Repurposed Art to Chalkboard

 

 One of my good friends was moving, in doing so she also wanted to get rid of her old decor. I snatched this artwork up right away. I just loved the frame. I knew right that it would make a great chalkboard.

I first started by painting the frame white. Then I added the chalkboard center.

I wasn't really happy with the over all look. In talking with my Dad he suggested using model acrylic for the accent paint. He got me a bottle of this silver and it worked perfectly.

Next up was deciding what saying should go on it. By this time we knew this piece was going in our bedroom, which has a subtle sea theme. Thank you Pinterest for numerous ideas on quotes. I took one of those and planned it out on the computer. I then hand drew the quote on to lots of taped together paper. To transfer it on to the chalkboard, I chalked the back of the paper.

Once I flipped this over , I traced over the letters with a pencil. This transferred a light outline of the design.

 

Then I traced over those markings with a chalk marker. Chalk markers are odd to work with they go on clear then dry white. They are also very hard to erase so try not to make to many mistakes. 

 

At this point I could have been done, but we thought the ride sided needed a something. So back to Pinterest for shell drawing ideas. And here is the final product up in our room. 

 

Love it. It finishes off that side of the room perfectly. 

~ Cassi

 

 

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Multi-Colored Chairs

Oh man, we started this project soo long ago. We have a tendency to do that...headboard, basement, it might be a theme. But at least I can say we do finish them.

Through out the year Steve and I have been collecting random chairs from thrift shops and garage sales to replace our current chairs. We decided on the multi-colored and design look.

 First we took apart the old chairs and gave them a thorough clean. 

 Next we painted each one with a white primer. The final steps was one to two coats of paint. This one we used spray paint.

 We finished of two of the chairs with a pale beige cushion.

 These next two we used a spray gun with interior paint in it. 

The final one we used a brush and interior paint. But it left too many brush strokes on the chair so we didn't do the rest of them like that.

 Thankfully Steve's Dad gave us a spray gun. 

 I love the pops of color it brings to our very wood based dining room.  

 Check out links page to see where we posted this project to.

~ Cassi

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Keeping it Real Office Planning

We have mentioned our desire to finish off our office for awhile now. And in a while I mean since last fall! Yep not everything gets done in a quick timeline, it took us 4 years to finish the basement. So as we were finishing the basement the office became our storage area, then we never cleaned it back out.

But we have started, we have planned out the color.

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Isn't it great! Steve actually picked it out the color.
To off set dark color, we are going to put in two walls of white bookshelves and seat bench. Similar to this

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The room only has one window to get the most out of that light we are going to switch out the closet doors to white ones to reflect the light of the windows.
My hope to finish out the room is to add some of the pictures from Mouse's library photo shoot.

And then I would love two of these chairs and a small table between the two.

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Or a really cool mid-century desk.


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Which should we do? But right now it just looks like this, told ya keeping it real.

 ~ Cassi

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Tops from 2012

This past year has seemed to fly by. Looking back through the post of this last year, I must say it's been a fun one.

My favorite part of last year was a family trip to here. 

I love that we can take these trips and experience all that there is. So looking forward to our family trip to Jamaica this year.

We also managed to get a lot of projects completed this past year. My favorite one being our new door.

Seriously the difference this made to the look of our house is incredible. Still months later this makes me smile when I pull into the drive.

Another remake we did that I love is our thrifty bench find.  

 I can't wait to get some pictures taken using this bench. Which brings me to a huge thing from last year. I started my own business. That has been challenging and fun all at the same time.

Thus being said my picture taking in general has increased a lot this year. And I have been looking at different ways to document those pictures. That is when I stumbled on this thing called Smash Journal / Art Journaling. So I combined the two (though this one is much more just a smash journal).

I hope to work on more of this in this next year.

 I haven't forgotten Mouse. Her and I did some fun knock offs for school this year. No Mini Boden budget here but you couldn't tell with the shirt we made. I had so much fun planning these out with her. We will have to do move of that next year.  

 So what else do you our readers (and us) have to look forward to next year. I am hoping to get our project page done. Then you can see all that we have been working on in one place. I am hoping to do more recipes. I cook all the time I need to post more. We have one more room in our house that needs to be finished and a few more outdoor projects. But for now it's New Years and we have a party to get ready for. So see you all next year.

~ Cassi

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New Front Door

We have been in our house now going past seven years. It is the longest we have lived any where. So of course we I am going crazy with lack of a new house to decorate. So Steve did the next best thing for his new house loving wife.

He painted a new entry way!

Here is a quick before picture.

Ok, it really needed a new coat of paint, dang Minnesota weather.

Then since it's Minnesota and freezing he sealed off the entry way and warmed it up a bit so the paint would stick.

And then we had a whole new house. So excited with the way  it looks.

And it's holding up well through rain, winds and snow already.



~ Cassi

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Bench Remake

"Steven sit on this so no takes it" was my exact words to Steve when we saw this beauty at the local Goodwill. I could not believe how perfect it was. Ok. it may not have looked exactly like that when we saw it.

It was a little beat up and dirty but you could see the potential a mile away. I love the mustard seat and caned edges.

In truth it just need a fresh coat of paint and a good vacuuming. So that is what we did.

Steve started first with a primer coat.

I was really torn with what color to paint it. I wanted to be able to use it in our house and as a photo prop. At last we decided on a glossy black to bring in more black accents to our living room.

I am so thrilled with how it turned out.

~ Cassi

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Chair / Photo Prop

In our search for vintage dining room chairs I found this chair with great lines!

I knew I had to have it for my business.

Steve painted the chair a olive green color.

Then I got to work on redoing the seat. First note to those trying to recover a seat.

Since the pad I bought was obviously not going to work, I came up with a new idea. I had some fleece that would stretch all the way around so I staple that to the back leaving a spot open. I then filled the space between the seat and the fleece with batting. Once filled I stapled the fleece closed.

After that I took this pleated material and started stapling that. When recovering a seat you want to staple once at the front center and then back center pulling the material tight with each staple. Then repeat this step as you move to each side of the center staple. Then repeat set one as you move to the sides. I leave the corners for last. Finally fold the corners and staple.

Then you are done and can screw the seat back on to the chair. I am so excited with how this chair turned out I can't wait to use it.

~ Cassi

Please check out my links page to see where I have linked up to this week.

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Bathroom Redo

Right after we moved in over 6 years ago we painted our main bathroom yellow. And we've hated it ever since. It just wasn't the right shade. So 6 years later we finally decided to repaint. Here is a look at the before.

And here is Steve starting to edge in the new color. What color did we go with you ask? And even if you didn't it's our blog so we'll tell you anyways. Jack Rabbit is the color.  

 Or a gray purple color for those that don't speak funky paint color names. Not sure how they came upon Jack Rabbit. And the next few pictures really don't show case the color correctly.

I love the color! It is amazing what the right color will do to a room and a person's blood pressure. I didn't realize how much anxiety I had with the other color. It's been a few weeks now and every time I go past the room I stop to stare. I am so much happy with it. We decided to update the towels and shower curtain at the same time.

We also decide to use the sunset pictures I have been taking over the years as the decor.  

This one will be the main focal point when you walk in. Then on the side wall will be a collection of smaller sunset pictures I have taken. I am so happy we are incorporating pictures from our travels. I will post more when the pictures are up.

~ Cassi

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