Ahhhhh.....

Today is the first day of school! It is always a bittersweet day. I’ll be the first to admit that I do enjoy my quiet alone time while they are in school. However, I do miss the precious moments we shared all summer.

My coffee mate

I had coffee alone today. Can’t believe just the other day my coffee mate and I were sharing a few moments together. His is decaf! He said he was practicing for when he became an adult. Oh my, I realize that will be here before I know it! How has 8 years of motherhood already passed? Or do I get to claim 14 years of motherhood…8 plus 6?

another goodbye!

I also bade farewell to this gem as well! I was truly sad to see this work of mine go. I wanted to keep her sooo bad!

Ah...the Hunter Green days!

She came to me a glorious shade of Hunter Green. A friend of mine found her for $25! It has a display tray that pulls out, covered in a lovely blue faux velvet. My friend purchased it for her beach house. My only instructions were to make it beachy!

Beachy Blue

I painted the sides leftover blue from my dining room, and I painted the framing around the glass top polar white from Behr. I performed my magic art of sanding and glazing.

The After

I painted the inside of the display area leftover Wintergreen Ash from my laundry room! I’m in love! Sadly I bid her farewell too this week. Oh well, she belongs at the beach!

Can you believe I saw the same Hunter Green table in a consignment shop the other day for $225??? Who is buying Hunter Green? What would you pay for my after? 225?

Lettered

I linked up my Board and Batten Hallway project on The Lettered Cottage on friday and I’ve gotten quite a few questions about it. I so enjoyed all the comments and questions. I’ve decided to do a follow up post to answer the questions and give you a little bit more detailed information on how to tackle the project.

The great thing about doing this project was it was a small area. It was the perfect place to try out some new skills in preparation for some bigger projects on my never ending “to do” list. The bad thing is that I did not take many pictures. I get so involved in things that I forget to take pictures! So hang in there without too many pictures if you can!

1. Measure the area you are going to be doing and draw out your board placement on a piece of paper. I have 9 ft. ceilings. I placed my top board 64″ from the floor. Not sure why I choose that, it just felt right. I actually drew a lot on my wall while I was deciding where I was going to place everything.  I had to use some math skills here.  I knew I wanted 5 sections so I to calculate out how to do this with the length of wall I was working with.  This is where drawing it on the wall first really came in handy!

measurements

2. Armed with my very precise drawing and all my calculated measurements, I headed to Home Depot. Totally confused on what wood to use, I finally settled on 1/2 inch thick plywood. {next project I will choose true MDF, the plywood was very rough on edges after it was cut} I also purchased all the supplies I did not have.  You need the following:

paint

primer

painters chalk

chalk gun
wood filler
chalk smoother tool (not sure the technical term, but this is a tool that smoothes the chalk out)
I borrowed a nail gun. I would rent or borrow one before attempting this project for sure! Lifesaver! It was my first time using a nail gun and it was very easy to use!

Still armed with my very precise drawing and measurements, I then had the Home Depot employee cut every single one of these boards! In my previous post I asked if I should have tipped this guy that saved my life. I learned from all my comments that I did the right thing by not tipping. The employees are not even allowed to accept the tips if you offer.

3. I brought home the supplies. Heard husband groan and say “I’m not helping!” and then I politely answered “you don’t need too!”

4. I painted the wall with 2 coats of semi gloss white paint that matched my trim.

step 1

5. I then sanded the rough parts of the boards and battens and primed them. Then I did have to eat crow and call hubby for help. You see I did need someone to hold the boards up while I used the nail gun. We secretly both wanted to use the nail gun. So I shared it with him. We knocked them out in no time. Here is my tip on this part. Before you get all gung ho and start your nailing, make sure the boards are all cut exactly right. I had a few small gaps I had to fill in with extra chalk because I did not do this.

6. I then filled the nail holes in with wood filler and chalked wherever the wall met the board. Easy Peasy!

7. I painted the boards with 2 coats of white semi gloss and attached a piece of decorative molding on top.

8. Screwed in the $3.73 cent hooks from Lowes.

The After

9. Added some decor and some letters to mark everyones hooks. The “d” is for Dogs, for their leashes. Oh yes, we then cluttered it up with all our crap!

The Tweaked View

So far it is working out great and our stuff is staying off the floor. However, school does not start until Wednesday. The true test will then come to see if they are hanging up their backpacks without me nagging.

My next project will be my master bedroom.  I’m not sure when. I have this glorious vision in my head of what it will look like.  It involves painting all of our bedroom furniture and ripping up our NASTY carpet first.  I refuse to do anything in there until the carpet is gone, gone, gone.  At this point I almost would rather have naked sub floor then have to look at the carpet!

I’m so glad after all these months of oohing and ahhing over board and batten projects that I finally did one myself!  I hope I have inspired you to try it yourself!  Grab a friend and do it together!

This is the tale of one of the fastest makeovers I have ever witnessed or participated in. Total time from brainstorm to completion was only 9 days! We were at our friends lake house on Hyco Lake in NC for the July 4th holiday. Homeowner and dear friend Annie said, “Hey, I’m thinking about painting these cabinets!” I had already painted them in my mind {anyone else mentally redecorate people’s houses?}, so I squealed in delight when she said the words out loud! I think if she was not entertaining a house full of people we would have been in the car to Lowes 5 minutes later.

Before with Screens

We planned out the project right away. Annie wanted to somehow get rid of the screens that were in the top cabinets. Without a pantry she lacks a place for food storage. The fact the kids could see all the treats in the cabinets were not working too well!! She came up with the idea to put bead board in the centers of the cabinets to close them up.

Where I came in!

Jump forward 5 days to July 9th. I arrived at the Lake House at 9:00 pm and was greeted by this! Superwoman Annie had begun at 2:00 pm and already had all the cabinet doors off and was just finishing up the first coat of “Innocent” by Behr, paint and primer all in one. I grabbed a brush and jumped in while her Hubby was cutting the bead board inserts.

We then made the executive decision that cutting out the screen was going to be a near impossible {and total PIA} task. The screening was mounted in between 2 layers of wood. We scrapped that idea and decided to mount the bead board behind the screen. {Much to Norm’s relief!} We painted until 1 am when we finished up the second coat.

Power Pancakes

Superwoman was back up at 7 am and cranked out some Multi Grain Pancakes {Krusteaz Mix from Costco – super yummy!} and a pot of coffee. I slumbered until 9 {what a friend I am!} and then we hit it again. Executive decision was then made that we needed a third coat. Ugh! But it really needed it!  We munched on these pancakes all day!! Pancakes, Coffee, Blueberries and Water and laughs got us through!

Our View!

We stayed super focused even though we had this fabulous view! We rocked and rolled.  After the third coat was on, we started sanding and glazing!

Painted, Distressed and Glazed!

I of course have done the sanding and glazing thing quite a bit, but it was Annie’s first try. She caught on right away and blew me out of the water with her speed. We used the Ralph Lauren Tea Stained Glaze from Home Depot.  {P.S. The Home Depot paint department verified that they are getting rid of the RL paint, so I will be stocking up on this glaze…it rocked!} Norm then got cranking on attaching the bead board inserts with Liquid Nails and finishing nails.

lower cabinets with new knobs

We put new knobs and handles on the doors and Annie started attaching those! Don’t you love the new look against her wide plank blue floors???

Bead Board Inserts

The bead board inserts turned out great too! That glaze hit those vertical lines so nicely!

After (before clean up!)

At 6 pm we were staring at this scene! Check out my favorite dude Max in this shot. I LOVE me some Max. He is a Yellow Lab on Basset Hound legs! Such a sight.

At 7 pm we “fluffed” ourselves and Norm took us in the boat to the Marina and treated us to a big fat dinner. The pancakes were long gone by then. I was so amazed that we got it done that fast! I’m so used to doing my projects solo. It was so much fun to hang together. The time just flew by!

I flew the coop back to my abode late that Saturday night. {I still had more to do at my home on Sunday!}

Total spent was roughly $175 for paint and materials, including the new hardware!

Are you itching to paint your kitchen cabinets? If you can find a friend to pitch in and help you can get it done in a weekend! I hope this inspires you that you can do it if you dream it!

Do you remember this post from way back in March when I asked for your help in deciding what color to paint my friends Ballard Designs inspired Media Cabinet? Well, if you missed it, check out the post here. The original plan was to paint it black. Well, the votes were cast and white beat out black!  I decided to go with Cameo White by Benjamin Moore instead!

My friend and his father built this cabinet together and styled it after one they had seen in the Ballard Designs catalog. I was then tasked with the job to paint it and distress it and make it look like they had actually purchased it from Ballard. No pressure what so ever. I was like “sure I can do that!” I love any type of a painting challenge.

I lovingly painted the entire piece with 2 coats of Cameo White and then began the tedious process of sanding it to create the worn look I love so much. I loved how the top drawers came out! I then worked my magic with the chocolate brown glaze. {link to my glazing tutorial here} The next and very important step in finishing any piece of furniture, especially when there are small kids in the house, is the poly clear coat. I put 2 coats of this on. The rest of the cabinet was out of my hands.

My friend and his father stained the top of it and put the doors, knobs and handles on themselves. Then I patiently waited for them to send me pictures!! So here it is in its final resting place with a brand new TV on top!

Ballard Designs Media Cabinet {www.ballarddesigns.com}

What do you think? Did we get close to the actual cabinet in Ballard Designs? Did I disappoint all the peeps who voted for fans black?

before shot of hallway

When you enter my home from the garage entry I have a long hall. The laundry room is on the right. I’ve done and redone this hallway several times. In the preschool days I painted 6 layers of magnet paint covered with chalkboard paint. I could adhere all the artwork via magnets and they could doodle all over the wall. I got sick of the dust and painted over it awhile back.

step 1

My next plan….Board and Batten! That plan entered my brain quite awhile ago when I first saw it popping up all over Blog Land. Well, I finally got the job done. This is not a tutorial. I’ll show you the first step….because that is all I have a picture of! I just got busy with the project and did not take any! {To make matters worse I dropped my camera when taking the final after pictures and it has gone to its grave.  I’m am cameraless!}

I painted the 2/3 of the hallway with Sherwin Williams Super Paint White Semi Gloss. I figured the wall was going to take some serious abuse so I need all the protection and washability I could get. Also, let me add that those plastic pour containers with the lid that screws back on are GONE! What a great idea at first. I can’t tell you how many times I could not get those lids off when I wanted to paint. I would just keep trying until I got it, but I would get soooo frustrated. Maybe it was because I was lazy and did not clean the paint off the rim before I shut it. Oh well, just glad the old can is back!

The After

I got the guy at Lowes to cut all my boards. I’m sure he was cussing me under my breath when I left too! I did help him measure everything out and mark it. My neighbor pointed out that I was quite rude for not tipping him. Honestly the thought really did not cross my mind. In my mind he was just doing his job. {of course I had no cash anyway} Feedback here…would you have tipped him? Because I will be going back on my next project. Do I need to switch to Home Depot in case I am recognized as the loser who did not tip?

Love the 3 prong hooks

I got these great 3 prong hooks from Home Depot for $3.23 each! I love them because they give you 3 hooks in one to hang stuff on. Each boy can hang their backpack, jacket and hat! Hopefully they will hang these items up!

Adding a little bling

I wanted a coastal feel {really I just want to move to the beach!} when you first walk into the house. On my recent trip to the Outer Banks I got some great starfish at one of my favorite stores, The Cottage Shop.

Driftwood!

I also got this great piece of driftwood from the beach!

A hook for everyone

Here is another view. It is very difficult to get a good picture because it is a hallway. I had a blast doing this project. I made a few mistakes and learned a few new things. I used a nailgun for the first time {loved it} and found out I’m a pretty good calker!

This look is very addicting as well! I’m thinking about tackling my master bedroom next!

All in all it was relatively cheap to do as well.  The board I cut up was $24 and I sill have 1/2 left.  The hooks were $3.23 each.  The starfish were $12 and I had the rest!

Please leave me a comment if you have any specific questions about the project and I will get right back to you!

I’m linking this project up with Melissa at The Inspired Room! She is so inspiring! Check out her Friday Linky Day!

Thank you Life to the T for showing us your secret to that fabulous metal letter you painted to look like leopard!

Spring has sprung and I’m totally in a bright and cheery turquoise kind of mood. I just can’t get enough of this color! I’ve trolled some of my favorite internet sites and pulled some inspiring photos for you to enjoy!

photo courtesy of Coastal Living

I’d so love to have a bedroom like this!  I love how the bed is painted in this fabulous blue!

photo courtesy of Coastal Living

How about the painted blue floors?

photo courtesy of Coastal Living

Now this is turquoise commitment at its best!

Does anyone have any favorite blue or turquoise like blue paint colors they would like to share?