frame to chalkboard!

i inherited this huge print from my parents' house after my mom died... the pink floral was not quite my thing, but it was such a big, nice frame, i knew i could do something fun with it!
i decided since i can't do a chalkboard wall in our dining room right now, a big fat framed chalkboard would be the next best thing.

i didn't take any pictures in progress because i was too busy trying to make sure the project didn't become a craft fail. let me explain...

1st i started painting the frame heirloom white. then i realized i paint too many things heirloom white & it's getting boring. especially since my dining room walls [where i want to hang the chalkboard] are essentially heirloom white. as a bonus though, the frame did fit perfectly between two windows. seriously, a perfect fit.

so i started trying to sand off the heirloom white, only to realize that the grooves of the frame are way too small for my belt sander & it was really hard to get much of it off. i got about 75% of it off, stained it with minwax dark walnut & called it a day.

i didn't want to have to cut a sheet of wood to size, so i primed & spray painted the glass only to realize when i tried to pick it up that the glass is what makes huge frames so heavy. that's ok because the other thing that happened when i tried to pick up the glass is that it shattered into about 10 pieces.

well, fantastic.

thankfully, i had traced the glass on a piece of plywood just in case before i thought that the glass would work better [hah!] & my lovely hubby cut it for me. a little sanding of the edges later, it fit like a charm & i primed & chalkboard painted it, no problem.

it ended up working fine, but as a sidenote, the wood was not nearly as thick as the glass, so it didn't end up clipping neatly back into the frame like the glass would have. the clippy thingies are bent a little further in than they should be & i'm always worried the wood will separate from the frame. so far, so good though.

here she is:
tough to get a good picture because of the windows, but see what i mean about the perfect fit? there's probably less than an inch of space on each side. perfect for birthday messages:
& other good, good thoughts.
my artsy chalk script leaves a little to be desired- i can't wait to try one of those cafe chalk pen things! i love having a big fat chalkboard in the dining room!

pretty painted furniture!

i've been really, really into pretty painted furniture recently. i've had some good luck at goodwill and craigslist recently, finding some nice sturdy [but cheap!] furniture in dire need of a little facelift!

here are some fun before & afters:
here's a little more info about this hand-me-down little table, & here's the after!
the infamous end tables before:
and after:
and last labor day hubs & i decided to tackle a project together... our nightstands were very similar in shape, but not matching or coordinating very well. mine was a sweet sentimental relic from my childhood- i remember it always being my dad's nightstand until my mom redecorated & offered it to me. we repainted the plain wood white together & added a new drawer pull from restoration hardware. it's the 1st piece of furniture i ever painted, way back in high school! we did the whole shabang on this one, stripping & scraping it completely down with citristrip [best stuff ever!] then staining the top & priming/painting/glazing the bottom!

here it is before:
during:
and after!

M's nightstand, i must admit, was a bit of a quick grab - we moved here 3 years ago in such a frazzle that we went out & bought a handful of furniture items from walmart, including this nightstand & our t.v. stand that both ended up being a bit regrettable... i know now i could have done cuter & cheaper on craigslist with a little painting & glazing! painting this one made it where i could live with it.

before:
after!
the minwax policrylic that we used to make a nice, smooth, durable finish also gives it that bright shine that reflects the light so brightly. it makes it really hard to see how lovely the dark stained top & drawer front turned out!

nightstands with good bones are plentiful on craigslist, & lots of fun to start out with furniture painting if you're unsure of yourself, want to try a new kind of paint or technique, or want to get a little funky with some color. same goes for dressers, which you can sometimes even find for free in the free section of craigslist or on freecycle!

i don't have a 'before' shot for the rest of these... that dresser, for one, was done before i started blogging... but just imagine them all in that same plain, boring oak finish as the end tables.

after:
this cute little octagonal table i bought at goodwill specifically to paint up & sell... she's listed on craigslist if you're interested & local!

as i'm looking at the before & afters i'm seeing that i've been a bit of a one-note kinda gal... my good old heirloom white with some smoky glaze [with the exception of a little blue apparently!]. looks like i need to mix it up some & do some thing more colorful!

i've got my eye out for a dresser or dress-up trunk that can go pink for my little girl's room, & when the time comes for a big boy bed for my little man, i've got bright green in mind! i even started a whole pinterest board of all the pretty painted furniture i've been coming across, and there are 2 new [to me!] blogs i stumbled upon:

button bird designs & less-than-perfect life of bliss

check them out for some major inspiration!

the den is almost done!

it's not quite done, but i thought i'd share how far our little den has come with really just some colorful new accessories.

before.... super boring & beige:

after... much more lovely & light-filled!

i still have several more projects to finish... some throw pillows, a new craigslist-find coffee table that's awaiting a fun paint finish, & maybe a little something extra on that plain little loveseat. but it is really coming together... i'm so excited!

one more reason to love coffee.

i did it.

i finally jumped on the coffee filter wreath bandwagon.

i figured, with a $1 wreath form from the dollar tree & 2 packs of unbleached coffee filters, what is there to lose? [i ended up making one with the bleached white as well. they were just too yummy not to do 2 colors.]
so big. so fat. so glam. exactly what i needed on the big mirror in my dining room for some subtle color, something big & interesting, & lots of texture.
oh, all that texture. i want to hug it.
if finn were a girl i'd hang a white one over his crib. my excitement for them even bubbled over onto my facebook page, where i ended up selling one of each to a friend for her upcoming wedding. if you want one too, leave me a comment... i'm not sure if they'll mail but if you're in the area i'll meet up with you some where!

over coffee, maybe? it just seems right.

what a difference a shade makes...

i feel like i use that joke a lot. note to self, don't become a cheesy one-liner joke recycler. eep.

but! when i got those giant green lamps into our den, i did realize what a difference some nice, cozy lamp light makes. what i had already realized is how much i hated the overhead light fixture in that same room.
this room is officially the dining room, according to the builder's plan for our townhome. because the room is carpeted [we have kids!] & because there's a much larger room right off the kitchen with nice hardwoods, it made absolutely no sense for us to have our dining room table in here [although we did try it for a minute during christmas this past year]. so, that at least explains the existence of this standard, boring, dime-a-dozen builder's grade 3 lamp dining room fixture right in the middle of my living room.
i've tried other things to hide it, my favorite being 3 big white paper lanterns which i did like for awhile. i've even covered it in candy canes & hung 2 giant snowflakes on it, in attempts to give it some holiday spirit. no such luck.
i finally decided i wanted to find a ginormous drum shade to just cover it all up & make it feel more living room appropriate. the problem was, i'd need one that was 20 inches or more in diameter to fit over the arms of each lamp... which is no cheap thing to buy. sure, i'd heard plenty of stories of folks finding the holy grail of a 24 inch drum shade in perfect condition on ebay, at a thrift store, or at a lamp outlet place. but i was short on time & long on impatience with this ugly fixture.

i started by taking the glass shades off & using an S hook to loop the chain up until the fixture was about 5 inches from the ceiling.
pretty, right? you can see why i was in a hurry to cover the whole thing up. i was going to try out an embroidery hoop tutorial, but couldn't seem to find the huge hoops [actually quilting hoops] in stock anywhere. plus, i was a little tired from my last few projects going ever-so-slightly wrong. ever feel that way?

as luck would have it, i was browsing through world market looking for throw pillows when i stumbled across this guy among their mix & match lamps & shades... a big burlap shade that was 17 inches across the top & 20 inches across the bottom for just $30.

SOLD.

but did he fit?
PERFECT.

there's not much room between the light bulbs and the edge of the lampshade & i had to unscrew a bit of the bottom of the fixture to get it on there, but who cares? it's exactly the look i wanted with no diy-ing & only $30. speaking of bulbs, i also got some new ones at wal-mart that specifically mentioned "open fixtures" on the packaging. i think the twirly energy-saving ones were just too darn bright.

here you can see how close the light bulbs come, & the ghetto rigging careful configuring i did to make the shade stay on there. we decided to keep the light on all day when i was home one afternoon & if the burlap didn't burst into flames, we were probably ok. [i'm mostly kidding- the bulbs are not hot to the touch & the shade has a plastic lining. use lots of caution & common sense when it comes to tiny electrical glass balls in your home!]
big drum shade for the win! i love love love how it looks! it's made a major difference in the room feeling like a den & not a dining room.
what's your favorite way to rig up some new lighting?

you too can gallery wall!

when we first moved in, i wanted to absolutely fill all these empty walls with gallery-style frame arrangements. there are so many well done ones floating around the internet to inspire! i did our black & white wall in the dining room:
& traded out old for new as our family grew & changed. this is more what it looks like now:
but when it came to the living room, we were hesitant to punch lots & lots of tiny holes all over. there was just so much wall space! after lots of discussion of options, we hung one long shelf with simple brackets & filled it with leaning frames. it ended up being a great idea for a time because we [ok, i] could constantly rearrange furniture & swap out the frames without having to re-do it all or have it look off-centered, etc.
the new place i had in mind was this big empty wall above the love seat in the den.
i even had a little teeny one in my mood board photo to test out the look. see it there on the left?
to get them hung, i used every trick in the book. i used the paper template method. i used the toothpaste method. i even used a level AND remembered to take an in-progress photo! i was a little concerned i might not have enough frames to fill the spot & it might look silly. i shouldn't have worried! they seemed to multiply as i started laying them out flat & arranging them.
i used some cheap packing paper [you know, the kind meant to be scrunched around your dishes when you're moving?] to get them centered & situated. granted, these are terrible no-light after the kids are in bed shots, but it really proves the blah beige need for some color on this wall, right?
the best thing about gallery walls is that you don't have to have a bunch of huge frames. if you group enough medium/small ones together they read as one larger piece! i really love how purposeful the end result is!
it looks great considering it's unexpectedly the first major view in eyesight as you come through the front door:
i guess now i have to do some tweaking to reflect that we'd had a second child! is there a spot on your walls that needs some filling? i've pinned lots of really pretty gallery/frame arrangements on my 'pretty for home' board if you want to check that out... pinterest of course is a treasure trove of ideas of all the different ways to do one.

world's most GIANT mirror!

ok, so not THE world's most giant mirror... the lady i bought it from had just replaced it with a gorgeous one about 3 times bigger, which truly was the biggest mirror i've ever seen ever. but i snapped this one up for $40 within a couple hours of her listing it. don't you love it when rich people sell their "old" stuff on craigslist?
but still, it is large. probably the biggest single thing to hang on our wall that i've ever purchased.luckily, it's not as heavy as it looks, but unfortunately, it doesn't exactly bend. i had a heck of a time trying to get it in my car, and for a few minutes was sincerely worried i was going to have to leave my newly-purchased mirror on the lady's driveway until i could go home & come back with my husband's truck.

i ended up wedging it face down & horizontally across the entire interior of my camry, with one edge precariously near to to the corner of my eye as i drove.

but we made it home! and look how huge:
again, the gold & crackle is a bit much [although in the right space it could really be kinda glam] but look at the gorgeous detail!

so i hit it with some aqua spray paint

& then some ralph lauren smoke glaze. look how it brought out all the scripty-scrollies & toned down the blue just a tad:
but i hung it up in our new den & it was screamingly obvious- way too blue. i mean, i was going for big bright statement piece, but the statement this one was making was more 'what is up with that mirror?' in a bad way. so back to the drawing board.

i repainted [by hand this time] some icy blue "oops" paint i found at home depot on the edges in between the fancy scrollies, leaving them the aqua so that they would still pop.

then i re-glazed all the freshly painted parts so that it would blend a little more...

& now i love it! it looks so nice down that long hallway, centered in the middle of the wall, reflecting [hopefully] all the sunlight from the big window on the opposite wall! i think visually it goes a long way to bringing me closer to my inspiration board. it's really coming together!
i love how it looks reflecting the new gallery wall!