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Tutorial

DIY Projects, Home Decor

DIY Scroll Wall Art

Hello, hello! I’m so glad you’re here! Today I’m sharing my favorite kind of project…a free one! (Cue all the praise hands emojis!) Lately, I’ve kind of been giving a certain area in my living room the side eye. As in, it was just driving me crazy and I knew it needed something, but I couldn’t figure out what.

I had these windows hung when we first moved in, and last year after Christmas I hung a paper chain over it that was left from the tree. But it was just so plain it was driving me crazy! I’ve been seeing these cute hand written scrolls around etsy and Pinterest, and I thought I might try and make my own. All you need is some Kraft paper, a Sharpie, twine, and possibly some hot glue. Since I had all these items on hand, it seemed easy enough.

I cut the paper, and let it naturally roll at the top and bottom. I put a dab of hot glue on the corners to help it stay in place. Then I wrote one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite childhood authors, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ve always loved the quote, Home is the nicest word there is, and so I figured it would be perfect for our living room.

I wrote with a Sharpie, and strung some twine through the top roll. It took me about twenty minutes total. I free hand wrote this, but if you’re unsure about your writing abilities, you could totally use a stencil!

I had some greenery on hand, so I added that to the top. I still think the sides need a little something, but that’ll come later. For now, this is what I have, and it was free, so I can’t complain.

Now, I will say, if I were to do this again, I would probably use different paper. I had Kraft shipping paper on hand, and that’s what I used, but it is very think, and so it was hard for it to lay flat where I wanted it. If I were to do it again, I think I would try the roll that comes from the painting section to protect edges of floors. It’s much thinner, and so I imagine it would lay flatter.

Even so, this worked out just fine, and I’m happy with this little project. It was easy, and it makes a statement, so it’s a win-win for me! I won’t bore you with more unnecessary details, so that’s it for today! Have a fabulous day, friends!

October 30, 2017 by
DIY Projects, Home Decor, Tutorials

Chalk Paint All the Things!

Hi there! Hope your day is going well! I’m here with a super easy project today that can’t even really be considered a project. It’s something that is seemingly obvious, but I had never thought to do, so maybe you haven’t either. I don’t know. Anyway, y’all know I love chalk paint. I use it all the time on my projects for both my house and my pop-up shows.

I have used it on a variety of items, but never lamps. I had these lamps that were out of commission from our bedroom. You can see the corner of it here in this photo. They were from our wedding registry, when I didn’t know what I liked or what I was doing. So they didn’t really mesh with my style anymore, now that I feel like I have an established theme in our home.

So while I replaced these lamps, they were still perfectly good lamps, and I wanted to see if there was something I could do to make them fit into my style a bit more. So, I used my trusty old chalk paint and went to work! Like I said, this isn’t really a tutorial or anything, because it’s seriously the world’s easiest DIY. I just slapped some paint on it and called it a day.

I used my own homemade chalk paint, so I don’t have an exact color match to show you, but I used a white, and then added some gray on top to give it a little more dimension.

I think it gives the lamp just the right touch to take away that builder-grade base we were working with.

It makes it a little more subtle and farmhouse-y. I moved one into the living room, and the other went over to my booth at Farmhouse in Downtown Waxahachie, TX. I should have tried this a long time ago; I’ve spent so long wanting to replace them that I missed a perfectly good opportunity to relove them! Waste not, want not, right?

So in case you were wondering, chalk paint works on all kinds of things! Don’t be afraid to slap a coat on to something that needs a little love. It’s not just for furniture!

Anyway. That’s pretty much it. Have you ever chalk painted anything in particular? How did it go? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

April 26, 2017 by
DIY Projects, Furniture Makeover

DIY Antique Farmhouse Dresser

Hello friends! Happy Monday! Today is good day for a good day, am I right? I’ve been super busy lately with projects and it is a wonderful feeling! Last weekend Ethan and I cleared out our garage, which gave me plenty of room to work. We organized all my materials, and made a place for everything.

It used to be super full and I barely had room to work on anything, but now that it’s all clean, I’ve been super inspired to work on projects in there. It feels like I can finally breathe!

One of the projects that I finished up this week was this little antique dresser. I snagged this dresser up from a friend who was selling it at her garage sale. I saw it and knew I had to have it! And because I am the worst at taking before pictures, you’ll just have to use your imagination. It was just plain brown and missing a few handles.

Well, I painted her up, and here she is in all her antique farmhouse style glory:

Okay, so with this project, I tried something new. I knew I wanted it to be super distressed, and rather than use my sander, I wanted to try the Vaseline trick that furniture painters everywhere have been talking about. So I applied Vaseline all on the edges of the dresser. (Basically where you see distressing is where I applied.) I found that it was easiest just to use my finger rather than messing with a paint brush.

After I applied my Vaseline, it was time for paint. I used Palais White by Behr in a flat finish. I painted everything evenly, including the areas that where I had used Vaseline. Now here’s where it gets tricky. My dresser needed two coats. Being the impatient person that I am, I could not wait to see the effects of the Vaseline after the first coat of paint. So, I began rubbing the areas with a rag. This was a dumb idea because I still had to paint a second coat.

The paint will not adhere to the Vaseline, and it basically makes a crackly looking paste in the areas where the Vaseline was applied. If you have to paint two coats, do not remove the Vaseline until finished with both coats. That was my biggest mistake. The technique worked well enough, but I had to reapply Vaseline so I could do my second coat.

Personally, I think I would rather just take my sander to the project afterward, but it’s good to try new things. Plus that’s mostly because of my own impatience.

After I finished the painting, I topped it with Annie Sloan clear wax to give it a protective finish. The wax is technically used for chalk paint, and I previously had only ever used it on chalk paint, but because flat paint is pretty porous, I figured I’d give it a try, and it worked pretty well!

I just love this cute little dresser, and it matches my light and bright farmhouse style perfectly! But alas, I won’t be keeping this one. She will be heading with me to my spring shows (which I will be keeping you posted about more soon, but the first one will be the Vintage Market Days in Glen Rose Texas in March. So that’s good news for you, because this cutie could be yours!

So, have you ever tried using Vaseline to distress painted furniture? I’d love to hear about your experience! Don’t forget you can find me on Instagram and Facebook for more behind the scenes fun of my day to day life! Well friends, that’s all for today. Have a fabulous day!

January 16, 2017 by