Adventures in Furniture Painting (long)

I love all the painted furniture ideas I see on Pinterest. As my friend Lindsey said "I have decided that everything, EVERYTHING looks better painted". I have decided that, too! I have a big project to tackle for Alexa's room redo (with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!), but I thought I would start a little smaller. I did research on all my Pins about painting laminate furniture and painting without sanding and came up with a plan!

This post is long, so for those of you who don't want to read on, here is my project:

Not too bad, huh?

Here's what I did-

My Products:

I got them all at Ace Hardware. Wood filler to fill in the old hardware holes, primer, "Aura" paint by Ben Moore {color-black bean soup} and the top coat. I deviated from most of the tutorials on the primer and top coat and chose products that are water washable {and less fumy/toxic}. We will have to see how they hold up. I also purchased the new drawer pulls at Ace, 75% off for $1.75 each. They match our bathroom fixtures which are all oil rubbed bronze as well.

Tools:

My research said that the Purdy paintbrush is a must, and after using it, I totally agree. It applies the primer and paint so smoothly! The tack cloth is for removing dust from sanding, and I used the foam roller on all the larger surfaces.

It was a long process, mostly due to long wait times, but here goes.

First, I removed the old hardware and cleaned it really well. Once it was clean, I filled in the holes with wood filler:

 I left the whole thing alone for a day. Then came the only, minimal sanding. We sanded the puttied areas and a few other areas that were not level {water damage, peeling veneer} and wiped it down with the tack cloth. Then I applied the first coat of primer:

You can see some lack of coverage with the first coat. I waited 12 hours to paint the second coat, then another 12 for the third:

 {after 3 coats of primer}

I let the primer dry for a few days before moving on to painting. 

 Love the Purdy brush!

First one coat:

 12 hours later, coat two:

 12 more hours, coat 3:

 Then we wait a few days again for the paint to cure and it's on to the topcoat.

You can't really see it, but it goes on thin and milky, and dries clear and is a satin finish. I did 2 coats of Polycrylic with, you guessed it, 12 hours between! 

Finished! Whew!

After that I left it alone for almost a week before I put on the hardware and moved it to its new home in my bathroom:

 Tony got me the really cute contact paper for the drawers.

I love it and I can't wait to get all the clutter put away in it!

First High School Dance

Celeste just attended her very first high school dance and I can not believe how fast time goes (I know I sound like a broken record, but seriously???). She was asked to go by a friend/classmate of hers, Sterling. He asked her by bringing her this bouquet at school:

 Beautiful, Right? She was so excited about her plans, a group date with 6 couples to Monti's La Casa Vieja in downtown Tempe, and then the dance. Since they are all Freshman (and don't yet drive or date) the kiddos and parents all met at the Hayden Flour Mill for pictures, had dinner at Monti's (separately from the kids of course) and then drove them to the dance. Celeste and I went downtown early to do some photos for her "school" pictures. {in case you don't remember how I feel about school picture view here and here.}

So, here are a few of my favorite "school" photos:

 I know I'm not impartial, but dang is she beautiful!

Then it was on to the flour mill to meet up with her date:

 They exchanged the corsage and boutonniere.

 Celeste and Sterling.  

{He happened to match her dress perfectly, which was purple with blue iridescence, but all the photos picked up more blue! Go figure!)

The GORGEOUS girls:

 Angela, Taylor, Katherine, Celeste, Abbie, Kira

What a beautiful group of young ladies!

Kira, Angela, Katherine, Abbie, Celeste, Taylor

And the couples:

 Angela and Eric, Celeste and Sterling, Kira and John, Abbie and Nick, Katherine and Conner, Taylor and Shae.

Conner, Katherine, Eric, Angela, Taylor, Shae, Celeste, Sterling, Kira, John, Abbie, Nick  

Then they were off to dinner at Monti's, Senator's room:

 Celeste said she had a lot of fun at her first dance, and actually even danced! Yay!

She's at it Again

Sophie's definitely bitten by the sewing bug! She asks to sew quite often. She has also really enjoyed baking lately, and has twice searched the internet for recipes and made them all on her own!

So when I saw some really cute baking themed fabric at my fabulous place of work, ETC I had to get them for her. For the following projects I purchased 1/4 yard of 3 cute fabrics. I combined this with about a yard of yellow fabric and a teal fat quarter I had at home. This was enough to make all our projects!

First, I made her apron at a girls late night at my friend Denise's home. It turned out pretty cute even considering I had no pattern and my choice of beverage that night was a soy chai latte with Bailey's (if you haven't tried it, it almost had an eggnog flavor with the Bailey's and was toooo good!)

Anyway, here is the apron:

I wanted Sophie to be able to sew some projects with the left over fabric. We decided on towels and hot pads. After a trip to JoAnn's (for "Insul-Bright" and bias tape) and Target (for cute kitchen towels) we got started. The towel tutorial we found on, you guessed it, Pinterest. It has you cut the towels in half to make 2 from each, which we forgot to do on the first one {center of the photo}.

 We used no pattern for the hotpads but it is just a back fabric, batting, "Insul-Bright" and top fabric quilted together. The edges are then incased in double fold bias tape. That's it!

Here is Sophie and her new baking cuteness {she made the t-shirt at a summer kid's sewing class at JoAnn's}:

 We chose these to hang on our oven since they match the color. Don't hate me for it's retro, shabby look. You're jealous, I know!

 

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Had To Do...

...is say goodbye to this girl:

(This really does not seem very long ago!)

I have been feeling such a range of emotions, at the very top is PROUD. I am so dang proud of this girl for setting such a high goal and reaching it! I am also excited, amazed, nervous, a little envious, and also quite sad. I am mostly sad that this young lady will no longer be a part of my daily life, and I feel a hole where her presence is missed. I feel sad that when she next comes home she will be more like a guest in our home, and that feels weird. 

It is also very rewarding to see how amazingly well adjusted and independent she is! It is such an affirmation of choices we made in parenting. Now, I don't want to get all Time Magazine, "Are you mom enough" on you, but I made some socially tough choices in raising my children {extended breast feeding, family bed, attachment parenting, etc.}. I got a lot of comments from "well meaning" family and friends about these choices. Mainly, the view that if I parent this way, I would raise clingy, dependent children. I knew in my heart that this was not true, and I remember saying to Tony that we are doing the right thing {for OUR children} and that it may not show now, but just wait! Sure enough, here is a young lady ready for anything life has to offer. She is so mature and level-headed, I hardly worry about her. Maybe these "well meaning" people should have warned me that I would become attached, as I am having a harder time with this than Alexa is!

So, enough about me, here are some pictures of Alexa's new home:

 Her dorm, Clark Hall

 Her bed..

 Her desk and beautiful built-in bookshelves..

 Tony photo-bombed me on this one, Alexa in her room...

 Alexa and her room-mate, Katheryn.

And, our goodbyes. These were taken just as Tony and I were leaving:

 We are sure going to miss this young lady!

Sew Done

I have been doing quite a few sewing projects for Alexa and her big move, as I mentioned here . I made a quilt, all on my own, for the first time. It turned out pretty good! I bought the fabrics almost two years ago, along with a pattern for a queen size for Alexa's room. That all went out the window since it took me so long to make! I found a tutorial online and made a twin size for her to take to her dorm.

 It was a really easy pattern for zig zags/chevrons that used all square cuts, no triangles! I think it is so striking on the black background.

Here is a close up to see the beautiful purple quilting, and my not so beautiful machine binding with faux piping.

I have also now finished all of my summer Sew-N-Go class kits. The whole summer series was travel items. Alexa chose the Eiffel tower and purple fabrics for hers. (Sorry about the poor pictures. Bad lighting +no flash and slow shutter speed made them a little blurry!)

 All the finished projects.

 Passport wallet, coin purse, MacBook cover, jewelry roll-up.

 Make up case with brush storage flap/lid, tissue case, mini notebook/calculator cover, mirror, mini case with Q-Tips.

 Pencil case, mini clutch, luggage tags, travel pouch with clear vinyl front for air travel carry on items.

And the final project, a large bag with exterior and interior pockets and ultra-suede bottom with "feet". This bag is large enough for her computer and books.

And just to brag, Sophie has been bitten by the sewing bug. After her successful kids sewing class....:

 

 she had been bugging me to do another project. All on her own she Googled "easy dog shirt instructions" and found a mini PDF pattern. After helping her enlarge it to fit Sadie she chose fabric and tulle, cut out her pieces, sewed them, sewed on the tulle skirt, ALL ON HER OWN! I mentioned she needed to hem the arm and neck holes. She said she wished we had bias tape (like what is on her apron) because that is easier. So I ironed some wide grosgrain ribbon in half and she sewed that around the raw edges. And here it is as modeled by Sadie: