Paint

Painted Piano

A painted piano adds so much character to any home.

I painted a piano this week.

Painting a Piano

We’ve been talking about getting a piano for a little while since our oldest son is going to start lessons this fall. While on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I ran across someone selling an upright for $50. I was excited because it obviously needed help. My husband would definitely be okay with me painting it, and it was so inexpensive that I couldn’t mess it up. Plus, how cool would a painted piano be?!

piano Now, I decided to use milk paint for the first time ever. Note to self: Don’t try a paint you’ve never used next time you paint a piano. I’ve heard a lot about milk paint because I follow Miss Mustard seed, and she has her own line of (Miss Mustard Seed) Milk Paint. Her stuff always looks so amazing.

piano3 What I didn’t think about was how unpredictable it can be. For someone like me, this isn’t really a good thing. I like plans and predictability. I like to be the one to distress where I want to distress. I’m not saying this is a good thing, but it’s how I work. So you can imagine my frustration when this started to happen: piano8 The charm of milk paint is that it does have a tendency to chip. However, to avoid this, you can mix a bonding agent with the first paint layer. I did – but I ran out of paint for the first batch and got a little lazy with my second batch and didn’t add the bonding agent. The areas I painted without the bonding agent (obviously) are where the major chipping occurred. Another thing about milk paint is that it comes in powder form. I didn’t love having to mix my own paint. I’m a pretty impatient person and mixing just added another layer in the process of painting. It’s not a huge deal to mix, but there’s something great about just popping a can of paint open… All that being said, milk paint does have its charm. If you like the (very) distressed look, this paint is for you. It comes in a bunch of BEAUTIFUL colors and it does have a unique look. It’s also a great paint for color washing pieces – you can easily water the paint down to achieve the washed look. So, after I painted the piano, I used (cream) chalk paint to accent some of the parts – and I also used the chalk paint on the areas that I hadn’t used the bonding agent in my first layer of paint. I wasn’t loving the extreme chipping happening in these areas and luckily my cream “accents” look intentional. piano11 After everything was painted, I took a sander to the entire piano. All the tutorials I watch show the people sanding by hand. Again, I don’t have patience for this. So, I used this big guy: piano7 At the end, I did wax the entire piece with both clear wax and a small amount of dark wax. I used Annie Sloan wax because I had it on hand. Overall, it’s a little more distressed than I had originally planned. However, I think I’m starting to like the piano more and more. It may be because we have a family pass to Conner Prairie and have been spending too much time there, but I think it will work well in my house. And, my son has a piano to practice on! piano14 piano13 piano10 piano9

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Home

Dining Room Decor

Dining Room Decor Although it’s not used much, I wanted to share our dining room. (When I say “used” I’m talking eating since we eat most of our meals at the kitchen table. It is used a lot for art projects, homework, Lego building…) It is one of the first rooms you see when you walk into our home, so it needs to make a nice statement: Dining4 I love this clock we bought when we first moved in:   Dining3 And here’s one of my garage sale steals (three dollars?!): Dining2 Succulents are great for anyone. They’re easy to care for, and they add a nice green touch to any space: Dining1 My dad built the cornice boxes over the windows. Using wide trim, he created the boxes with nails and brackets. It’s an easy way to dress up any window! Dining5 Dining6
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Paint

Chalk Paint Tutorial

Chalk Painting Tutorial | Painting a Mirror I’ve done a chalk paint tutorial in the past, but I thought it may be helpful to do a more detailed one. I love to garage sale shop, and I found this mirror at a sale recently for $30. (?!!) It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but it’s HUGE! Mirror BEFORE When painting a mirror, always tape off the mirror itself. If possible shove paper between the frame and mirror. Then, tape the paper in place. Mirror BEFORE* Next, prepare your supplies. For this mirror, I used Annie Sloan products: chalk paint (I actually mixed 1:1 Paris Grey and Florence) and wax (clear and dark). Cahalk Paint Supplies The great thing about chalk paint is that there is no sanding or other prep work (well, minus taping off the mirror). Just go for it! Chalk Painting Chalk paint dries pretty fast. Once it’s dry (20-30 mins for this project), you can add the wax. Chalk Paint on Mirror Chalk Paint on Mirror* Chalk paint dries pretty fast. Once it’s dry (20-30 mins for this project), you can add the wax. I recommend the wax brush. It’s expensive, but it makes the waxing a much easier process. I brush on the wax and then go back through with a lint-free cloth (aka: my husbands old t-shirts) and rub away the extra. Chalk Paint - Waxing waxing chalk paint For the dark wax, you just repeat the same process as before: brush on the (dark) wax and rub it away. Chalk Paint Dark Wax Adding Dark Wax Chalk Paint - Dark Wax **If you are going to use the dark (antiquing) wax, it is a MUST to use the clear wax first. The clear wax provides a coating between the dark wax and the paint. If you don’t use the clear wax first, your dark wax will stick to everything, and you won’t be able to wipe it away very easily. I like to distress my projects, so I sand. You sand AFTER the wax. I know it’s strange, but that’s what you do. You don’t have to wait for the wax to dry, but it can quickly cake up your sand paper. I went through a lot of sand paper for this project… Chalk Paint - Sanding And I had several helpers: Little Sanding Helper My little helpers I found that wax residue got stuck in the beautiful details. I used a Q-tip to remove as much of this “residue” as possible. Cleaning Wax You can add another clear wax layer after sanding if you want, but I find that I can just rub over the entire project and spread out the wax I added before. Also, if you want a more buffed project, wait 24 hours and use your lint-free cloth to buff the entire project. It will give it a nice sheen. FINAL mirror Mirror - AFTER Mirror AFTER Good luck!
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Home

Big Girl Room Makeover

Big Girl Room Makeover The nursery is gone. But I’ve had so much fun decorating Lena’s new room, that I’ve forgotten I was once mourning its loss. Here’s Lena’s new room: Room

Unfortunately, the furniture placement (the bed against the wall) is not exactly how I’d like it due to the fear of Lena rolling out of bed. However, it works for now. Also, if you’d like to see how I did the bed rail cover, you can check out my recent blog post here: https://sincerelysarad.com/2013/06/10/the-almost-no-sew-bed-rail-cover/ We found this bedroom set on Craigslist:

Bed DSC_0046

And although the white wood was pretty, my vision for it was even better. So, I painted it!

You can see how I painted it in this blog post: https://sincerelysarad.com/2013/04/11/saying-goodbye-to-the-nursery/ I used Annie Sloan’s “Provence” chalk paint for the bed:

Bed

And Annie Sloan’s “Paris Grey” for the nightstand and dresser:

Detail

nightstand

Dresser closeup

The mirror above the dresser has cute frames for pictures. I also added a few great verses. You can find the prints at my shop on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/125066323/1-peter-33-4-bible-verse-print-digital https://www.etsy.com/listing/126410195/psalm-914-bible-verse-print-digital?ref=shop_home_active I used this bunting at her birthday party and found a cute spot for it above her closet: bunting

The frames from her nursery made a reappearance. I just updated a few of the fabric pieces with some remnants I bought off Etsy:

Frames

I’ve had this old paper doll set (from the ’60s?) since I was pretty young. I bought it at the local annual book fair in my hometown, and I’ve somehow managed to hang on to it through the years. I placed the dolls on a piece of oilcloth to keep with the retro vibe:

Frame

I’ll keep you updated with new additions and changes!

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Home

Bed Rail Cover

Bed Rail Cover newsew

Lena’s new (big girl) bedroom redo is coming very soon! However, one thing that has been holding me up with the post is her bed rail. It’s just so practical and not cute. So, rather than wait on her to not need it anymore (or go through the trouble of taking it off for the photoshoot), I decided to make it pretty! But first, here’s a before and after picture:

Before.AFter

Luckily I had a fabric remnant that was large enough for this project. Basically, you just need a piece of fabric to wrap around the bed rail.

rail.3 copy

Since I remove bed rails pretty quickly from my kids, I decided to make the cover pretty but not spend much time on it since it’s so temporary. I ironed down the ends of the fabric, and I used starch to help keep them down. rail.4 copy

Next, I started at the bottom of the bed rail and wrapped the fabric around the top. Lena took an extra long nap today, which would normally be exciting. However, today I needed to get started on beautifying her bed rail. Poor girl woke up to me snapping the before pictures:

rail.1 copy

Once I had the fabric in place, I sewed three “x” stitches along the bottom – which is why this project is (almost) no sew. You could easily just use safety pins instead of the stitch. However, here’s where I placed my stitches.

stitch

And, there you have it! A pretty bed rail! Disclaimer: I’m sure there’s a reason they use netting on these rails. And I’m sure this project makes these bed rails unfit for children. However, it makes them so much cuter. Luckily Lena doesn’t sleep against the bed rail, so I went for it! More on Lena’s room coming soon!

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DIY

Mod Podge Memories

Mod Podge Memories

I discovered “mod podging” (or deco podge) in college.  Maybe we were weird (I prefer to think we were trendsetters), but my friends and I would mod podge whatever we could get our hands on – frames, boxes, photo albums –  you name it.  It was an inexpensive but sentimental gift.  I ran across this beauty the other day…

gift

I made this for my husband, but we were “friends” at the time.  Explains the collage of people in the frame instead of a picture of just us.  It’s pretty cheesy, but it was sweet (I think?) at the time. I was excited to revisit my mod podging days, and I got this idea off of Pinterest.  Using photos, paint, mod podge, and unfinished wooden plaques (found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels for only a few dollars), you can create wall art. plaque modpodge

I painted the plaques using three different but similar neutral colors (a beige-ish, greenish and grayish neutral) and let them dry.  I then distressed them by sanding them and added a light drybrush of another color.  Finally, I cut my photos and glued them on with a mod podge. Mod podge is really easy to use – you just brush it on!  After you have the photos glued in place, you can mod podge the entire plaque – just brush right over the photo.  I did a couple of layers on each plaque and let it dry.  Mod podge looks white when wet, but it will dry clear and become shellac.

frames2

It’s an inexpensive and unique way to display some of your favorite photos.

wallgallery

What Mod Podge memories are you going to create?

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