Paint You Will Love!

If you are wondering why it has been more than 2 weeks since my last post....well....it is kind of a long story.

It has been an interesting couple of weeks around Sweetwater.

Mr. S had his right ankle totally replaced 3 weeks ago! 
The surgery was very successful....but...the recovery time is LONG. 

The guy who spends much of each day out and about is now unable to put weight on his foot for another 6 weeks and then slowly working to walk on it. 
Poor guy...not being able to get out on his own is driving him crazy.....but the good news...his ankle doesn't hurt anymore!

And...the Sweetwater Grandboy thinks Grandpa's Scooter is fabulous!




After a couple of weeks of "nursing" and "fetching and carrying", things are getting back to normal for me at least.

So...you can imagine that I have been putting off doing any projects that might get in the way of the scooter!

But finally...we said..."enough is enough" and it was time to get busy!





This painting project is the result of one of those "If you a mouse a cookie" scenarios.

A few weeks ago.....our refrigerator gave up the ghost!
When we went to buy the new one....we chose a different finish....black stainless steel!  Gorgeous!
BUT....
That meant we needed new dishwasher, oven and microwave too! And new cupboard hardware too!
Long story and installations later....the kitchen looks amazing!

So what am I painting?
Note the green wood on the table and chairs that Mr. S and the Grandboy are standing next to.
They no longer looked "just right" with the new appliances. 

It decided to paint them a soft griege color!

Finally....the point of the post!
THIS PAINT.....I am absolutely in LOVE with it.
It is amazing!

Heavy Duty– Premium 100% Acrylic Interior/Exterior Eggshell

Heavy Duty 100% Acrylic Enamels are an excellent choice for a multitude of applications including interior walls and woodwork as well as exterior trim applications. This finish is ideal for use in new home construction, existing homes, schools, nursing homes or anywhere that extreme durability is required

Features & Benefits
• Interior/Exterior
• Manufactured with the finest titanium dioxide
• Excellent Hide
• Good Burnish Resistance
• Very Good Washability

Yes...it is expensive...about $60 a gallon...but worth every penny. It is one of those spend to save deals.
Why?
The surface that you are painting only needs a good clean surface...
I suppose you could sand too, but I didn't and the coverage is great. 
It goes on so smoothly....
It dries in 30 minutes and ready for the second coat in an hour.
It cleans up with water!

 If Mr. S was at full capacity....the chairs would have gone to the basement and I would have done them all at once....

Instead, I put a tarp down in the dining room and did them one at at time.

This is when the quick drying and second coat time was nice.

When one chair was done....I moved it back and then did the next one.

 

It took me 6 days to get it all done.

I cannot tell you how wonderfully the paint covered in 2 quick coats.

I love the quality of the finish.  It feels almost like the original factory paint.

I love that the new color isn't all that different than the old....just the RIGHT color.

If you have a painting project that you are putting off because you don't want to do a lot of sanding and priming.  This is the paint for you.

I think it would even be a good paint for kitchen cabinets ....but I am not quite that crazy a DIYer.

Have A Great Day!

How To Save $$ on Patio Planters!

Yikes!  

Have you SEEN the cost of already planted patio planters at the nursery or Farmer's Market?

There are at least eight big patio planters here that need plants!

Even at $25 a pop....that would be a budget breaker for me!

Here is my lower cost solution for big good looking planters!

I use perennials for accent plants.

Yup....

all those plants that need dividing in the big gardens find a temporary home in the planters!

Shades Of Gray!

Don't worry!  This blog hasn't gone X-rated!

I am not talking about the books....but the shades of the color gray!

 Gray is one of my new favorite colors!

 It plays well with so many other colors!  

Gray was the obvious choice for the paint for the re-do of a little chest of drawers in the lower level.

Right now the carpet down there is dark navy blue (what was I thinking....as the owner of 2 white haired cats)!  We are contemplating new carpet for down there....it might be gray or maybe I will have a new  favorite color by the time we get around to that project! 

The other reason that gray was the obvious color choice has to do with "Use What You Have"!

There was almost a whole quart of lovely, shiny gray paint left over from the garage door painting project!

Look how shiny and bright that is!

I won't bore you with the process of painting a piece of furniture.....you are bright people....you can GOOGLE IT if you need to!

It was a simple matter of a good sanding to even out the years of dents and gouges.....

Then 3 coats of paint.....with a light sanding in between.

The paint I used was Rust-O-Lem oil based....again...because I originally bought it for the metal garage door.  

The oil based paint is kind of a pain to work with, but it does have the best shiny finish!

These pictures don't really show the actual color very well....but I really like the way it turned out!

Take a look at this "inspiration piece" !

Seriously.....who would EVER pay $2335 for a chest of drawers....PEOPLE...there are starving children in the world !

I don't have to feel guilty about my cute little gray chest....total cost was the $16 I spent on the new drawer pulls!

There is still some gray paint leftover in the can.....HMMMMMM?

Have a Wonderful Day!

Link Parties
Miss Mustard Seed  

My First Chalk Paint Project-Resources for the Beginner!

On the TO DO list here at Sweetwater are a couple o furniture painting projects.

These projects involve furniture that has been oiled or waxed.

That means that in order for MOST paint to adhere properly.....there needs to be a lot of prep work involved.

If you know me....I HATE prep work!

 This little end table started it's life in Mr. S's childhood home.....

It has seen several different coats of paint.....and I would have to say that the latest coat is probably my LEAST favorite...

Bad color....and the (my) paint job was less than stellar!

This is also a nice small project!

Perfect for my first foray into the world of Chalk Paint!

Seriously....as ugly as this is....what could I lose!

Many of my favorite bloggers are always "waxing" eloquent about Chalk Paint....and the projects they showcase are pretty wonderful!  But to be honest, I never much paid attention to the products or the process these clever DYIers were using.

It was time for ME to do my research....which of course I am  sharing with you!

If you want the very basics about Chalk Paint....check out this post from Chic Mouldings!   It has basic information about using Chalk Paint....specifically the expensive Annie Sloan product....but the information is generic.

What I learned:

When you paint with Chalk Paint you do not need:

X Prep
X Sanding
X Sealing
X Cleaning
X Priming
X Solvents

If you use Chalk Paint you can paint over just about every surface, wood, plastic, tile, metal, or glass. The paint will even  cover a piece of furniture that has previously been sealed with wax. 

Wow....I knew this stuff was popular....now I see why!

But "Sweetwater,,,,we have a problem!"

Annie Sloan paint is super expensive (in my humble opinion)..

....more problematic...it doesn't seem there are a lot of places around here that sell it! 

....even more problematic....I wanted to do this project NOW.....not wait until I could go to the store....if I could find a store! And remember....we are in a Polar Vortex...so no way was I going out!

More research.....and guess what....there are recipes out there to MAKE YOUR OWN Chalk Paint....

Hmmmmm....now that is way more "Sweetwater Style"!

 This is a great post with several DYI Chalk Paint Recipes from Salvaged Inspirations!

Diane over at In My Own Style does a comparison of DYI Chalk Paint Recipes HERE!

Source

Since I am all about "Using What I HAVE", I opted for the Plaster of Paris recipe....because I HAVE some!

I mixed it up.....poured it into the paint I had....with a little help from Marvin of course....

Hmmmm.....I wonder if you can Chalk Paint a cat?

I won't bore you with all kinds of pictures of the process.....I figure you all know how to paint!  Or if you don't.....just GOOGLE it!

I only did one coat of the Chalk Paint on this.....then a little sanding and distressing....and a lot of elbow grease with the coat of Johnson's Paste Wax....which I had to thaw out because it was stored in the garage!!!!

I am pretty pleased with this simple transformation.....and I learned a bunch about Chalk Paint! Mainly that it is simple....inexpensive....no fuss....and very forgiving!

I can't wait to decide on colors for my other painting projects and get them done soon!

Have A Great Day!

Link Parties
Kammy's Corner  Live Laugh Rowe  

DYI Knock Down Popcorn Ceiling

 Did you know that with a some Planning, Perseverance, Patience and Plaster (no...really joint compound) a couple of People can replace a Popcorn ceiling with a  knock-down texture!

Now... I love popcorn as much as the next person.......

 BUT....NOT

on the ceiling!

and sadly most of the rooms at Sweetwater still have popcorn textured ceilings.






A couple of years ago....Mr. S and I did a knock-down ceiling in one of the guest bedrooms.

After a few Laurel and Hardy Moments...

You know the quote.... "Here's another NICE mess you've gotten me into."

 The project turned out to be a success!

The Master Bedroom ceiling had a pretty big crack in the corner....we think the roofers had a dance party up on the roof when they reshingled the house a couple of  years ago!

We knew we should tackle doing the knock down in this room...

Well...for the last week we have been scraping and painting and spraying and troweling and now it is DONE!

If you are looking for a instructions for redoing your popcorn ceiling....this is NOT that...

There are lots and lots and lots of websites to do that...(how do you think we learned what to do?)  At the end of this post I will  link to some of the sites that have great directions for doing the removal of the popcorn and the process for the knock down.  

This post is to show you that if Mr. S and I can successfully remove and replace the popcorn ceiling in a room...YOU CAN DO IT too!

Basically, there are 4 steps to the process!

 Sounds simple....sounds like a quick job....how hard can it be?

Well....it is a little harder and a lot more time consuming than you might think!

Look at the mess from scraping the ceiling!

 WHAT WE LEARNED!

1. Totally empty the room you are working in.....there is NO way you can work around furniture....this is a messy, messy project!

2.  Take your time....each step is messy....we did one step each day.

3.  Clean up as you go... the time spent getting rid of the mess from each step made it seem less over-whelming.  

A roll of brown paper protects the wall from the overspray!

4.  Take time with room prep for each step....masking tape, sheets and paper are your friends! And don't forget a wet sponge and Goof Off for little mistakes!

This is me....up to my elbows adding water to the texture!

5. Follow the directions in the tutorial you choose....we thought that the recipe for the spray used too much water...we used less...it wouldn't spray...so we needed to add more water to the mix after the fact...a messy time suck!

Aren't I just a fashion queen?!!

 The ceiling looks great....the room has a fresh coat of paint....the carpet is shampooed!
Now we just need to move the furniture back and we are done...done...done!

Was it worth it?

Absolutely!

We probably saved more than 2/3 the cost of hiring this done...

We had more than a few laughs....
The ugly cracked ceiling is repaired...
The windows and woodwork got washed!

I suppose we could have spent the same number of hours
and dollars going out on the town....

but hey...I am a cheap date!!!

Mr. S kept track of our expenses and here is a break-down:

Sprayer Rental...$51.00

Sheet rock mud...$12.00 plus another $5 for supplies to repair ceiling

Room Paint.........$74.63                                  

Ceiling Paint......... $44.54  

Roller pads, tape, masking paper, sanding pads etc.... $69.49

Now a little disclaimer....at Sweetwater we do have an abundance of tools from lots of other DYI projects...so we didn't have to buy them for this one!

Now....if YOU really want to try this...here is the tutorial we used as a reference!
This guy knows his stuff....

Family HandyMan

The How to has it all....tips, tools, materials, supplies!

Oh...and another thing I learned in this process....when the dust was falling...

and I didn't have a scarf or hat on....I saw what my hair would look like if I went totally grey!  Not happening soon!!!

Have a Great Day...and I would love to hear from anyone who has had this done professionally....just curious if we really saved money with out DYI!

Link Parties  DYI Home Sweet Home    
Three Mango Seeds   Make It Pretty Monday   
A Diamond in the Stuff   Coastal Charm  Kammy's Korner  

Goodwill Chairs Make Over!

 My blogging has been put on hold the last days because I have been sooo busy living my life....no time for projects!
BUT....
I got this great email from my daughter  while we were enjoying ourselves in Memphis this weekend!
SHE was doing a project and is letting me share it with you!



Email text: Hey Mom....Look what I did!



$4.99 for each chair from Goodwill
plus $12 for paint and fabric from the fabric box!


Who says the pumpkin doesn't fall far from the pumpkin patch.....?








Here is how she did it!

Happy Friday-Sharing TIme!

I am putting on my librarian hat!
I'm doing what all good librarians do....


".... picks liberries from wild liberry bushes and makes a liberry pie. Mmmmh! Mmmmh! So delicious!"
R. Lee Hadden


No actually a librarian's whole job is finding stuff  you just have to read or learn!

I have been doing my research just for you!



Isn't this picture interesting?
I made it using a new FREE App for my iPad.


Read on to learn more!