Two Tone Treasure + How to Paint Furniture
Wow, such inspiration from this week’s Paint Projects Party, you simply must visit so many of these links! There are over 400 projects to browse, from furniture to floors to fabrics to home accents. Oh the power of paint never ceases to amaze me! Nothing makes me happier than a great second hand find, and the opportunity to revamp the new treasure for a great cause. This one was for a good friend of mine who recently had a baby girl. She’s been a little preoccupied with her little one, so her hub and I conspired to makeover this piece for her nursery, currently a work in progress, but sure to beautiful when the space is finished. I’ve been looking for the perfect dresser for her for awhile now, and finally scored this one at a local thrift store last week, I was so excited! With all the pieces I’ve painted over the years, I realized I should write up a full step by step for repainting an old treasure like this one, including cosmetic repair, priming and painting so here goes!
How to Upgrade your Builder Grade Mirror - Frame it!
I love framed mirrors in the bathroom but I really don't like the idea of ripping out a large builder mirror to replace it with a smaller framed one. Not only is it hurting the environment, it hurts my pocket book. So at our first house we framed our builder grade mirror with some cheap MDF molding and ever since, we have been hooked on this cheap, but with a huge impact, solution. I saw on Our Suburban Cottage, over a year ago, an amazing mirror that she created in her bathroom. Using her design, my husband was able to create this stunning addition to our master bathroom's mini-reno. I fully intend to redo everything out of this bathroom when time and money permits; but for now we had to do cosmetic changes that have made this bathroom livable for a few years. We did two bathrooms with this type of frame. Before (when we bought the house): After (after some minor and inexpensive changes): Method: Paint all the trim both back and front. Isn't it absolutely AMAZING!?!? What do you think?
Ask Anna...: How to Paint a Perfect Line
Many of you may have already read my post on how to paint a perfect line. I wrote this post ages ago but I still get lots of emails asking me to explain the steps more clearly. I’ve been wanting to put together a video tutorial for you but I hadn’t been planning on painting any stripes, until my recent bathroom makeover. I hope this short video helps explain {more clearly} the steps for painting perfect lines, but as always, please feel free to email me if you are still confused. Here’s the finished product!
How to Build Under-Cabinet Drawers & Increase Kitchen Storage
You could build the drawers with nothing but hand tools and a circular saw, but a table saw and miter saw will give you faster, better results. A nail gun is another big time-saver, though you can hammer everything together with 1-1/4-in. finish nails instead. All the materials are available at most home centers. In the hardware aisle, choose “full-extension” side-mount drawer slides (see Photo 3). Choose hardwood plywood like birch or oak for your drawers.
Bottles Full of Light
The other day, I wrote about attempting to drill through glass and I finished up the project this weekend. I think it turned out beautifully — I love the idea of bottled light! These would be pretty by a wintery window or under an entry table. I like the way the gold paint makes the bottom of the bottles look misty and glow-y, even during the daytime. I’ve got a ton of images and DIY instructions below if you’d like to try this too. For tools and supplies, I started at my local True Value. I started with these apple juice bottles from Whole Foods. Next, I used my handy scraper tool to take off the label. Once the bottle was clean and label free, it was time to drill through the glass. [UPDATE: Hah! Next we painted. I used a disposable sponge brush and Liquid Leaf paint — but any metallic enamel paint should work. Once the paint was dry (it dries very quickly), we started stuffing the lights in. And that’s it! This is another project as a True Value Blog Squad Member.
Build a Wood Tilt Out Trash or Recycling Cabinet
I ran into a friend of mine the other day, and after the normal how are yous, she looked at me straight, and said, "Ana, HOW are you?" "I'm great . . . what do you mean?" I asked. And she said, "I read your blog, and I've noticed that you haven't been posting as often, and was just wondering if everything is okay with you." I was quite touched that my friend took her time to read my blog faithfully enough to know that I have not been posting six . . . sometimes seven . . . days a week, and even more touched that she would stop me to make sure everything is okay. That evening when I was putting hinges on this very trash bin cabinet, I thought about our conversation in the condiment aisle. As I closed the door on this trash bin for the first time, and stood back and inspected the finished project, I got goosebumps all over. No, nothing's wrong, because even after all these years and hundreds of pieces of furniture built, I still get goosebumps over a completed project.
DIY Outdoor Chaise Lounge
Hello summer! I’m sure most of you are also experiencing the heat wave in your area! It’s down right hot in the Lone Star State:) I couldn’t get this project started fast enough! Ahhh!!! Swoon! Love this set of chaise lounges from Pottery Barn….but I don’t love the $600 price tag (and yes that is the “marked-down” price;) I’m sure they are worth every penny but my wallet will never know! Nope, I saved some dough and built my own for $25 thanks to the free plans I got from Ana’s site! Trip to Home Depot for supplies (no kids;) Thank you hubby! I used my battery-powered drill and nailer to assemble the chairs…. oh and Gorilla Glue Wood Glue of course;) Here are some pictures of the steps I took as I went… I used the base of the chaise to assemble the back by aligning each board on top of the other to ensure a good match when the back was attached. Use narrow utility hinges to attach the back to the base. This is the prop for the back rest:) Again, narrow hinges to attach the prop to the back.
