Milk Paint Mischief

Here is a little twin size head board that I picked up on craigslist for next to nothing.  I love the lines and who could pass up the decorative finials!  Great character, but a little rough.

I recently purchased some milkpaint online to try.  Now I know nothing about milk paint.  It is only within  the last year, when I started blogging, that I learned about the marvels of chalk paint.  So I figured what the heck, give it a try.  So here we go!

I turned to the likes of Miss Mustard Seed for some guidance.  She has some great tutorials on the paint  and    even has her own line.  I knew she would be a great resource for some online guidance.  So I watched a few tutorials and got started.

Not having worked with this before, I mixed up the entire container just to be save.  The paint is a bit lumpy, however the lumps disappeared when the paint was applied to the headboard. Here is the end result.  I did love how easy it was to sand down, like the chalk paint.  The other really great quality of this paint is the variation in color.   This truly looks like a really old, rustic finish.

Let me know how your milk paint projects go.  I would love to hear if you have any tips or suggestions.

Barstool Makeover

I picked these little gems up at a friends garage sale.  They were so cute I couldn't pass them up!

There was a little bit of staining on the seat, but I had some great left over material from another project that would work great on these.   I dug out the "old white" from Annie Sloan and gave them a couple of coats. 

After the paint and the "new" fabric I think they look pretty good. 

Sharing at these great sights.  Check them out if you get a chance there are tons of ideas!

My entry into The Creative Inspirations Linky Party at Embracing Change is sponsored by Appliances Online and their best freezers.

 

The Boys bedding

I love getting packages in the mail, it makes me feel like Christmas!  Today  we received a duvet and shams that I ordered for Connor's room.  We searched  the Internet and found several that we liked but there was one that really spoke to us.

It is from Restoration Hardware and it was on SALE!!!!!  I love not paying full price.   Ours is indigo and I think it will work quite well.  I love how they shipped it too, in a cute little drawstring labelled bag. 

  I can't wait to see how it all together in his room! 

International Man of Mystery.....

My oldest son is coming of age and is off to middleschool in the fall.  For the past several years he has been sharing a room with his younger brother and  Recently he ask to move into the guest bedroom in the basement.  With much deliberation we have agreed to the move, but with the understanding that certain responsibilities must be maintained. Makes me sad to see my first baby growing up so quickly.

In light of the move, Connor asked if we could spice up the room to make it more "his style".  I gushed at the idea of transforming this space for him.   We sat down and came up with a game plan of and picked out a few pieces and paint ideas  that we thought would work well for his space.  I am tickled pink that he wants to be so involved in the process!

The first piece we tackled was a desk.  Grades are an important responsibility for this move and the child will need a place to study.  I picked up this lovely piece on craigslist, and although it did have a fun little finish, it was not really what we had in mind.

We tossed around a few ideas and finally hit pinterest.   We found several inspiring pieces and set out to work.

Because the paint was pretty thick on this bad boy, I decided to strip the painted finish.  The wood was pretty rough so there was absolutely no guilt in painting this piece---yes, sometimes I do struggle with painting wood:(.

I painted it with some paint that I had left over from a previous project.  I actually hauled out the paint gun for this one, and  hit it all over with a nice even coat of paint.   Somehow I managed not photograph this step.   


I had Connor help me tape out the lines and we started with the white stripes first.

We let it the white stripes dry and then re-taped and added red stripes.  After that we distressed the sides and the drawers and hit it with some wax.   Here is the finished product.

I love how much Connor helped with this transformation and all the input he had. I literally just about cried when he asked if we could distress the drawers!   I hope he will be able to treasure not only this piece, but the memories we made with it!

We have one more furniture transformation for his room and a few other updates.  I hope to have it all complete before school is in, so keep checking back.

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