PAINT Archives -

Pottery Barn Kitchen Table Knockoff

March 14, 2019

I was this close to selling my kitchen table on Craig’s List when I saw this table on Pottery Barn’s website. In just a few minutes of side glances over my shoulder and back at the screen I knew I had a PB kitchen table knockoff in the works!

I looked at this table, zoomed in on the base and looked over to my World Market clearance table. This white PB kitchen table turned out to be the inspiration for my Pottery Barn kitchen table knockoff I finished last summer.

My veneer-ish, shiny black table was mix-matched with the shades of blue. I was so close to trading it in for something new.

I painted my round table with this Benjamin Moore color. It is Mascarpone and it is a favorite white at my house. The hardest part about this creamy white is spelling it correctly. I have to Google it everytime.

And, this Pottery Barn kitchen table knockoff is one of my favorites! My kitchen table went from a shiny, veneer-ish finish to a creamy color to brighten the space.

kitchen-table-pottery-barn-knockoff-feature

I think this table is the longest I have kept a piece of furniture free from new paint. Yes, I do touch it up, but I have not wavered in my decision to paint it a different color. I love it!

Garage Entry Door Makeover in an Hour

November 20, 2018

It’s the week of Thanksgiving. I should focus on mashed potatoes, fresh linens and a vacuum to reign in the dog hair. But that’s not what happened yesterday. In between a quick inventory of the Christmas trees and hauling out bags of clothes to drop off at Goodwill, I painted the garage entry door. That’s right in less than an hour I had a garage entry door makeover. Welcome home…

You know when you reach that point where you have to drop everything because something bugs you so much? Like a mosquito bite; that you can’t reach to scratch? Well, my garage entry door was that mosquito; except it was door and days before Thanksgiving.

This was the door a few years ago before it got a quick update with a coat of black paint and new hardware. But over the years the door got banged up with tennis bags and a 93 pound Bernese Mountain dog covered in mud.

She may also be the reason the updated door hardware tilts.

I switched things up with a couple quick coats of Chelsea Gray. The same paint I used to paint our living room hutch. There is an Instagram account just for Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Gray.

In our house, the entry door from the garage is the most popular door. The only one who visits the front door is the UPS or Fed Ex guy. So it only made sense that my family members have a door with fresh paint.

In less than an hour, I had a garage entry door makeover. And I added a little something to welcome my family home.

It turns out the crazy, packed schedule is the deadline I needed to haul out a paint tarp. The time spent painted rolled by quickly with thoughts of all three of my children home for a few days. #fullhouse

I plan to make these as these breakfast rolls in the days before Thanksgiving.

Hello there!

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Never Underestimate the Power of Paint

November 7, 2018

“Do you think we can find paint ideas on Pinterest?” My husband asked this question while driving home with three salvaged doors hanging out the back of my car. The fact that my husband knew how to use Pinterest in a sentence made me so happy. His question told me he listens to some of my crazy house ideas. And, my crazy house ideas and my time are not wasted on Pinterest in the early hours of most Saturday mornings. Never underestimate the power of paint.

As a Realtor, I remind sellers paint has all the power in a room. A paint color has the power to turn off or engage potential buyers when they walk thru the front door.

The same can be said for your friends and family members. Don’t we all have a relative who has too much tchochtke and a crocheted toilet seat cover?

For older homes, buyers plan to paint and carpet.

But, sometimes paint can overpower the “bones” of the home. The paint hides the details.

I speak from personal experience. Heavy, dated walls make rooms feel dark and clutter.

Paint has the power to see the small details.

The details that are conversation starters with friends, family or homebuyers.

Paint has the power to create a mood or invoke a feeling.

Dated paint colors are a distraction. At some point, most of us apologize for one of our rooms:

“Yes we know the color we picked out nine years ago is so 2009. I picked that paint color. I own it.

Thankfully the paint is long gone and so is that wall between the kitchen and dining room.

Never underestimate the power of paint. And, maybe a few other updates.

Painted Glass Accessories are a Game Changer

October 26, 2018

I love paint the way Oprah loves bread! Paint is multi-purpose like bread, but without the carbs! So imagine how much more I loved paint when I discovered we can paint glass. Painted glass is a game changer for craft enthusiasts.

I use the word accessories loosely because paint is a game changer for jelly jars and Costco size pickle jars. I saved a few glass pint size glass milk jars from Sprouts. White spray painted bottles against a dark backdrop. The glass bottles look so regal!

Paint is a universal solution and likely a form of therapy for many.

At my house, the paint was a game changer for the 12 + glass pumpkins stored in a closet 10.5 months out of every year.

I was this ———- close to donating my assortment of small and large size glass pumpkins.

I bought them when a national candle chain went out of business years ago.

Every year, I hauled out the glass pumpkins, but the glass was hard to showcase? It’s just so clear. Does that make sense?

It might explain why the candle store went out of business.

They even have a place for a votive candle in the back.

Because I had over a dozen glass pumpkins I was willing to sacrifice one for the purpose of the brush vs. spray paint application.

I preferred the ease of spray paint. But, the paintbrush strokes accented the grooves on the pumpkins.

Just make sure you either prime the glass or use a primer + paint.

The painted glass makes for unlimited colors. options and techniques.

With the white paint, the pumpkins popped against my Hale Navy dining room wall.

Stay tuned for the latest living room hutch. That hutch has had its share of makeovers this year.

I live vicariously thru my hutch.

Now is the time to run thru your house and pull out the glass jars you saved for some future project and have a little fun with paint.

I would love to see an assortment of painted, upcycled glass jars. How cool would that look against a dark background?

What do you think?

How to Update an Kitchen Island in Less than an Hour

October 10, 2018

My kitchen is on the waitlist for a renovation. Every month she moves up the waitlist patiently waiting to get her measurements taken, her drawers evaluated and her cooktop lifted and replaced. But, until the kitchen gets off the waitlist, I found a way to update a kitchen island in less than an hour.

This update made me so happy! It took less than hour and gave my kitchen island a mini makeover. I tend to get impatient waiting for a project. Like when we decided to take on this project and remove the wall into the dining room.

When my general contractor (husband) dragged his feet, I removed all the dishes and the microwave in the upper cabinets to make my point. The wall came down that weekend.

This kitchen island update was an example of patience; my patience. My initial plan to update the kitchen island was to paint the kitchen cabinets pumpkin orange for the season (just the lower cabinets) and string Christmas lights under the cabinets for under counter lighting. #wink #snarcasm

That might get the kitchen to the top of the waitlist.

My family knows I might just do it to make sure the kitchen moves up the waitlist a little faster. I may or may not have already scheduled the electrician to proactively move the gas line. We don’t need a cooktop during the holidays?

A big part of the kitchen renovation includes the removal and replacement of a larger kitchen island. So my decision to paint the island was a low risk and low effort to just give her a little tweak.

If you blinked you might have missed the subtle update. The boys in my house missed it… for weeks.

What do you think? Do you have ideas for inexpensive updates?

Revere Pewter Paint in Family Room

August 22, 2018

Do you know that feeling when you see a photo of yourself and your like, “That is not what I look like?” Well, that’s the same reaction I upload home photos. “My family room doesn’t look like that? Oh yes, it does, Laura. Oh, yes it does. I love the Revere Pewter family room walls, but these photos show a little more blah than boom. And, it wasn’t until I took these photos that I realized I have some family room goals this fall. My Revere Pewter family room walls need a little more color! I was on the right track when I added these pillows.

The basket with the pillows is one of the favorite things in the room. I love the contrast between the wicker and the blue & white pillows. See that tennis ball in the background? I have a photo collage of random tennis balls. When you are a tennis family you find tennis balls just about everywhere. Last spring I painted the niches and nooks Hale Navy and love the contrast. You can see the family room before last year here. Warning: there was a lot of brown in the before photos.

This is one of my favorite signs. Very soon, the green will be replaced with orange! When do you start decoring for fall? I hold out until the first day of September. Apparently, Starbucks can’t wait that long.

Here is a glimpse of our new windows from earlier this summer. The new windows transformed the room. We replaced all the windows with clear glass (no grids). I shared the details of this copycat lamp here and I can’t wait for the lamp to come back in stock to order a second one.

And, then I captured this wall and I was like, “Oh, that’s rough Laura.” Now what?

Our dream, okay my dream, is to knock down that wall and add a dual-sided fireplace (the living room is on the opposite side). But until then I need something on those walls. Taking suggestions! And, look I spy another tennis ball.

My Favorite Creamy White Paint

July 11, 2018

HI everyone! What’s your favorite color? Right now I am in love with shades of navy for interior paint and decor. For clothing, I opt for shades of gray, navy and black. The thought of adding a pop of color to my wardrobe usually results in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. #goals

So it’s no surprise I have a favorite creamy white paint. It’s my go-to for little projects and big ceilings. I love it so much I negotiated with my painter to repaint our family room ceiling. By the end of the first day, he agreed with my choice and he picked up the cost of my favorite creamy white paint and I paid for the labor!

I keep a can of this creamy white paint in my hall closet for quick paint projects or touchups.

I loved the transformation of my yard sale milk can find a few years ago. Everything pops against a shade of creamy white.

Who knew you can paint over glass! This discovery changed how I looked at glass. No surprise here I used my go-to creamy white paint.

There’s a little bit of creamy white in every room and many accessories. Like it’s name suggests it’s creamy like frosting.

Check out this painted pumpkin compared to the real white pumpkins I found in our front yard (after our Aussie played soccer with a pumpkin the summer before the pop-up pumpkin patch.

My favorite creamy white paint is Benjamin Moore’s Mascarpone (AF-20).

Favorite-creamy-white-mascarpone-not-a-trophy-wife-blog

Source: Benjamin Moore

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Weekending and National Pink Day

June 23, 2018

HI Everyone! For this week’s Weekending I wanted to celebrate National Pink Day. Who knew it was National Pink Day? I discovered National Pink Day when Krylon reached out to me to share a fun DIY project that kids and grownups will love! I have shared my love of pink before on the blog right here with my story of Strawberry Shortcake bedspreads and paint.

Krylon is celebrating National Pink Day with two favorite shades of pink spray paint in Gloss Mambo and Gloss Rich Plum.

With NEW Krylon COLORmaxx spray paint in Gloss Mambo Pink and Gloss Rich Plum, you can easily transform an old red wagon into a style machine or accessory.

Source: Krylon

Rachel Skafidas, Senior Color Designer for the Krylon brand shares her take on the pink trend:

“Millennial Pink is still around but it is evolving in hue. For décor and other spray paint projects, we are seeing it move towards more of a berry, like Gloss Mambo Pink; warm and vivid with a slight touch of a blue undertone show with gloss or sparkle.”

Source: Krylon

Krylon® COLORmaxx™ Spray Paint launched in Lowe’s®– provides brilliant, on-trend colors in a wide variety of sheens, rust protection and fade resistance for indoor and outdoor projects, and the best part? It dries in 10 minutes or less.

10 Minutes!

So in honor of National Pink Day Krylon shared this super cute fun project that involves a favorite childhood toy transformed into a pink wagon! What do you have sitting around the house that is waiting for it’s Pretty in Pink Paint Party?

National Pink Day Project Idea

The Painted Hutch

June 14, 2018

Hi everyone! This post is about the ongoing transformation of my living room hutch. Collective eye roll from my family. Ironically, I don’t think anyone in my family noticed the living room hutch. I am on hutch 3.0 at our house. Here is what Hutch 2.0 looked like after I painted the exterior of the hutch but before I painted the interior hutch 3.0. Stay with me! It’s a fun sneak peek of the painted Hutch 3.0.

How to Paint a Stained Front Door

May 23, 2018

Hi Everyone! The decision to paint the stained front door was a long one. I know… hashtag blogger problems. But, if the front door doesn’t look good it’s a thankless sweat equity project to return it to a stained finish. And, my family has a theory that every time I paint something it ends up in the Goodwill corner. But you know how it is with projects; the more you focus on what could be…

How to Paint a Stained Front Door

What’s on your list of to-do projects this month? At our house, the decision to paint the stained front door was a long, agonizing decision. I know… hashtag blogger problems. The difficult decision was based on the fact that if the change from a stained paint door to a one with paint was one that was not easily undone.

I made the decision not to remove the door from the door’s hinges. With my erratic schedule, it did not make sense to remove the door from the hinges leaving the entrance open to bugs and other Colorado critters.

So I started in steps and painted the sidelights first. At this point, I could see the transformation from the oak stain to a bright white to match the adjacent closet door.

New hardware to match the closet door hardware finished the look. If you take a close look at the front door you can see we missed a few hinges when we updated the door hardware around the house. Painting the interior side of the stained front door made the space brighter.

Look at the before and after side by side photo. It made a huge difference in a matter of hours and a 1/2 gallon of paint.

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Paint the Hutch AGAIN

May 9, 2018

My family knows me well. Apparently, after I paint a piece of furniture; its only a matter of time before it ends up in the annual community garage sale. So when I painted the interior side of the living room hutch the bets were placed. I was in love the finished look of the previous all black hutch to a new white interior. It was all good in the hood. It was an easy paint transformation and I was content until …

How to Stain Small Objects in Minutes

February 26, 2018

I love a good hack! My family would say I hack every time I cook or follow a recipe. It’s true; following a recipe is so conventional. I created this hack on the fly when I had to stain multiple wood embroidery hoops for this summer blogger challenge . I had a paintbrush, deadline and I needed to find a way how to stain small objects.

There was more stain on my hands (manicure) than on the embroidery hoops. It was more labor intensive than I anticipated; technically there are four sides to each hoop and the area around the hardware.

It was a messy process and each hoop required additional coats and touchups.

Staining each embroidery hoop one by one was slower than waiting for a load of towels to dry… while standing in front of the dryer. It was a brain drain technique.

This hack shows how to stain lots of objects in minutes.

I loved this hack when I painted dozens of cabinet pulls without incident, meaning they did not wobble and smudge the freshly spray painted cabinet pulls.

I grabbed an aluminum tray from the ~~upcycle bin~~ the stack of take-out trays and I poured just enough of the stain into the shallow aluminum tray. And, then I dunked the embroidery hoops into the tray; like an Oreo cookie into a glass of milk.

I completed this stain hack with a sturdy piece of cardboard under the aluminum tray.

Instant stain…on all sides of the hoop ( interior, exterior, and the narrow sides). The stain reached the nooks and crannies around the hoop’s hardware where the paintbrush just missed those same nooks.

It was a great way to stain small objects.

How to Stain Small Objects

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College Age Bedroom Makeover

February 12, 2018

We dropped our son off at college in the fall. Actually, we stuffed his suitcases to capacity and headed to the airport. I preordered his Bed Bath & Beyond dorm essentials to be picked up in Minneapolis. Erich refused to check his tennis bag because he said his racquets cost more than anything he packed in the suitcases. Smart kid… I mean young man.

This mama remembers his first tennis tournament…

Returning home to his bedroom was about 90 seconds of twisted knots of emotions.His room once housed bunk beds for him and his younger brother. It housed a rock climbing bed inherited from a dear friend. This same room is where he outed the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, Easter bunny and the Leprechaun from his younger brother’s imagination and belief system. We can laugh about that outing now.

But on the evening of our return, as I surveyed the hangers on the floor and the button down shirts that didn’t make the final college wardrobe selection, my eyes began to dart around the room.

My husband knows this look- it terrifies him.

But on this day, knowing I was on an emotional cliff, he kept quiet. Smart man. Deep breaths. And I knew the best way for me to handle this milestone was to give his childhood room a college-age bedroom makeover.

And, because his younger brother has almost an identical room, separated by a Jack & Jill bathroom (or a Jack & Jack bath), I completed two bedroom makeovers.

College Age Bedroom Before

Lefty’s Room:

This was a photo I took before listing his bed on Craig’s List. I sold his captain’s bed in less than an hour. It made it so much easier to paint with the bed out of his room.
While I cleaned out his room I took a few photos to capture a few mom memories. His closet played a major role in the bedroom makeover. Before boxing up his trophies and awards I snapped this picture.

With a new mattress, boxspring and bed framed scheduled for delivery, I cleared, donated and stored the contents of his room I got to work on a neutral paint color.

I chose Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter. It matched the paint colors we chose when we had our house painted last year.

The lighter paint color brightened the room immediately. Nadal stayed. In the photo below you can see the inspiration for the previous paint color. Yep,r I chose the shade of blue based on a Babolat tennis bag and banner.

Keep your eyes on those bifold closet doors on the right.

Next up was finding a queen size bed. I found this one at Wayfair and it did not disappoint. Once I got the first bed frame I reordered a second for my other son’s bedroom. I was nervous to order something so large from Wayfair, but the reviews for this particular bed got high marks.

Source: Wayfair

With wood and metal elements it was exactly what I wanted for an updated, industrial look for the college-age bedroom makeover.

Here’s a peek at the barn doors to replace the bifold closet doors. No love lost on the bifold doors. They were constantly jumping the track.

My husband found the solid pine doors at Home Depot on sale because of scratches on one side of the doors.

Perfect for a closet.

I found this lamp on Etsy a few years ago and it never found a permanent home, until now.

A reminder of where he came from…

More details to share on the updated bedrooms for my teenage sons, but I am so excited for the direction the rooms (and them) are headed! Proud mama!

Black and White Hutch Makeover

February 6, 2018

We all know the power of paint. But, painting involves a cluster of color choices. It’s a familiar stage of analysis-paralysis. I had just ordered a navy wool rug and knew the contrast would drive me crazy. I hopped on my favorite search engine (Pinterest) and found a few paint ideas where I didn’t have to pick a side of the color wheel. Turns out I was not the first person to figure a way to how to create a black and white hutch with paint.

I loved the idea of all white dishes and accessories in my black hutch, but do you know how many shades of white there are in the kitchenware section at HomeGoods? My family is adding a collective eye roll right about now (if they read my blog).

Black & White Hutch Makeover

Last week I shared the state of my black hutch here.

I had my go-to gallon of Mascarpone paint and counted the hours before my favorite husband left for his annual college guys’ ski trip.

I do not like an audience when I paint.

God bless the paint department at Home Depot. I could not pronounce or spell Mascarpone.

Here was my black hutch before the addition of white paint. Sadly, the hutch was in a post-holiday funk. Try to ignore the rug’s reflection in the mirror. In the photo below it’s hard to distinguish between what is in the hutch and what is a reflection.

The all-glass sliding doors and shelves made it all the more challenging with the decor.

Sidenote: I just noticed the tennis ball all under the hutch.

I started in the upper left corner of the hutch with an angled brush and roller. If the white paint looked terrible I planned on repainting the back panel with leftover black paint from this epic paint can spill.

It turns out the research on Pinterest was worth the time. I had made the right decision and was thrilled with the results of the black and white paint in a hutch! Whew! Yay! #whewyay

I circled back with my roller and painted the glass shelves. If I didn’t like the painted shelves I knew I could soak them in the kitchen sink and scrape off the paint. At this point, I think I will paint the upper glass shelves too. Thoughts?

Black and White Hutch | After

Ironically the only issue with the black and white hutch is my white accessories looked lost inside the hutch.

Stay tuned for the accessories portion of this project. Of course, now the rug is bugging me. It’s always something.

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Looking for Inspiration to Paint the Black Hutch

January 30, 2018

Oh…I need a little help with my hutch. I am in painting holding pattern. Do I paint our black hutch? My entire family would say, “no” and my kids would add hashtag suburban mom probs (with an eye roll). Our black hutch looks good against the Revere Pewter walls, but the all black hutch looks lost against a two-story wall. So I decided in order to end the January holding pattern I needed a little inspiration to paint the black hutch. If I found the inspiration I was looking for, our hutch was in for a new year makeover.

Here’s the current state of our black hutch.

Oh and the clock and the miscellaneous Christmas decor on top? I’m working on that too.

Here’s a photo from last year after we painted our dining room and took out this half- wall. Our original plan for our hutch was to relocate it again in order to build a dual sided fireplace between the living room and the family room (behind the wall where the hutch resides).

That is until the first quote to build the two-story fireplace arrived in our inbox with a price north of 55k.

I knew this hutch was as close as I was going to get to a dual sided fireplace.

This hutch has relocated around the main level many times. Dining room, hallway, living room.

It looked nice in the dining room, but we decided it looked better in the living room against the two-story wall (where my dual sided fireplace was supposed to be). Clearly, I’m over that dream.

I turned to Pinterest for a little inspiration and typed

“black hutches before paint.”

The initial search came up with black hutches on Pinterest. The black hutches looked amazing; with all white dishes and greenery. But, the practical side of me doesn’t want to store all of my white plates and bowls in the LIVING ROOM. I mean it’s enough effort to get someone to unload the dishwasher. Can you imagine if a family member had to walk the soup bowls seven yards into another room?

I would forget what I was doing in the living room by the time I got to the hutch.

I briefly considered buying more white plates and accessories.

Inspiration to Paint the Black Hutch

And then I found these ideas on Pinterest with black hutches with painted white interiors. This kitchen shows a row of built-in cabinets, but the white background in the hutch caught my attention.

And, then I saw this black hutch with a white interior. And, I knew this was the direction to go. And, if it looked really bad, I only had to paint the interior back to black. How fun is the library ladder against the black hutch?

Source: Pinterest

Looking for a Reason to Paint the Shelves or Built-Ins?

January 17, 2018

If there was ever a time to paint it’s the month of January. In our family, we like to wait for a more snow and warmer temps in the mountains. It’s also a slow month in residential home sales so it’s a good month to haul out the ladders and paint tarps. And, so January became the month I decided to paint the shelves and built-ins in our basement.

After we got our entire interior walls painted last year (best investment ever) I missed a little color. Last January, while my husband was on his annual guys’ ski trip, I painted a few accent walls to add some much-needed color to our Revere Pewter walls.

Built-ins Before Paint

And then I took a look at our white built-in bookcases in the basement and made the decision to paint the back of the shelves after seeing Heather’s shelves in her family room.

The back of the shelves and walls were both painted with Revere Pewter (even though it looks like the color of evaporated milk in this photo).

Built-Ins After

This is the same fireplace after this project. We also replaced the square tiles with thin set stone sold in “sheets” at Home Depot.

The contrast between the lighter walls and the Hale Navy added much-needed depth to the area. Many of the same or similar accessories look completely different. I think the painted built-ins class up the shelves and the accessories.

What do you think? My husband initially thought the shelves were “just fine.” But, loved how the paint made our “stuff” look better. Of course, I reminded him the classier word for our stuff is an accessory.

What are you waiting for…?

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Home Stories a to z

Merry Monday

10 Minutes!

National Pink Day Project Idea

How to Paint a Stained Front Door

How to Stain Small Objects

College Age Bedroom Before

Black & White Hutch Makeover

Black and White Hutch | After

“black hutches before paint.”

Inspiration to Paint the Black Hutch

Built-ins Before Paint

Built-Ins After

Looking for Everyday Edits in your home? Please share!