New Obsession-Print+Trace=AWESOME

Since my poor son has been sick, nothing serious just a cold, this week I had a ton of hanging out in the house time. My sister brought over a round wooden pizza thing she found at a yard sale. So I sanded it, spray painted it and drilled a hole in it so she could hang it up in her kitchen. I found a wonderful blog called Graphicfairy. She posts awesome vintage pictures and sayings that are FREE and PRINTABLE! So we found a great chocolate saying in french. We took turns tracing it in pencil, because there was a lot of detail and then rubbed it on. I used the same method for the ones above. Then I traced it with a black fine point sharpie. Both of these projects were free. I had the white board, which was a never used drawer front that I have had forever and the other is a wonderful hand-made cutting board from my dad. He gave it to me in 2002 and I have made good use of it, but I don't like to use it too much because it's pretty and I want it to be that way forever. So I traced the picture and now have it on display in my kitchen! The white one above is my own design. It's french and means,"welcome to our home". The door knocker and key are from the Graphic Faries' website. Now I just keep looking around the house to see what else I can trace another picture on to! Let me know what you think.

Before and After- Blue Dresser

Before

After

Dark Stain

Color and Distressing Detail

Isn't she pretty! I love the blue color from glidden. It's called French grey. I think she will be perfect in my entryway with the pretty new wall color. My Mom bought this for us as a housewarming gift when we moved in. She will kill me when she sees these pictures. She believes all antiques should stay the original color but this one was screaming to be blue! And since she is a beautiful and very well made antique she had a lot of wear and tear! Sorry mom, love ya:)! My Dad happened to be in town today and stopped by to drop off another dresser I had my little brother pick up for me in Vegas. I know, I know, I should not buy stuff in Vegas when I live in Cedar City, but I hate to say it but people in Utah sell their "junk" for a lot more than people in Vegas! So thank you, Jared for picking her up! I owe you. And thanks to the best Dad ever for bringing her to me!! He arrived just as I was staining the top and chastised me for staining this beautiful mahogany piece such a dark color that was going to ruin it! Sorry Dad! But it is so pretty now!! And Happy Birthday again Dad! I love you!

So what do you guys think?

ANOTHER After on the stairs :)

Well, I couldn't stand the yellowish cream. (Scroll down to see the other color) So because Home Depot is the best store on the planet (no they are not paying me to say that) I was given a Home Depot gift card from the customer service department and a free gallon of paint from the local store! So 2 gallons of paint later the stairs, entryway and open upstairs area are all now the wonderful, soothing and gorgeous color Light French Grey from Behr. It's the perfect bluish-grey color! I can't wait to redecorate now! I think I'm going with black, really dark brown and white frames. I have collected so many frames over the years that I have plenty to spray paint any color I want.

Before and After- Stairs and open area upstairs

Before

This was what it looked like walking up my stairs. I hated having three colors meeting. We don't have any windows going up the stairs so it felt too small and dark. So I took down the chair rail, that was a pain to put up there!, and I painted the bottom white and the top a light cream color.

After

It looks too yellow! But I painted for 8 hrs straight! I had to primer first. So I really didn't notice till the next day! And James will kill me if I tell him that I don't like it and want to buy more paint! I have the hardest time finding a good cream color. One that is just brown and white mixed. Everything has red base or yellow and I'm never happy! If you read this honey, I LOVE YOU!:)

I'm really happy with the chair rail and my "fake" wainscoting. I still have to finish the stairs but I wanted you to see the progress.

Dresser-Before and After

Before. 1970's dresser

Because I was so excited to get started on this project I forgot to take a before picture. But you know this type of dresser. Off-white with gold trim and you can see in the picture the gold hardware that came on it. I think most people had a piece of furniture in their house that looked like this when they were growing up.

During

I just used primer on this piece. And then put a pretty brown glaze on top. This was my first time experimenting with glaze. I love it!

After

Here is a close-up of what the glaze looks like. It gives it that old world charm. Bye Bye 1970's Gold! I spray painted the hardware ORB, my fav!

So what do you think?

Gabriel's Bathroom

Before

Before

After

After

I really wanted to frame Gabriel's bathroom mirror because I think the mirrors that come with new homes are kinda boring. I just wanted a little character. I thought....that shouldn't be too hard! Well, there was a problem. The medicine cabinet was so close to the mirror that if I put molding around it I couldn't open the cabinet. I didn't love the cabinet anyway so I just removed it, which left a hole in the wall. Option one, close it up or Option two, make a shelf and add some molding around it. I love it! Now I have a cute built in shelf and molding around my mirror! What do you think? Do you like it?

I'm still putting finishing touches, as you can see that it still needs. Also, do you see the hallway changes in the background. That's another project I have started! More to come on that!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Before After
I saw this on the Decor Chick's blog. The soap dispenser in my kitchen was leaking all the time and this was a really cheap alternative. The jar was only 2 dollars and I used the pump from an old soap bottle. I love it and it adds some character to the kitchen sink.