We are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year. Since I’m not great in the kitchen, I decided my painted gourds and leaves table decor needed to be a pretty distraction from the food. (Last week I shared my newly updated chalk-painted dining room table. To see more, click HERE.) If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I will paint (and love to paint!) anything. I selected three pretty paint neutrals – a shiny gold, a matte cream, and brushed platinum. And I went to work painting gourds and leaves.
I picked up beautiful leaves from my friend’s yard. I know they are amazing as-is. But two things:
They won’t keep their vibrant color long.
Yellow wasn’t part of my Thanksgiving decor vision.
I found a bunch of gourds from Walmart pretty inexpensively. My hope was to find some fake ones that I could continue to use year after year, but I struck out.
I tend to stay away from the gourds with the bumps all over them. They freak me out.
I gave the leaves and gourds a couple of thin coats of paint (allowed them to dry in-between coats) and that was it!
This really is an easy paint project!
I spent around $15 on my painted gourds and leaves. I added candles and candlestick holders I found at the dollar store (candlesticks were $1 each and candles were 2/$1), and I had a beautiful but really inexpensive centerpiece which cost me around $20! Happy Fall! Go create something!
**Update – Don’t use spray paint on the gourds. It can actually cause them to explode. Use chalk paint instead.
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
See how I gave life to this worn-out piece as I share my chalk painted table.
I am hosting Thanksgiving for my family this year, so I decided it was time to complete the dining room project I began almost a year ago. If you want to see more about the (spray painted) chairs and where I found my entire dining room set, you can click HERE, or to see the dining room reveal from earlier this year, you can click HERE.
Now, before I hear comments about how beautiful this piece is and why in the world would I paint it, I have to show you pictures of the condition it was in. The photo above is WAY too nice. It just didn’t look that good.
It was VERY scratched up – everywhere from the tabletop to the legs of the table.
Besides being really scratched, I wasn’t in love with the tabletop. It was REALLY glossy, and I wanted more of a matte look. I had my dad in town for the weekend, so I put him to work sanding the tabletop.
He sanded the table along with the three leaves that fit inside.
Once it was sanding, I added Minwax’s Special Walnut Stain. Once that dried, I added a clear wax to seal the top.
For the base, I used Annie Sloan’s French Linen along with her clear wax.
I sanded some of the edges and various places to add just a little more character.
And that was it! It was a fairly quick project (thanks to the help of Jerry), and now I am ready to host Thanksgiving!
And to show you how far the dining room has come since last Christmas, check out this photo:
Go create something and let me know if you try a chalk painted table!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
This past Labor Day, I went with my family to an old farm for my first ever barn picking. It was a blast!
The barn belonged to my husband’s great-grandparents, and it was full of all kinds of treasures. You just had to look past the layers of dirt and (lots of) raccoon poop.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all the stuff we found (I still haven’t found a new home for everything), but I was pretty pumped with all my treasures. I put my kids to works, and we washed down everything with soap and water. It was pretty nasty. We found two similar-sized barn doors, and I really wanted to use them as headboards in my boys’ room.
I sanded off what I couldn’t wash off.
I sanded and sanded and sanded.
Once the sanding was done, I stained it with “Special Walnut” from Minwax. The two doors soaked it up, and I used the entire 32 oz can on the doors (and I only stained the front). We had to keep the doors out in the garage for over a week since the smell from the stain was so strong.
Here you can see a side-by-side comparison of the doors before and after staining.
We (by “we” I mean my husband) mounted wall lamps to both barn doors for the boys to use and bed lights.
I found the lamps at Lowes.
“We” screwed two wooden blocks into studs for each barn door. This allowed us to mount the doors to the wall and provided space for the cord and plug.
We lucked out because there were two outlets right behind where we were placing the beds.
Here’s Steve hard at work. Sorry ladies, he’s mine. 🙂
And here’s the finished result!
The bedding is made up of (mainly sale items) I found at Target, West Elm, Pottery Barn Teen, and Lowes (the red and white pillows are actually outdoor pillows).
I found the cute little animal pillows on Etsy.
I bought this railroad sign off a friend, and I have no idea where she got it.
I’m currently addicted to finding The Hardy Boys books. I randomly come across them at flea markets and garage sales.
I bought the red nightstand from Target and my old soda crates fit perfectly inside! The boys fill them with their books and magazines.
We recently picked up a couple of desks from IKEA for the boys. I’ll post more of the entire room soon once we get everything organized. Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
I’m excited to share this FREE Psalm 147:4 Print with you today.
How do the months fly by?! It is already time for October’s free Bible verse printable: Psalm 147:4 – He counts the stars and calls them all by name.
If you want the jpg version to print out at a photo lab, just save the below image. It is formatted for an 8×10 print and the photo paper will make the gold stars sparkle a little more.
However, if you prefer to print it off on your home printer, you get the FREE Psalm 147:4 Print HERE >>>>>
*All Sincerely Sara D. printables are for personal, non-commercial use only. Useit, gift it, but don’t alter it, sell it or otherwise distribute the print or the file.
I have several other free printables on the blog, several of which include these Bible verses:
I recently made a “vintage” scoreboard for a friend’s nursery.
I started with a plain board.
I sanded it down.
And I painted it.
Once the paint dried, I used painter’s tape to make lines/borders.
I painted the lines white.
I printed out the lettering for the board and used carbon paper (flash from the past!) to transfer the lettering.
Once I had my letters outlined, I painted them white.
I repeated the lettering process until I had all my words done.
And then I added chalkboard paint so the score could be changed (as well as ball, strikes & outs).
Once everything was painted, I went through and sanded the edges and sections of the surface to give it the vintage, worn look we were going for.
And here are *photos of the scoreboard in Wyatt’s (really cute sports-themed) nursery: *The nursery photos are all taken by my friend Lexi of Alexis Smith Photography.
Thanks so much to my friend Lexi for sharing her photos and for her creative mind. I love the DIY vintage scoreboard, and I hope to make one for my boys’ room soon! Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
I’ve been wanting to make my mudroom a little more exciting, and I was inspired by a photo I saw in HGTV magazine. In the photo, the entry was painted in black and white horizontal stripes. I decided to do the same! Here’s an Instagram photo I recently shared. (BTW – I’d love for you to follow along with me on Instagram.)
Here’s my (very white) mudroom area before the stripes:
I went with horizontal stripes like in my inspiration photo. I always use Frog Tape for these types of painting projects. It really is the best painter’s tape out there and helps with seepage.
After all the taping was done, I used black paint and added the stripes:
And here’s a photo of the after!
I added artwork and a mirror from Hobby Lobby, a pretty wooden “vent” I pulled from a family barn, and a family canvas photo. The shoe cubby in the middle of the room was an old mail sorter I found at a local antique shop. (UPDATE 12/21/15 – FREE plans are now available for this mail sorter turned shoe cubby. If you want to make your own, visit Remodelaholic.)
I was told it was in our town’s original post office, and I have a tutorial for the DIY chalkboard calendar you can see HERE.
I have to admit this was NOT the afternoon project I had envisioned. After I was done adding the black stripes, I had some touching up to do and (after trial and much error) realized I didn’t have the white color the previous owner had painted the mudroom. Stupid me tried three different whites that were left behind, and none of them matched the current white. I had white blotches everywhere, and it was driving me mad (although it doesn’t take much)! So, I repainted the white stripes AND the entire mudroom. My afternoon project turned into an afternoon, evening, and late into the night/early morning project.
I replaced the white with a color I’ve used throughout my home: Valspar’s Cincinnatian Hotel Briggs Beige. (Want to see more about this color and other colors in my home? Click HERE.) I loved the previous white, but it was already getting pretty dirty and wasn’t practical for a mudroom and three kids.
Phew. That was WAY more work than I thought I signed up for. BUT, it was worth it!
Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
Find me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest Are you new to my blog and want to see what else I’m up to? Click on the below photos. *Special thanks to Melody Carpenter of Carpenter Photo for the beautiful photos after photo and shoe cubby photo.
I have self-diagnosed myself as an “impatient perfectionist.” I like things done right, but FAST. I have done a lot of painting (if you hang out with me for just a little bit, you’ll discover paint is my solution for almost anything), and I’ve discovered several shortcuts along the way. Today I’m going to share what shortcuts to use (and not use!) when painting cabinets. I recently transformed my boys’ bathroom using mainly paint for a contest involving colored light switches and outlets. To see more about the bathroom transformation, click HERE.
Below is a photo of my boys’ bathroom before. Now, you may be wondering why in the world I didn’t keep the cabinets white. Didn’t that crazy girl just paint all her kitchen cabinets white?
Well, my heart was set on gray cabinets. I even made an inspiration board for the bathroom:
Step 1: Remove all hardware. (Don’t skip this step. You do not want paint on your hinges. It will look sloppy!)
Step 2: Layout all drawers and doors.
Step 3: Give them a quick cleaning.
Step 4: Use an all-purpose paint prep. Here’s where I skipped a step. I *skipped sanding and used this product. It removed any extra icky residue that cleaning it with soapy water won’t fix. AND, it does remove some of the finish. In my case – a glossy finish. *Sanding is always recommended. I’m a shortcut girl, so I went with heavy doses of primer in place of sanding. When in doubt – sand!
Update: Unfortunately I can’t seem to find this product anymore. Simple Green is a great cleaner alternative, but it won’t remove any of the finish which is is what made this product work well when skipping sanding.
Step 5: Prime. Here’s how I cheated on this step – spray paint primer. It went SO much faster!
(My kids always want to help. This “step” can slow you down. Big time.)
Now, I decided to spray prime the cabinets themselves. This went super fast, but the prep work may have made up for the time I save spray painting. I had to tape down EVERYTHING.
AND, you must have proper ventilation. Luckily I had a huge window right across from my cabinets.
Step 6: Paint the cabinets, doors, and drawers with paint. I did about two coats on each. Since my primer was tinted, this step went pretty quickly. I did this with a paintbrush because I could not find the perfect gray in the spray paint can. Otherwise, I definitely would have spray-painted them! I did go ahead and buy a “self-priming” paint – even though I still was using a primer. I wanted as much adhesion as I could get – I didn’t want the paint peeling off. The spray paint primer I used is an enamel, so you’ll want to also use enamel paint over the enamel primer. I bought my paint at Lowe’s and the color is “Dover Gray.” Step 7: Finish coat. I attempted to spray paint a finish coat on my cabinets. DO NOT DO THIS! It looked streaky and bad. This is not the step to take the shortcut and use spray paint. After all that work, I went back through and covered everything with polyurethane – by hand.
The above picture is before I added the polyurethane. I was trying to tell myself I could live with the streaks of the spray finish, but I couldn’t. I hope my shortcuts help save you time. Painting cabinets can be tedious, but the reward is so worth the time and effort! I painted my kitchen cabinets, only this time I used chalk-type paint.
If you want the absolute fastest way to paint cabinets and like the (rustic) charm and ease of chalk paint, click HERE to see more.
Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
A while back, I shared an argyle wall I created for a friend who was expecting a little boy. To see more of that argyle wall and the full tutorial for how I painted it, click HERE or on the photo below. Today I’m sharing thee argyle wall nursery reveal.
My friend has since filled the nursery – both with cute baby decor as well as a sweet little baby boy! And my friend shared some photos of her golf-themed nursery. I am so excited to share these photos with you today. The nursery is such a pretty and calm space filled with white and gray neutrals.
The argyle wall makes since a gorgeous accent wall for the nursery. The rug and the window treatments mimic the wall pattern.
Keeping with the golf theme, a cute little golf club, hat, and shoes make the adorable decor.
I love the contrast of the white crib with the argyle wall.
I love the use of a dresser for a changing table. It allows the piece to grow with the baby without being limited to a specific stage of life.
Sweet dreams little Hudson! I hope you spend your naps dreaming of becoming a golf pro like your dad in the beautiful nursery your mom created for you!
What do you think of this argyle wall nursery reveal?
Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
Today I’m sharing the tutorial for a painted ticking striped wall.
In my boys’ bathroom, I was inspired by the classic “ticking stripes” when I painted the walls. To paint a ticking striped wall, it’s not hard. It just requires a little patience and LOTS of (Frog Tape) painter’s tape.
I always find the center of the wall when I begin my painting projects. Here I found the center, drew a thin pencil line using a level, and placed painters’ tape over top.
I found that using two sizes of painters taped help make this project much easier. (You can just double up the regular-sized painter’s tape for the thicker stripe rather than buyer the thicker width.)
I repeated the same pattern over and over: thin – thin – thick – thin – thin
I then removed the two inside thin tape lines. This helps me have the perfect lines I was hoping for.
I taped the same pattern over and over: thin – thin – thick – thin -thin
And pulled away from the middle thin lines.
After a lot of patience, the taping was done!
I painted over the entire wall with a lighter gray.
And when I pulled back all that tape, I had my ticking-inspired striped wall!
There were a few spots I had to touch up, but not many! The tape really does do a great job keeping the paint out – you do not want to buy generic painter’s tape for this project. It’s expensive, but Frog Tape is worth the extra money. (And no, I’m not being paid to say this!) Want to see more of my boys’ bathroom? Click on the photo below.
I’m a little late on this month’s Bible verse – but better late than never, right?! This month’s free Bible printable – Matthew 4:19 – Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. I love this verse, and it is a great one to memorize. I also think this printable would be especially adorable hanging in a little boy’s room, a lake house, or even a bathroom! The design has a bit of a nautical feel, but obviously, the ultimate goal is to use the printable to memorize the verse.
To download the JPG version of this printable, click and save the image above. To download the PDF version of this Matthew 4:19 printable, click HERE >>>>> Matthew 4_19
If you’re just now joining us, my kids and I are memorizing a Bible verse every month – and I’m sharing a free printable with you! We started this several months ago, and we put our verse on a DIY clipboard.
Don’t forget to download the free Bible verse printable from past months.
Click on the images below to be taken directly to the download page.
I love to hear from you! Please tag me or contact me to let me know how you’re using your free printables. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have an idea for a printable I don’t currently offer.
Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
I’m excited to share my boys’ bathroom transformation that didn’t involve a lot of money – just a lot of paint!
This past month, I transformed my boys’ bathroom for Leviton’s Renu Challenge. (Leviton’s) Renu offers light switches and outlets in 20 beautiful colors. There were 20 designers, and we were all asked to be inspired by a color. I chose to be inspired by the Rich Navy.
I really hadn’t thought about how much better our light switches (and outlets) could look until we replaced them with the renu colored version.
I created a design board once I had selected the Rich Navy color:
I used Valspar’s Notre Dame for the walls.
I also replaced the mirror above the vanity (with an old dresser mirror), painted the faucets, replaced the towel racks, painted the cabinets, and replaced the cabinet hardware.
The window seat was also painted to match the cabinets, pillows were added and the light fixture replaced.
Although there were some cosmetic changes (the outlets, light switches, light fixtures, and cabinet hardware), most everything else was fixed up with paint. If you hang out with me long enough, you’ll find the paint is my solution to almost everything! I feel like I successfully rescued the boys’ bathroom from the ’90s and brought them a playful bathroom that’s perfect for my little guys. I’ll share more about the specifics of this bathroom (how I painted the cabinets, the striped wall, where I bought the light fixture, etc) very soon! Want some Renu products of your own?
*This post contains affiliate links and/or is a sponsored post. I may receive compensation in the form of monetary compensation or product compensation in exchange for my review. I take pride in reviewing only products that fit my brand and will be beneficial to my readers. And while this post is sponsored or contains affiliate links, all the opinions are my own.
Here’s an inexpensive and easy way to dress up shoe box storage.
My boys LOVE Legos. Legos are great, but they horrible to step on and can drive this clutter-hating mom mad. Also, my boys have a younger sister who loves to tear apart their creations… So, I wanted an inexpensive way to organize their legos that they could easily access but would be hard for their little sister to reach. They have shelves in their closet, and I thought shoeboxes would be the perfect solution to organize the Legos.
Shoe boxes are free, sturdy, and easy to find! As great as shoe boxes are, they just aren’t very pretty. I know these boxes are going in my boys’ closet, but I still wanted them to be fun. So I pulled out Mod Podge and wrapping paper.
I covered the outside of each box with Mod Podge. You have to work fast because this stuff dries pretty quickly.
I then wrapped the paper over the box and on the Mod Podge.
I cut the extra paper around the box. (I didn’t waste my time covering the inside of the box.)
I Mod Podged the outside of the paper for extra durability.
While the boxes were all drying, (And don’t freak out! They dry much prettier than they look while wet.) I worked with my younger son on a game plan. We needed to figure out how to sort the Legos.
Once the boxes were dry, we added a label (so they can be changed as Lego collections evolve). Using the Sharpie pen, we wrote the Lego set in the box.
Go create something!
Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.
