[painted armoire] before & after

Yes, I finally did it!




I did some light distressing on it, I used 120 grit sandpaper and just did it by hand. I tried to rub the places I thought would have been worn over time if it were an old piece. The edges, the corners, the little parts that rub together when the doors open and close. The distressed parts may have turned out to be my favorite of the whole thing.



I love how the bottom coat of black paint peeks through in some places. I took some walnut stain and did a tiny bit of glazing in some of the corners and distressed places. I used a wet rag and the tiniest amount of stain and rubbed it in key places to make it look a little bit older, rather than a freshly painted piece.

I rounded up some more colorful accent pieces and pulled out some of the reds in my pillows.


It makes the family room look way more fun.

I didn't hate the black, infact, I liked it, but with our dark brown couches I just felt like all of the dark stuff was sucking the light out of the room, and sucking the life out of me!



What I love about a piece like this is that it's perfect for family life. I'm not going to stress out about my boys driving their cars on it, or opening and closing the doors over and over, because it's supposed to look "lived in". When the day comes that I decide to change up my colors and phase out my blues, greens, aquas and turquoise, I can paint it another color, or white, and it will look great with layers of paint showing through in the distressed places.

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! There's nothing a new coat of paint can't fix!

And here's the disclaimer. I did, in fact, make my own custom paint color. I chose a color I thought was perfect (Behr Marina Isle) and I put the first brush sroke on and could tell immediately it was way too light. It almost looked baby blue next to the black. WRONG color! I panicked for about 3.5 seconds, then I remembered the turquoise paint I used in my big boys room, and added some of that and some black and a little bit of tan so it had a more gray or dirtier look to it. It turned out just right!

outside update

The Black Family is pleased to announce, that after much sweat, tears, trials and tribulaions, we now have a little somethin' somethin' growing in the backyard...



yep, that would be tiny baby blades of grass!!!

and it's growing in our yard! We are so excited! (It only took us most of the summer)

It all started with DIRT. lots and lots of dirt.



and SPRINKLERS, put in by my hard working hubby:


We are so happy to finally have this one checked off the list. We went with hydroseed rather than sod in hopes that it will grow into a nice luscious lawn, you sure miss out on the instant gratification element that way, but we're learning patience around here, after all.

speaking of patience.... I've been waiting since Christmas to use this:

my dad made us this swing for the backyard and I can't wait to hang it from the pergola we're building on the patio!

In other news, we also now have flower beds in the front yard!



I used an extension cord (because I couldn't find string or a rope) and made a line about the shape I was going for along the grass, then spray painted that line, then came the hard work. I got down and dirty with a shovel and cut the line and ripped out sod for 4 nights in a row while my sweetie hauled wheelbarrows full of dirt into my beds for me!



One night I had just come home from a cycling class at the gym to find him out there with at least 6 neighborhood little boys, all digging in the dirt and helping him. He decided to start without me, but I think he really just wanted to play in the dirt with the kids! I should have taken a picture, but those little boys went home dirty for a few nights in a row. They dug tunnels and really got into it. Our kids where the cool kids on the block because of our dirt pile. :)

We still need to add some nice organic matter to the dirt and a nice mulch on the top, but it's taking shape! I can't wait to plant in them!

This calls for a new before and after!

before:


AAAHHH!

after:

ahhh.


Landscaping is hard work. But it makes this house feel a lot more like a home, so we're glad to have done it. We're not just going to sit around and wait for grass to grow though...

so in typical Mindy fashion, I've already moved on to the next big thing, and I can't wait to show you my big boy's room! (wink wink)

master bedroom {the bedding}

I have decided rather than just show you the master bedroom when it's all done I'll show the process I've been going through.

ta da!!

We've lived here for 9 months now, and it's flown by, but in some ways I can't believe it's taken me this long to make our bedroom cozy.

We have two VERY active little boys, ages 2 and 3, our days are crazy and hectic, and we need a calm and serene space that is just for us.


I decided to start with the bedding.

Here's my before:


I knew I wanted to keep the basic white duvet, I love the simplicity of it, but I decided to go with a spa blue/ light aqua color to accent and a tiny bit of mustard yellow to set it off.




I have issues with bedding that looks too matchy, like a bed in a bag. I definately didn't want that, so I found the coverlet on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond, the poppy pillow is also from BBandB. I made the yellow pillow from place mats and cloth napkins I found at Target, just because the pattern was perfect. Seriously. Cloth napkins.


I felt that because the furniture sort of leans traditional and masculine I wanted the bedding to be soft, feminine and young. We are, after all, still in our 20's, but not for long! :) I just didn't want an old persons room when we are still young.

I found these great sheets at Target. They are Springmaid (Target has awesome bedding right now, by the way) They are all white with an aqua/polka dot border. I fell in love the minute I saw them! They are a bit unexpected, with the dark wood panel bed especially, but I love that about them. The first few nights I was literally giddy crawling into them.


I think we managed a nice balance between feminine and masculine, and it's a place where we can both relax and feel comfortable.




I made some simple white curtains out of the same fabric I used for my slipcover, 100% duck cotton.



And we trimmed the windows, which made a huge difference (to me).

The things left on the list are:
*paint (I'm thinking a gray toned neutral that will make the whites pop a bit more
*framing my salvaged mirror (you might be able to see it sitting on the dresser, we removed it from a bathroom wall in or old house during a remodel and I've had it all this time, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.
*make prints for the frames above the bed
*find a small but comfortable chair (white or gray) I really want one like this beauty:

image via JustaGirl, via Freckles Chick.

another lamp re-do and old treasures

I found another great curvy lamp, it's almost identical to my last one, except this one didn't have the maroon center that the other one had, it was completely brass.

I did take a before picture, I just can't find it in my files right now, so this will have to do.

I used regular white primer and Krylon's Ocean Breeze


and this was the result:




I found the shade at homegoods, and I love it for it's texture, it has a nice vertical ribbing pattern, I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but it was cheap, and it's well made. I think it's perfect for the lamp!


Another great thing you may notice gracing the side table is this great stack of books I brought home from my mom's house. She has a shelf full of great old books, and I've raided her collection a few times, I don't know how I missed these beauties. I love the colors together and it's got me thinking about adding some muted reds, bright yellows and pretty oranges to the living room and the rest of the house.

We've done some major projects outside, and I can't wait to get them finished... I'll be sharing them soon, and my master bedroom is so close to being finished it's making me crazy. Maybe I'll just have to show it in progress.

Happy Summer!

mantle: walnut-ified.

I felt like something just wasn't right with the fireplace from the first time we saw this house. Pretty sure it's just a matter of personal preference, but the Hubbs and I just don't love the light wood so much... I don't really know why, and it doesn't bug me when other people use light wood, I just don't like it for us. That's okay, I think.


Here's the before:


And the after:






I like it so much better! I don't know why I put this off for months, it wasn't nearly as involved as I imagined it would be.

All I did is sand it lightly (very lightly) and then masked off the area around it so I didn't end up with walnut blobs on my walls. And then stained away. I used Minwax Dark Walnut as the stain. It took like a week to dry, so I probably should have sanded it more before staining so it could soak in better (according to my husband) but I'm impatient and just wanted to see the result. :)

An hour or so of actual work and 7 days of drying later, this is what we ended up with. I'm happy with it. Stain isn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it was!

re-made lamp

Can you imagine my excitement when I found this baby at the D.I.?!? (utah's version of salvation army or goodwill)


I scooped it up and carried it home for a mere $7!

I couldn't wait to show my husband, Scott, when he walked in the door from work.

He stared at me in kind of a funny way.

He tiled his head to the side.

He said "Um... that's nice,Sweetie... I can imagine you have some kind of big plan for it, right?" Then he smiled at me the way he does when he's thinking I'm kind of nuts. That's why I love him.

Anyway, this brass and burgundy lamp had all of the makings of a shapely classic, it just didn't know it yet. I planned on making a metal finish like the one I put in my bedroom idea board:

Mercury Lamp: Pottery Barn, $259 (I don't think I would ever spend $259 on a lamp, I'm just not that kind of gal, but I do like it. a lot.)

I even practiced with two kinds of spray paint and came pretty close to that look, a very similar finish, but when I primed this baby that all changed. It looked so good in white that I lost my desire to do anything else with it, so I sprayed a nice coat of glossy white (rustoleum makes a line that has an upgraded sprayer, it went on super fine and left a perfect finish, not a single blob, smear or run!)

I found the shade at Target, I think they work quite well together. It's different than I planned, but I love it more than I imagined!

Can you believe that brassy and burgundy thing turned into this?? Spray paint, people! Love it!


I liked it so much I carried it around the house, trying it out in various places.

It's possible that I'm slightly neurotic.

I for sure want it to go in our bedroom, but I liked it on my (new!) black table in the living room too...




time for a trip back to the D.I. to find another one, maybe I'll do a blue one for my living room!

give my shutters some love!

They're up!




And to refresh all of our memories, here is the outside of the house when we first saw it... no wonder it sat empty for a while!

the shutters where pretty much the same color as the stucco. The door mostly glass, a kind of spider-webby design. It didn't fit the style of the house or the neighborhood.

When I showed my hubby the MLS picture of this house he was not impressed, and he thought I was kind of nuts that I wanted to come and see it. We had some cute houses on our list.
Like this little cutie:


But the neighborhood just didn't feel right. And we had made that mistake once before. What I really wish is that I could have picked this house up and moved it to this neighborhood. I still mourn for this house. I really loved it. The craftsman style, the white trim, the fact that it was green clap board and shingle style siding (with board and batten style on the sides and back) and not stucco... Anyway, we really wanted a neighborhood with lots of kids, and that just wasn't happening there.

So let's shake that house out of our heads, shall we?? :)


We knew this was the right house for us before we even saw the inside. we drove the neighborhood and saw kids and families all over the place, an amazing park with a creek and tall trees, and lots of trails and green space... the first time we walked the neighborhood, we met so many friendly neighbors who where so welcoming. We felt like we were buying the neighborhood more than the house. We decided to make up for what the house was lacking with a lot of hard work.

A few weeks after moving in, I painted the shutters black with paint we already had from our old house. It looked better, but when we replaced the door it bugged me to have black shutters with the chestnut colored door...

Thus the shutter building project.



First off, I'm pretty proud of myself... I built them 90% all by myself. I had the hubbs cut a few of the pieces of wood once I got going to hurry things along, but I did everything else sans man-powers.


Hubby was proud. It turns him on when I use power tools.

He did do most of the work with hanging them, though. And that turned out to be a hard job.

Mostly, I'm pretty happy with the result. They make the house look a little more cottage-y and a little more rustic craftsman-y (yep, I just made those terms up.)

We took one down right after we got them up on Saturday, it needed some tweaking. The stones are uneven and it's been really hard to make it look perfect where they are mounted on the stone.

Here's my advice to anyone attempting something similar:
* note to self: it's really hard to attach anything to stone... the part where the stones where under the shutters took a really long time, and one still needed more work, so we took it down to tweak it a little. The stones are really uneven and making it hang just right has been interesting.

* choose a wood that is the same species as your door (if applicable) so they'll stain up the same.

* hope your hubby is as smart as mine when it comes to hanging things to the outside of your little stucco house. It really was a pain. He tried to do it the hard way, using all of the same holes from the old shutters and making a template for the screws in the new shutters, but the old ones where secured with plastic anchors and many of them broke off in the rock or stucco. In the end, we ended up filling the holes with special stucco filler/sealer and making new ones.

It turned out to be a most-of-the-day Saturday project, so I granted the Hubbs immunity from house projects for a week... he deserves it!

Now my sad little yard looks bare naked. We bought this house without a single tree on the property, all that had been done with landscape is grass in the front yard.

We've got a summer full of planting and yard work ahead of us!

For now, I'm just glad to have these up!

Total cost: about $83.00. I had the stain and everything else on hand, so the wood was the bulk of the cost. Not too shabby!

I'm linking up: