Kitchen redo

Whewee people!  I have been outrageously busy! I haven't been avoiding my blog, but simply have been in a whirlwind of a move into our new home!  I am so excited to get things ready here and make this place our own!  A small bit has already been transformed, as I tackled the biggest feat yet, the kitchen wallpaper spectacle. And a spectacle it was!  Some people might love dainty floral patterns or, in our case, tiny bunches of fruit, but that is not our style.  Call us "youngins" but we are over the wallpaper!  Bring out the paint!!

We are planning on painting the cabinetry a dark blue-gray (same color as the table legs and chairs in This post on a DIY table re-do). The wall color is undetermined until we get the cabinets completed, but we just could not stand to keep that wallpaper around for a moment longer. So I set off on my first wall paper removal adventure.  And it really wasn't too bad, considering the horror stories I received beforehand.

And sometimes you need to stand on the countertops to get what ya gotta get!

Also, I never wear shoes, which is highly unsafe.

And finally, after lots of gooey fingers and wallpaper stripper dripped down my arms, I have torn off ALL of the fruity paper.  I did get a bit OCD behind the fridge and insisted on removing all of it even though no one will ever see it.  I....would always....know!

(Hey! these are the finished chairs & tabletop from the DIY post.)

One last tidbit of fun, just because I love my critters.

Stay tuned for the "after" shot of all that kitchen redo goodness!  :)

Get real people...

That awkward moment when you meet someone who truly believes that money buys happiness and makes them better than you and/or most everyone!

I had this experience only moments ago when I found myself telling  a woman twice my age that "well, money isn't everything!" . How sad to consider this person has made it to nearing retirement age and doesn't know that being known and having stuff is not what we are designed for! Consumerism is a nuseating thought as it is, but to earn money and think hoarding things will be the end all...is sad. What a disappointing existence.

As I embark on my journey of not working a full time job outside of the home, I am encountered with people asking what I'll do all the time. Well, for one, I am working just so ya know! Creativity is a lot of work! Something I find, in people without creativity, is their ability to simplify it as if you are just piddling around staring at the sky. False. We live in a world that revolves around creativity! Take the time to consider that as you use that smart phone, type on that iPad, buy a lamp, spin around in front if the mirror, or drive to your sales job. Creativity and art is life and you benefit from it as much as anyone else.

Furthermore, this conversation with the wild eyed lady made me realize something about myself. I am selfish. I do not want to end up like her or "seeing things in millions" as she so kindly worded. My hope is to use extra money and extra time I may have to benefit the kingdom of God. I want to serve others, serve the children, and love on the lost. It is one of the things I look forward to the most as we move to a new city, and I redirect my time from lesson plans and matting art to tapping into a few other unused gifts The Lord has granted to me. Your prayers are appreciated, that I not forget what I realized today, and I make an effort to fight off temptations to fall not apathy or laziness just because I can.

DIY Stained table

Whewww eee!

I'm sorry I've been gone for a couple of weeks!  I have been outrageously stressed about the house closings BUT they are officially done. finished. woohoo! (almost)

We closed on the dallas house and the austin house within a couple days of each other this week.  We don't take possession of our new home until the 18th.  The current owners are leasing it back for a couple of weeks. Good for the budget. Sad for being homeless.   I am more than ready to get there and moved in and for the house to become our new home.  I miss living with my husband and I am ready to have my own spaces again.  Living at my childhood home is a blast, but it definitely has the feel of when I was the only child living at home during high school.  I have really enjoyed watching shows with my parents, devouring ice cream on a daily basis, and having gorgeous sunsets to view each night. :)  The puppies have also enjoyed running away from big dogs and chasing after bunnies.  Tucker even got her first tick!  Country living! (and it's not even really that country anymore)

DIY UPDATE:
Nope. I still haven't finished the kitchen table yet.  That is my goal for this week!
Here is the next step I have done, staining the table top.  Pretty simple! All that is left now is to seal the top with a clear coat!

When staining, I started with:
-Rubber gloves
-A metal paint scraper
- natural hair brush
- SO FAST paint and varnish remover
- a pizza box (to throw the yucky stripped varnish blobs)
- can of stain (I cant remember what I used. I twas just something I found in the garage.)
- 2  pieces of a t-shirt that had been cut to make rags :)

1st:  I poured on some varnish remover and painted it around the area I was working.  It needed to be pretty thick and you can kinda see it start to set up.  If you scrape across it with your scraper and it isn't blobbing up with removed varnish, wait a minute more.  (Mom taught me the how to for this project!)

After the varnish starts blobbing up when scraping, you will start to see the raw wood tabletop underneath.  I wasn't very careful with my scraper, because I liked the beat up look.

Here, I had to add more remover because it had mostly dried up by the time I was scraping.
Nevertheless, you can see the raw wood versus the finished wood.

2nd:  I rubbed steel wool around to get off the extra little specks of varnish that hadn't been removed and let the table completely dry just to be safe.  This only took a couple minutes in the 95* TX heat.

3rd: Then, I began the staining! I used a very difficult and technical method that you may not be able to do unless you are a professional....follow the instructions on the can! :)  Shake the can, dip your rag in the stain and work quickly and efficiently in covering the table top and sides.  I wanted for the yellow pine to show through some (shocking i know!), so I only left the stain on the table for about 5-10 minutes, then strategically started wiping away (with my t-shirt rag) the areas I wanted to be thinner, letting the wood color peek through.  I absolutely love how it turned out!  I originally wanted it to be a deep dark stain, and could have gone back over it again, but I just really liked the depth that the pine and stain made together.

These pictures were taken outside while the sun was very bright.
 It almost looks like it has a blue tint to it when I stand at an angle.  I love it!

Close up of the wood with little nicks and scratches.  I wish I had made more before I stained.
This is my favorite part of the table top.

There ya have it!  I will finish the top with a clear varnish this week and then reattach the legs for the final photo...then promptly detach the legs and pack them in the car for the haul to austin!

  I wish I could show more pics of the new house, but my dearest husband informed me that people can search my images if they came from the internet and creep up and find where we live.  SO I have deleted the one that was up and will post my own later.  We don't want any stalkers around here ya know!

Only a few more weeks of selling snow cones and then I can get serious about my art and home decorating! I am more than excited!!

Hope everyone has a splendid weekend.

Distressed Chairs DIY

Well hello there little Tucker Bear!  This is my favorite Tucker picture thus far! 

A little blue bird that I have been tinkering with the last week.  I have been super busy but am trying to find some time to work on my art and not just my "projects".  

SO! What projects you may ask?  Well, with the ending of the option period on our new house, I have decided I must figure out how to furnish and decorate a space that is almost double the size of our current home.  Of course, I will not get to all the extra rooms, but I do have a lot of furniture left over from apartment life and so does my brother!  We both left all these goodies at my parents house, so I went outside to my dad's workshop and started shopping! I found a great round table and 4 ladder back chairs in a lovely....cough hideously outdated....yellow pine!  I decided to go ahead and re-do this set in a distressed gray.  I went shopping and found a lovely ikat pattern on a shower curtain for $9.99 at the old bed bath and beyond.  I think it was returned, but who cares!! It is cheaper than buying fabric at the fabric store!

Here is my mini DIY: Chairs only (table to come)

1st:  

Remove the seats and toss those beauties to the side.  Mine were in great condition other than the ugly fabric, so no repairs were needed.  

2nd:  

Take a before photo, because you know you'll want to remember all your hard work when you are finished :)  Also, go ahead and SAND an entire chair! you can do them all at the same time, or sand one and move on.  I like to complete the entire process on one and then move on to the next, but that's because I usually need some motivation to finish the set! 

3rd:

Lay out some cardboard and find a breezy spot (if you can).  Texas was rather still the day I worked on these and so I ended up with gray hair and spray paint boogers. Don't laugh...you know what I'm talking about!!  Then, spray away!  I recommend only one kind of spray paint.  It is my most trusted and favorite kind.  I spray one coat and I am done! 

That's right...Rust-oleum ultra cover 2X.  It is amazing!  Also...I did in fact use the gray primer on this project.  I liked the matte finish and well, each can was like 20 cents cheaper.  PLUS it is the right color of gray that I was looking for.  Bonus!  (Got it at home depot, but wal mart carries it too)

4th:

Let that completely dry!   Then, go over the edges with that sand paper again.  You want to sorta scruff up the edges that would get regular wear and tear.  This will make it look a little more naturally beat up ....err distressed and also will help when you do actually get some little dents and scratches from use in the real world.    

5th: 

Then I used some old stain I found in the garage. It is a dark brown mahogany color. Make sure have a wet/damp cloth and a cloth for the stain. After applying some stain to your cloth, rub it along the edges you sanded to darken the color.  When you decide to add stain in random areas about, make sure to use that damp cloth QUICKLY to wipe off the stain or smear it around.  That stuff dries fast!

This sort of made 3 tones of color: the original yellow pine, a light mahogany glaze, and the gray paint!

6th:

Spray with a clear coat of some kind!  Or you could brush it on if you're feeling like that is necessary.  I don't mind if I get more scratches along the way, so I didn't stress out too much on the clear coat.  Also, in all likelyhood, next year I will repaint this a new color!

I used a basic matte clear coat Rust-oleum ultra cover 2x.  

7th:

It was hot so I went inside and finished covering the seats.  Cut the shower curtain into the size I need.  (Score! I have enough left over to cover 2 pillows, too!) Then I just used the staple gun to fit the fabric around my seat cushions and screwed them back onto the chair base!  I love them! I can't wait to stain the table top and finally get it to the new abode!!  

So far this project has taken me about 7 hours...but that includes frequent breather breaks from the spray paint and the 100* texas heat!  Totally a do-able weekend warrior project :)  

I will post soon on the finished set with table included!

Hope everyone has a splendid evening!  

Baby Steps

Hello world!

I have been so busy this week I have failed to be a good blogger!  Big surprise I'm sure :)

My new camera came in and I have been snapping away at some artwork and well...dogs mostly! I will post some up soon, but since they are gigantic, I need to scale them down to upload.

The most important news is that I went to Austin on Monday morning to start the ever threatening house hunt!  Our realtor was amazing and she had some good ones picked out.  She said there were more options but she refused to allow us to live in some of those areas. We don't know the neighborhoods that great, so I am thankful for her wisdom.  (which she will be paid for in full...3% in full!)  We checked out 5 or 6 houses and the last one we saw was in the best location, near a great school,  and low and behold the cheapest per square foot.  It had been on the market one day and had already been viewed by like 10 people! In fact we crashed one viewing for our own (we had an appointment people!!)  We made an offer that afternoon and we got it!  THank goodness we did, because there are others interested and 2 backup offers waiting in case ours falls through.

 Our option period ends on Tuesday, but may be pushed for more inspection work.  God has been SO faithful through all of this.  Well, let's be honest, He would be faithful even if this process was miserable and hard and we could find nothing!  But, He has certainly blessed us with finding a good fit and keeping our hearts open to where he wants us to be now and for our future.  Keep us in your prayers as we move forward in selling our current home and purchasing this new one, since if our sale falls through, so will our buy.  :-/

I am certain God has got us covered, even if it ends up unexpected or not according to our plan.

Obla dee Obla Da!

So this week has been one of those where the days seems incredibly long, but the week seems to have gone by quickly.  Perhaps it's because I have been at work a different schedule than normal, but Chance comes home already tomorrow from his week off in Austin!  A couple of exciting things have happened  this week.  The biggest hasn't arrived yet, BUT  is in transit!

The last couple of days, I collected my change and headed up to coinstar to exchange it for some gift cards.  No fees! weee!  So here was the plan.

Sure, there were some kinks along the way, like me thinking I froze the machine and would never get my money back, to having an old man help me pick up my fallen quarters and dimes, to a teenage boy waiting patiently (but with a very annoyed look) for me to finish up so he could get his $10 in change and go buy a new app for his phone. But after all the awkward coinstar moments, my amazon.com gift cards popped out of the machine in the amount of several hundred dollars.

And the plan worked!!  I spent $790 in change to purchase a new camera, lens & sd card.  I have been wanting a nice camera for a while to take photos of my work for both prints and quality images for my etsy and my blog, but just never really wanted to spend the cash.  I feel like I'm getting it for free!!  I had a professional photographer friend help me out on what to purchase for my specific needs.  It's nice to have the input from someone who is not trying to sell you something.  Although I'm sure I'll regret not taking a photography class in college.  ....history of photography counts right? :)  Here is a better view of the camera.  The Nikon D5100 16.2 MP with a lens upgrade to the 50 mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX.  Can't wait to get shootin'!

One last thing before I scoot off to sell snow cones.  I was so lucky to get to see my girlfriends again last night for dinner and custard!  I will miss them a lot when we move, but I am also excited about making new friendships!  Love these ladies.

Until next time my friends!

God is incredible!

Matt Chandler one year interview after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer

Still in awe at what God has done through this man and his seemingly horrific trial. God is so good!