the project is complete.

Take your glue gun and glue the leaves down in no particular order.  The disorganization of a pile of leaves in the yard is the perfect way you want it to be on your wreath.

This project really didn't take much time at all.  And if you sit in front of the TV watching Taken, it'll seem like it took no time at all. 

If you go to Ross, Home Goods, Walmart or Target to get a fall wreath, you'll easily be spending $30+  while this little project will cost you anywhere from $6 - $15 depending on where you get your supplies.

I think if you use a thicker foam board than the one at the dollar store, it'll look a little better.  If I had to do this over, I would definitely start with that and get an extra bundle of leaves.  Take my advice and make yours even better than mine!

Here's a little mum love to end the fall post...

Happy Fall Loves!

Inspired by Thifty Decor Chick's Dollar Store Wreath

Shut the Front Door!

It's been over 6 weeks since my last post.  Daang.  Sorry for the random break from blogging.  The past month and a half has been a slew of heartbreak, mother nature showing her fury, and a much needed vacation. 

So my apologies for being MIA!  Let's get back into it.

The front porch needed a lot of help.  Although, we haven't completely finished it, I think we've come a LONG way.  Starting with the light fixure next to the front door.  It was lacking that modern look we were going for.  So instead of forking over the $80 to replace it with the one we liked at Home Depot, we decided to try some of our famous spray paint.

We used masking tape to cover the glass on the lights.  After covering the glass, we used a carton cutter to cut off the excess around the edges.  Time consuming = yes, but a must-do.

Drum roll please...

It's definitely a vast improvement over what it looked like!
Now the reason for the name of this post. 

Our front door was a sun faded maroon.  And as you can see, I took the 'before' picture after I had already started.  Oops, my mistake.  You might as well get used to those.  ;P

Below  is a picture of the house before we purchased it.  For those of you that follow this little blog, I spoke about us painting the exterior a couple of months ago.  It's mostly done, but there is  still some trimwork to do which is why I haven't posted the 'after' pics yet.  So, here is the not so appealing picture before we moved in,  trimmed the bushes and painted the front door.  You wouldn't know that though, since you can't even see the door past that monster bush.  Owell.

The steps and front porch weren't painted, they weren't much of anything 'cept a hot mess. 

So for the porch, we painted it a dark grey with white trim for the steps. 

As for the door, I heart* a red door on a yellow house, so we went with a barnyard red from Sherwin Williams.  I couldn't be happier! 

 I feel like I bunched a lot into one little post. I hope it wasn't too confusing! 
Welcome back, loves!

I'll leave you with a picture of the hubs and me in San Francisco while we were on vaca last week.  :)

Toilet Paper Roll Decor

So, I know what you're thinking, "Umm... ghet-to!".  It's the cheapest, weirdest-material decor that you will ever come across.   But you will also absolutely love it and *no it does NOT look like it was made out of TP rolls. 

I started collecting a batch when I was inspired by this on Pinterest:

Haven't heard of pinterest.com?  Um it's awesome.  Here's a little explanation from the site iteself:

"Pinning 101What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes."

What I used:

• Toilet paper and paper towel rolls
• Glue gun
• Primer spray paint
• Rust-oleum Ultra Cover Satin in Wildflower Blue

I flattened out each roll and creased the edges before cutting them into 3/4" thick strips.  You can eye it however wide you'd like it.  Before glueing it together, I tried to figure out what design I wanted to go with.  You can create ANYTHING for ANY PLACE in your home, so it's a great DIY.

I decided it was going to live above the shelves in the family room.  So I hot glued it into shape and Matt primed it up for me.

Then added the wallflower blue spray paint.  Here it is in its new home.  Shh-wing!

This was for the Pinterest Challenge that some fabulous lady bloggers started.  You're suppose to finish one project that inspired you on Pinterest.  This was mine!  Hope you enjoyed and will create something for your little slice of heaven.  :o]