Homefront: Spray Painting an Upholstered Chair Makeover

After reading Little Green Notebook's fabric spray painting adventure, I automatically went and ordered their upholstery spray paint (on ebay from Tie Dye Girl because it was a tad cheaper). I used a total of two cans on this chair, but I still need one more can because I didn't get the back of the cushions yet, and there are a few more spots that need touch ups. So, maybe two more cans. Which says a lot about me, because on their site, they demonstrate on a whole couch with only 6 cans. (But, I don't recommend for a huge couch. Also, if the fabric has a pattern on it, the pattern will show throguh just a tad. It still wouldn't be as ugly though, but a nice monotone pattern color.)

Our friend gave us this chair, and I actually love it. It's huge! But, I am not a fan of the colors, plus my boys have stained it so badly. I've been covering it with my wonderful vintage granny square afghan, but now that is being torn apart and will need repair. I've wanted to slipcover the chair, but I don't sew, nor do I have a staple gun... though the Hello Giggles girls have a cute alternative requiring fabric and safety pins that I may try later.

The hubs kindly volunteered to help.

I'm rocking an all black outfit, turned inside out, just in case. My toes didn't escape the paint, however.

The neat thing about this paint, is it can be worked and smoothed into hard to get areas with a cloth.

The drips are easily wiped off with a damp rag. I will be sanding the wood down and painting it white later, so I'm not too upset about any paint that remained.

And, because my nail polish got destroyed by paint speckles, I gave them a little gun metal finish. (Yes, I am aware I have a disfigured toe, you can't see it, but that toenail is painted too!)

For my little dream catcher piece, it's just a cheap canvas with a Dollar Store dream catcher pinned on it. I put foam poster board on the back of the canvas for pinning different objects to my canvases when I tire of them. Like my ephemera canvas art tutorial here.

Look, my painted armiore, I don't think I've shown that yet! It still isn't finished ;)

linked to:

Simply Designing Linky Party 

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Modern Country Style Paint Please Party 

Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday.
Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday 
Fingerprints of the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday
The DIY Showoff
I Heart Naps Sundae Scoops
Sugar and Dots What I Whipped Up Wednesday

(not at Frugalicious Friday's Linky, but had to share anyways) 

 The Vintage Farmhouse

Homefront: Christmas at Home

  Our Christmas decorating has undergone a few changes over the past two weeks.

 Our teeny weeny tree (that looked even crazy smaller last year in front of our huge apartment window)

 got knocked down a few times...

Then, one day I went out for donuts while the boys were working on cars, (thanks Arne!) and came across this beauty at a garage sale for $10... they even delivered it to us for free.

 I started a tradition of the very first and last ornaments to be placed on the tree to be a nativity, to help us focus on the meaning of the season.

 A little handmade ornament I made a few years back.

 I love this ornament, I bought a few to give as gifts, and my mother in law 

got us one as a gift, she knows me well!

My boys love the Santa, along with the white shabby star/snowflake ornaments we

got on antiquing on our honeymoon.

 Their absolute favorite, a retro Christmas car, from pier one last year I think.

So, our mantle all bedecked with garland (shown in detail here) got turned into the one below. 

Garland with little boys hanging down can only last for so long.

 We used what we could for a little yard decorating. we had more candy canes, but they

got broken by some particularity interested little boys.

The door has this wreath on it I made last year, minus the letter "A" and with some 

additional gold snowflakes added. Christmas wreath tutorial here

 

 We made puppy chow (recipe here) for our neighbors and friends and gave them out. 

Our neighbors thought it was a little weird, do people not get to know their neighbors anymore?! 

I wish we had more baggies of treats to give to our new church friends, but I ran out! 

Puppy chow is super easy and yummy, but crazy messy!

Then I made chocolate covered sprinkle pretzels (recipe here)  for my honey's work. So tasty.

Obviously, you can tell I lack in the actual baking and candy and fudge making component here. 

Any recipes would be most welcome!

 I loved this little bag Isaac got at precshool. A cute little ornament made from scrappy foil confetti and glitter.

Thanks Mrs. Candy for being such a good preschool teacher!

Another one of my favorite honey moon ornaments. A white shabby heart... my little

Caleb broke it a day or so after this pic was taken.

Since we are trying to do less and be more this season, I'm trying to maintain sanity and the remember the true gift we have. If you would like a lovely movie about the birth of Christ to play to help invite that in, this Joy to the World is my favorite. For lots of family ideas to incorporate the Spirit of Christ back into your traditions and heart, this site has plenty of ideas and resources, from family activities to music, games, short devotional videos and inspirational talks. I also recommend this book called, "A Special Place for Santa" by Jeanne Pieper to help tie in the spirit of Santa with the spirit of the Christ Child.



Well my dears, may your Christmas be merry and bright. May your gifts be returnable, your goodies low in fat and your gift wrappings recyclable. May you have safety and peace and get along with those pesky stressful holiday get togethers. May the spirit and love of Christ speak to your hearts and let there be much rejoicing in his birth! May your souls be filled with the glow of the season.

 Merry Christmas!

*linked to Cottage and Vine's home tour and 'sort of'' Nester's home tour.

Homefront: Perfecting a Simple Front Yard

I thought I would do a little update on our new rental's yard. I posted here about how half of the plants were dead, and the roses were badly diseased, tree branches overgrown, weird growths around the trees... so, I did lots of pruning and transplanted a lot of the plants, but they all died anyways. I planted some flowers and the ornamental grasses, as well as some basil and cilantro seeds that are sprouting quite nicely. I love cooking with fresh herbs!

 That dirt area is where the herb seeds are.

**(edited to add, a huge rosemary, basil and cilantro bush are there now... and the rose bush came back!)

These pics were taken Labor Day weekend, so the flowers have grown a lot since then, but you get the idea! Amazing how getting rid of all of the disheveled looking plants in the garden and around the trees made the home feel much more cozy. It is really starting to feel like a 'home sweet home'.

 

For comparison's sake... before and after.

Homefront: Fall Mantel

I'm joining up with Nester's Fall Mantel (Fantel) Linky Party today. Because I did this in a rush, I feel it's too cluttered, but that's alright, I will be changing it Halloween style in about week anyways. So be sure to visit back for that.

I'm not liking the bird, but I love the pine cones, mostly because we have collected them fresh from our new yard, and I've always wanted to do that. I plan to make a garland out of them, maybe for Christmas. This rosemary plant needs to be re-potted, but it smells so nice, and can't wait to use it in my roasted potatoes.

Opinion needed. The "window" mirror is actually black, I placed an empty shabby white frame in front. Should I leave the white frame there, or does the black frame look best? Thanks!

Homefront: Living Room Picture Gallery Wall

The gallery wall is complete. We ended up moving furniture around, for whoever remembers my last post about this room. I had to stretch the gallery out a bit to cover this large space, so it isn't as neat and compact as my last one, but I like having one large art wall, instead of pictures randomly around the room. I ended up using some other pieces that I had in other rooms, but especially love my two new additions.

For whoever remembers my last post about this room, we switched the armoir and tv, and I think there is much better flow in here now.The room feels more functioning and like it doesn't revolve around this huge television.

I  miss my white slipcovers, but thought a change of scenery would be nice, so I am using my old Surefit brown ones instead. This time of year just calls for something a little less bright, though white would look pretty for Christmas time.

My mom visited for Labor Day and she brought with her this lovely housewarming gift. I have admired these paintings by Huldah Cherry Jeffe for several years now at our favorite antique mall, so this is a real treasure.

And my sister, who also visited with her family, brought me this adorable decoupaged sign from the same antique mall. I love the shape, colors, and especially that beautifully ornate antique key. My family really knows me. I'm not sure where to put it yet, but for now, it looks all fancy on this vintage shutter.

Wow, this beast of a fireplace looks so bare now that all of my art is on the wall. I agree, a large mirror would look best there, but the mantel is too weak to support one and I just can't get myself to drill and risk getting in trouble from the landlord. I thought keeping the color palate simple and neutral would look the best. Of course it will be changing frequently, as any of my blog readers know, I must change the mantle!

I still would like to get an area rug, a nice sized coffee table and some end tables, maybe make a cute garland for the mantel, maybe some paint on the armior and tv stand, our family pictures and plate wall up somewhere, but those temporal details can wait. Because all that really matters, are that these boys are happy. Off to make some queso.