This weekend, I decided to tackle one of the 2012 Home Goals I set a few months ago, one of which is to pull together a conversation area on our balcony that overlooks the yard.  Sadly, it’s sat there empty and neglected for too many years and I’m finally in the process of creating a conversation zone up there.  Instead of a new purchase, I decided to be cheap and spruce up a set of old furniture that I already have to work with what I got!  

Before I get to that, I’m proud to announce that this will be year three I’ve partnered with True Value as a member of the True Value Blog Squad, oh yeah! 

Look for a bunch of projects in the coming months with the stuff I find on the shelves of my local store. 

Yesterday, I headed down to my local True Value to grab some outdoor metallic spray paint I’ve used in the past, Rust-Oleum makes a great version for outdoor furniture in oil rubbed bronze.  

If you’re looking to spruce up your old set, I’m tellin ya, spray paint is the way to go!   I spray painted all of my outdoor furniture five years ago, and it’s held up well, but this particular set was in special need of some touch up love.  

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Hello all, it’s almost Friday but I wanted to share one more DIY project I wrapped up this week with all of you.  A few weeks ago I scored some solid wood side tables at (where else?) a thrift shop and they were four dollars each.  Four dollars?  Sold!  The wood tops needed some work but I also loved the idea of redoing the bases a crisp white gloss paint.  Here they are:

Can you believe this price tag?  Hello, you’re definitely coming home with me!

The tops were in bad shape, but that’s nothing a little sanding and new stain won’t fix.

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Hey all, hope your weekend was swell.  We’re in ‘last week of summer’ mode around here which means relaxation is priority number one until school starts next week.  However I did manage to squeeze in a few front porch improvements over the past few days. 

I’ve long been in love with the idea of painting the front door something other than white.  All the colors of the rainbow seemed too strong and all wrong, and since the stucco is yellowish in tone, gray seemed the logical choice. 

I posed a question on Facebook what color gray I should go with, and many kind readers responded, thank you!  I reasoned it was best to grab those two samples I was considering, and maybe a couple more at my local Benjamin Moore.

Choosing the perfect gray is very challenging – there are so many ways gray can lean based on the formula: lavender, green, blue, or taupe, one must be careful! 

As always, you can’t tell much from a paint deck swatch, you need a real sample viewed in proper light so I picked up four samples from my local BM, and painted big swatches on a poster board to study which would be the best choice.   

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I love a celebratory party in honor of spray paint!  Thanks Sarah for kicking off the Home May’d parties with a topic devoted to one of my favorite transformative substances: da spray paint.  It rocks. 

I’ve often said, I’ll spray paint anything that stands still, cause so often I fall in love with the shape of something, but not the color or finish, and my mind instantly thinks, “Nothing a little spray paint can’t fix!”   I’m like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who was convinced Windex was the cure for every ailment.  For me, it be spray paint. 

Exhibit A: I found this tin container in my garage, I don’t recall where I picked it up.  A craft store?  Yard sale?  No matter, it was the perfect candidate for an indoor planter.

I pounded a few holes in the bottom with a nail, spray painted the front green and let it dry.  I placed some chipboard letters on top, then spray painted it again with RustOleum’s ‘Heirloom White’ which left green font underneath.  So cute!  

My indoor herb garden is back baby, back!  Complete with my five culinary favorites: sage, thyme, basil, cilantro, and parsley. 

I like to grow even more basil outside in the summertime, but the petite plants do make a pretty scene in our kitchen window.

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