School of Restoration: DIY Chalk Paint

Hello and welcome to another class in the School of Restoration! Yesterday my next tutorial was posted up on The Divine Minimalist. In case this is your first class, my name is Jesse and I post monthly tutorials that teach different techniques you can use on your furniture.  Today, I am so excited to be sharing the long awaited DIY Chalk Paint tutorial.  You've probably heard a lot about chalk paint lately, and if you haven't then you're about to.  It took me a long time to finally try this stuff, for no other reason than sheer laziness. If you have the same problem I had, then I'm here to motivate you to get to it.  This paint was easy, fun & is soo soft!  It sticks to almost everything which is why I knew it would be perfect for this roll top desk a friend gave to me.  Enough talking, let's get to it!

Bar Stool Brainstorm

*** UPDATE: Finished stools HERE***

I recently finished up the Roll Top Desk using chalk paint for the first time, wow - that was great! So great in fact, that I'll be doing it again with these beautiful mission style bar chairs my sister picked up for me (thanks Denise!):

San Francisco - Part 2

I've gathered up some more San Francisco pictures to share. I've been having so much fun with all the new photo editing capabilities in the new Picasa, I hope I don't get carried away! Collages. are. awesome.  Anyway, after we left Clear Lake last Thursday, we head down to San Francisco for the remainder of the trip. I love that city - correction, I love that city when I'm on foot.  Driving around there can be a real test on your patience, not to mention you  miss almost everything there is to see! Once we parked that car in the garage that's where we wanted to leave it for the next 3 days.  After settling into our home away from home, it was time to start exploring.  These Bromeliads caught my eye from about 40 feet away...

Clear Lake & San Francisco - Part 1

Wow, vacation flew by! We had a lot of fun and got in a ton of sunshine & relaxing, I have the tan lines to prove it!  It's amazing how exhausted you can feel after a vacation though, I guess it's all the traveling, or the overdose on Vitamin D, who knows.  So for those of you who may have missed my vaca announcement, we decided to take a last minute trip up to Clear Lake, California and hit up San Francisco on the last leg of our trip.   So this will be a "Part 1" because I haven't collected all our pictures yet, as they are spread across my phone & camera, as well as everyone's phones & cameras we were with. You know how that goes! So for now I threw together some fun postcard-like collages to talk about.  We'd never been to Clear Lake, so let's start there:

How To: More Sunburst Mirrors

I know, I know - I've talked about sunburst mirrors before, but I promise this will be my last time. I just love them!  There are so many different styles you could do, and the fact that most all of them are easy DIY projects brings them even closer to my heart. Ha!  So, for today, here's a gallery of a few favorites with links to their tutorials:

 Sunburst Mirror from Bamboo Sticks

 Sunburst Mirror from wood shims

This one is great because it's a little more attainable than the paint stick sunburst. As much as I loved that one, I am too nervous to grab 100 sticks or so! I feel like a larger mirror for the center would be great.

 Another wood shim tutorial

 Beautiful Chrysanthemum Sunburst mirror - from plastic spoons!

Wood Shim Sunburst - sideways placement

Another spoon mirror! I never would have thought they would look good when you hear it's made of spoons, but there they are! Lookin' pretty.  Alright, that's the last time I'll burden you with my sunburst obsession, well, until I make my own. I'm sure you'll hear all about that!  Since it's the weekend, maybe now is a good time to pick your favorite and start up a weekend project - there must be a wall in your home that is asking for one of these! Share if you decide to tackle the project, and have a fantastic weekend!

Sneak Peak: Roll Top Desk

I finally did it, I tried chalk paint! I see what all the fuss is about now, this stuff is really amazing. It coats great, so soft to the touch, and distresses so much easier than regular latex.  I decided to try it on my first roll top - double gamble! I didn't know what I was getting into, luckily the whole process was relatively painless.  Here's a sneak peak:

Featured on: Redoux

Karen over at Redoux hosts some of the best link parties, and I was lucky enough to be featured in last week's party! How flattering.  This was the Armoire I did for my last tutorial, which you can see here if you missed it.  Head over to her blog, Redoux, for the full post.  Thanks Karen!

Update: Beach Towel Bookcase

Last Thursday I posted about the Beach Towel Bookcase that I started.  I wasn't sure how to finish it up, and after throwing a few ideas around (thanks everyone!) I decided to keep it simple. I did very minor distress, since it had a few natural flaws from age.  Here she is:

What do you think? Of course I had to do some fun staging before I listed it for sale.  That's one of my favorite moments, not just seeing the finished piece - but setting it up! I think it helps people visualize it in their homes. I thought the stark white ceramics and the pop of yellow would be perfect with this fun & bright shelf.  It's for sale here, message me for more info.  Have a great day!

Gettin' Outta Dodge

Gettin' outta dodge! Isn't that the saying when you are leaving town? Who knows.  So, luckily a few friends and myself were able to get some time off of work, and threw together a last minute trip.  I mean, really last minute - we finalized plans last week!  We pretty much let the room availability be our guide, and it came together nicely.  What started as 1 or 2 short overnight trips, turned into a week long vacation. I couldn't have asked for anything better!  Destination: Clear Lake followed by San Francisco.

Party Time & Pinterest Picks: Paper Chains

Whoah, it's Friday the 13th! Let's have a party.  Today's party time is also a Pinterest pick, that's a lot of P's! I've posted before about DIY paper decorations, and after I came so close to making them for fourth of July, I am officially adding paper chains to that list.

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Paper chains, I'm sure you remember those!  The picture above is not just paper chains but ombre paper chains. What a winning combo. I've always had a thing for these simple decorations, they are easy to make and look awesome.  I admit, there was a time I wouldn't dare decorate a party with these chains. It was the teenage years, and could you blame me? In elementary school they had us make tons of those for every holiday, or so it seemed.  Maybe the teacher just needed to keep us busy, who knows! So after 6 or so years of these things everywhere I looked there was no way they'd make an appearance at my party. No.Way.

Luckily I'm not a teenager anymore and I can get back to adoring and appreciating these awesome chains. Plus, thanks to the magical internet, we can share all these creative ideas & uses for paper chains with each other.  Just like I'm doing today.  Do you like green?

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Because I do! The monochromatic chains above add a lot to what seems to be a St. Patty's Day Party. Bring on the clovers! Speaking of holidays, get ready for the cute:

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Ah, jeez! With just a slight tweek to the technique, you can spread the love all over your party with these heart garlands. There's one more holiday garland I found, that's so sweet & cute I was almost sick:

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Yea, those are carrots. Carrots! I couldn't have come up with that. I don't necessarily throw big Easter parties, but now that I've said that out loud, I'm sure the day will come when I am nominated to host some sort of Spring fling.  Now I'm prepared.

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See, so just keeping around a pair of scissors, a stapler + a million staples, and some fun paper will always leave you prepared for the last minute decorations. They don't take long either, just pop a movie in and by the time it's over you'll be swimming in these. My only warning is to put your cats to bed early, they can't resist tearing these apart.

Alright ladies & gents, there's just a few more reasons why every party, no matter how big or small, should be all decor'd up. It's not hard, practically free, and will make you fabulous. It's fun, everyone will remember them from childhood,  and you can customize them to get the exact look you want.  For more party ideas, see my Party Time posts and my Party Time board on the ol' Pinterest.  While you're at it, browse around my Pinterest Picks posts too, they're kinda fun. Have a good Friday the 13th and a good weekend, it's Party Time!

Beach Towel Bookshelf

I thought today I would post a little bit about some of the things I've been working on lately.  I've been fortunate enough to have a good chunk of time off this July, and I'm going to put that time to good use. I hope!  I've got a long list of projects that need taclking and this is the perfect time.  Aside from all the string art orders lately (thrilled!) I've managed to set aside some furniture time. Which I didn't realize it as much before, is my favorite time.  It's relaxing, I get to take a break from orders, blogging, marketing etc. which can surprisingly eat up a huge chunk of time! So these first few projects I'm embarking on should serve as a real treat. Here's the latest:

Spotlight: Diamond Light Bulbs

Last night I had a dream about these light bulbs (weird..I know) and it reminded me that I meant to post about them.  I saw these while browsing around for antique looking light bulbs (which I found, see my ghost lamp post) and they flew right onto my wishlist. Designed by Eric Therner and available in his shop:

How To: Succulent Dresser

A while back in one of my Pinterest Picks posts I featured succulent furniture.  Now, I just chose these images straight off pinterest - and wouldn't you know what came through Shelterness not too long ago? The full tutorial to make that cute dresser!

How To: Clean Plank Wall

I have been meaning to share this tutorial for a while!  You know how I love the look of a wooden accent wall, like in this post.  Well recently I came across another excellent tutorial on Sweet Pickins, that gives a similar, but cleaner look:

I love it! This does so much for a room.  It stands out as unique without taking the full spotlight or crowding the space. Plus, it looks as though you could do this from start to finish in one weekend.  Maybe I'm wrong, who knows! Either way, this could add a lot of character to any room, and I'm so happy (and thankful!) that the full tutorial is available here, on Sweet Pickins blog.  Sausha has a lot of great posts, this is one of my many favorites.  Head over and check it out!

Spotlight: Modular OSB Furniture

I recently came across these amazing modern shelves from the Etsy seller Modosb.  Aren't they great? Stackable, modular, totally customizable.  I love their simplicity. The colors he chose for the stains are great, very fun combinations.  I can totally see a future living room of mine having a major colorful book case from this shop.  There are some tansu style as well, which I've always been a fan of.  I've seen this type of wood used before, and assumed it was plywood.  Though when I went to find the plywood at the hardware store, it never looked quite the same.  Today, I learned that it is actually oriented strand board, and I love it!  Here's a quote from his shop that explains the wood much better than I can:

"Oriented Strand Board OSB is a modern engineered product that is designed as a replacement for traditional plywood in the building industry. It has been created to make strong and light panels. It is more eco-friendly than traditional plywood."

If you look at that dresser on the bottom right, you can really see the details in this unique wood. Very different from traditional wood grain, and affordable. Bonus! Hop over to Brian's Etsy shop and browse around.  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

School of Restoration: Color Wash

Wow, is it July already?  These months keep sneaking up on me. Welcome to another session in the School of Restoration, that I did for The Divine Minimalist.  Today I want to touch base on one of my favorite techniques, the color wash.  This is perfect when you want to update something with color, but still want to show the underlying wood grain.  I chose to do this outdoors since it's pretty messy, plus it's been beautiful out lately.  Before we start, check out my before and after:

Materials:

• Furniture
• Sanding sponge
• Fine & Medium Sandpaper
• Water based paint 
• Empty containers for mixing
• Paint Brushes
• Minwax Polycrylic - Satin
• Old shirts or clean rags
• Gloves
• Mask
• All purpose cleaner