Organizing MUST be cute......continued!

Okay so its been a week since I got that cute HUGE frame to use as an idea/to do board and I'm just too excited to contain! I spent all week looking for the perfect paint, and I think I finally found it.  Here is my inspiration color that I was trying to match.....
 

 

See the vase? It is the perfect color to go against my Sea Foam green wall!! The only problem? I went through a cherry red before I got to this color and so we actually ended up painting it twice....once with the "almost right" color and once with the "perfect right" color!! It is Valspar red from Lowes and it is aaaaaammmmazzzing!!!!!

 

Just a reminder, here is the before....

 

And here is the after.....

 

 

I'm sooooo happy with the way it turned out! Now to figure out what I am going to do with the center! It seems big metal pieces at the hardware store are quite pricey, so I will have to get creative for sure!

But for now, I am just enjoying the color and I will think about the rest tomorrow!

 

 

till next time..........Penny :) 

 

 

 

DIY - More fun with frames!

I found this ugly interesting frame at an estate sale and immediately saw some good potential for the fabric border. I loved the almost burlap quality to the small rim of fabric between the two wooden frames. I knew it had to come home with me, destined for a little makeover!

To begin redoing the frame I carefully taped over all the fabric. Of course my tape was too wide, so I had to tear the tape in half lengthwise. Talk about making more work for yourself! My vision was to attempt the Elmer's glue crackle method floating around the Internet. First order of business is painting the base coat that you want to be showing in the "crackles". I am lazy so I chose not to sand the frame beforehand. Though this didn't save me any time because I had to paint 3 coats of gray to hide the weird mottled pink of the original frame! My tip is to lightly sand your frame if it is shiny. This will help the paint adhere and make the process much smoother!

As soon as I got my base color as solid as I wanted I applied a liberal layer of Elmer's glue. Contrary to all the tutorials I read, I learned that letting it dry for 5 minutes is not enough! Let it dry till it gets a skin, and there are still wet patches of white left. Those white patches are what will become the crackled spots on your finished product!

 When the glue has set, carefully paint over it (in smooth strokes) your desired top color. Let the paint dry, and walk away. I kept looking at it and waiting for it to look crackly, my advice? Leave it alone and come back in a  few hours! That way you will be pleasantly surprised at what you find! Depending on the size of your frame you can do these last few steps a section at a time on your frame. This was my first time so I am definitely gonna have to do it again to correct the mistakes I made the first go around!

Sorry for the terrible picture quality! I did this project at night. It has definitely helped me see that even the craziest of frames can be modernized and altered to fit your decor. I love the look of this and definitely want to give it another shot! This frame is headed to a friends house, where the bold aqua fits her house to a T. Play with the colors and have fun, see what you can create!

From Lame to Super Awesome Frame

We started out one Saturday morning at a garage sale for an elementary school.  They had some amazing finds!  I instantly found a vintage school desk and a hand crafted wooden frame.  I still need to paint the desk but as soon as I saw the frame I instantly knew what it's destiny would become.

I picked out a beautiful aubergine spray paint and got to work.  We had an extra piece of  MDF, which the hubs cut to fit for the opening.  It was then painted with chalkboard paint and nailed into place.  It's perfect for my girls, especially knowing that chalk can be cleaned off almost everything!  As you can see they have already gone to town.