The Great Compromise

When my husband Dennis and I remodeled our bathroom I wanted to put in a nice mirror over the sink, I also wanted to put in a vessel sink but that didn't happen. Anyway, Dennis wanted a medicine cabinet which was practical but to me a medicine cabinet falls into the same category as a big, overstuffed, Lazyboy recliner. Yuck! We had a design dilemma. I eventually gave into my husband and bought a tri-mirrored medicine cabinet and I had our carpenters, yes we actually had someone do the bathroom this time, install the cabinet inside the wall so the mirrors were somewhat flush. I then purchased some of that cheap plastic molding and had them build a frame on the wall around the cabinet mirrors. I measured out about 1-1/2 inches from the frame and taped it off and using a sponge type stencil tool sponge painted black and copper paint on the frame and out to the tape. When I removed the tape from the wall VOILA!!  Dennis had his medicine cabinet and I had a fairly nice looking framed mirror.

Ikea desk...tweaked with a touch of flair

The top of the desk 

This desk was originally white..we got it at IKEA, my 14 year old daughter decided that she wanted something less kiddish...so my mom, with her brilliant vision for design came up with this design.  My daughter put 2 coats of primer on, then put 2 coats of black paint.  After the paint dried, my mom helped her measure out the geographic print and using craft paint and stencil brushes...this is what was created!  

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Our blog

I wanted to formally introduce myself and my family. My mother Kathleen Hansen, my sister Jessica Welch and myself Jamie Cottle are the authors of this blog. I set it up and have to admit I have much to learn about the art of blogging. I have tabs with no content, although I was very excited when I figured out how to put the tabs onto the blog...but I still don't know how to add content to them. So...the content is all on the main page. I'm trying to learn how to set this blog up so it is user friendly and because I know so little about this art it is taking a little bit, I do apologize for this. I have a feisty almost 2 year old who takes much of my time :) and although I love it that way, it does take time away from my research on blog setup. As I stated in the intro my family has always been very thrifty and reused what we had, but made it beautiful and our style! My mother is the brain behind all of this refinishing, she gave my sister and I the love of reusing what we have but at the same time not sacrificing style and beauty. There will be much more to come! My mother and I are in Northern Minnesota so the faux painting will have to wait for warmer weather since I will have to be done outside. We welcome any comments, tips, or requests on what you would like to see done!

Homemade night light

A vase from the craft store or Walmart, a small string of Christmas lights, and iridescent rocks that can also be bought at any craft store or Walmart

Easy fixes and making old things your style

This is a close up of the bookshelf I did for my girls.  There is a pervious pictures but these were a little better.  After I sanded, primed and then painted the white on "Pot of Cream", I then taped off parts I painted dark pink "Silk Ribbon".  Once that dried I taped off parts I wanted green "Grass Cloth" and same with brown and light pink "Poetic Princess".  I then used the flower stencil.  I left it in the garage the whole night to air out the smell of paint as best I could. 

This shelf is the light pink and another shelf as well

I received this old window years ago.  I know it is really popular now to use them.  I painted it black, painted on crackle paint and then painted on the white paint.  Crackle paint makes the upper coat of paint to crack allowing the paint underneath to show through, also giving it an older look.  I used Glue Dots to hold the pictures in place.  You can find them at any craft store, usually by the scrapbook section.

I found this mirror at our local Goodwill for $10.00.  First, I cleaned the mirrow and frame with a damp cloth and let it dry.  I took the mirror out and sprayed chalk spray on it.  I then spray painted the frame yellow.  After that dried I bought some fun scrapbook paper (black and white flowered pattern), measured and cut it to fit on the inner part of the frame.  I used Mod Podge to attach the paper.  Once dried I used Glue Dots to put on some flowers I found in the house.  I will be using this as a quote board. 

Final product!!

I bought these suitcases off of Craigslist for $25.00.  They needed a little help so I painted one Paprika, Purple and Yellow. 

The bottom one is actually a handmade tool case.  It was a ok shape but needed some serious cleaning.  The second to the top is tourquise.

With shipping lables and chalk board spray you can put fun labels on almost anything.

I found these jars at Michaels for .49 cents.  For the Activity Day Girls we talked about the importance of working, tithing, and savings.  We put the labels on the jars along with a piece of colored chalk in each one.  I gave one to each of my children for their tithing.

Another fun idea is using them for spice jars

Also for my sons toys

I always have a lot of papers that I like on the fridge, so I went to Target and bought two clipboards for $1.00 and then some magnetic sheets (which has two in each package).  I just stuck the sheets on the back of the clipboards and up on the fridge. 

End result

Better overall picture of the girls bookcase.

Faux tile backsplash with painted wildflowers

Making shelves fun

I found this shelf at Michaels for $15.00, but because of their coupons everyweek I only spent $9.00.  I painted it cream and antiqued it by painting stain on it, just alittle at a time, and then wiping it off.

Just an old metal framed grate

I received this iron framed grate from a friend.  It is supposed to be used for firewood, but instead I thought it would make a fun chair for my girls

I spray painted it with silver paint that can be used on metals for inside.

I found a pillow in the house we don't use, bought $4.00 worth if fabric and sewed it over the pillow.

Matching bookshelf for girls

Sanded and primed

Taping off and painting

Added the pink paint

The rest of the paint has been aded and the flowers stencilced

faux tile, faux granite and more creative decorating ideas

this is not tile it is faux tile i.e painted to look like tile.  Soon we will be doing this on a piece of furniture and will video tape it and explain step by step how this is created

foe granite, believe it or not this is not granite it is paint, and not counter-top paint either, this was done long before it was popular to paint your counters.  It is done with paint and lots of polyurethane

faux granite on top of the side table

faux tile on the island in kitchen

an old window frame painted and then stenciled in with the words live, laugh, love and used as a picture frame.  This was my sisters brilliant idea

on the left is a painted frame for the hanging decoration, the curtains were made by using plant hangers on the ends, a curtain rod in the middle and the fabric was measured out and sewed at home to fit

Dressers, tables and many more

My brother in law built this solid oak dresser and we were lucky enough not inheret it.  So I sanded it, put primer on it and then used a quart of Behr for the white, or "Pot of Cream" was the technical name, and purchased the 8oz Behr paints, green, brown, light and dark pink.  I then purchased wood handles and used the green paint.  I found some flowers stensils and created some of my own.  I used spray polyurathane but it turned the white paint yellow so it is just flat paint with no protection.  I recommend getting Behr Ultra where you can get primer,paint and polyurathane in one.

This is a solid Pine dresser, which I had growing up.  I sanded it, painted it green and antiqued it.  The paint was Ultra Behr so paint, primer and polyurathane was all included.  I let it dry for 24 hours then antiqued it by using a stain on the edges and then wiped it with a rag.  The handles are also wood and were painted black years ago...they are still good:)

This is the only before picture I could find of this table so ignore the legos.  This table took me 2 days to sand because of all the coats of paint.  Finally, when I was able to get most of the paint off, paint it tourquise and antique it throughout the whole piece.

This is an old window I received from my brother in law and had him put mirror in.  I painted this the same as the table above.

I found this coffee table at a local thrift store for $20, sanded it and stained it.  I love the look of this table and thought it was a great find.

This desk was give to us by my sister in law.  I left the top brown, as you can see in the bottom picture, but the rest of it I painted cream and antiqued it with stain.  These are the original gold handles but I thought they gave the desk a lot of character.

This is one of my favorite pieces.  I went behind a local grocery store, ususally where they get the produce, and asked if they had any left over wood pallets.  They had some they could not use anymore so I grabbed this one.  We took off as many extra boards in the back that we could so it wasn't so heavy, then painted it, and stenciled "Wall o' Art".  I then staped twine on it and used clothes pins to hang my children's art.  I didn't want to put huge wholes in the wall, so I bought two 5lb hooks that don't make any marks on the wall.  I use them all the time.