On a Whim

Remember this wall?

I wanted a change:

I painted this 3'x4' painting on a nice rainy day. I wish we could have a few more of those all day drizzles! (The above photo was taken with an iphone. I will have better pictures soon. )

Have a wonderful weekend! I love Fall!

Before and After-The Built In Bookcases

Several weeks ago, I showed a before and after of my fireplace wall, and the moulding I painted that was on the brick. I was contemplating painting all my built-ins on this wall, but I was afraid of painting over all the wood and lowering our property value. The wood was just oak, but you know how some are about wood. :)

Well, after staring at it for too long imagining how it would look, I went ahead and painted the built-ins. Here is a picture of the built-ins in April of 2009:

Then in the Fall of 2010:

Fall of 2011:

Now, with the built-ins painted:

And because I always love a wider room shot even if it doesn't look as good as the closer view:

I am still tweaking the mantle and the shelves for Christmas. I have to say I have absolutely no regrets over painting the wood. I love the new look, and visually, it really opens up the room!

Thanks for visiting. I will post some more Christmas decor in the next few weeks, but for now, I really need to do a little Christmas shopping. See you next week!

Linking with Miss Mustard Seed & Between Naps on the Porch

Fireplace Makeover

My Fireplace mantle got a makeover last year. It used to look like this:

I loved the new mantle. However, the rest of that wall looked like this:

It kind of had a split personality with the dark wood moulding at top, and the distressed mantle in the middle. Risking ruining the fireplace crown moulding and built-in bookshelves, and the re-sale value of our house, I went ahead and painted that moulding on top of the brick:

My husband said it was too white compared to the mantle which was aged and distressed. I had to agree, so I went and did a little aging. And, since I can't leave well enough alone, I also went and painted the brick. I never loved it in the first place, I thought when we picked it out, there would be some more variation in the colors. On a whim, I decided to paint. I figured I went this far and there's no going back.....

I'm glad I took the risk and painted the brick and moulding. Next up, the built-in bookcases. Do I dare? I'm still pondering this one. The other end of this room is our kitchen, which is a dark cherry. I would love to paint the bookcases a dark grey, but would I completely ruin them? Would I turn into the dreaded "former homeowner" if we ever sold this house? And, while I'm questioning myself, why did I not tighten those slipcover seats before I took these photos?


If you want to see how I distressed the mantle, click here.


I'm linking with Miss Mustard Seed.


Have a Great Weekend everyone!

Office Chandelier Makeover

Thank you for all your prayers for my mom. Her surgery went well, and they removed her lung and all the cancer. We are so thankful!!!

During the last 2 months, I have kept very busy doing projects around the house. This was mainly to keep my mind off of what was happening with my mom. 

I wrote several posts on my home office makeover. Here's another element of the makeover. My chandelier. This is the after:

Here was the before:

It felt too heavy for what I was going for in here. I didn't want to replace it because I really do like the shape, and I didn't want to spend any money I didn't need to spend. I painted it - because paint solves everything!

First, I used a tinted gray Zinzer brand primer and painted the entire thing. I then mixed a white latex paint to the same primer to lighten it. I went back and forth, adding a little more paint to primer, leaving some of the dark areas. I like using just primer as the main paint, as it leaves a nice chalky finish. 

I spray painted the chandelier sleeves white, as the off white looked odd with the gray/white of the chandelier.

Then, I added the crystals that I already had from a previous project. I did purchase a string of glass beads and strung it on the chain. I also had the chain from a jewelry project. So, out of pocket, this project cost $5. I love the new look!

There will be more before and afters of this office coming soon. Can you see that the wall color is different in this last photo from the before photo?

Home Office Closet - Before and In Progress

I am finally posting some before and in-progress pictures of my home office closet. I have been working to reorganize and beautify this entire office. I originally had all my paintings hanging in here awaiting sales. I had more furniture than I needed, and I knew that if I could make better use of the closet, I could keep things more organized and functional. 

Below is the before. What a mess! I took these photos in the middle of back to school supply shopping. 

The sliding closet doors kept me from being able to get into the closet and really keep it functional. I wanted to replace these doors with bi-fold doors, but I couldn't find any that were small enough for the width of this closet. I guess builders usually go in "off-sizes" when they put in closet doors, I'm not sure why. Here is the closet with the doors removed. See what I mean about DISORGANIZED and MESSY?

After removing the doors, I went upstairs and stole my daughter's curtains. She didn't like them anyway. It worked perfectly.

I can now close the curtains and hide the mess. 

I spray painted my husband's and my college filing cabinets the same color, and used a piece of heavy stone that my husband's step mom gave me a year ago. I now have a counter that I can place items on, paperwork, etc. I don't use it as a desk, as there is already a desk in this room.

I also added and extra shelf all by myself - no help from my husband! :) Up until now I was a little scared of power tools. 

I still need to paint in there, but for now I love it. It is so functional!

This past weekend I also painted this room. It's getting a little makeover.

Dining Buffet Before and After

Hi Everyone! I am back from Fall Break - we didn't go anywhere, but it was a packed week. Sleepovers, projects, kids activities.....

Anyhow, I realized I have a few projects I did over the summer that I didn't get around to posting. One project I had been meaning to do for years is painting our dining buffet, if you can call it that. It is actually an old dresser that my husband and I purchased when we were first married 16 years ago. Below is the after:

Here's the before - it was functional, and I hate to throw away good furniture....

I never intended to paint it this blue color. I was going for grey, but I had a quart of blue I was sampling out several years ago. I am glad I went with it; it goes nicely with my painting. Plus, I was able to get rid of one more can of paint that is taking up space in our basement!

I was able to recycle the handles by spray painting them. I made sure to prime first. I painted them black. It gives it a nice balance of the traditional shape with the modern color. I accessorized with silver inherited from my husband's mother. There again, I like the shiny of the tarnished silver, mixed with the distressed buffet, with the modern/traditional handles.

As I write this, the wind is BLOWING hard outside. Today is trash day, and there is trash all over the street! I am so glad I got some of these painting projects done this summer. It may be a long Winter.....

My Chandelier Makeover

Hello Everyone! Hope you all are having a great Wednesday! I just wanted to share with you a makeover I did on my chandelier a few weeks ago.

The chandelier that came with the house was a brownish chandelier that had a hint of purple. Here is a before picture:

For several years, I tried to disguise with a lot of crystals that I gently hung, and some crystal-look garland (sorry for the blurry pic, I couldn’t find a good before shot):I decided to finally take the whole thing down and paint it like it needed, and get some holes drilled into it so that the crystals would stop flying off whenever I needed to change a light bulb!

Using a titanium drill bit, I had my husband drill some holes. It was easier to cover where the holes needed to be drilled with some blue painter’s tape:

Then I spray primed it, and painted it black. The picture below shows the primer. I already had this primer from a previous project.I then had my husband hang the chandelier in the dining room because I had no real plan of what beads to use, and I didn’t want a lightless dining room.

I had a bunch of beads I purchase a few weeks prior to this project that were half-off at Michaels.These are large jewelry beads. I also had some pre-strung crystal that I purchased about 4 years or so ago. :

I sat at the dining table using some jewelry wire, tested out some combinations. I wanted to bring out some of the colors in the current painting I have hanging in the dining room. I finally came up with a combination that I liked, and strung it, and came up with this:

(See how I started decorating for the Fall with my dried orange Chinese lanterns above?)

For a bit of whimsy, I switched out the light bulbs from the “flame” shape to the round shape.

The best thing about this project is that I can easily switch out the beads to coordinate with any changes I make with the room!

How I Did The Mantle Re-do

In my previous post of my mantle re-do, I showed you the before and after. Now, I’m going to attempt to explain how I achieved that chippy look. Whenever I painted furniture, I always used the sanding method to distress the piece, but for the mantle I wanted more of a chipped paint look. By trial and error, this is how I accomplished it. I’m SURE there is a better way that professionals do it, but this is how I did it.

Here was the before:

First, I taped off the mantle to protect the brick, then I used a tinted primer left over from another project. This is the primer I used, and I’ve been happy with it with my other projects. It claims that you don’t need to sand the piece, so I didn’t.

Here it is primed:

After that dried, (maybe an hour?), I randomly painted with leftover paint samples from Sherwin Williams. The darker color was Seal Skin, and the grey is a mixture of Seal Skin with other leftover paint. It was a beige color. These were the colors that would show when the paint “chipped” off.

After that dried, I painted with more leftover paint, Benjamin Moore Linen White in an Eggshell finish. I think it was important that it was not in a flat finish. Flat dries too quickly. As the Linen White was drying, I started taking off the paint. I didn’t wait until it was completely dry, because it is harder to peel the paint off that way. I didn’t put all the coats on before I started peeling either. I alternated peeling, and recoating the unpeeled parts, if that makes sense. By the way, I used a bristle brush on the edges, and a sponge roller on top. the brush allows for more paint to be applied at the same time. Towards the end, I lightly used a sponge brush.

Here I am trying to get that paint off. I used my finger nails, a trowel, a screwdriver, and whatever I could find. You can see brush marks in this picture, but we can get rid of that later.

I used my embossing heat gun (a heat gun used to make embossed cards) to heat the paint to scrape off if the paint was too dry, and also to achieve that bubbling effect. When I used the heat gun, I made sure to use the trowel (and not my fingernail) to scrape off the paint, as the heat gun heated up the mantle quite a bit.

I live in Colorado, and with the dry air, the paint was drying too quickly, so I would continue to paint on top of where I wanted chipping, because it loosens up the under layers.

So, I kept going at this process until I got what I wanted. I also sanded in a few spots to get down to the original color of the mantle, but not much. I then went over lightly with a very fine sand paper over the areas where I didn’t want to see the brush marks. In the end, I found the mantle was too white to look like it was an old piece. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the white chipped mantle.) I “dirtied” it up a bit by rubbing a gel stain (found in the paint dept.) on top in a Walnut finish, they wipe it off quickly.

I did not distress the top of the mantle, as I didn’t want too bumpy of a surface for all those revolving accessories. Plus, I’m too short to see the top of the mantle, and I’m the only one that notices these things around here. :) I did, however, rub on that gel stain and wiped it off.

Here is the final piece:

I may end up going back to distress and remove some more paint later, we’ll see. I also may “crackle” it in a few spots as well. For now I will live with it.

I hope I was able to explain my steps. If not, please feel free to ask questions.

My Fireplace Mantel Makeover

It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in Between Naps on the Porch’s Metamorphosis Monday. Welcome if you are visiting!

This is a post on my fireplace mantle re-do. The mantel in my family has annoyed me for a long time. It had no character. It didn’t do anything for my revolving artwork and accessories. No pizzaz. The finish on the whole wall of bookcases(not shown) and the mantle were a reddish-brown stain, and the wood is oak. I’m not a huge fan of oak. The opposite side of this fireplace is our kitchen, in a dark cherrywood.

I debated a long time of whether or not to paint the mantle, bookcases, or both. Resale value of our home was the biggest factor, as people around here still prefer wood (even oak). Well, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re not moving anytime soon as we are pretty settled in our neighborhood. So, testing the waters, I mentioned to my husband that the whole wall of built-ins and mantle were not doing anything for me. He agreed that it was looking dated, and that I could paint everything if I wanted… I love my husband….he has no fear of paint. :)

I decided to start with the mantle first. This was my inspiration:

Ledge from Pottery Barn

Here is a before of the mantle:

After much distressing, and layering of colors to achieve a worn, chippy look, here are the after pics:

I know this isn’t the look for everyone, but I love it, and I think my artwork looks so much better! Best of all, my husband loves it as well!

I will write a post this week on how I achieved this chippy look. Thanks for visiting, and check out all the other great makeovers on Metamorphosis Mondays at Between Naps on the Porch!