Side Crafts

October is normally a busy month for me. In between making our families Halloween costumes, and with my masks on Etsy, it ends up not giving me much free time. 

Not that I am not getting things accomplished. I am. I just have to do small projects so that I don't get overwhelmed. So here is a run down of some recent ones....

The entry chandelier.

Oye. You gold, jeweled sparkly goddess you.

I really wanted to throw this in the trash. I really really did. Then I started to shop around for light fixtures I liked. Did you know that they are expensive? Like...really expensive. Since our life consists of living within a budget, I was faced with the dilemma: new light or tile for the bathroom. I chose tile.

I figured that if for some reason my spray painting the light fixture ended up in a epic fail that I could always buy a new one.

There are some good things to be said of having nothing to lose.

Luckily, I like it. It is odd, sure. Maybe that is why I think it is fun.

I painted it a light blue so that it wouldn't look like it took up a lot of space visually. An added bonus? It is wicked bright if you have it all the way on. Blake said, while hanging it, that whoever made it was the devil, so I am sure it will be there for a while.

There have been many many times that I sent a picture, of something that I want to buy, to Blake and he is normally not convinced.

I found this big amber glass hanging light months ago at an estate sale. They wanted $3. I paid them and brought the light home. Blake thought I was nuts.

I had this crazy idea to paint it. I figured if it didn't work then it wasn't that big of a deal.

I bought some "glass paint" at Micheals and got to work. I started painting lines thinking that it would level out and make a smooth surface. It didn't. It looked like a toddler's craft project.

Since it was going to show the pattern no matter what I did I figured I should do an intentional pattern. I did a space of circles and then let it dry. There was no point in doing the whole light if it was just going to end up in the trash. Much to my excitement it looked cool. The light has been done for months and has just sat in the corner. As I was sitting at our table this weekend I noticed a hook that we had left in the ceiling, and decided right then and there to hang my light.

It looks more blue then it appears in the pictures.

We lovingly refer to it as the "Starry Night Light." 

The kids love to turn it on. For now it is staying, although down the road it might find a home in a different room.

While we are on the subject of things Blake thought I was crazy to buy, let's discuss this desk.

I sent Blake this picture in a text from the DI. His response:

"That's interesting."

When he says interesting he means weird.

I had a vision. The girls needed a desk for their room, or some kind of storage, and for the price I just couldn't resist. 

When I told Blake that I wanted to paint it a bright salmon color I am fairly certain he probably responded with "whatever you want."

I sanded the desk down and began to paint, then sand, then paint, then do a wax top coat.

The finish is smooth and a lovely bright salmon color.

Just right for a little girls room.

It is not very often, but every now and again I will send Blake a picture and he will flat out tell me no. Most of the time the things that I find are cheap and sometimes he can't see past the ugly to see how cool something could be. Most of the time he just needs a little convincing.

I saw these warn and weathered stools at an estate sale. They wanted $6 for both of them. I asked Blake what he thought and he said he thought we could find something better. I agreed and we left.

Then I kept thinking about the stools...so we drove back later that day and the stools were still there. Serendipity.

A little scrubbing, reupholstering and new feet and they were as good as new.

When I sent this picture to Blake

 and asked him to call because I wanted these chairs he said "are you kidding?"

As a matter of fact, I was not.

I am sure it is not hard to guess that I painted them. I paint a lot of things. Sometimes when we go to a normal store Laney will ask why I am not buying something and I will tell her "It's the wrong color" or "I don't like...". Laney's response? You can paint it. 

True. I could paint it. 

Problem is...I only like to paint cheap stuff. Less risk.

Since I have never painted vinyl chairs before this was new for me.

I put a garbage bag around the base so that it would protect the legs then I gave the whole chair a two coats of white spray paint.

I used Rust-oleum's 2x paint plus primer that is supposed to work on plastic.

I let the chair sit for 2 days, to dry, before I started taping off my lines.

I really wanted to do horizontal lines.

For some reason no matter how hard I tried I could not get the tape to stick or lay flat. I taped the chair a good 3 times before I just gave up.

Vertical lines it was.

I used a piece of tape to make sure that the spacing was correct.

Around the chair there is trim. That, coupled with the fact that the back lines didn't line up perfectly, I decided to make all of the border grey. So I trimmed the tape accordingly.

I sprayed one more coat of white paint over the entire chair to seal the tape lines. Then I applied two coats of charcoal grey spray paint.

Then it was time to remove the tape.

Overall it turned out pretty good. There are a couple of spots that need to be touched up where the paint leaked under the tape but besides that, I love it.

There is a definite difference between the original and the new painted chair. Now, it would be helpful if the weather would cooperate so I could do the other chair.

Not all things that I paint turn out the way that I want them to.

Our back door in our kitchen was a plain wood door.

I thought it would be fun to make it the same color as our front door.

As soon as I put one coat on the door I knew it was a bad decision. The blue door at the front of the house is cute and friendly. The blue door in the kitchen is bright and obnoxious. Dare I say...dirty looking. Can something look bright and dirty at the same time? Because it did.

White it was. After I painted the door, I sighed. Sometimes white is good. In this case...way better.

We have been on the look out for a bed frame for our downstairs bedroom. When I stumbled across this 100% brass bed I was smitten. It had a lovely patina on it and it was oh so heavy. Problem? It was missing it's side rails. No biggie, I thought. Um...I was wrong. I looked up side rails that would work for this bed and...to say they are expensive would be an understatement...

So plan B it was. KSL has become my new best friend.

I found two matching headboards with frames for $30.

I used some turquoise spray paint that I had on hand, and one afternoon later we had beds for our guest room.

Since this has turned into a really long post...this is the last thing...

This weekend I made pillow covers.

14 to be exact.

Some ended up in mine and Blake's room. Some were for the spare room and some were for the family room.

It is amazing that having pillows makes the room seem a little more finished. Plus, I like to aid in my kids fort building...

The rest of October's postings may be a little sparse. However, since we are hoping to finish the downstairs bathroom by Thanksgiving there should be an abundance coming in November.