Steps to Painting Farmhouse Chairs with a Brush

June 13, 2016June 12, 20167 Comments

Happy summer! I have so many projects to do! Eeekkk! One at a time, right?

So I started with my kitchen chairs. I have the chairs that actually belong to my grandma’s table, but they were getting so much use, I didn’t want them to get too worn out. So when the girls were young, we bought 6 oak ones at a liquidation store. Nothing fancy, just something to have around the table. But by now, they were pretty worn too. Paint time!

I know there are lots of different ways to paint and products to use, but I thought I would share what works for me. This time I used just a good old brush and can of paint. I am going to try chalk paint next time and I would like to try a sprayer too, just sayin’!

I cleaned up the chairs, removing dust and any leftover food. I find it easiest to turn the chairs upside down so I can make sure all the underneath is primered and painted well. I didn’t sand this time, and the primer seemed to hold pretty well.

There are hundreds of different primers out there, but Kilz is the one I like the best. It goes on thick and covers really well. I have never had any problems with it not adhering or peeling off.

After the underside of the chairs was dry, I turned them over and primered the top. Be sure to let all the coats dry before starting a new one. I painted just one coat of primer on all the chairs.

As you can see, I had a very curious kitty come by to see what I was doing! I debated about leaving the pawprints because they looked so cute, but I did end up painting over them. The kitty does still have paint on her ear though!

Once all the primer was dry, it was time for the paint! I followed the some pattern as with the primer. Turn the chairs over and start underneath. When it’s dry, paint the top. I used Orchard Supply brand paint, Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White. I did paint a second coat of the paint, but I purposely did not do complete coverage.

I wanted the chairs to have more of a farmhouse look to them. A little worn. Plus I don’t have to worry if the dogs or cats do a little scratching on them.

Again, wait for everything to dry and then add a protective finish over the whole chair. I used Minwax Water Based Polycrylic Finish. It goes on very smoothly and dries quickly. It’s not tacky to the touch and it cleans up great.

They are all ready to sit at the table again! I love the white! What a difference! I have 2 more to paint and then the farmhouse table. I am going to do the table with chalk paint. I will let you know how that goes!

So fresh and clean! I think Ezzy likes them too!

I will see you next time with the table! Have a great week!

When I See an Elephant Fly

April 1, 2016March 31, 20162 Comments

Have you seen an elephant fly? No…me neither. But wouldn’t that be cool, to see this giant creature flying through the air with ease? Yeah, that would be awesome.

Or, you can watch Dumbo and get almost the same thing.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, of course it has to do with a project I was working on. Specifically for my coworker Linda.

Linda is the resident cat lady at work. She takes care of the cat room 5 days a week while the rest of us take care of the dogs. She is an amazing person and someone who is very easy to talk to and she will help you with whatever is needed.

Well her birthday just passed and I wanted to give her something that was meaningful. Which is why I decided to make something from her favorite Disney movie, Dumbo.

I started with a blank canvas (literally and figuratively), grey paint, paintbrushes, and a black paint pen and started on my masterpiece. The canvas was purchased in a pack of 2 from Michaels for $10.99. Hey, I’m happy with it. Now I can make 2 pictures!

I printed out a silhouette of Dumbo from Google images that I wanted to put on one of the corners. I decided to use a pictures of Dumbo and Timothy Mouse flying because the picture of Dumbo sitting didn’t look as good. I printed the picture on carbon paper so that way it was easy to copy onto the canvas. And I think that it turned out great!

I also started writing the lyrics of the song ‘When I See an Elephant Fly’ on the canvas. I didn’t have to write super tiny because there aren’t that many lyrics to the song. But, I still didn’t cover the entire canvas. So I added the title of the song and the Disney logo at the bottom.

After writing the lyrics in pencil, I wrote over them in black paint pen. The only issue I had with the paint pen was that it started to run out near the end of the lyrics. It might have been better to use a sharpie to write the lyrics instead of the paint pen.

Finally, after writing all the lyrics, I finally painted in Dumbo. Originally, I wasn’t going to outline Dumbo in black, I was just going to leave it grey. But, he didn’t have a whole lot of definition without the outline.

I think it turned out super cute! I love how Dumbo turned out and how the lyrics worked out. I also like the title at the bottom, even though it wasn’t intended. Overall, I am extremely happy with this canvas. And I hope Linda is as well when she sees it!

Our First Blogiversary

January 22, 2016December 29, 20157 Comments

It’s official! We are now One!!! I can hardly believe it’s been a year. I remember sitting with Lauren and telling her it would be fun to start a blog, but had no idea what I would do for it. The more we talked, the clearer it became and soon Lauren was joining me on this adventure. Then came the decision for a name. That probably took us 3 weeks! I recall Haley walking in and saying, ‘Are you still talking about a name?!’ Ha! Now here we are a year later!

Some of Pam’s favorites have included furniture make-overs, DIY’s and decorating. She also loved redoing Lauren’s room and finally getting the hallway painted! Lauren loved being able to show off her Paris bedroom and of course her puppy, Zoella! Just knowing we have to post something helps us be more intentional about getting projects done.

My favorite part of my room-the bed

Some improvements this year have included better pictures, at least I hope so! I am slowly learning how to take better and brighter pictures. We also had our first giveaway! It was so exciting to be contacted by ParrotUncle to give away one of their lamps. Hopefully that will be the first of many! We also received 2 awards this year: The Liebster Award and a Blogger Recognition Award. Thank you to fellow bloggers for nominating us!!

We are planning on making a few changes, all positive we hope! Pam will still be posting on Monday. We are going to post on Wednesday with a Fabulous Finds and/or Fashion Day. We will either post about thrift store/garage sale finds or some fashion ideas. Lauren will be posting on Friday. Hopefully this will work better with her school and work schedule and Saturday will be our Corner News.

Of course, we want to hear from you too! What kind of posts do you like to see? Are there things you don’t like or things we should change? Please let us know in the comments below. Just be kind please :)!

I don’t want to be too mushy, but I really have to say thank you. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing blog posts and letting everyone who comes by see them. It has been hard for me at some points because of working a full time job and going to school full time, but I love to come up with ideas of how I can make a blog post. I have enjoyed reading all of the kind comments that I have received on some of my posts (mostly about Zoella, but nevertheless) and loved seeing who has come to view our blog. Thank you for not only fulfilling my dream to create and write about something for people to see, but also showing me that you care about what I write. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! And cheers to creating more amazing content to share with all of you!

It has been quite a ride this year and we can’t wait to see what else is waiting for us! Thank you again for coming over to read our posts and for all the kind comments! Obviously we wouldn’t continue if we didn’t have readers! Thank you for your support!

Upcycle A Clementine Box Into A Doll Bed

October 26, 2015August 16, 202014 Comments

A long, long time ago, I wanted to be a princess-for Halloween. Isn’t that most little girls dreams? It was kindergarten. I wore a long purple dress and my shoes were covered in tin foil in order to make them shiny. There were no sparkly shoes at Target back then :). Such simple times.

My little, now 3 year old, niece, loves Minnie Mouse. She has loved her since she was one years old. So I created something special for all her Minnie Mouse dolls.

I had several of these clementine boxes. I have used some in my classroom, but still had a few left over. Who better to give them to, but my sweet little niece!

I first spray painted them, one white and one pink. I didn’t find Minnie Mouse print material that I liked, so I went with black with large white polka-dots and pink with little white polka-dots. I found some Minnie Mouse ribbon and some black/white polka dot ribbon to go around each bed.

My disclaimer: I am not a seamstress. Please don’t think I really knew what I was doing. Besides, I had help. Lauren. She is much better than I am. My directions will be very simple and I am sure, not very complete. Just try to play along :).

I cut a piece of foam for the mattress and cut my material to fit around plus a couple inches extra. I wanted to make it like a pillow sham pillow case, with the opening in the back. This was so it could be washed if needed. I folded over a bit of the edges of the fabric, ironed and pinned. Lauren sewed.

We also made a quilt for each bed. We used both fabrics so it could be reversible. After sewing up 3 sides, we filled it with quilt batting and then sewed up the fourth side. Lauren also sewed an ‘X’ across the top so it would wash up better, if needed.

I love the polka-dots!

We also sewed a pillow for each one using fabric that was left over. It is just a large rectangle, sewn all around the edges, leaving a little space open for stuffing. After we stuffed it, we stitched up the opening. I also added some ribbon around the outside of the box and a narrow black ribbon along the top edges.

They turned out so cute!

She has so many Minnie Mouse dolls, she probably needs lots of these, but hopefully Minnie will share!

These would be great gifts for little ones on your list! They could be made for both boys and girls, depending on the type of fabric that is used.

My niece absolutely adored these! She already had a Minnie tucked in at her birthday party! I would love to see yours if you decide to make one!

Have a great week!

Wooden Drawer Front “GATHER’ Sign

October 22, 2015October 21, 20153 Comments

Hello all! Are you all ready for Halloween? My preschoolers are sooo excited! I think I hear every day what they are going to dress up as. We have a different type of dress-up day each day next week, so it should be fun and crazy! I am going as Mary Poppins, but most of the kids didn’t know who she was. Luckily I found a book and read it to them so they won’t be completely confused!

I am posting again today since Lauren has been too busy with mid-terms to get anything done. I am not real pleased with the result of the project, but since I had to get it done quick, I will just go with it!

I had this wooden drawer front sitting in my shed for awhile now and decided I needed to do something with it. I have been wanting to make a sign for awhile, so figured this would be a good piece for it.

I filled in the holes with spackle because I didn’t have any wood putty. I let that dry and then put on several coats of Minwax Wood Finish. I wanted it to be pretty dark, so I put on several coats and didn’t wipe too much off in between.

I like how the grain of the wood really shows up!

Now for my sign. I wanted to use the word ‘Gather.’ I found a font I liked on Microsoft Word and printed in out on my printer.I used a font called ‘Easy Rider.’

After printing out the size I wanted, I scribbled pencil all over the back of the paper. (Don’t mind the ‘G’ and the ‘a’-my printer decided not to print out the ‘t’, so I had to print again. Can’t waste paper!)

Then I put the paper, face up, on the board, placing it where I wanted it to be. Then I traced the letters with a pencil, pressing down hard. I was able to get the outline of my word.

Next I traced it with a paint pen and then filled in the letters with white paint.

I traced outside the letter with black, but after it was done, I wasn’t sure I liked it. I did some sanding on it and then added an antiquing wax over the whole thing.