Project: Spray Paint is My Best Friend

One of my friends brought these chairs to me. They were in pretty bad shape, but definitely salvageable. As usual I started out by sanding off the rust and painting the chairs with Rustoleum Hammered Metal finish is Dark Bronze. The hammered finish, with its slight texture, is wonderful for hiding the unevenness left behind by sanding off rust and loose paint.

The cushions were more of a challenge. They were in decent shape, but very stained. I started by spraying them with bleach to kill the mold and gave them a thorough rinsing. After letting them dry, I attempted to dye one with fabric dye. This did not work. Since the fabric is designed to be water resistant, I was not overly surprised. I then decided to try spray paint. Rustoleum Painter's touch went on smoothly and covered the stains, while letting the original pattern peek through.

Project: Foster Furniture

Hubby didn't love the patio sofa, so it went to live with a friend who was looking for one and got different cushions. It looks great and matches the little patio table I made for her out of a flower pot.

Project: A Place to Nap

OK, so I wasn't kidding about my neighbors furnishing my patio. My next door neighbor was going to have this couch hauled to the dump this week, so I rescued it, sanded off the rust, painted it and put new cushions on it--and now I have a place to nap on the patio! I love the leaf detail on the arms. I admit, the cushions were $150, and they never go on sale down here, but it was worth it to me to have a couch on the patio, and since I have seen them priced at $2500.....

Project: In the End.....Tables!

My latest trash day acquisitions are two metal ottomans with beautiful curves and--unfortunately--enough rust to make them structurally unsound for someone to actually sit on. However, a few passes with a wire brush, some Rustoleum Hammered Metal in Bronze and tops cut from countertop salvage made for great end tables for my patio.

Before

After

Staging: Make Your Own Art: Gray Horse Revisited

Although I liked the principle behind it, I wasn't thrilled with the result of the "gray horse." It was just too bland. Plus, I still had some paint left. I started out thinking I would do something totally random and spontaneous, but wound up with a little bit of a plan--I am not at all a cerebral artist. I'm much happier with it now as I feel that it looks much more painterly. Something like this would be fun for a house that needed a pop of color. I'm thinking back to the post I wrote about dealing with bold colored carpets. This would be a great way to bring an unusual color up onto the walls.

Decorating: A Major Bathroom Remodel

Oh how I wish I had a before photo of this bathroom! But the demolition crew got to it with their tools before I got to it with my camera. Imagine, if you will, a giant blue, oval Jacuzzi tub taking up the entire area now occupied by the tub and shower, a tub so big that there was a step up into it! Imagine also that the tub is surrounded by blue faux marble, the countertops are blue faux marble, and the cabinets are walnut—still in good shape but dated.

The owner knew that she wanted a separate tub and shower, that she wanted them to be easy to get into and out of, and that she didn’t want to knock out any walls, but that was pretty much where her ideas of what she wanted stopped. I helped her to design the new layout, choose tile, countertops, and paint. I also spent some time wielding a paintbrush and roped my husband into building frames for the mirrors.  The rest of the work was done by various contractors. It was a bigger project than I would normally take on, but the results are spectacular, and we are now planning to move on to the kitchen!

Project: The Seasons Change

The whole time I was working on my gray horse to use up paint, I kept looking into the entry where I had hung this blue and purple painting that I had originally done just to add color to our giant white living room in WI and thinking that it would look good with just a white outline of the horse on it. I was right.

Also, I decorated for spring--I love my glue gun! Making small changes to decor seasonally or just when you get bored helps keep your house feeling fresh and homey.

Staging: Easy Contemporary Animal Art

Have fun and save money! You don't have to be an artist to make art to stage your home to sell or just to decorate it for your own enjoyment....

How To Use Up Leftover Paint:

Step 1. Take a photo or fifty of an animal. (The horses who lived down the road from us in WI probably thought I was some sort of weird horse paparazzi.)

Step 2. Set aside about half a bottle/tube of white or other light colored paint. Pour the rest of the paint in the middle of a canvas and stir it together with your hand until it is mostly blended, then smear it over the surface of the canvas. You can wear a latex glove if you are some sort of neat freak.

Step 3. Use charcoal to create a hazy silhouette of the desired animal.

Step 4. Using the remaining white/light paint, draw an abstract/graphic looking outline of some of the animals features inside of the silhouette.

That should answer any questions for anyone who has ever wondered about my artistic process!

Project: Cheerful Closets

Ok, let's face it, unless you have a spectacular custom designed dressing room, closets don't sell houses. However, after you move into a house, it quickly becomes apparent when a closet doesn't work for you. The previous owners of this home had an obsession with built in shelving that left this closet feeling dark and crowded in spite of the little window. Since the closet, which is part of the laundry room, is also used for kitty litter boxes, it needed to be accessible for easy scooping and mopping. Removing the built in and replacing it with wire shelves that can also be used for hanging clothing or as an indoor clothes line opened up the space without sacrificing storage. Painting the inside of the closet the same sunny yellow as the laundry room helped to make the space seem brighter and more a part of the room it is in when the doors are open.

Before

After

Project: The Magic of Rustoleum

If I am patient, my neighbors are going to completely furnish my patio for me. Some people down the street put out these two heavy duty lawn chairs. They were scratched and oxidized, but otherwise in perfect shape. Since Rustoleum makes a great spray paint for plastic, I hauled them home and gave them a coat of Lagoon so that they match my décor. The lesson I learned here is that it is good to pick a similar color to the original color, because it took several coats to cover smoothly.