spray paint

little things :: the hand edition

23 November 2015 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Recently I had the opportunity to finish a little project that’s been curing for a while. If I’d known it would be so quick and easy I would have completed it ages ago!

I bought this awesome cast iron hand to hold jewelry in my bathroom from one of my favorite shops in Columbus, Elm and Iron (they have a shop in Cincinnati too)…

And while the cast iron look is great, it was not the look I was going for in my bathroom. So I broke out some leftover champagne metallic spray paint and gave it a spritz.

After a mere two quick coats, it looks like this…

Exactly the look I was going for.

So I hung it below my affirmation art…

…and added a little gold paint pen to the screw heads so they didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. (Get it? Sore thumb?)

Add jewelry and voila! A stylish piece with a practical application!

Hands down, a super fun project!

(OK, I’ll stop with the puns now.)

black angels

1 September 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Perhaps it reflects the blackness of my soul, but I find something so alluring about high gloss black angels.

So in the spirit of attending to the blackness of my soul, this weekend I decided to finish curing yet another project…the black angels project.

Honestly people, this project has been curing in my garage for probably seven years. Rather than judging me and thinking what a lazy human being I must be, consider it a personal favor to you. Doesn’t it make you feel better about yourself to know that there’s someone out there far lazier than you? And besides, if I can start and finish a project after it’s cured for seven years, hell, you can do just about anything you put your mind to!

The black angels started their life as an underwhelming resin wall hanging…

This spot over my front door needed a little something…

It’s bland…very bland…

So I took the basic resin angel wall hanging…

…tossed it on a lawn bag in my garage and started spray painting with a high gloss black. It only took 2 coats, so it was quick and easy, plus it didn’t cost me one red cent, because I already had the spray paint (and you are aware that I’ve had the damn resin thing lingering around for years).

And before you know it, it was a reflection of the high glossy blackness of my soul…there…now, isn’t that better?

Here it is above the front door…

You don’t get the full effect from afar, plus the area still needs to much more work (paint on the walls, the door painted black, board and batten all around – I have big plans, people), but you get the idea.

Another close-up…

And the angels from another angle…

Gloriousness!

Thank goodness I felt like letting the high gloss blackness of my soul come out this weekend. I just love how these glorious black angels turned out!

Showing off at Funky Junk Interiors.

obstacles

8 August 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

We all have obstacles to contend with, whether it’s in our design projects or just life in general. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are or how big or small your budget is, you will face obstacles.

I discovered an obstacle the other day when I tried to fix my bed…

Here are some design obstacles that I can think of off the top of my head…

Little or no money
Project fails
Not enough time, due to a job, kids, or other obligations
Health concerns
Planning an eventual move
Lack of consensus on design plan with significant other
No inspiration
Fear
Any combination or all of the above

There are probably countless other obstacles that can prevent one from making a house a home. The question is, do you want to make changes to your home?

If the answer is yes, then the obstacles can be overcome. But on your terms. In your own time.

Don’t feel pressured to be like anyone else. No one but you truly understands the obstacles you’re facing. Don’t let those obstacles prevent you from making your creative dreams come true. Sometimes we need to release ourselves from expectations – the way that others think things should be or the timeline they try to impose on you, or even expecting too much of ourselves.

Little or no money

Get resoureceful! I’m not ashamed to have limited funds and you shouldn’t be either! There are plenty of freebies or cheap options out there.

Consider these…

Scanning your neighbors’ trash, or as it’s known in trendy design circles – Dumpster Diving! You know the old saw…one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Put it to good work! One of my favorite pieces is my zebra ottoman, which I pulled out of a neighbor’s trash pile and revamped to fabulousity!
Accepting hand-me-downs – Sure your mother-in-law’s chair might be super-frumpy, but recovering it with your fave fabric will make it frumpilicious!
Shop Goodwill and other local thrift shops – Never know what you can find!
Repurpose to create new things, like I did to make this “plant stand“.
And never forget how inexpensive spray paint and wall paint are. Save your pennies and splurge on the paint, which can make the crappiest tchotchke look awesome!

Project fails

All I can say about this is plenty of my projects are failures. I guess that’s how we learn. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it seems that a lot more design shows are beginning to share the inner workings of how they put together their designs and how they stage rooms, and many are now also sharing project snafus. That’s refreshing. Because if even the big-time pros with a design staff have an occasional project fail, then why wouldn’t you and I?

My thought on project fails is learn from it and move on.

Not enough time

Yes, we live in a busy, busy world, where sometimes it feels like our lives aren’t our own. A 24/7 place where we’re always connected, companies suck up more and more of our personal lives, kids are overscheduled, and we’re generally encouraged to go, go, go.

I get it. I live it. But somehow we have to steal some time back to make our nests a place of calm respite. To make them a place we love to be. Our favorite place in the whole world.

I don’t know how to tell you how to make that happen, other than to say that we need to get comfy with doing things in small increments of time and maybe not finishing the project today. I am the Grand Pubah of Unfinished Projects, the Queen of Curing, but eventually the important stuff rises to the top of the heap.

Learn to pick the important stuff off the top of the heap. Eventually, your vision will be realized. Besides, design is an always-changing, ever-moving target, right?

Health concerns

There are plenty of people out there, quietly suffering with health issues that can zap their energy and ability to start or finish projects. Even if they have amazing ideas, they may not be able to bring their ideas to life.

If you have a health issue that slows your dreams, just do what you can when you can. I have struggled with this too, and often wonder if I’ll ever get my old energy levels back. Perhaps not. But I’m not going to let it stop me. Does it slow me and my progress down? For sure. But I just keep on trucking, sometimes moving at a snail’s pace, but always continuing to dream about my future projects, and I hope you will too.

Planning an eventual move

Yeah, you’re busted. Just because you’re planning to move in 6 months or a year or ten years, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for feathering your nest.

You have two choices. You can leave your place bland and impersonal because you might be moving eventually, or you can make it into a place that you love, starting today!

Lack of consensus on design plan

It’s called compromise, baby.

No, I don’t mean the kind of compromise that we both decide to like my ideas always. (Although wouldn’t that be awesome?)

If you and your signif other can’t agree on one project, I’m guessing that there are plenty more projects to start on that you do agree on. Move on to something different and come back to this one later. Maybe one or both of you will have a change of heart or your overall vision will change.

If that doesn’t work, there’s always couples counseling.

No inspiration

Can you say Pinterest? With Pinterest and all of the design blogs out there, none of us have any excuse not to get inspired.

Don’t have ideas? Then copy someone else’s and apply them to your space. Eventually, you’ll get inspired with your own ideas or offshoots of others’ ideas. Go for it!

Fear

We’re all afraid to some degree. What if it doesn’t work out? Then you’ll learn from your failure (see Project Fails above) and move on and try again. If you’re really fearful, start small. Something small and inexpensive isn’t going to destroy your world if it goes wrong. But if it goes right, it may just rock your world! So…

Just Do It!

The message here is to do what you can, when you can. Let yourself off the hook if you don’t work at the same pace as others. Forgive yourself and get comfortable with who you are and your obstacles won’t seem like such difficult problems to overcome. They’ll eventually become part of the terrain that is your life to navigate. Don’t worry, you’ll be great!

design vacation :: project break :: shabby chic meets mod lamps

23 February 2012 by Andrea 1 Comment

I’m on vacation this week, and spending some time cleaning and freshening up a couple of rooms. I’ve been hacking away at my master bedroom, slowly but surely.

The look that I’m going for in my master bedroom is shabby chic meets mod. I’ve already got the shabby chic going on, and a couple of mod elements, but felt that these lamps were a little too ornate for the look I’m after…

The one on the right can be seen here in these keeping it real pics from the master bedroom…

Sorry, no before pic of the other lamp.

I decided to spray paint both lamps a glossy white. Simple enough. I figured it should be a quick and easy sprucing up. Maybe an hour max. Of course even thinking that was the kiss of death that guaranteed I’d have some sort of problem! Guess I forgot the basic physics formula of any DIY project…project time and difficulty is inversely proportionate to the number of times DIYer says or thinks it will be a quick and easy slam dunk!

Here are they lamps after the first coat or so…

I happened to notice that the lamp on the left was having a little bit of an adhesion issue…

The paint just wasn’t sticking on the neck of the lamp. What the heck? So I continued spraying. I would conquer this lamp with cheap spray paint.

No improvement. Maybe it was the cheap spray paint. Maybe it was because I didn’t wait long enough between coats. Or maybe there was some sort of texture or oil base or who knows what. The other lamp, however, was shaping up quite nicely.

I had a can of Krylon Fusion for Plastic in white, so I decided to give that a try, since it’s supposed to stick to just about anything. That began to work.

After I got the neck of the lamp fixed up with the Krylon, I sprayed the entire lamp with a couple more coats of glossy white. Finally, success!

Here’s the lamp that didn’t give me too much trouble, on a terrific inlaid shell table that I scored a couple years back at the end of summer for $20…

And here’s the problem child, that turned out great in the end…

Perhaps you’re wondering, why white? It’s all going toward my evil plan of eventually painting the walls a rich gray. Just imagine how beautifully the furniture and accessories will pop against a deep gray backdrop. Can’t wait to get to the painting phase of the journey.

A fun, eclectic collection of goodies that makes my shabby chic meets mod dream come alive.

And don’t forget to enter the Spring Cleaning Giveaway for a chance to win this adorable sterling silver charm bracelet!

Click here for contest entry details.

Showing off at these link parties…

ottoman before & after

8 January 2012 by Andrea 11 Comments

About a year ago, I found this ottoman in my neighbor’s trash…

It was in pretty bad shape, but sturdy nonetheless…

Obviously trash picked, since there was even garbage in the springs…

Gross, but salvagable!

So, I let it cure in my garage for a year.

Eventually I picked up some zebra faux fur, which I bought from Joann, using a 50% off coupon from the Joann app on my iPhone. I bought a yard and a half, which cost me around $12 with the coupon.

This weekend the moment of inspiration finally struck!

I already had high gloss black spray paint, so I cleaned up the ottoman and spray painted the legs.

I didn’t worry a whole lot about getting paint on the original fabric, since the faux fur is thick enough to cover any discoloration.

The legs weren’t looking too bad…

It’s amazing how much of a difference just the black paint makes.

And now for the faux fur…

I began by stapling the prewashed fabric in the middle of the wider side of the ottoman.

As an aside, if you’re in the market for a staple gun, let me recommend that you consider an electric staple gun. They’re just a couple bucks more than a manual one, and totally worth it, because the electric one won’t kill your hands the way a manual one does. It’s still a workout and you’ll still break a sweat, because you need to press firmly to release the safety and you’ll need to pull the fabric taut as well. But overall, it’s much easier to use.

After stapling several places in the middle, I stretched the fabric taut and stapled similarly on the opposite side.

I stapled my way out from the middle, and then did the same on the shorter sides of the ottoman, working my way to the corners.

When I got to the corners, I folded them like I was wrapping a present, tucking them in and under as flat and tight as possible.

So that it looked like this on the side after stapling…

And like this underneath…

I wasn’t terribly concerned about how things looked underneath, just as long as it looked good on the visible surface. And I think it turned out looking pretty darn good!

Isn’t it adorable? I love it!

Best of all, it was a super inexpensive project. Only cost me $12 for the fabric, plus the spray paint I already had on hand (approx. $4), and my time an effort. Can’t beat that!

I’m not sure if I’ll keep the ottoman with the red and orange chair, since they’re both pretty bold, but the combination is growing on me, and boy do I love the zebra faux fur ottoman!

Would you keep the chair and the ottoman together?

Showing off my new ottoman at Funky Junk Interiors and Kammy’s Korner. And jumping into the contest over here…

making the chandelier – behind the madness

16 October 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Let me tell you how I got to this wonderful chandelier transformation…

It started out like this…

I bought 2 cans of Rustoleum’s Universal Metallic Paint & Primer in One in Champagne Mist from Home Depot and took to the garage and used the box the the chandelier came in as my painting stand. Additionally, I covered a plastic bin in a lawn bag and placed the chandelier box on that, so I wouldn’t have to be bending over and straining my back. Since there were a lot of little parts and pieces that needed to be painted too, I poked a bunch of toothpicks into the flaps of the box and placed the pieces and parts on them.

Feeling a bit like Vlad the Impaler with all of the toothpicks

So I just kept the chandelier in the box and started spraying it. I decided that since this really needed to look terrific, I should probably be a little more patient than usual, so I sprayed in thin, even coats, and actually waited until the coats dried before applying the next coat. I was definitely impressed with my own ability to delay gratification. I’m not usually too good at that.

Once the this part was sprayed well and dry, I turn the chandelier upside down in the box and sprayed the other side. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In the meantime, I was also spraying the other parts, since the chandelier arrived unassembled.

Midway through this project, one of the cans of spray paint stopped working, even though it was only half empty. I took it back to Home Depot and they exchanged it with no questions asked. Now that’s customer service!

Ultimately the hardest part of this project was hanging the chandelier. What I didn’t know is that it’s a two-person job. Or at least it was for me. Fortunately, my sister had planned to come over and I drafted her into service. And, as always, it took a lot longer than I thought it would. Most of my projects work this way. From start to finish, which included turning off the power (NEVER skip this step) and taking down the old chandelier, plus assembling the new chandelier, it took 3 hours.

What was difficult was holding the very heavy chandelier up while connecting the wires and screwing it into the electrical box. My sister and I combined have the arm strength of a gerbil, so both of us holding our arms over our heads was bad enough…lifting a heavy chandelier with me balancing on a 6-foot ladder and my sister standing on a folding chair was damn near impossible. We’re just not that athletically inclined. (I don’t recommend using a folding chair, and encouraged my sister not to use it as well, but apparently she likes to live on the edge.) And who knew that standing on a ladder would induce leg cramps. What a mess!

But finally, we finished the task, turned the power back on, and voila! It worked!

One important thing I learned from this whole debacle is that I will probably need to hire someone to hang the chandelier that I have for my bedroom, which has a vaulted ceiling, and the light fixture I have planned for the two-story ceiling in my family room!

So what about the cost? I bought the chandelier for $35.96, and the spray paint was $7.98 each. So including tax, the total cost of the chandelier was $55.43. Not too bad if you ask me for all of this chandliering goodness!

chandelier transformation

16 October 2011 by Andrea 5 Comments

Finally, I’m bidding good riddance to the old brass octopus in my dining/living room and saying hello to my brand new chandelier!

Let’s start with a little chandelier retrospective. I started with this…

Bought this…

Spray painted to turn into this…

Rather than keeping the brushed nickel finish, I chose to spray paint with Rustoleum’s Universal Metallic Paint & Primer in One in Champagne Mist…

The reason I went with the Champagne over the brushed nickel was so that the chandelier would be more in line with the other warmer tones in the room, such as the beautiful carved mirror…

And the side table with birdcage lamp…

I love this lamp, and there is actually a little bird on a swing that works…

In fact, it was this lamp that inspired me to get the chandelier in the first place. Initially, I thought that I would get a drum shade pendant fixture for this room, but realized that would cut the room in half. The room really needed a fixture that you could see through, so the view into the room doesn’t stop at the light fixture. When I saw this one, it fit the bill.

The chandelier also reminded me of a the shape of a birdcage, but without being too literal. I didn’t want the room to become a birdcage-themed room. More of an homage to the birdcage. I think it’s perfect!

I love my new chandelier!

Showing off on Funky Junk Interiors and Remodelaholic link parties.

say goodbye to…

8 October 2011 by Andrea 1 Comment

…the old brass octopus…

Notice the burned out bulbs that I never replaced because this thing is so hideous.

…and say hello to my brand new chandelier!

Sort of…

Sigh. Assembly required.

I suppose it’s for the best, since I plan to spray paint it. But still. What a let down! I wanted to open the box and voila! Oh well. Spray painting pics coming soon!

a little impulsive chandelier shopping

3 October 2011 by Andrea 1 Comment

Who doesn’t go impulse shopping for chandeliers on the internet in the middle of the night?

I sure do!

Last Thursday evening, I set out to do some updates to my blog. Amazingly enough, I somehow ended up at HomeDepot.com. Strange how those things happen.

Ultimately my e-wanderings took me to the chandelier page where I came upon this beauty…

How breathtaking! It’s perfect for my living/dining room! It’s the Progress Lighting Berkley Collection Oxford Silver 3-light Chandelier. Better yet, it was on sale for $50, plus free shipping. And the sale was ending at midnight.

It was late, my resolve burned out at least 3 hours earlier, and I had my debit card by my side. A perfect storm. The recipe for an impulsive chandelier purchase!

SOLD!

I decided that I would paint it a metallic champagne to match the living/dining room. Nothing more to say, right?

Wrong.

On Friday Ijust had to share my amazing find with a friend at work. So I pulled up the webpage and I was shocked to see that the chandelier was no longer on sale for $50, but had gone down to $35.96!

ACK!

I promptly called HomeDepot.com’s customer service and they were happy to give me an adjustment to the new sale price! I was now down to Craigslist prices! Woo hoo!

Now I’m just waiting to receive it. The champagne metallic spray paint has already been purchased. I am project ready! I’ll share the details as soon as I have chandelier in hand.

when you said to frame it, is this what you meant?

17 August 2010 by Andrea 1 Comment

Recently, a dear friend who lives in New York came to visit me in Ohio.

After his visit, because I have a collection of masks like this…

And this…

He sent me these…

He suggested that I frame them, which I thought was a wonderful idea. So I purchased this framed painting from a second hand store…

I paid $7.50 for it, which is more than I usually pay for something like this. Free is usually more my price range, but I was motivated and had an idea of exactly what I wanted to do, and this was the perfect frame. And although the painting was cute in a kitschy kind of way and very tempting to keep, I popped the painting out of the frame and began prepping to paint the frame.

So, it went from this…

To this, which resembles something from a bloody horror flick…

To this, which turned out to be cute & funky, adding a pop of color & fun to a classic office…

A close up of the detail on the frame…

What room in your home could use a shot of color & fun?

Showing off this project at Funky Junk Interiors…