You've gotta start somewhere...

This phrase rings true for a lot of things in life.  In this case though, I'm talking about taking the plunge and attempting to paint my first piece of furniture.  For me, the whole painting furniture craze came about with Pinterest and with me trying to find stylish, cheap ways for us to decorate our new home last year while we were renovating it.  So as my husband, FIL, and father all worked on some of the more heavy duty, manual labor type of projects (i.e. busting out bath tubs, knocking down walls etc), I scoured antique malls/thrift stores and flea markets for furniture to paint.  I present to you my first furniture painting experience, which quickly spiraled into the DIY bathroom vanities and many other pieces throughout our home. In this post, I'll tell you what I did for this specific piece...with each piece I've done I've tweaked certain things because no piece is the same and it depends on what you want the end result to be. 

-STEP 1- FIND THE ITEM YOU WANT TO REDO.  In this case, it was an old record cabinet from a local antique mall that I paid way too much for to be painting, but you live and you learn right. I picked it because I liked the size and shape of it and knew where I wanted it to go (in our foyer with a mirror above it that I already had purchased from a different antique mall).

-STEP 2- PREP YOUR PIECE.  As I've mentioned, this was my first painted piece so I can't say that this is the best way to do it, but this is what worked on this particular project.  I'll be honest, I didn't sand this one and believe it or not the primer and paint still stuck and doesn't peel off!  I used the Glidden Gripper Primer in gray this time (same stuff I used on our bathroom vanities) and gave this one good coat.

-STEP 3- PAINT YOUR PIECE.  Given the fact that this was a small item, I was able to paint the entire thing with a $3 sample jar of paint from Lowe's!  The color I used was Swim by Valspar.

-STEP 4- ANTIQUE YOUR PIECE.  I knew I wanted this to have a "worn" look to it so I bought the Valspar Antiquing Glaze.  This stuff was super easy to work with.  I painted this on with a normal paint brush (i.e. that you would use to paint walls) in sections and then gently wiped with the grain of the wood with an old t-shirt.  If you want the glaze to be darker, then just apply more.  

I finished it off with a decorative knob (Hobby Lobby has a whole aisle, and can't beat their prices/coupons).  Voila!  You have a revamped, and colorful accent piece for your home!

Chalkboard Frenzy

Hard to believe, but we're 3 months away from Little Lady's arrival.  Time really is flying!  I have felt great for the most part and cannot complain.  I continue to crave homemade chocolate chip cookies and really enjoy taking yoga 2x a week.  Lots of projects still to complete for her nursery and I'm looking forward to my upcoming showers (the first one is this weekend and I can't wait)!  With all the "bumpdate" photos I posted on FB recently, I thought I'd share how I created the chalkboard you see in those photos.  I wish I could claim this as "my idea" but let's be honest, the internet and Pinterest are full of ideas these days and it's just a matter of acting on them.

Enjoy!
Emily

Chalkboard How-To:

-STEP 1- Find an old frame, it can be a large picture frame, old painting etc.  Search your local Good Will, Garage Sales, Flea Markets etc for some real gems. Look for something with a flat surface that will be easy to paint over.  The one you see in my photos was from Good Will and used to look like this:

-Step 2-  Choose a spray paint color and go to town spraying the frame....AFTER you have sprayed the frame with a primer of course.  At this point it doesn't matter if you get paint on the lovely picture because you're going to paint that with chalkboard paint later on.  This board hangs in our kitchen so I went with a light blue (Krylon Bonnet Blue).  The frame is 38"x33" and it took 3 coats of spray paint but the can of this color was only 3 ounces.  Using a larger can of spray paint would obviously require less cans.

-Step 3- Paint the surface with chalkboard paint.  I personally chose to use the can kind (Rust-Oleum Specialty 30-oz. Flat Black Chalkboard Paint) and roll this on with a small foam roller.  I had a larger surface area to cover and really felt it covered better than the spray can kind.  I think the spray can kind is better left to smaller chalkboard crafts.  My board took two solid coats and a quick third for good measure.  One thing I don't recommend, magnetic paint.  I tried using magnetic paint underneath the chalkboard paint only to find out the magnets wouldn't stick.  EVEN THOUGH, the can of magnetic paint says you can cover it with any other type of paint.  This personally didn't work for me, but if you have any tricks let me know.

Voila!  Your very own DIY chalkboard vs. buying one in the store for $$$.