Guest Vanity

OK, so I must admit, I have a problem.  I HATE 90s oak.  Like, cannot stand it.  Therefore, I have a personal vendetta to cover it all with paint.  After painting many things such as trim, vanities, bookshelves, cabinets, etc. white, I thought it was time to incorporate a new color.

First, let me show you the original, boring, blah, builder-grade vanity.  Yep, you got it, it needs some live-in-ing up!  

These two tools I use for EVERYTHING.  This is my go-to primer that I absolutely LOVE!  It does wonders and the best part is.....NO SANDING.  It seriously sticks to anything.  The Wooster Shortcut 2 inch brush I have used for trim, vanities, cabinets, furniture, anything and everything.  It moves so easily and fits perfectly in your hand.  This is my favorite brush by far and a lot of the time you don't even need to use a foam roller on the top coat.

So here is what she looked like after brushing two coats of primer on.  As I have said before, yes, primer makes you think, "Oh, God!  I shouldn't have done this!"  Trust me, it will be OK, continue to paint.  :)

For my paint, we chose a beautiful deep gray called "Chelsea Gray" by Benjamin Moore.  I purchased only a pint since I was just doing a vanity and made sure I got semi-gloss so it would be more stain resistant.  Always use semi-gloss when painting over wood.  Period.

One coat complete!  Almost done!

Two coats done and new hardware on!  Oh yeah, and I cleaned the counter.    :)

Done and gorgeous!  My husband and I love the color!  Highly recommend Chelsea Gray from Benjamin Moore if you are looking for a deep gray.

What a difference!

Thanks for reading!

Peace, Love, and Balance,

Lanna

DIY Window Frame Stained Glass

I have always longed for a beautiful piece of stained glass for my screened in porch because of the gorgeousness of the sunlight shining through all the colors and filling the porch with colorful light.  .:sigh:.

However, anytime I get excited when I see stained glass at the antique store, it disappoints me yet again because it is always upwards of at least two hundred dollars.  This is no bueno.

So I decided to make my own!

I took a little trip to Michaels and purchased these items to use.

The first item is fake lead lines that are simple to use, and necessary to keep the paint in the place you want it to stay.  They literally just peel and stick and cut easily with scissors.

The second item is Gallery Glass window paint which happened to be on clearance at Michaels.  Yay for surprise clearances!  Needless to say, I got all kinds of colors.

Here is the window before I began.  Yes, it is cute.  Yes, I could have used it just the way it was, but to be honest, I have a gazillion old window frames.  I was excited to use this one in a new way!

First step- place peel and stick lead lines.  Yes, I could have measured to make them super perfectly straight, but what's the fun in perfect?  I just went for it!

I then filled in each square with the colors as I felt it out.  When I finished filling them in, this was the finished product.  I then left it to dry for TWO DAYS.  This seems like a long time, but it takes this long for it to solidify and become transparent.  

She then came out looking like this!  I left some squares blank to just 

have some true light shine through.  

Here she is in her new home!

Thanks for reading!  Hope you enjoyed!

Peace, Balance, and Gratitude,

Lanna

DIY Pallet Mirror Frame

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I love my downstairs half bath, however I am always looking for ways to make it less "builder grade" and more, well, me.  So I decided my mirror needed charactah!

So in order to begin a pallet mirror frame, you need.....you guessed it!  A pallet!  My sister and brother-in-law gave me a few a few weeks ago and I have some projects in mind, this being one of them.  

 So first, I decided I really like this particular pallet because the wood was naturally more worn and distressed.  There were a few pieces of wood in this pallet that were of good size to use for a mirror frame so I decided to extract the "skinny" pieces.  This was, to put it nicely, not fun.  I pulled and twisted with a crowbar to remove the nails to free the boards I wanted. 

Then, the next natural step was to measure the perimeter of the mirror, so this ensued.

 After getting my measurements, I marked up the two long sides first.  I also thought it would seem more rustic if the pieces were straight rather than cut at a right angle like trim and mirrors tend to be.  Why do anything like everyone else?  Right?  ;)  I then proceeded to make all cuts with a handsaw.

After taping my long pieces to get a feel for it, I measured and cut my short pieces.  I then taped it all up to be sure everything fit snug.  Which, thank the Lord, it did!

 My next step was to load up the caulk gun with my Liquid Nails Heavy Duty adhesive.  This stuff is no joke, research carefully how to use.  In order to finally glue my pallet frame to the mirror, I untaped one piece at a time and carefully caulked a straight line down the middle of the piece.  I then carefully put it in place and held it for about thirty seconds.  After doing this to all pieces, I arranged them perfectly, as you can still move them after you apply with the Liquid Nails.

After all pieces were exactly where they should be, I duct taped them to death.  It takes Liquid Nails about 24 hours to completely dry, so I wanted to beat gravity at it's own game.  No way after all this work I was going to wake up to a frame that slid down the mirror.  :)

Voila!  The finished product!

Thanks for reading!

Peace, Balance, and Gratitude,

Lanna

How to Reuse That "Broken" Chair!

So my friend was cleaning out her garage and wanted to know if I wanted her old chair she was gtting rid of.  I had been ooking for one more chair to fill my "conversation" corner on my screened-in porch.  I had a shabby green and purple chair and was dying for a yellow one.

So she came over and dropped off this chair to me!  I was super pumped to get it and was ready to paint since I had been planning out getting an old chair for a few weeks.  I immediately grabbed my Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Mustard Seed Yellow.  

 This is the old packaging for Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint.  It used to come in a box, now it comes in a reusable Ziploc pouch.  I absolutely love the golden yellow color.  It is just warm enough. 

       It comes in a powder form, which can be slightly difficult to work with.  I am not going to lie.  When I first started using milk paint it was hard getting the correct powder to water ratio.  However, now I don't even measure I just do a little water at a time until I get a slightly runny mixture.  You have to mix it really well.  This is why I purchased Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint mixer.

It mixes like brownie mix in that you have clumps you have to work out of the mixture.  

However, it is OK to leave a little bit of small clumpage.  It isn't going to be a uniform color, which adds to the character.

Here she is after two coats of milk paint.  Some tips about using milk paint:

1.  Work Fast!  It dries very quickly so you must work quickly before it dries in a place you aren't happy with.

2.  Sometimes it crackles on its own.  It crackles on it's own the more slick the surface is that you are working on.  If it is too glossy of a finish, though, it will not stick at all.  This piece was a coarse wood so it stuck right to the surface and did not crackle at all.

3.  Follow the paint's lead.  Let it dry and see what happens.  If it starts crackling scrap off what isn't sticking and love it.  If it doesn't crackle, it just wasn't meant to be!  Grab some sand paper and go at it if you are looking for a shabby look!

4.  It sands off super easily!  My number one love for milk paint and chalk paint alike.

Since my Milk Paint did not distress itself, I grabbed my trusty 100 grit sandpaper that I keep stocked at all time.  I focus ALWAYS on edges and curves that jut out.  This makes the shabby-ing look authentic.

I then trimmed out some of the bottom in order to be able to stick my flower pot inside.  

:)

TA-DA!!!

 She fit perfectly with her new brothers and sisters!  Loving all the shabby mixed colors and styles of chairs!

Thank you so much for reading!  Hope you have enjoyed this post!

Peace, Balance, and Gratitude,

Lanna