For the Love of Color

I have an admitted addiction. I know you are assuming it’s to painting, but that’s not it! I am addicted to color! I do appreciate the look of houses that follow a single color pallet or theme, but that design is just not for me. I like to look around and see all sorts of color. It makes me smile! We have mustard yellow walls, light yellow walls, tan walls, purple walls, red walls, terracotta walls, turquoise walls, dark green walls, bright green walls and as Greer likes to call the color he picked for his room “man cave gray” walls. The way we try to tie it all together is by using color in a variety of other ways throughout the house. It’s a kaleidoscope of happy and plans for more happy, I mean color, are underway. I will always be adding color. Many prefer a more monochromatic home because of its relaxing atmosphere, but for me life is just too short not to have color everywhere. Aaron long ago stopped trying to keep me from adding colors and started embracing it (and maybe even liking it) and Greer and Ella Rose love their bright and fun home. My addiction has led to stashes of paint everywhere! Sometimes I just buy a can of spray paint, not because I have a particular item to paint, but because I like the color. Then I will walk around and find random things to paint…true story! I use all kinds of paint and I use it to cover furniture, canvases, barn wood paintings, accessories, floors, rugs, and all sorts of other things. Sometimes this works well and sometimes not so well. Experimentation is part of the fun! I could walk around our home and take hundreds of photos for this post, but I will just select a few and maybe one day do a follow up post with a few hundred more. So, here are some examples of how I have added color by painting random things. I have also included some of my biggest blunders. I thought you might like to see those too! If you are afraid to make a blunder then painting random things may not be for you.

These guys were a little boring!

A little spray paint gave them more personality.

This table used to be very shiny wood…much more deserving of our unconventional farmhouse now!

A little too blah for my taste!

Now it packs a punch of color that is nice in the garden.

I don’t even remember what color this cabinet used to be, but simply painting the trim a fun color instantly added uniqueness.

Barn wood is painted and so is the silver bottle!

The fireplace looks like tile, but nope, I painted it. The original plan was to tile it when funding allowed, but now we just love it. All those squares were stamped on with make up sponges.

Faded, brown and boring these cushions didn’t make the cut for our new pool porch redo!

So after reading several other bloggers say you could give them a make over with spray paint, I decided a $4 can of spray paint was a bargain cushion redo. (Have you priced these?)

I liked the look! Bright, fun, different! But boy, our booties did not! It was scratchy and miserable and remember this was for a pool!

Thankfully K-Mart clearance saved the day! This is much more comfy! Painting FAIL!

Speaking of those chairs…they were a worn out and faded green color before some spray paint brought them back to life!

This pergola was on the porch of the house my generous sister-in-law bought, but it didn’t fit. So….it was donated to our spruce up our pool porch cause. But, it was black, and I wanted the porch to be injected with personality!

It took over 30 cans of spray paint, many hours of labor, very sore blistery fingers, and maybe some inappropriate language and the black aluminum still showed through! So…I brush painted the final coat and finally got the look I wanted.

If you’d asked me while working on it and even within the two months post finished product I would’ve said epic painting fail…

…but now when I smile anytime I see it, sit in it, or even in this case look at a photo of it I definitely think epic painting win.

Some painting victories are much more small like this old rusted basket I painted to add a punch of color.

Many of you asked about this wreath from our front door post and the truth is it is an old Christmas wreath that the stars rusted badly on and the red berries peeled off of….but a little paint changed it up.

Another random accessory painting. Sometimes color can be subtle.

These chairs used to be black.

The other two became lime green for the vegetable garden.

This was metallic gold when found second hand…I actually painted it black (ha, I know) and sprinkled some grass in and painted again to give it texture.

Another formerly black chair!

This rusted very badly, so it got a coat of paint. It did rust again and get touched up again, and then it rusted again. This time I left it. Many would consider it a painting fail, but I think it’s just unconventional.

Some simple spray painted letters.

They pack some punch to the front door!

Why does most patio furniture come in black?

A little fun with color and some experimentation can go a long way.

That’s better!

This framed piece of tin was beige and plain when we yanked it out of a stash in the back of a run down antique store.

I gave the frame a red wash finish, the tin a yellow wash finish and then took toothpicks and dabbed each dot already pressed into the tin with a variety of colors. Instant happy!

One last view of what happy looks like!

So go ahead, buy some paint, experiment, have fun!

Just don’t paint your feet!

-Kelli

P.S. As I just took a cleaning break while writing I noticed an overwhelming number of things I did not include! Part two will definitely come one day!

Old Door, New Tricks

Ever had the opportunity to break into your own house? How about with a baseball bat? If not you are missing out on the chance of a lifetime! Long story short, one of the kids locked us out of the house on accident and we had to find a way back in with no keys. After considering our options we decided that the best way would be to break the already cracked front door glass, and what better tool to use than the trusty old Louisville Slugger? After the American pastime action the glass would need to be replaced and “while we were at it” there might as well be some cosmetic improvements too. We are not sure how long this door has been welcoming visitors to the Unconventional Farmhouse all we know is it needed some serious TLC. Loose door handles, sticky locks, and of course the cracked glass where all signs that this entrance had seen better days. There was never a doubt that we would keep the structure itself, with its age and nonconventional size we knew that replacing an exterior door in this house could get pricey, instead we wanted to coax a little more functionality and life out of this solid chunk of history. New glass, fresh paint, and new more modern hardware were all on the list for this old timer.

Broken glass model

The great thing about older doors is that they were put together with wood and nails, that’s it that’s the list. This means taking moldings or glass retaining features off can often be accomplished with a hammer and a nail puller or small crow bar. In our case all that needed to be done to replace the glass was to pull out three strips of molding that made up the glass retaining frame.

Oldie but goodie.

After interior retaining molding was removed.

After removing the pieces needed to replace the glass I moved onto the old hardware. The handles and locks that were on this door were not actually very old, however they were not well installed, and cheaper models, so replacing them would be on the list. removing door hardware is not difficult, it usually involves a few screws and a couple of spins from the electric screw driver, or in my case the manual version.

Going on a screw hunt

…and more…

Steady as she goes

Outdoor side

Out you go

Blank canvas

Once all of the removable parts were…..um…..removed it was time for some elbow grease. I scraped all of the excess paint I could and then went back with sand paper to get as nice of a finish as possible. No secrets here, it’s just hard work.

Smooth

Almost smooth

Once I had the door in the best shape I could it was time to paint.

Before I continue I really need to take the opportunity to stress something that took me a few years to figure out. PRIMER PEOPLE!! Use primer every time!! Primer saves marriages. One coat of primer over paint will cover better than three coats of paint. When you see an add for “one coat paint”, its talking about one coat over primer not over some other random paint. I cannot stress this enough. Even if you are painting over white paint primer makes a huge difference. Paint it designed to be “cleanable”, other stuff it supposed to wipe off, this means other paint as well. Primer is designed to stick to and cover paint and at the same time be painted on.

…and they all lived happily ever after.

So it begins

One coat to rule them all

Once the primer coat was on it was time for paint. Kelli again did her magic and picked a color that was somehow quaint, brave, chic, modern, classic and appealing all at the same time. I love her eye for color and her guts to try anything. She really is good at this stuff. While painting something like a door it is sometimes difficult to keep up with which way the grain of the wood is going. My only answer for this is do the best you can. I had no idea on this door because of the layers and layers of paint over the years.

Here we go

Stay on target!

Two coats did the trick for the door and it was time to move on to the new hardware and reinstall the glass. For the glass I measured the opening and called the local glass cutter. For $25 he cut and delivered the glass the next day. I simply slid it into place and reinstalled the molding to hold the glass.

Hardware was not quite so simple. I actually went through three different sets. The first set of handles and locks were made to fit more modern doors which are much more thick than our decades old model, the second set I picked by myself and it did not meet our designer’s (Kelli’s) criteria, the third set was just right. This was the hardest part of the door refurbish. I have replaced door hardware before but it is always an adventure when trying to retrofit parts to older materials.

More ingredients than pie.

Go to your home!! Are you too good for your home?

My part is done.

Although the door was “done” it was by no means “finished”. It needed a few extra touches to fit in around here. A simple greeting and some texture completed the look.

That’s how you welcome guests!

This was a very rewarding project. I really is fun to come down the stairs in the morning and see that great entryway. Making the effort to completely redo the door also inspired us to put more effort into our front porch area and it has since become our favorite coffee spot in the mornings. All because we got a little frisky with a locked door.

-Aaron

The Rug Experiment

This “experiment” took place this winter during (you guessed it) a snow day. This wasn’t just an “it snowed a little so the kids and I are out of school snow day.” This was a “it snowed a lot and we can’t go anywhere snow day.” Aaron and I had been working on a complete DIY serious budget bedroom redo and the bedroom rug was my next victim, I mean project. The rug had been something I hadn’t liked for a long time because it just lacked personality. In our house things MUST be functional and/or sentimental AND have personality in order to make the cut. If not it is an oversight and will be dealt with one of these days. The rug was a plain khaki color with a green border. It was boring and borderline ugly before, but with the new room it was boring, borderline ugly and it didn’t match. Important side note: I am not a believer that things should “match” and I actually typically like it much, much better when they don’t…but this room has evolved into one with an actual color scheme. I had seen a few pins on pinterest (Hello, my name is Kelli, and I am a pinterest addict) where people have painted rugs. If you do a search for painted rugs you can find a lot of various ideas, tutorials, completed projects. If you’re thinking about trying it I would get out there and explore what other people have pulled off.

I’m really bad to get visually inspired by an idea (hence the 5K pins I have pinned,) but I really like to figure out my own process for things. In other words, I like to take inspiring ideas and then create them without following directions. Ironic now that I am writing directions for this idea… Aaron is the opposite, he wants to know how seven different people completed the same project and pick the ideas that worked the best. That’s why the projects we tackle seem to be so vastly different and why when we collaborate on a project we have much debate first. (Not debate, constructive dialogue. -Aaron) Anyway, I decided I wanted to paint this rug and I was stuck at home so I decided to do it with materials and supplies I just had on hand. I wanted to pull in a variety of colors to our bedroom through the rug so I thought this would work well. I decided on a pattern that I saw on pinterest. I didn’t follow the link at the time or even before I wrote the first draft of this post, but when going back to dig in order to give proper credit I did check out the blog it was linked from and the tutorial that the blogger wrote about her project. It’s a very good tutorial. I would encourage you to check it out at:

The Little Black Door Painted Blog Home Page
The Little Black Door Rug Tutorial

And then I asked Aaron (the more meticulous of our duo) to tape out the pattern for me. Because this was a rug and I didn’t have to worry about it pealing any paint when I removed it I chose to use duct tape to tape it out. I had it on hand already, and I knew it would have a lot more “stick-to-iv-ness” than painters tape. I really didn’t want my stripes to bleed through so I chose to use this heavy duty serious business option. I would never use duct tape on a wall or anything with a finish- or even on a rug in an area that had already been painted.

Aaron doing the part I don’t have the patience for. (We make a great team!)

First he taped the outside edge. Next he went corner to corner to make a big X. Then he measured out each row from there.

Next I got out my paint supply which was comprised of a bunch of acrlyic paints in a variety of brands. I went for a mixed-matched organic design so the colors jumped around rather than following a specific pattern. What color to put next decisions were made visually as I painted and then stepped back and kept refocusing on the rug for balance. I find it very helpful to take some photos as I go, walk away a minute and then look at the photo. For some reason things jump out at me in a photograph that I don’t notice when it’s right in front of me. I do this with my paintings A LOT. I also began running out of some colors (and I can’t go anywhere- I’m snowed in) so this made some decisions for me. I mixed some colors myself because I wanted to give a variety of shades to the colors. I went for a light application rather than dousing the rug in paint so it would be soft on my feet later and I also used a large stencil brush to apply it so I could limit any chance of the paint bleeding under my taped lines.

I went very light with my coat. I only did one coat and didn’t use any special fabric paint or sealer.

After a few hours I pulled up the tape and then let the rug dry the rest of the way.

Almost dry!

Finally dry! (Why is waiting on things to dry so hard for me?)

I really, really liked my finished product, but after laying it in our bedroom Aaron and I agreed that it just didn’t look right in there. I was trying to bring in more colors into the room, but sticking to the pallet was creating a much more “relaxing” vibe to the room that I wanted to keep going. So…after a house walk through I found a new home for the rug in our dining room. That room needed a rug and it needed a punch of color.

It looks great in the dining room!

Incidently, our bedroom is still without a rug…it’s on the “to do” list in order to complete the bedroom. I’ve been on the lookout for an inexpensive rug that I can paint the way I want it or a rug that already would be a perfect fit for that space. I see myself painting many more rugs in the future in order to get a one-of-a-kind-just-what-I-have-in-my-brain finished product. But, I’m not in a hurry…when the idea hits me I will know.

-Kelli

A Tree Mural Anyone Can Do

Okay, maybe not anyone, but many people could pull off this tree mural. (I would even go as far to say that many more people could do this than believe they can.) It’s a very simple design and a very easy process.

This project is the direct result of too many snow days in a row. No joke! I am a second grade teacher and this winter was especially rough so that equaled lots of snow days. (Nine to be exact.) I also happened to be the happy recipient of a few bottles of bubble bath in my stocking from Santa. (I know it doesn’t seem related, but stick with me a moment…I will get where I’m going eventually.) What else does a teacher with an unexpected day off (or nine) do on a snow day when she’s got three bottles of bubble bath? Take a bath of course! (Or a whole bunch of baths!) Anyway, when soaking in our tub you have a lovely view of our bathroom that we remodeled a good while back. (I will dig out before and after photos of our bathroom remodel for you guys to see one of these days.) The bathroom is lovely, but the blank wall that I had the best view of from the tub bothered me. And it kept bothering more and more the more I took my snow day baths. As the snow days mounted so did my annoyance with and pondering over this blank wall.

Wouldn’t this blank wall bother you too if you stared at it long enough?

I had decided to paint a tree on this wall years ago when Aaron and I painted a mural for a friend’s nursery of gigantic dandelions in all white. But then I forgot. That same friend had a baby recently and when decorating her nursery this time she did a gigantic vinal wall sticker of a white tree on the wall. I’ve seen lots of murals between now and then, but something about this tree jolted my memory. Maybe because it was in the same house??? This reminded me of my long forgotten idea. It also solved that blank wall problem! So…on the next available snow day I got to work on bringing the tree idea to life.

This mural is super easy because it is all one color. I actually looked at a tree outside and sketched it so the lines would mimic an actual tree. Then I took white paint and began sketching it out on the wall. If you go small and light and gradually make it bigger you can easily do a simple design like a tree. You have to treat the paint like it is a pencil that you are lightly drawing with.

If you look close enough you can see the tree sketched out.

I just worked gradually by slowly adding more paint and thickening up my design. I also used a small brush to carefully go over my edges.

Gradually thicken your paint and widen your tree.

I highly recommend Pandora on the ipad while you work. (Like pictured here!)

It does take a few coats to cover a dark wall with white paint, but don’t let that make you feel pressure to use more paint. Slow and steady works best!

Almost there! Just needing some more coats.

I have painted lots of trees over the years so a few tips for newbies are to remember the following: 1.) The largest part of a tree is its’ trunk. Branches should generally get smaller as you move up and out. 2.) Make it organic and uneven- that’s how trees appear in real life. 3.) Go outside and look closely (like I tell my second graders use your “scientist” eyes- pretend you’re looking at a tree for the first time and soak in every little detail) and sketch what you see. 4.) Do a practice painting on wood or canvas or even paper. 5.) If you make a mistake whipe it off with a wet cloth while it’s still wet. 6.) Don’t be afraid you can always paint over it if you don’t like it.

Now that’s a much better tub view!

Good luck and happy painting!

-Kelli

Ahhh That Painted Rug

When I have mentioned to people that Aaron and I are beginning this blog there are some projects from our archive that we get requests to post about…and this is one. Fear not because we have many new projects in the works, but we will also be creating posts about some of our past hits (and misses) from all our diy projects over the years.

Most of my projects I think about a lot before I begin, but this is not one of them.

Here’s where this one begins…Aaron and I had purchased a huge rug when we first moved into this house in 2002. (Here’s an old photo of Ella Rose sitting on it opening birthday presents a few years back.)

The living room of our old farm house had a floor in such bad shape that we deemed it unable to be sanded and refinished. So, I did what I always do when something is ugly, I painted it. I striped it two shades of green then coated it with polyurethane and we called it finished. However, this was our living room and we had a baby on the way so we needed to soften the room up. On top of the painted floor we laid our new gigantic rug and it was perfect for a long while. (Nice and soft for sweet babies to crawl around on and for parents who spent a lot of time in the floor. Nice and dark to offer much forgiveness- forgiveness from what I don’t want to think about.) However, after years of use by adults, kiddos and pets (yuck), we were over the rug. We had been looking around all over the place for years and couldn’t find a rug we liked enough to pluck down the kinda money you have to give for a rug that size. One day all four of us were sitting in the living room talking about how worn out the rug was and what we should do about it. I hastily made a comment that we should toss it and just paint a rug on the floor. Then my unsuspecting mind got into the shower. When I returned to the living room everyone was sitting right where I had left them acting not suspicious at all and the rug was gone! Aaron, Greer, and Ella Rose (all 40 pounds of her which I’m pretty sure is more than the rug weighed) had moved furniture and hauled it outside while I was showering! Well, I wanted to paint a rug, but I didn’t mean that week!

As you can imagine when a rug has been in place on a painted floor for over a decade the floor below the rug looks different than the floor next to the rug. That meant waiting and planning wasn’t an option.

So the next day I visited Lowe’s and picked out a base color of paint in a grade that can withstand wear and tear. (I asked the guy at the counter about that and he recommended Latex Satin Porch and Floor Grade.) That color was Tidal Pool and it is one of my favorite colors!

Then I pulled out stencils and paint from my painting stash and got to work. I used a Martha Stewart stencil from Michael’s to do the border. (My handiwork is not perfect- far from it as this was one of my very first experiences with a stencil! But, luckily for me the floor is forgiving.) Then I used some other circular stencils from the same collection to do the inside in a variety of colors.

One of my favorite kinds of paint to use for all sorts of projects is the Valspar color sample paints from Lowe’s. They always have awesome colors that are very cheap in small containers and I paint with them A LOT. I used a stencil brush to lightly paint inside the stencils and believe me if you use the right kind of brush and don’t over douse it with paint then a stencil is easy. The stencil brushes I like best are also from the Martha Stewart line sold at Michael’s on the same isle as the stencils.

After the rug had dried out a day I sanded it off in parts to give it that rustic and weathered feel. Then I swept that off and mopped it and thankfully Aaron sealed it with a good polyurethane wood floor sealer because my back was sore!

All in all this project only took us about four hours of labor. Waiting on it to dry and getting around it to get to our main bathroom was the hardest part! It’s holding up to wear and tear quite well and is definitely something different for our unique home! One day when we get tired of it we can either buy a rug to go on top of it, paint over it, sand it off and start again, or replace the floors (which was on the original to-do list, however now that they are full of personality that may never happen.)
Everyone feels cozy and right at home with our new floor! (Even Clara the spoiled rotten cat!)

I have plans to paint our front porch floor one day when (or if) it ever warms up around here. The wheels are already turning for that project!
-Kelli