not liking it.

Remember this post where I asked for your help in deciding what color to paint our lockers?


Well I took your advise to paint it brown....

I HATE IT!!!!!

in fact I dislike it so much I won't even take pictures.  I told the boys to put their junk that in it and I shut the door to the laundry room.  I am really having a hard time with this and that's not typical for me.  I actually started a different project in the house and really want to forgot about it.


So now I need more ideas.  I have orange paint on the walls in my laundry room and the adjacent hall way is kind of a golden brown color (it's actually color OLD GOLD)  The walls inside the closet that the lockers are in are a tan color and I really don't want to change that, so I will need to work with that.


I'm pounding out my frustrations with my newest project....

Black or White?

Which one will help hide dirty better?   

That is my question for you today. Let me explain...a few years back my wonderful husband help me with another one of my many projects; 

turning a ordinary closet (usually the doors were never shut) 

into a locker/cubby  system for the boys' stuff

and it works great...for the most part.  YES this picture was taken this morning and YES  it's a mess (I haven't figured out how to keep it clean without me doing it ...yet)  and really that's no the problem...my biggest problem is DIRT!!!  It's always looks dirty and I can't keep up or maybe I just to lazy to keep up when instead I can just close the door and not see it. (the closet is inside my laundry room)

That all being said,  I'm back to my question again...(either way I need to paint it again). 

 Do I paint it White or Black?

Sneak Peak + Updates

Here's a sneak peak of another project I'm working on.

and to update you on my other projects.  I am still waiting for a chunk of time where I have nothing also to do but paint my little cabinet...I'm hoping to get that time on Saturday evening.  I can't wait to show you the color.   :P

I decided to just look for new sconces to replace to ugly UFO looking things I had before. Not sure what I want...I should have just purchase two more of the ones I have in the rest of house, when I changed them 4 1/2 years ago.  I really don't understand why there are sconces all over this house...I don't see what purpose they have.  But I have the holes in the wall and I need to cover them up somehow.

and I need to get my hubby to promise me a day, so we can make a trip to Ikea...more on that later. 

DYI Wall Art

About 2-3 weeks ago, I somehow got onto a bunch of blogs, where the bloggers were very crafty; making things, re-finishing them, just do things to update their homes for cheap.  I am was thrilled,  I am all about cheap, but still need to have items that have class and look like it's store boughten.  

Well, I came across this blog, and found this really cool art piece 

that she made for her kiddo's playroom and thought I can make that too.  So I went out a few days later, to get the supplies I needed.  I got black spray paint, which is now going to become a staple in my craft room, and a 10x20 canvas.  I had a hard time finding some foam letter stencils, so I searched the web for those and find these.  and the orange paint I dug up from my paint supply in the basement.

 

And then the fun part began, see the art transform...of course it took some patience letting the paint dry in between coats.

my naked canvas

first step:  painting it orange.  Yes I know it's bright, but just wait, it looks better after the next coat.

Second step:  spraying the black paint on. ( Note to self:  next time do it outside, so you don't leave a "you can see me but I'm there" black fume over the entire kitchen floor.  I only noticed in because the kiddos feet were blacker than usual. )  Let paint dry.  

 

Then remember the awful orange, it pops through the black when I lightly sanded it.  

I bet now you're lovin' it. :P

Third step: stenciling.  Before you actually get paint on the stencils, make sure you lay them out on your canvas.  Because of my canvas size and the size of the stencils, you will soon see that my art wall isn't the same as my inspiration, just similar.  Play around with the letters.  Once you figured that out, then it's time to get paint on the stencils.  Do what best for you,  I liked to dip the stencils in some paint on a paper plate, but maybe you would prefer to brush some paint on the stencils with a paintbrush.  

Stenciling, 

and some more stenciling.

Fourth Step:  Admire your work while it dries.  I absolutely love it.  I did distress it a little bit more once the letters dried.  It will be prefect in my boy's growup playroom.

Lost all sense of creativity + a sneak peek

As I have said before and I am in the middle of redo-ing our playroom (which is actually the formal living and dining rooms in our house).  Since we moved into the house 4 1/2 years ago, I have put up with this "spaceship looking" wall sconces, and now that I am making the room more to my style I can't use them the way they are anymore.  So my question for you is - Is there anything I can do to update these or am I better off getting something new?

and here's a sneak peek of my latest project, more to coming on that later.

not so extreme makeover - Part 1

About 18 months ago, I was given this piece of furniture from my grandparent's estate.  Since then it has been collecting dust and spider webs in our garage.  I wasn't really sure where I wanted to use it and I really was dreading stripping and re-painting it.

Well, the time has finally come,  I am in the middle of redoing our toy room into an older "game" room... more on that later.  Last Saturday  I had it in my mind that I was going to striping and re paint the table in one afternoon.  Sounds simple, right?  HA!!!  I was a really frustrated after I could only get the first layer of paint off and the layers, yes that's right LAYERS, of oil based paint.  I spent all afternoon and into the early evening trying to get the paint off.  Finally I decided that maybe the orbit sander would make it go a little bit fast...and it did, but I ran out of sandpaper.  So now if sits until next Saturday, when I hope to get it ready for painting, may be even get a coat of paint on it.

 Does anyone have any ideas how to get the paint off the hinges?  I really think they are unique and I would  like to have them back to their regular state.

Can you guess what color I plan to paint it?

Kitchen FaceLift Part 1 of 3

So for the three plus years that we have been living in Freeport, I really haven't loved my kitchen. Yeah, it's a great size, there's room for everything in the fridge, I have the best island - even our family of 6 can eat at it every night, but I don't like the white cabinets, and I hate the floor. Well, I finally lived with it long enough...Mike was surprised I lasted this long without changing it.

Part One was painting some of the cabinets black. We don't have the money to put all new cabinets in, even those I would have really like that - but at the same time I didn't think I would change much as far as the layout, so I research how to paint laminate cabinets. It was definitely a process. First, a commerical grade cleaner to get all the years of dirt and grime off the cabinets, then sanding, priming, sanding, painting, and painting again and finally distressing them.

If you know me at all, you know that I love to paint. I don't mind trimming out at room and rolling the paint on the walls...I've even been known to decide to paint a room, get the paint and paint the whole room before Mike comes home from work (that was before we had 4 kids.) I love to see the transformation that happens with paint - it's almost like instance gratification for me. BUT this doing a little bit at a time thing, not my style. It took me a 1 1/2 weeks to finish this painting. I will say it may be a while before I start part 2 of the kitchen Facelift...it's painting again and it's not walls. :O)

BEFORE: (this was a pic from when we first moved in, previously I had painted the walls, changed out the cabinet knobs and put up new wall coverings.)

AFTER: Desk area in the kitchen

AFTER: The island also got a facelift - now it's all black

Now that the painting it done, I LOVE my newly painted cabinets. I would have done it sooner. I wonder how long it will be before I start Part2