Hello!  Today I thought I’d share the quick and easy makeover on my jewelry cabinet that I refinished last week.  After I painted the inside of my closet, I wanted the little cabinet to coordinate with the new look, but it was a dark mahogany color that wasn’t working for me anymore. 

I happen to love rich dark wood, and often I hesitate to paint it.  But since this was no antique, rather a mass produced piece from a decade ago, I turned to spray primer and spray paint to give it a fresh modern look.  Now I’m loving the gray with white trim!

Step one was to give it a coat of spray primer.  You know I love the brush on version of Zinsser’s oil based primer, but for smaller pieces of furniture you can go right ahead and prime with a spray can, it works great ! 

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Greetings!  I had a fun time with a lot of great gals this past week, but thankfully I’m on a plane flying back to California today.  I miss my family.  I miss my broken in pillow with its perfect fill that never gives me a kink in the neck.  Mostly, I miss my paint splattered sweat pants from 1995, proudly worn here.   

There’s just no place like home!  

Terri asked a great question yesterday on my Facebook page:

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Terri, I get a little nervous when my paint supplies dwindle so I keep several types of primer, paint and protectant around at all times. 

1)  I always have oil based primer on hand, especially for laminate surfaces like floating wall shelves or for covering wood like this oak mantel.  No sanding required!  Spray paint formulas are faster, but thinner in coverage.  I like brush on formulas for surfaces that will get a lot of wear and tear.  If you’re bored or curious, awhile back, I wrote up a few tips on refinishing with oil based primer and paint. 

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Hi all, hope you had a great weekend!  A few weeks ago, I mentioned that one of my home goals for this year was to take a bare patch of wall in my kids play space and turn it into an art and homework station.  Many many moons ago, before the little ones were born, I actually had a ‘formal’ dining room.  Ha!  Those were the days when we had an entire room dedicated to formal dining.  No point in that these days, so after those babies were born we decided to better use that square footage to store their toys, games, etc in a kid friendly space.  

There was a bare unused patch of wall in there, so over the weekend I created a little art desk and wall gallery for my daughter.  Art is her most favorite activity ~ drawing or painting is the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up, and the big excuse she uses to wiggle out of her looming homework.   I decided to encourage her talents and dedicate a little station to my budding artist. 

Her older sister gave her the desk from her bedroom, so that meant I didn’t have to buy one!  Yeehaw, gotta love shopping your house for the perfect solution!  I gave it some grosgrain ribbon trim around the edges for a fun pop of color.

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Happy Veterans Day all!   A big salute to the veterans and troops today!  Did your town have a parade?  Ours did, and so many came out to pay tribute!

I’m working my way through my list of holiday crafts, and I finished up one half of a project today!   We’re not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but I am helping with the table setting, so here’s one of my contributions: glitter leaf hurricanes!  Or should I say hurricane singular . . .  I still have to finish the second one, but no worries.  This is such a simple and quick project anyone can finish in under an hour.

What you’ll need:  pattern or design of choice; glass candle holder or vase; spray paint; glitter; adhesive vinyl; cutting board; box cutter or X-acto knife; cotton swabs; mineral spirits or paint thinner (for cleaning up with spray paint).

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Halloween has never been the holiday where I care to decorate all over the house ~ I prefer to save my energy for Christmas!  However, my kids are at an age where Halloween is thrilling and chilling, so this year I’m living their excitement too and getting into the fun, at least on the living room mantel.

I decided to spook up the mantel while they were at school and then tell them our house was haunted with a ghost.  They totally bought it.  Meet our latest visitor ~ this mysterious spirit that now dwells among us.

Making a ghost on the mirror is created with inexpensive washable tempera paint available at any craft store.  It will wipe right off with a wet rag when we decide to exorcise our home.  Great for adding haunted friends to either mirrors or windows this time of year.

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