{DIY Painting} Inspiration Projects

The new year is here! 

Maybe you're still packing up all those Christmas decorations like I am. Are you thinking of changing up your decor a bit?

Personalized Drink Bucket {Wedding Gift}

 Let's just say....wrapping presents is NOT my gift! 

I can make a bow, but wrapping presents is just not something

 I've ever spent a lot of time on.

I do appreciate pretty packages!

So, I'm always looking for simple ways to make presents look cute!!

Teenage Boy Room Reveal

 My son's room has been in the works for awhile now, but IT'S DONE!

He had a "cowboy" themed room, and once he turned 13, we began to brainstorm other ideas.

This room has a hodge podge of themes going on, 

like "hunting/antlers", "maps/globes", 

"music/guitar", "rustic", "vintage".... 

 He really liked the idea of sleeping against the wall. We had a trundle bed frame leftover from our daughter's room, so we decided to use that and placed it on the wall with the small square windows.

We found this deep brown duvet cover and shams at PB Teen, grey t-shirt sheets at WalMart, fuzzy pillow at Target, and the serape style blanket online. That set the color scheme!

 There were a few elements that we kept, like this barnwood framed chalkboard. I had made it for his cowboy room, so I repainted the flip side, to have a fresh chalkboard finish.

 I pulled these semi-rusty gym baskets out of the garage...I had picked them up at an antique fair a while back.  Grouped them in a wall arrangement, and put some fun items in there.

 This side table stayed along with his favorite old Ball jar of keys! 

Also, my grandparents old Jiffy Kodak camera.

On the right side of his bed, I hung this old print I found. 

I haven't researched it, but it's a medieval soldier with full armor on. 

I love that the horse is bowing. 

It reminded me of the scripture talking about

 "putting on the armor of God".

 His desk has a classroom map of Europe, from the 50's hanging above it that I found on Ebay, for $8 + $15 shipping! Still a bargain!!

On his desk, I placed this old wooden box, 

that just so happens to have been

used for ammunition. Ha!

If you knew my son, and his fascination

with "how things work"...

you would find this extremely funny!

 Notice one of his books is "Backyard Ballistics"! 

What was I thinking???

 The final touch are the roller shades I stenciled with acrylic craft paint.  

You can find that tutorial here.

My son helped build frames for the small square windows. 

I painted them black, then stapled fiberglass screening and muslin fabric to the back, to filter the sunlight.

Some things you can't see:

 His weight bench is under the chalkboard wall, 

because he's 14 and is working on his "buff".  His electric guitar is on a stand by the left window. His acoustic guitar is usually hanging around by his bed, but it didn't make it into the pic. Neither did his amp and pedals...which are crammed in his right bedside table.

A little bit of "this" and a little bit of "that"!
A TeeNaGe BOy's RoOm!

Linking up here:
French Country Cottage
Bliss Ranch
At the Picket Fence
Funky Junk
Cowgirl Up 

How to Stencil a Roller Shade

 

Paint a roller shade?  The kind that are made of vinyl??
 Yes, you heard right!  

I did some research before I got started, to make sure this was going to work.  I think it turned out great!  Each shade (light filtering) was only about $8,  and you can trim them to size...now that's awesome!!

I've stenciled before...but not always with paint.  You can find that tutorial here.  I'm a huge fan of Royal Design Studio stencils, because they have good quality stencils as well as incredibly beautiful designs.

 I also got to see their lovely stencil creme colors in person,
as they were sponsors at the Haven Conference.  The colors are to die for!
Stenciling ain't what it used to be...
their stencils look like expensive wallpaper!!!

So, when they offered me a stencil of my choice....
I screamed....really I did!!
I had entered their Pinterest contest, and had stencil envy!  You can find my board here for lots of fun stencil ideas.

I'm a huge houndstooth fan, and had been eye-ing that stencil for awhile.  So I went for the all over houndstooth wall design stencil.  It's from their Modern stencil collection, which also has some other super cool designs like zebra, chevron, and chain link etc.

 My 14 year old son's room has been in need of window treatments for...
6 years now, and he liked the houndstooth idea too.
Gollygeewhiz, he deserves an award,
cuz he never complained! and he was so agreeable!!

I had already hung some canvas drape panels, but he had to keep closing them if he didn't want the sun to glare in his eyes every morning.

This is what you need:

REPOSITIONABLE spray mount adhesive (Michael's)
Martha Stewart Satin craft paint in beetle black (Michael's)
Large & medium pouncer sponge brushes
 Royal Design Studio stencil
roller shade (mine is Levolor light filtering @Lowe's)
Matte spray poly sealer

*The MS craft paint is thicker than most, and has great coverage.  The thicker the acrylic paint, the less "bleeding" you will have.  If I was using this stencil on a wall, the creme paint would be ideal.

 I wanted the stencil design centered on the shade, so I marked at the top of the stencil, where the center of the design was with a sharpie dot.

 I rolled out the shade onto a large rectangle table and marked
(on the cardboard roller) the center of the shade.

"Lightly" spritz the back of the stencil with the repositionable spray adhesive, and line up the center dots.  The light filtering vinyl is thin, so I wanted to be careful with the adhesive.

You want your design level, so I made sure my stencil edge was the same distance from the shade edge at the top, middle and bottom.  Press the stencil down, making sure all the crisp edges are secure.

Don't worry if the vinyl puckers a tad (mine did in the center of the "tooth" shape after I adhered the stencil to it, but it painted out fine).

Squirt a little bit of the paint in a small bowl, and dab the sponge pouncer in the paint.  I unloaded that first dab in the center of the design, then pounced my way to the edges.

You want to limit the paint from getting under the stencil edges.

When done with first pattern, carefully hold vinyl while pulling stencil up and away from project.  I layed my stencil (adhesive side down) onto a poster board, while paint was drying.

Once the paint was dry, I went back and dabbed on a little more paint in a few areas where it needed it.  Might not have this issue if you're using a light blocking shade.

 As you can see in the picture, not all my edges were super crisp...I had some seepage...but it isn't that noticeable when the shades are hanging up, so I didn't mess with trying to touch it up.

When the paint is dry, use the guidelines on the stencil to line it up against the painted houndstooth designs.  These laser lines were awesome and made positioning the stencil so easy!  Measure again along the side to keep it level, and you're ready to paint section 2.

After painting sections all the way down, I worked the sections on the sides until all were completed.  I also decided to paint the lower 1" border on the front and back (where the plastic thingy slides in).

When it was completely dry, I sprayed the painted shade with a matte poly sealer.  Mod Podge makes one,
 just whichever one you have on hand.
This will keep the craft paint from sticking.

Shade completed!!  Now if I can just get him to clean up his room, then I could show you the rest.
That would be an awesome Before and After!

Thank you Royal Design Studios for the stencil!!  I love the big and bold houndstooth stencil!!   Do you like it's big and bold awesomeness???

 But wait...check back here in a few days...there might just be a
 *cough giveaway cough*, if you know what I mean!  oh yeah...

Party Linkups:  Home Stories A 2 Z 
Serenity Now 
Tatertots and Jello 
DIY Showoff 
Beneath My Heart  
NY Melrose Family 
The Winthrop Chronicles 
Savvy Southern Style 

Disclaimer:  Royal Design Studios provided me with the stencil of my choice to review, but I was in no way obligated to write a positive review.  This review was totally mine...my words, my opinions, my everything...me, me, me!

How to Emboss Furniture DIY

I completed this project a few months ago, and have loved it, so I thought it was blog worthy!  It also qualifies, since it is simple and quite easy to do.

Embossing can be done on any piece of furniture, or in this case, an existing built in buffet. 

This is what the cabinet looked like before I embossed it.  When building the house, I knew I wanted this piece to look like a piece of furniture, hence the Queen Anne legs and the hardware I chose for it.  

To get started, you need:  Painters tape, a stencil, putty knife (or knife I use for icing), and wall spackling paste.  

I found this stencil online at Royal Design Studio.  This Micah design fit my cabinet size, and I did modify on the drawers.  I taped off the center medallion so it would fit on either side of my drawer pull.  This one measures 4.7" X 21"  and is priced $25.

Wipe down your furniture piece with a wet rag.  When dry, center and secure your stencil to the cabinet or drawer.  Load your knife with spackling, and evenly glide it across the stencil.  If needed, you can go back and add more to areas that are uneven.  

I did a small section to show you...Now, I would go back over it with the knife, scraping excess spackling into stencil design, but off the surface of the stencil itself.  This helps keep the spackling even when you peel off stencil. 

Once you've filled in the stencil with spackling, carefully lift it off.  Clean off any excess spackling, and secure it to next section.  Let the spackling cure and dry for 24 hours.  I lightly sanded the edges that were sharp, or slightly uneven.  Next, I painted the stenciled sections the same color as the piece and let that dry for 24 hours.

Last step is to antique it.  This is my all time favorite go-to Antiquing gel.  It's a deep brown gel that I water down.  (Any acrylic dark brown paint will work as well, just water it down quite a bit)  My rag of choice, is the cloth diaper!  Still have some of those hanging around the house.  (14 years ago they were burp rags! Ha!!)  Anywho...dip the rag in the watery paint and wipe on piece.  Make sure to get it into the crevices, then wipe off excess until you like the look.  You can wipe on and wipe off as much or as little as you like.  

And, it doesn't have to be perfect.  If you notice, in my final pics, the antique finish is varied.  Once the antiquing process is done, just let it dry.  I have not put on a protective coat of poly.  It seems to be holding up fine without it, but certainly could if your piece needed extra protection.  

Would love to hear about the pieces you emboss!  Have fun!!

Find me at this link party French Country Cottage

Restore Interiors

Faded Charm Cottage

Miss Mustard Seed

Coastal Charm