It's my home and I'll paint it if I want to.

Blame Pinterest. 

 Browsing Pinterest has gotten me itching to slap some paint around lately.

For YEARS, I have said, "I would rather give birth than paint."  And I know what I'm talking about because I had both of my children without one speck of pain medicine.  I do, however, love a nice coat of paint on just about anything.  When the job is big enough, I am happy to pay someone to do it.  Once I even paid my son $20 to paint the front door a bright yellow.   Sometimes, though, I just have to do it myself. 

Preparation is key, right?  That means collecting paint chips and spending days and weeks fondling them and dreaming of dripping brushes. 

 

 

 I had a specific project in mind but, before I got started, I decided to have a little warm up.  I rummaged around in the basement and found a can of  'espresso colored' semi-gloss then painted this antique wooden ironing board.  It fits perfectly behind the sofa.

 

 

Lousy pictures but I'm sure you get the idea.

 

 

After the warm up, I started prepping for the real project.  My son's cat, Mrs. Puff, was very interested.

 

So far, so good. 

 

Ta dah! 

 

 

I thought about stenciling or maybe wallpapering the stair risers, but in the end I figured paint was a good place to start.

 

 

This is the view from the from door.  I really love it.  Now don't freak out over paint on nice hardwood.  I'm just fine with it!

 

 

While we're talking about DIY, do you remember this little injury before the holidays?  The wicked hot glue gun mishap?

 

 

Here is the instigator,  a fantastic family heirloom.  A gorgeous rosewood chair that's solid as a rock.  When I was a newlywed, my mother gave it to me and I found someone to replace the caning.  It held up for years before a big hole mysteriously showed up in the seat.  Our annual family holiday party always gets me thinking about where 40 or so people are going to park their butts in my house.  So I came up with a genius fix for this chair. Temporary of course until I get someone else to cane it. 

 

I got my brother to cut some sturdy plywood to fit and I covered it in a nice velvet.

 

It seemed like it would be easier to use the glue gun then to dig around looking for my staple gun.  Except for the problem with the hot hot HOT glue dripping on my finger, I think it worked out well.  As long as no one looks under the chair.

And check this out.  The family name is Howard and  someone years ago put name tags on the furniture.  I also have a table with one of these tags.

 



 

And in case you think my house is full of hoity toity family antiques, here is a side table I brought in from the yard 15 years ago.  It's from a tree we had cut down. 

 

I went on retreat with my quilting buddies last weekend.  That means I have lots of  'almost finished' projects.  My sewing machine is still packed up but I hope to get it plugged in and running this weekend. 

Have a nice weekend now, y'hear?