Furniture Painting

So, I promised a quick run through of how I painted the chair, what I think of it now, and if I recommend it to others. Here's the scoop.

The chair started out looking like this:

Well, without the bags and painters tape. It was a sweet little chair that my BFFs grandma had bought at a garage sale years ago. It had been recovered several times. So I removed all the covering until it was down to the original. I had originally intended to recover it myself, but then I started seeing all of these posts about painting the fabric of furniture. One day I was having spray paint withdrawals(this happens from time to time when I haven't painted anything in a while. I blame the instant gratification...and the fumes), so I decided to wrap up the wood(which is the reason I loved this little chair in the first place), and go to town on it with the black paint. I had several cans of black paint, and I thought it might make a good accent piece if it was black.

Here it is midway through. This is my painting tarp(can you tell?), it's covered in just about every color paint under the sun. I always do spray paint outside because it gets on everything and smells TERRIBLE! Make sure you're working on a nice sunny day so you can leave it out to dry a bit.

 

Here is the point in the conversation that I must mention I used CHEAP black flat paint. I have since learned that there is spray paint that is specifically for fabric(haven't seen it for myself), but this is NOT that paint. Ha! This is the $.99 cans my husband picked up that one time I asked for black paint. I generally use Valspar only because I think it's the best at covering, still reasonably priced, and comes in TONS of trendy colors. You can usually match it to the regular paint as well, which is cool if you are needing to paint the wall to match.

Here it is finished. Don't you just love the contrast of the cherry colored wood and the black. I also like how the black pops against the gray wall. Now, I should mention that for the most part this chair isn't sat in. If someone sits in it its usually one of the kids. I wasn't too worried about the paint rubbing off on anyone because of it's lack of use. I also wasn't worried about if the fabric would become stiff. I honestly just wanted it to LOOK cute. I don't recommend using cheap paint on a piece that you want to use regularly, as this paint DID made the fabric a little stiff, but more importantly it DOES rub off if you rub on it too much. It may also have to do with the particular fabric on this chair as well, but like I said, since it's rarely used we aren't too worried about it. 

Here she is all dressed up. I love that we were able to bring new life to this chair without spending a dime! It looks just right for the space, and I love it! This is a picture I took right after I finished it.

Here it is this week. You can see that it still looks fine, but the color does show through a tiny bit, and it doesn't look as crisp as it did before. I'm still OK with it though. It serves it's purpose, and fits in just fine. SO, in the end, it's fine for this particular purpose, but I can't say that I recommend it for you unless you're OK with needing to recover it in the end(which we still may do some day), or scrapping it all together. Try doing some research on it(it's ALL over the internet these days) before taking the plunge like I did.

 

Smittles Overhaul the Hizzy:Entryway, Living Room, and Guest Bath

So, now that we've covered my safe haven bedroom we can move on to the FUN parts of the house!! SO, welcome to the Smittle Family Home!!

 

This is the first thing you'll see when you walk in to our home. It's probably in the top five of my favorite things in our home. I bought it from IKEA, and it was well worth every penny! It makes fun polka dots all over the walls when it's on. So fun! The large tree print is also from IKEA. I loved the colors in it and the simple design. I found the smaller paintings in a folder I had kept from a nature art walk we did several years back. Each of the girls painted one of these. I love that they go so nicely with the larger print. A little tip: group like things together and suddenly it appears you have a little collection. This can be anything from vases to framed t-shirts(although the style factor may vary, the statement won't)

Another look at this corner. I'd love to find a big old retro floor lamp or a tiny table and a table lamp for this corner. No one ever sits in this chair, really, but I thought it made a nice statement. It's an old chair that I decided to spray paint. More on that tomorrow... The color on all of the main walls in the house is Chelsea Gray by Benjamin Moore. I again pared it with White Dove for all the trim work. We had an off-white color on all the trim originally and we felt like the jump to white really punched up the feel of the house. Because everything had been off white before we had beige outlets and switch plates, so Scotty learned a little electrical work and changed out ALL of them in the entire house for fresh white ones. It made a HUGE difference!! We also painted all the doors and spray painted all the knobs in a matching color.

 

Found this entry rug on clearance at Target for around $10. I love that it's funky but still pretty and has nice coloring.

 

The accent wall across from the front door. I totally snagged this paint from a girlfriend who had an extra gallon from painting her daughters room. The color before was really cool, and there is a really cool texture on the wall that we decided to leave that I'm pretty sure was created by applying tissue paper. I love the BOLD pop of color it provides to the foyer, and how it pulls a smile out of just about everyone who comes to my door. Even the mail lady complemented the color.

 

I got these mirrors from a friend who was finished with them. I'd like to add a long skinny table to this wall, and eventually I'll make one, but for now it's just fine.

 

 

 

This is a look at the foyer from the living room. I made the cornice board from some extra wood and burlap. Manly helped me think of a safe way to hang the giant thing. This window space is over 100" so we needed to be sure it wouldn't fall on the kids if they were to mess with it. I'll do a tutorial on that some day...maybe. 

This is also a good visual for our new flooring. We got vinyl wood plank flooring over all the others for two simple reasons: price and durability. Here is a description of what exactly it is. I originally wanted bamboo which would have been great(and someday I might have it), but I would have always been nervous about the kids ruining it. With this flooring I literally have wiped it with a wet rag after someone puked on it and it was fine. We've also removed gum, paint, and marker very easily. We have LOVED it so far. It's a breeze to clean, and SO SO durable with the kids. We(mostly Manly) installed it ourselves and if I do say so myself, it looks GREAT. Manly did an awesome job trimming it out afterwards and it looks so pretty and fresh.

 

Several of you have commented on my cross wall before, never fear, it made it into the remodel. We just moved it into the foyer. It looks really nice here, and again, brings in some pops of color.

 

This little half wall has been my enemy since we moved in. Our living room is very large, so it's nothing to do with space, it's just been hard knowing how to USE this little space. We decided to knock the thing down, but once we had hacked into it we discovered there was a PIPE in the middle of it!! SO, we learned to drywall, and put it back. I decided to just leave the barstools there as they were before, add a lamp, and a giant elephant(that my BFF gave me from her giveaway pile in her garage). It's a great space when we have a lot of guests over, because it adds extra seats, but also is its own little chatting space. Ideas on what to do???

 

I wish I was a better photographer so that you could get a better idea of how giant our sectional is, and how AWESOME this room is!! This is the sectional that started it all! I don't know WHY Manly and I decided to buy a GREEN couch, but we loved it. I'm so glad we did. It is SO cool and seats SO many people!! I'd love to add more pillows, but they are so darn expensive that I've just been getting them little by little. The painting? Why? No reason. I just fell in love with it, it went on sale, I bought it. I'd do it again. It's REALLY huge and sort of odd, but it's us. Ha!

 

Once I decided on the color for the walls, the next step was to make my burlap curtains! I knew from the beginning I wanted gray and burlap, and that's just what I did. They add a rustic charm to my otherwise totally funky style. I LOVE them. Bonus: they were NO SEW, and took me less than an hour to make!! The hanging lamps are IKEA, the piano(which I'd secretly LOVE to paint a mustard yellow color) is a family heirloom, and the fireplace is still not my favorite.

I just can't decide what to do with it. For now it's fine, but I'm just not in love with it.

 

Oh, that chaise lounge? Manly FOUND IT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AS TRASH, picked it up, totally rebuilt it, and we put a vintage pillow from his grandparents house on it and BAM, one of the best spots for napping in the house! Print from IKEA.

I'll post on the dining room later, but this is the view from the living room. It's by far my favorite room of the house. (Swoon.)

 

Our family photo wall. These pics of our family are so special to us as they mark 10 years of marriage! They were taken by the very talented LindseyFaith Photography. We highly recommend her! I changed out the shades on the lamps, spray painted them teal, and painted the frames a fresh coat of white. I love the personal touch family photos give a room. Side note: I'd love to add tin to the top of that side table. Probably will soon...

 

I got this cool painting from The Not So Blank Canvas. Her work is so cool! Check her out! This is a tiny shot of the kitchen too. I'll post an update on that soon.

 

SO, last but not least, the guest bath. I mentioned in my Master suite post that we had TERRIBLE issues with PRE-WALLPAPERED sheetrock. Seriously, this was some back aching work! There were also SEVERAL layers of paper. By the time we got to the actual wall it was pretty damaged. We decided to do a really thick texture on the walls with joint compound. I love it! The color is Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore. It's one shade darker than my Chelsea Gray walls. I used it for all the smaller spaces. Don't be afraid to do a dark color on small spaces. We found that it actually made it feel a little larger.

  

I will be adding tile to the counter top OR just getting a new countertop(butcher block) all together soon, but for now it's fine. I got this SUPER cool retro medicine cabinet at Re-Store for $5!! Manly rewired it, we painted it a fun purple, and added Edison bulbs. I LOVE it!! It's really funky, but a great fit for a fun guest bath.

The vase was given to me as a house warming gift when we first moved in by my Aunt. It's always been one of my favorite pieces. It's HUGE, and looks GREAT in this space to add some white.

 

The painting on the left was a cool water color weaving that Lulu did.

Those AMAZING hand towels are from World Market. They are SO soft AND reversible. Ha!

An upclose look at the textured wall. It looks really cool and was REALLY easy. Joint compound, hands, and lots of time waiting for it to dry.

The toilet side. Ha!

 

That's all for now. Up next: Kitchen and Dining Room! Yay!

 

Smittles Overhaul the Hizzy: The Love Nest

It's been what? Like, a million and two years since I posted on my blog. Life, from time to time, catches up with me, and my time to write is exchanged for other things. In the last several months it's been working on our home. Over the next several days I'll be sharing pictures, how-to posts, and my tips on how to successfully overhaul an entire house on a tight budget.
Today I'll start our home tour by sharing our master suite. I knew when we made over our master suite that I wanted a space that would be a safe haven away from the rest of the house. I wanted a space where I could go in, close the door, and immediately feel at peace/restful.
First of all, I wanted a color that would coordinate well with the rest of the house, but also be very different. I had already chosen the colors for the rest of the house from the same paint card, so I just chose the lightest shade on the card for our room. It's Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray [HC165]. It's a nice blue gray color. We decided to pair it with White Dove[OC17], also by Ben Moore.
I wanted to accent with different shades of green and aqua. In my original idea I knew I wanted the room to have a 50s botanical feel. I've really grown to love midcentury, and I had several pieces we received from our grandparents I wanted to incorporate. That and my signature green velvet chair. Ha! I love how it turned out. I'd like to eventually add white built-in bookshelves on the window wall, but for now things are great. The only things we still need to add in these rooms are the beadboard ceiling, and a sliding door between the bathroom and bedroom. Oh, and a big rug for the bathroom "entry."

This is the light fixture we put in the master closet. I'm not posting any other pictures of that room because...it's the closet. It's painted the same color.

 

This is right outside the closet in the bathroom "entry." In this space we removed several layers of wallpaper which left the drywall looking rough. We decided to texture the wall by using joint compound. We simply gunked it up there and swirled it around. I love how it turned out. We also added a frame to the mirror to punch it up a little. I didn't want to lose the size of the mirror by putting in a more modern smaller one. This lamp was owned by Scotty's grandparents, the sweet picture was my grandma's, and there are lots of trinkets on the counter that belonged to our grandparents too. I love that we were able to use so many things that used to belong to them. It makes our room mean so much more to us.

 

Love these ombre towels I got from World Market. I tried mixing a few more expensive pieces(like these) with cheaper things for a well rounded look. Shower curtain from Target.

 

 

I can't decide if I want to strip the rest of my hope chest or leave it like this. It looks pretty cool in person like this, but it would also look GREAT stripped and stained a tiny bit darker. All bed linens  and curtains came from IKEA except the sheets which came from Target.

Cool burlap print from TJ Maxx.

 

The sweet print on this wall was a gift from Aunt Steph. It had a lot to do with the inspiration for my idea. The tray on the hope chest was a gift from Scotty's grandparents. Of course, you see my green chair. There is a vintage mother of the bride dress hanging over it that my grandmother wore in a wedding. I bought the octagon table at a thrift store for $5 and painted it white. The AMAZING lamps came from Target. I LOVE the tall floor lamp. It matches the ones on the bedside tables.

These sweet bird prints were my grandma's.

The "utility" side of the room. Ha!

OK, so there you have it! Up next: foyer, living room, and guest bath.