Nightstand Makeover

When we refinished our bedroom, I was so nervous to paint these night stands. They were in awesome shape and we had paid a lot for them, only 2 years ago. But, I wanted the distressed black look, so out came the spray paint.
Voila!
Perfect black finish, perfect distressed edges. Matches the bed perfectly. I Heart Spray Paint!

How to Hang Pictures on the Wall

I know that it seems like I've fallen off the face of the planet..... Sorry. I have actually been working on projects, but haven't made time to blog them yet.

My vision for my loft has always been that it would be a place for our family to be together enjoying life. It is where my craft supplies are, where the computer is, where the girls' creative play toys are, where we keep board games and puzzles.... It really is where we spend the majority of our time. I wanted something in the room to reflect who we are as a family. (I also want to paint a mural of a tree with cute little birdies in it, but that's another story.)

So I started collecting frames from DI, garage sales, under my bed, etc. I spray painted them so they all match, because they were a hodge podge of different shades, shapes, and textures.

Then, I laid them out on the floor and fiddled with them until they were in an arrangement I liked. I wanted it to be casual and fun, which is why they are all kind of randomly (purposely) placed.

I traced the outlines of the frames and where the picture hanging thingies on the backs of them were onto a huge sheet of wrapping paper. Then I taped that to the wall and put my nails in through the wrapping paper. This way, I know they are all positioned exactly how I wanted them, and I didn't put a million extra holes in the wall.

Tore the wrapping paper down (of course it was Tinkerbell Christmas paper, what else does a family of girls have lying around?), and hung up the pictures. There it is. Our cute little family. I love it.

Roadkill Rescue: Bookshelf

I'm participating in Roadkill Rescue at Infarrantly Creative. The rules are that you have to redo something that you acquired for no cost at all.

My project was these bookshelves. It was free to me because my parents bought them when I was twelve and they have stuck with me. They're just cheap, white bookshelves. Not real wood, just that plastic-y stuff. And after all these years, they were starting to look pretty bad.

First, I had to take the back off the bookcase. It was easy to remove the little nails and cart it downstairs, where I mod-podged some cool wrapping paper (from Walmart, $3) onto it. Mod-podging that large of a surface was tricky, so I cut the paper into smaller squares. It still ended up with wrinkles, but it will be covered mostly by books anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

Next, I spray painted the body of the bookshelf. It was just one of those cheap, plastic coated plywood bookshelves to begin with, so I wasn't too worried about ruining it with spray paint. In fact, I love spray paint because it's cheap and can totally transform something. After about 4 coats, plus a coat of polyurethane to keep it from scratching, it was finished.
Nailed the mod-podged back onto the newly black bookshelf
(Close up)

Voila!

I put them in our loft, which has become the reading/creating zone. If I homeschooled, I would do it in here. So yes, I know that there are cute ways of arranging things on bookshelves, but right now the primary goal in arranging is to keep important stuff away from my 11 month old.(Honestly, in the middle of writing that sentence I had to run over and take some chalk out of her mouth. Sometimes it's dangerous to have big sisters who leave their stuff everywhere!)

Little Round Table (Spray Paint Tutorial)

, One thing that I think everyone should know is this: Spray Paint is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I LOVE spray paint, because it's so easy and cheap and makes such a difference.
So, here's my tutorial on how to spray paint a little table. I bought this table for $1 at a yard sale two years ago. I love the shape and the cute little legs. I do not love the tabletop, which is all warped from people not using coasters. The solution is obvious. Spray paint over it.
I chose to paint mine black because that's kind of the theme in our house. Any color would work. And, I'm sure some spray paints are better than others, but I just chose the mid-priced one at Walmart. When you actually spray paint, the key is to do light coats so the paint doesn't run down. I think covering this table took about 3-4 coats of paint.

It looks fine with the flat black finish, but I kind of like the country/shabby look, so I sanded the edges of mine. This little sander thing is awesome! I borrowed (stole) it from my mom when we moved into this house and she's never asked for it back, so I use it all the time. You just kind of go over the edges with the sander. You could do it with regular sandpaper, it would just take a while.

See the sanded edge? I think it just adds a fun element. Not necessary, but cute.


The next step is to go over the entire table with wood stain. It's so easy, just follow the directions on the can. It makes the whole thing look a little richer, and it gives a good color to those areas that were just sanded.
Let it dry. You can put a clear coat of spray paint on it if you want to protect it, like if you were going to be putting drinks on it or something.



Voila! Cute table for the front room!

Shutters

Is it the butterfly effect that talks about how one event happens that leads to another and another and another and finally a result you'd never considered but are happy with? Do you know what I'm talking about?

When we first moved into our house, I found this great computer armoire at DI (thrift store) for $75. I had a friend who told me I could spray paint it, so I did. It became my favorite peice in our house, and this room was my favorite room, though I did complain that there wasn't enough seating.

But then we bought our fancy TV last year, and it took the place of my beloved armoire, which has been relegated to the loft and is still looking for a style up there. Ever since we bought the TV, I have felt like something was lacking in that space, but couldn't think of what to do about it.

Then one day Nester had a Price My Space Party and I saw this:

Which happened to coincide with the time my mother was cleaning out her basement and was getting rid of these shutters. (good news, she has more!)

Which happened to coincide with a garage sale where they were getting rid of this holiday barn star.

So, $2 for the star, $6 for the spray paint (2 cans of black and one of red) equals this:

And all together, we get this:

I do believe this is the first craft project my husband has actually noticed on his own. Usually I am so excited that I drag him to see it as soon as he gets home, but last night I was in the middle of cooking/burning dinner when he walked in and he commented about it right away. I take that as a sign of success.