Entry Table and Chalkboard Makeover

My husband and I bought a home last year, in our home you walk right into a wall right when you come in the front door.  I needed a piece of furniture that was not too wide, that was cute and affordable to go in that space.  I also did not want it to be too personal with pictures of my family in case someone strange knocked on my door.

I finished this project about a year ago, but I got an email from Wood Creations Furniture that they wanted our Color Story for Red, White & Blue Projects.  They inspired me to write this up!

I spent a total of $40 on our front entry furniture plus paint. 

This is the end result....

Now, it did not look like that when I bought it...   This is what the entry table looked like before....

It was VERY sturdy, all WOOD, great BONES, very narrow, $40 and EXACTLY what I wanted except for the color.  My decoration style is definitely Farmhouse/Shabby Style so I definitely need to paint it.   I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the Pure White.  I painted it with two light coats of paint then I heavy roughed it up with sandpaper.    I LOVED the results!

I then needed something to go above the entry table.  I really wanted to do a family picture, but my husband didn't want everyone that came to our door to see our family.   So, I decided on a chalkboard. A while back my sister, Brittany, gave me an ugly picture and frame that she was going to throw away.  I stuck it up in my attic thinking that I would eventually come up with something to do with it.  I decided to make it into the chalkboard...

  I took the picture apart and painted the frame with the matching Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White.  Then I used Chalkboard Paint and painted the glass for the actual chalkboard.   You cannot even recognize it is the same piece!!!

I absolutely LOVE how my entryway looks now especially for $40!!!  The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is SUPER easy to use!

My New Project-Sewing Hutch

As Briana said in her last post, we bought a house at the end of October and have been completely remodeling it.  Don't worry, I will post pictures... 

It has definitely been an adventure, to say the least!

Right now, I am currently trying to get my sewing room completed.  I have never had an actual "sewing room" so it has been super fun buying furniture for it.  

My most recent project is this hutch....

I found it on Craigslist for $75 and it is one heavy and Sturdy piece of furniture!  I am planning on stripping it and giving it a new white finish!

Here are some pictures of the hutch taken apart...

        

My New (Refinished) Computer Table

Years ago, we found this table on the side of the road.  I was so excited!  I couldn't believe that my neighbor didn't want it any more!  So I quickly enlisted my boys to walk down to her house and pick up the table and drag it to our house.  I knew that I could use it for something. 

 For a while, this table served me well as my craft/sewing table.  I always had the intention of painting it and making it look cute, but I just never took the time to do it.  It needed a bit of work before I could paint it.  It was pretty wobbly.  

Fast forward about 4-5 years...

I finally finished the table!  My husband made the table sturdy, my boys sanded it down and helped me paint it and then I glazed it and...I love it!

I can't believe that it took me so long to finish!  One of the reasons it did take me so long was that I remained indecisive on what paint color to use.  I debated over white and black, then turquoise.  But when all was said and done, I decided to use Valspar's Bungalow Gold.  Since we are renting right now and all our walls are white, I wanted to do a splash of color to decorate around.  And this was the perfect choice! 

After the sanding and painting, I decided to glaze it.  I tinted the glaze with ebony stain.  I painted it on and then wiped it off.  I  really liked all the imperfections of the wood, so I left as much glaze as I could in all the knicks and scratches and grooves of the wood.  It turned out amazing and is now the new home of my computer!  

Dresser Makeover using Homemade Mod Podge

One of our most viewed posts of all time is our Homemade Mod Podge.  Now this recipe isn't ideal for every crafting project, but it is a cheap and simple alternative.  
Recently, one of our readers emailed us a few pictures that she took of a dresser she redid using the Homemade Mod Podge.  

   I thought that the results were too amazing not to share, so I asked her if I could share her pictures and story with all of you.  And I was so excited when she said yes!

 

This is what Jennifer said:   "I found your mod podge recipe on pinterest recently.  A week later my cousin gave me a colorful and sturdy dresser for my 7 year old, self proclaimed, fashionista...because she keeps outgrowing her dresser!  She asked me to paint her dresser purple ...but I really did not have the room, or money to devote to the project.  I picked up a huge damaged paper pack at Michael's a couple months ago for a sweeeet price that would really make this dresser wild and I thought that it would be a fantastic time to try out that mod podge recipe.  So on a Monday morning after I got the kiddos on the school bus I started measuring drawers and paper and cracked out the ole calculator (I haaaaaate math).  I cut up my paper and layed it out onto the drawers, (to check my measurements....not to shabby) sanded the surface slightly and started mod podging.   I distressed the mirror using some shimmer spray in the color sunflower, that I had in my scrap-booking kit, and added some paper scraps and a light sprinkle of glitter while the mod podge was still wet.  Next I cut out some leopard print shaped and mod podged them to the top of the dresser in a swirl pattern.  My dad painted the knobs and pulls a nice golden metallic hue.  I sanded the edges of everything and this is the end result...My girlie just loves it!  In total I devoted about 8 hours to the project and spent about $10.  I also gained a new addiction to add to my growing list of crafty addictions...decoupaging!"
Here are the before and after pictures:

Didn't Jennifer do an amazing job?  Thank you so much for sharing.  

We had a reader ask if the Homemade Mod Podge can be used as fabric Mod Podge.  I haven't tried it with fabric.  So I thought that I would ask you all.  

Have any of you tried it on fabric?  And how were the results?  

Thanks!  You are all awesome!

 

Hand-Print Pumpkins

On Friday, I posted a fun pumpkin painting activity that I did with my children- Glitter Pumpkins.  Here is another pumpkin decorating activity that we did...

Hand-Print Pumpkins

This activity was just as fun, but it did required more work on my part- helping my 2 year old with her hand-prints.

I had my children pick out their pumpkins from the garden.  Then we used Martha Stewart Pearl Paint, you can find it here...  I actually really liked this paint and the consistency of it.  It made this project a whole lot easier having paint that went on the pumpkins nice!

   My children just did hand-prints all over the pumpkins.  

   We let them dry and we were done.  FUN and EASY- my kind of project!  

What kind of pumpkin decorating activities do you do with your kids?

Glitter Pumpkins!

This was a really fun activity for my children!  

My children LOVE painting and LOVE pumpkins, so this activity is PERFECT for them!

GLITTER PUMPKINS

We actually grew these pumpkins from our garden and my children picked which ones they wanted- which was really fun.

  I got the glitter paint at JoAnn's.

Here is a link to the paint on Amazon.

I just put some of the Glitter Paint on a plate and had my kids paint the pumpkins with their hands.  

They LOVED smearing the paint everywhere!

 After they were done painting, we let the pumpkins dry overnight.

This was a SUPER cheap and FUN activity for my children!! They LOVED it!

Horseshoe Necklace Holder

I have been getting overstocked with necklaces, my personal ones and the ones I make. So I decided to go and create something out of my parent's scrap treasures! So I found this really antique mahogany board that my dad has had for about 12+ years! I cut it over 2 feet long and with horse shoe nails, nailed 3 used horseshoes to it. It costed me $0 cause I have such cool parents! 

 That is really antiqued paint, not new stuff here. :o)

Here is the rake head that I found and posted a few weeks ago. It now holds all the necklaces that I sell in my shop.

 Oh yes, and ALL of these are for sale in my shop called Western Hospitality. In fact I decided to share a coupon code with all of our Babblings And More Followers. Enter ILOVEBLING for 20% off in our Western Hospitality shop.

Step Stool Chair Makeover #3

If any of you have been following our blog, you know that I absolutely ADORE the old Cosco Step Stool Chairs.  Well, I finally finished my last Step Stool Chair for my daughter!  Here is the finished product.

 Here is a picture before...  I paid a $15 for this chair at a yard sale- I thought it was a little high, but it is in perfect shape!

These chairs are SUPER easy to do!  I just taped up the stainless and spray painted the steps red.  I used Rustoleum Spray Paint (it taked forever to dry, but it is WAY worth the wait).  Then, I recovered the seat by using hot glue, vinyl tooled leather and trim.

Now my Step Stools match each other!

You can check out my other Step Stool Chair Makeovers by clicking HERE and HERE!

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Burlap Music Picture

I made this picture about 14 years ago at an Enrichment Night Activity before I was married.  It has been hanging up in every house that I have lived in ever since.  Music is a big part of my life, so I have really loved this picture. 

 I haven't done anything to it until about a month ago, I painted the picture black and I love it!  I think it brings out the black in the music. And I think it looks so much better!  The frame was just a natural brown wood before.

So this was really easy to make!  We had this song printed off on a transparency type paper.  This song is found in the LDS Children's Hymn Book.   For the background, behind the song, I used burlap.  I taped the transparency and burlap to the mat and you're done!

I usually hang this up by my piano.  It's easy and beautiful!

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Step Stool Chair Makeover #2

Back in October I posted a Step Stool Chair Makeover that I did for my sons chair.  In the makeover I used some Iron-on Vinyl for the material.  It looked really good for a couple months.  My son, being 3 years old, constantly picked at it until the vinyl eventually peeled off.  So, I redid the makeover using some tooled leather vinyl. 

 Here are some pictures...

I really liked out it turned out and I think that it will definitely hold up better with my little boy.
Here our some pictures of the stool before...

To this... see the makeover HERE.

To this...

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