Good Enough: What a coat of paint can do

Showing posts with label What a coat of paint can do. Show all posts

In which I look for things to paint.

>> Friday, August 23, 2013 – About me, Stuff I Love, What a coat of paint can do, Where We Live

I spent a good part of this week wandering around my house looking for things to paint. Because sometimes you just need to paint something, you know? A couple of months ago I rearranged a couple of cabinets in my kitchen and dining room, which I should have done years ago, but for some reason it never occurred to me before. Anyway, once the switch had been made I went crazy and decided to redecorate my dining room. All because of this:

Valspar Pantone Universe in Emerald

I went to Lowe's for a perfectly good reason (which I do not now recall) and walked out with this. No plan. Just a color I had to have. Then I spent the next 24 hours wandering around my house looking for something to paint. (Have you noticed a pattern here?) I wound up painting this:

And this (just the shelves. They were a much darker green before.):

And suddenly the wall color totally didn't work anymore. And it still doesn't because for various reasons (not the least of which was Ginny's being out of school for the summer) I still haven't repainted. But I have plans! Which I will post about another time. Because this post is about how I randomly walk around my house looking for things (besides walls) to paint.

Maybe you've seen this -- "color-dipped" furniture? It's sort of a thing now, I guess.

Source

It isn't actually dipped, of course. Can you imagine what a mess that would be? Although I am sure somewhere there is someone trying to figure out how they are going to dip the top half of a dining chair into a bucket of paint. If that person is you, I apologize. But I really hope that person isn't you. Anyway, here's mine. I love it. Unfortunately it didn't require nearly enough painting to satisfy me, so the wandering continues.

Please step into my Way Back Machine.

>> Friday, May 18, 2012 – About me, Ginny, Got It At Goodwill, Stuff I Made, Stuff we do for fun, What a coat of paint can do

I found this post from last spring in my drafts -- previously unpublished because I never bothered to take a picture of the finished project. So enjoy this crafty trip in the Way Back Machine, be reminded of how adorable Ginny was at age 4, and amazed at how she's changed.

A while back my mom told me about a really expensive sign she'd seen in a fancy homegoods store that said, "Fleurs de Virginie." That is "Virginia's Flowers." I think it may have been a painting of a French florists shop with that name. Anyway, she didn't buy it (see: "really expensive"), but I've had a bee in my bonnet to make a vintage-inspired florist sign for Ginny's room ever since. I started with this lovely piece:

If you painted this, dear reader, I apologize for what you are about to see.

At first my plan was to sand it a bit and give it a couple of coats of white spray paint for a clean start. Then I realized that the look that I was going for was "fleurs" and there was already a fleur on it. "Why waste a moderately good fleur?" I always say. Actually, I don't think I've ever said that. Nevertheless, Ginny and I gave it a quick sand:

It's never too early to teach these important life skills.

After a quick wipe with a damp cloth to remove the dust, it was on to the next step. Here's how you can DIY this at home: Choose your flowery font, and print out your words. Make 'em BIG.

Lay them out to make sure everything is going to fit, then prepare your computer printouts for the transfer process. (I feel like I'm maybe getting a little carried away with these instructions. Do you get the feeling I might be about to tell you how to do a brain transplant or something? It's not that complicated.) Then do this:

Scribble over the entire back of each word. It's so easy a 4 year old can do it.

Now turn your pages over, place them on the surface to be painted and trace the letters with a pencil. It works like carbon paper. When you lift up the paper, you should see your letters transferred lightly onto the surface, like so:

(I used this same technique to paint on my dining room walls.)

Now use a paint pen, or a thin paint brush to outline and fill in the letters.

When that was dry, I outlined the letters again in gold, just for the extra je ne sais quoi.

I added a fake date of establishment. Why fake? Because 2011 sounds too futuristic for a French florist. I don't know. Just go with it. When it was totally dry, I did a bit more sanding here and there, to give it a more aged, distressed look, and there you have it.

It's Just Hair

>> Friday, February 18, 2011 – About me, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun, What a coat of paint can do

I love it. I feel like Wonder Woman.

linked to All Four Love, Jeanne Oliver Designs

Now for something completely "Different."

>> Saturday, October 23, 2010 – About me, Stuff I Love, What a coat of paint can do, Where We Live

"Different Gold," that is. Sorry these aren't the best pictures. I was losing the light, but I had to take a few. My kind readers have been clamoring for a peek.

I have longed for a yellow front door for years, and now I actually have one! I'll probably paint my house numbers back on at some point, but for now I'm content to leave it as-is. Thanks to everyone who played along with my "which color" post last week and expressed excitement about seeing pictures of my painted door. It's silly, but you made my day.

Sherwin Williams "Different Gold"

Ginny's Blue Chair Featured on "One Pretty Thing"

>> Friday, October 22, 2010 – About me, Ginny, Miscellaneous, Stuff I Love, What a coat of paint can do

Dear reader, do you know about One Pretty Thing? Rachel scours the web day and night looking for the best and most creative projects and complies them into daily topical roundups. She was kind enough to include Ginny's Blue Chair in this week's "Before and After" Roundup! One Pretty Thing is at the top of my list when I start searching for a new project to try. If you've never been there, GO! You may just find the inspiration you're looking for!

Color Speaks

>> Wednesday, October 13, 2010 – About me, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun, What a coat of paint can do, Where We Live

Which of these colors says, "Come in and stay a while!" to you?

Crispy Gold

High Strung (What a name!)

Roycroft Copper Red (I wonder who Roycroft is.)

Different Gold

I spent an embarrassing amount of time yesterday playing with the Color Visualizer on the Sherwin Williams website. I've been wanting to paint our front door for a long time, but Trav hasn't been too keen on the idea thus far. On the off chance he should ever change his mind, I'm tinkering with color ideas. Ginny says blue, of course. But I think with the green roof and shutters, a something in the yellow or red family would definitely be the way to go. I think I know which one is my favorite. Which did you pick? All colors Sherwin Williams Exterior.

She likes blue.

>> Tuesday, October 12, 2010 – Ginny, Stuff I Made, Things Mommies Do, What a coat of paint can do, Where We Live

You know that "Pink is for girls. Blue is for boys," thing? Don't buy it. My girl likes blue.

This is Ginny's chair at the dining table. It doesn't match the other chairs, which doesn't bother me, but it wasn't very cute. Don't ask me why a piece of furniture upon which milk is regularly dumped and spoonfuls of yogurt are blopped daily should be cute. Things should just be nice to look at. Not too long ago I found this ladybug vinyl and used it to recover the seat, just to make those messes a little easier to wipe off. Ginny likes ladybugs. Probably more than most people, but it still just wasn't "her."

Then, my mom found this oilcloth. SO cute, right? Love. We eat apples pretty much every day, and it's green, which goes with the color scheme of my dining room. "Perfect," I thought. "I'll paint the chair green like the arm chairs and it'll be perfect." Over the weekend I told Ginny about my plan. "It should be blue," she said. "I want really blue." I tried to talk her out of it, but if you have ever tried to talk a nearly-4 year old out of her favorite color, you know I didn't stand a chance. "Okay," I said. "We'll go to Lowe's and you can pick the color." "I can pick it all by myself," she said firmly. "Fine. All by yourself. We'll go on Monday."

This is what she chose. All by herself. She has a good eye. And while she was taking a nap (JOY!) I recovered the seat and took the chair outside to spray it. I'd never used the Valspar before, but it has a nice, even spray and I like the finish. (I bought 2 cans, but only wound up using one.) It was still outside when she woke up and she went out with me bring it in and "helped" put the seat back on.

She loves it (though she refused to pose with it for a picture). She can hardly concentrate on eating for turning around to stroke the back and say, "I love my chair, Mom. It's really blue." And you know what? I love the blue, too. It's a bright moment in an otherwise subdued room. Just as she is a bright moment in my otherwise subdued life.

Red

>> Friday, September 3, 2010 – Got It At Goodwill, What a coat of paint can do, Where We Live

Have you ever painted with red? Oh. My. Good. Gracious. I seriously think I could have kept on painting coat after coat, until I had not a drop of paint left, and I still would not have achieved even coverage on this thing. I finally gave up after 4. I just decided it was enough. Eventually I may give it a good coat of spray paint to even it out, but for now, I'm living with the imperfection.

(Rotten picture. Sorry.) This is what it looked like before. Not terrible, but not that special, either. I picked this little tiered side table up maybe a year ago on 1/2 off day. I intended to paint it all along, but I hadn't been able to settle on a color. I knew I could paint it black, to match our dresser and the desk, but that seemed kind of boring. I wanted a color, I just didn't know which color. I had a can of Glidden Candy Apple Red, that I got when they did their 1 quart giveaway, but until I got this duvet cover and the Euro shams, red didn't really make sense in the room. Yes, it's eggshell finish wall paint. I decorate wrong and I don't care. The duvet cover is from Pottery Barn and the shams are Martha Stewart for Macys. I found both at Goodwill. I love the lightness they bring to the room. They do push the look a little toward the feminine, but I don't think Travis minds. I hope. You don't mind, do you Trav?

So here's what happens when you paint with red:

Before

1st coat.

Nothing says, "Boy, have I made a mistake." like one coat of red paint.

2nd coat

4th coat

If I had primed it (or sanded), I probably could have gotten more coverage. But we all know that's not the way I operate. I did wipe the dust off, though. Also, those turned legs and spindles? They put the pain in paint. I tried every painting tool I had and nothing made those things any easier. So I just kind of slapped it on as best I could. Don't judge me. (See the stool in the background? It's painted this same color.)

Is it crazy that I actually sleep better in this room, now that I think it looks pretty?

Watercolors

>> Tuesday, June 8, 2010 – Ginny, Stuff we do for fun, What a coat of paint can do

Yesterday I introduced Ginny to watercolors. I'd say it was a success. She sat, painting quietly, for almost 2 hours. We may start painting every day!

Don't you love her green "Frida" uni-brow?

She seems to be starting with a Green Period

Testing.... 1... 2

>> Tuesday, June 1, 2010 – Stuff I Love, What a coat of paint can do

Do you like FREE? I do. Charlotte at Sew Fun! posted this morning about a paint giveaway!

A year or so ago, in a similar promotion, I got a quart of Candy Apple Red, which I have used for a few things around the house. This time, Glidden is giving away tester samples, in a "Get 2, Give 2" promo. You simply choose two colors you love and, if you wish, you can provide Glidden with a friend's email address and that friend will receive an invitation to participate in the "Get 2, Give 2." Sending an invite to a friend is not required.. But it's nice to share. :) I chose Deepest Aqua and Safari Green. What will you choose?