painting Archives - Page 20 of 33

About Me, Before and After, bloggers, Chalkboard paint, decor, Decorating, Furniture, inspiration, painting, ReNew, Upcycling

Why My Grandmother Would Love that I Wrote All Over Her Coffee Table

My grandmother wouldn’t mind that I painted and then wrote all over her coffee table. She was one of the most giving people you’ve ever met. She truly was the type of person that would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. I strive to live up to her legacy every day of my life.

She was also a very lucky lady. I mean lucky as in she could spot a four-leafed clover in a field of them. She was constantly finding money on the ground.

When I was living with her my freshman year in college, she made me do a U-turn on a street because she saw a five dollar bill in the middle of the road! She was a hoot and loved to make people laugh with her jokes or just dressing up as a bunny every Easter.

(That’s my sisters and me in the floral skirt.)

She also won several contests in her life. But, she rarely kept her winnings. One of the things she won was a solid construction coffee table. When I was moving into my first apartment, she gave it to me. We used it for years until my design tastes changed and I bought a new one. Grandma’s coffee table moved into our attic. It sat there for years, buried under bags and suitcases.

When the big tree fell on our house, we did some serious purging in the attic. I should have taken the coffee table to Goodwill or sold it at our yard sale. But, something made me keep it a little longer. Read more

August 23, 2013/22 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Birthday Gift, Crafts, DIY, fabric, Gift Ideas, gifts, kitchen, painting, save money, Sewing

DIY Kids Cloth Napkins Tutorial

Hello Pretty Handy Girl readers, contributor Jaime back again to share an earth-friendly, fun and very useful tutorial as we begin to think about back to school! Today we are talking about creating DIY Kids Cloth Napkins.

Let’s make personalized cloth napkins for kids, I promise they will be the talk of the lunch table at school this year!

I was sending my kids to school nearly every day with a large paper towel to place on the lunch table, gosh knows I don’t want my kids eating directly off the school lunch table! Then it occurred to me that using all those paper towels was extremely wasteful.

The solution: make them personalized cloth napkins which can be washed and reused AND makes for most stylish lunch spot at the table! Read more

August 21, 2013/8 Comments/by Jaime Costiglio

Home & Auto Maintenance, Home Maintenance, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, painting chair, priming, ReNew, repair

Painting Metal Patio Chairs: 5 Easy Steps to an Awesome Makeover

What’s worse than a rusted, faded, and drab looking patio chair?

Not being able to enjoy your outdoor space because of them!!

We all want to be proud of our homes and be able to have friends or family over. Don’t let a little paint get in the way of having fun with your loved ones. I’ve made the mistake of thinking that repainting a metal chair will take forever and isn’t worth the time or effort. But I’m here to tell you that if my wife thinks the chairs in this post look good then you will, too.

By the end of this short tutorial you’ll transform your chairs from looking worn out to AWESOME in 5 easy steps. I did make a few blunders though, so please read on so you don’t fall victim to the same mistakes.

Here are the supplies you’ll need: Read more

July 24, 2013/28 Comments/by Jeff Patterson

cleaning, cleaning paintbrushes, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques

Shur-Line Touch Up Painter Product Review

I’m picky about my painting products. In fact I rarely stray from the same brushes, edgers and paints that I’ve used for over 10 years. As a DIY blogger, I will receive “new” painting gadgets to try from time-to-time. It is rare that I end up liking or using them after initially trying it (consequently I won’t blog about them.) The Shur-Line Touch Up painter, although “new”, actually proved to be a product that I do like! I was skeptical when I first received it two months ago. The concept is that you can store a small amount of your leftover room paint and have it available for touch ups. (Anyone who has kids and pets knows that keeping your walls fresh is a challenge. I’ve used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with good results, but sometimes it scrubs away too much paint.)

After filling the Touch Up Painter over a month ago, I set it aside in our garage until this week.

I had 10 minutes before my girlfriends were coming over for coffee. In one of those last minute scrutinies of my home, I noticed the scrapes on the wall! Eeek.

It was the perfect time to try out this new gadget and quickly touch up the scuffs from the crown molding installation.

When I first opened the Touch Up Painter, I was dismayed to find a big blob of dried paint on the roller. Read more

July 8, 2013/5 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, Build It, Crafts, decor, Glaze, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, July 4th, milk paint, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, sander, Tutorial, Upcycling

White-Washed Patriotic Flag Sign Tutorial

Learn how to make this White-Washed Patriotic Flag Sign and hang it with pride in your home.

White-Washed Patriotic Flag Sign Tutorial

The other day I was at the fabric store but after not finding that perfect fabric for one of my projects, I went to the other section of the store to take a break from it all. While there I saw a little sign that read:

This Is A Place We Gladly Call Home…
and for that we are truly thankful

Those words totally spoke to me! I didn’t buy the little sign but I came home thinking about how to create my own version. The sign was more expensive than the materials to make my own sign ten times bigger!

My sign came out beautiful, especially with the large American flag on the background. I’m happy to show you how to create your own White-Washed Patriotic Flag Sign! Let’s make this sign.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Five boards – 1x6x6 or use pallet wood (6 ways to remove pallet wood)
White, Red & Blue acrylic paint (or leftover latex paint)
Star stickers
Pencil
Ruler
Graphite paper
Sander
Sandpaper
Brown Sharpie marker
Dark brown stain
8 Cup hooks
10 Screw eyes

Optional: Gold Sharpie marker

Instructions:

Cut off the tops to get rid of the “dog ears.” Mark the area for the blue square on the flag.

Add star stickers inside the square. Paint over the star stickers with blue paint.

Paint the red stripes next. After the paint dries, remove the star stickers. Give your boards a light sanding.

You can leave your patriotic sign like this or if you want to give it the white-washed look, continue.

White acrylic paint and water is mixed at a 50-50 ratio to create a white-wash. Apply three coats of the white-wash. Wait for the paint to dry between coats.