Chalkboards

A few years ago I got a can of this fun spray paint, and have since been waiting for the perfect wood panels to paint. Last summer I thought I'd found some free cupboard doors in downtown Snohomish, but when I walked back to pick them up they were already gone! About a month ago as Tom and I were pulling apart our crib for the dumpster (don't worry, we were supposed to... it had a significant recall so we mailed in its hardware for a new crib) I realized that the back side had 2 very nice panels. Tom saved them for me.

A few weekends ago I a spent the day sanding them and starting to paint. Last week I finished painting the first one and finally got it hung in our dining/living room! We love it! The second one will have a light blue frame and will hang in Baby Haly's room.

Table & Chairs

Well, I finally finished our dining room table and chairs today! We bought this set from our friends a little over 3 years ago, shortly after moving into our condo and when they were preparing to move to Australia. I'd thought about painting them all white or all red for a few years, then decided I'd like more than just one color. I knew they needed red to tie them in with the rest of our color theme, but was not totally sure what I'd end up picking until they were finished.

Four weeks ago we lined the chairs up to take them out to the Jeep, along with the disassembled table that Tom and Missy took apart, so we could strip the finish at my parents' house. We spent about 5 hours that day trying to get the finish off with a stripping product. It worked well on the table top, but didn't do much more than make a gummy mess on the table legs and chairs. We used a pressure washer to get the gum off, then took them back home for me to work on sanding out in our front yard. I spent about a week sanding, buying more sand paper, dealing with a tendinitis flare-up, and sanding again until the chairs were all smooth and clean.

I decided it would be best to paint the table legs first so we could put the table top back together and use it if we needed it. Next I primed and began painting and finishing the chairs. I had to take a break for most of last week because it got so hot and humid in our condo. I started working on the table top last Friday. I've had so much fun with it!

I used ideas I'd drawn in my sketch book and that I have seen on the walls in the Free People clothing store. I was scared to try it free-hand, but it worked well with the Decocolor paint pens I found! I finished the table top, coated it with a semi-gloss finish, and coated the chairs as well.

The Dining Room Wall is Finally Happy!

When we moved into our condo 3 years ago, the back wall in our dining room was painted pink. Most of you know that I LOVE the color red. I decided the pink was close enough to red that I'd try to make it fit in with my bright red kitchen things. I didn't like the color, but thought I could tie it in by painting the same color pink around the window on the wall next to it, and by hanging a valence my mom made for me that had some cute pink/yellow/green paisley in it. I wasn't satisfied with that so I painted some paisley designs on the pink wall as well. I liked the way it turned out, but it still wasn't red, and it didn't work with the deep red drapes I now have hanging on the sliding door next to the window. Finally, I decided to paint the wall the same color as the fireplace wall I previously wrote about to help tie the living/dining area together! Here is a progressive display of the result! Tom and I both love it now! 

This is the pink wall after adding the paisley designs. 

This is the pink window box I painted, just before getting rid of it!

This was round one of the project. I painted the wall blue, then ragged the same bright green paint I have in the kitchen over the blue. Next I struggled to find a stencil I liked, so I bought one and made another. I used the one I made and didn't like it. Neither Tom nor I liked the green ragging. It looked like finger prints all over, not very classy. This is a picture of me trying the stencil we bought, which is what I used in the end.

A bigger picture of the green ragging and the stencil design I made. 

After that discouraging first try, I repainted the wall blue (2 more coats!), switching from satin to eggshell in the process so it wouldn't glare as much. Then, Tom helped me by measuring and figuring out how far apart to paint each stenciled design. He suggested that I hang string at certain points, then measure off the string and use little pieces of tape to mark where the centers should be. This worked so well! 

This is what each finished stencil looks like. 

Here's a shot of the "new" dining room! We moved the hutch over to the corner as well for a little change and better access to the kitchen. 

Christmas Gift

My mom gave me this quote that she wanted on a sign like the one I made for our bedroom, and sad she'd like one. This is what I came up with. It's supposed to match some fabric she's been using to make a quilt with. :) I finished it a few weeks ago, but didn't want to post this until after she's received it.

In a Pear Tree

Today I finished my pear tree quilt! Initially I thought that it would be a lap sized quilt, but as you can see it almost covers our queen sized bed! I used some Nancy Halvorson Christmas fabrics that I started collecting last year, and then found a complimentary line this year. This is the biggest quilt I've done, and it was almost too large to comfortably quilt on my machine. I think now I'll get back to a smaller project! :)

I made this wall sign for our bedroom about a month ago, but just got to the pictures! I used a piece of hardwood, covered it with a sealer and then used the crackle paint spread as the background. Then I designed the words in photoshop, printed it, and used graphite paper to get the outline onto the board, which I then used acrylic paints to detail.