Ivy & Co.: Kilz

Showing posts with label Kilz. Show all posts

Friday, August 31, 2012

"that little unusable space" -- grey corner shelving

I recently started a board on Pinterest called "that little unusable space." It was dedicated to this little alcove in my living room that was too small for a chair to be placed in it, but too big to be left alone. A month or so ago I picked up an adorable 1/2 table to go there, (see post here), but I moved it when my mom came in and said, "I need your end table for one of the other houses." No hard feelings toward my mom... that's the nature of living with someone else's furniture in your house!

A few days later my parents were having a garage sale. It was a pretty awesome garage sale. You see, they have 4 vacation rental homes in Maui, which they update frequently, and so they were selling almost everything that wasn't currently being used. (If you are planning a vacation to Maui, go to their FB page to check out the accommodations!) There was this particle board/wood/spindle corner shelf, which I would never buy in a store. But I love the spindles and knew I would love all of it in a different color! I brought it in the house and Kit said, "You're going to paint, that, right?" Normally, he's like, "Why do you have to paint all the wood furnishings in our house?"

So I sanded it. Kilz'ed it. Then painted it in a flat Owl Grey, to match my entertainment center. After my first coat, I left it in our car tent to dry. Well, I didn't get back to it for almost a week. Within that time my husband informed me that birds were perching on it, using it as their toilet! So I had to clean it, scrub it and sand down that disgusting mess on the top shelf. Yuck.

(see the entertainment center in the foreground? match-matchy!)

I like it way better, now that the shelving is not that dated particle board wood color.

On a lot of my furniture I prefer a flat finish, but then feel like I need a clear varnish on it,

especially with a 2-year-old in the house. But since this is just in the corner,

holding a few books and accessories, I left it flat-- no varnish.

So this is what's currently occupying my "little unusable space."

Do you have a space like that in your house?

Oh, and if you have a blog post you want to share,

our 2nd ALOHA Friday link party is up! Click here.

Aloha,

Rebecca

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Ombre Bench

Just finished this ombre bench:

It originally looked like this:

Kit surprised me and picked it up on craigslist for $40.

I was inspired a while back by this bench I pinned on Pinterest:

Source: anthropologie.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

Here's my go-to steps for painting wood furniture:

1. sand

2. prime w/Kilz

3. paint

4. varnish (if there's going to be any wear-n-tear risk)

At first I painted the top portion yellow:

The middle color is actually a combination of the yellow and the espresso color on the bottom. I like to call it "puke green." I actually LOVE "puke green." But, I hated the bright yellow up top. It looked way different on paper. As much as Kit and I want to go back in time and live in 1970s Hawaii, I just couldn't keep these colors. Too "in-your-face" 70s.

So, I turned to my trusty Benjamin Moore Hollingsworth Green, which I've used on my Kids Vintage Rocking Chair and my Upcycled Shutter, and painted over the yellow.

I used painters tape to mark off where I was going to switch colors. It wasn't the best tactic, because I did it right after I primed. I should have done it after I had a good coat of the puke green, then done the light green afterward.

Look at cute Godiva lounging in the background. :)

With some careful strokes and tiny brushes, I got up close and personal with the section where there was painters tape, and did my best to make it flow nicely.

I love it, but don't know where to put it! Kit wants it outside by our BBQ. I did put a clear varnish on it, but don't really want it exposed to sun, wind, Kihei dirt, etc. I want it on one side of our dining table. We will see. At some point I'm going to have to start selling some of this stuff I'm painting! Our 700 sq ft cottage can only fit so much!

Thanks for checking out my bench! Also, we've got a link party happening here till Wednesday night. Would love to have you link up!

Aloha, Rebecca

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Pretty-fied Media Table

I like to stare at pretty things. I've been staring at something that needed to be pretty-fied. I've actually been staring at it for a few years now.

Our dog, Godiva, doesn't look too enthusiastic about this little media table, either.

Ivy and Kit are on Kauai for 3 days, so being that I can do whatever I want after work, I loaded it in the car, and took it home to beautify it overnight. 15 hours later, here it is, right back where it started:

I got some grey mistake paint for $1 at ACE Hardware. I sanded, then primed the particle board media stand with Kilz, really quickly, then applied the glossy grey. 2-3 coats or so... it was pretty much dark outside when i was painting, so it's not the best paint job. There's some definite imperfections. I modge podged the taupe fabric on the top surface because there were so many nicks and a lot of water damage. Paint would have just been bumpy and chipped off. The modge podge went on really poorly on the fabric, so it looks like batik fabric... I'm not happy about that, but for the amount of time I spent, and for the vast improvement, I'm stoked on it.

Prettify-ing this media table was a similar situation to this rolling media table I did back in January (see full post here):

Ivy and Kit come home tomorrow! So there probably won't be anymore projects completed in 15 hours.... But I'm so excited for them to come back! It was fun having my time (and my mind) to myself, but I sure do miss them!!

Aloha,

Rebecca

Monday, July 9, 2012

Antique Child's Rocking Chair

Say hello to the newest member of our household:

It came to me from a co-worker (who lives in an awesome plantation home) like this:

She said she got it in Carmel in the early 1990's. She always wanted to re-furbish it, but never did. I looked online for some type of database that would tell me when it was from, but could find nothing like it anywhere!

Her daughter, Emily, is my student and etched me a great little keepsake in the arm rest:

No worries, though, cause I sanded it down and primed it with Kilz.

Then I painted it Benjamin Moore's gorgeous "Hollingsworth Green."

One coat in:

I had great plans for its new cushion. It came with part of one, but it was ripped and falling apart. I found a mud-nest thing in it, so I decided not to salvage it.

First I measured out the cushion area and the fabric and tacked on white pom pom trim and XL rick-rack:

Next I cut out foam from an old bed foam cushion thingy and made a pillow insert. I wanted the structure of the foam, combined with the cushion of the pillow. I made the pillow insert out of an old towel so it wouldn't slip around inside. It's filled with just basic pillow filler.