makeover | Beneath My Heart

How I Painted my Vanity with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

September 4, 2012 AT 9:36 am 47 Comments

September 4, 2012 By traci 47 Comments

Hey, friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Today, I wanted to show you how I painted the vanity in yesterday’s post.

Warning: I am not a professional painter and never will be. Smile

There is no special or secret method that I use.

Basically, I paint, I sand, I seal.

For this project, I decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I have attended one of Annie Sloan’s workshops on her American tour, but I have never painted a piece of furniture with her paint.

source

Although I have wanted to for a long time.

I have heard GREAT things about ASCP. The qualities I am most attracted to is that you don’t have to prime or sand a piece of furniture before painting with ASCP, and it distresses beautifully.

source

If you want to know more about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I highly suggest you reading about it HERE, from Shaunna at Imperfectly Perfect. She also sells ASCP, so if you want to purchase some, go HERE.

The color of ASCP I chose is called French Linen.

Product Image 3

source

Since I didn’t have to prime or sand, I just began painting with my regular paint brush.

When the paint is wet, it is several shades lighter than the finished color. It will dry into a deep, warm, beautiful gray.

It dries fairly quick. I painted two coats.

Then I sanded the dresser with a sanding sponge on all the raised areas.

It was late at night when I took the next two pictures, so I used a flash. That is why the paint looks like a different color.

After I sanded the raised areas, it was ready to wax.

Before you wax it, the paint looks dry and chalky.

But when you apply the Annie Sloan Clear Wax, that is when the REAL beauty of the paint comes out!

source

(For a great video on how to apply ASCP wax, watch Shaunna’s video HERE.)

Annie Sloan has awesome brushes to apply the wax, but I don’t own one. Sad smile So I just used a cheese cloth. I am hoping to buy one of her brushes soon, but they are a little bit pricey.

I was smiling from ear to ear and filling pretty giddy when I was waxing this piece.

Girls, I was falling in love. Ooh-la-la!

I cannot tell you how much I love this color of paint!

The original hardware looks amazing on this piece. It’s old tarnished brass, I believe.

Painting this vanity was exactly what this bathroom needed.

I’m gonna see how the wax holds up to water drops around the sink. I talked to Shaunna, and she said it should be fine. But if I need to, I will apply Minwax Wipe-on Poly.

That’s it!

SUPER easy.

I love ASCP! It’s pretty pricey, though. Over $30 for a quart. But you don’t have to buy primer, which is nice. It was definitely worth the extra splurge on this piece.

If you have any questions, just let me know. I’ll try my best to answer them.

Have you ever used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint?

What did you think of it?

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, furniture makeover, makeover, makeovers, paint, Paint Colors 47 Comments

Dresser turned Vanity Makeover

September 2, 2012 AT 10:19 pm 62 Comments

September 2, 2012 By traci 62 Comments

I am soooo very excited to show you this project!

I gave you a sneak peek of something I was painting last week.

It was our bathroom vanity! You know…the one that we just re-did?

Yep! We re-did it again!

(I just started singing Brittany Spears’ “Oops, I did it again” in my head.) Smile

The second makeover turned out WAY better than the first.

Let’s take a look back shall we?

We bought this dresser at a thrift store last fall for $50.

I immediately knew that I wanted to turn it into a vanity for our master bathroom.

I was picturing something beautiful in my head. Like this…

4116784323_67f4631d69

Cy worked really hard on sanding and staining our dresser…

He added a drop in sink…

It really was beautiful. I loved it.

But as we continued to work on the bathroom, something wasn’t jivin’ and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I loved the hard wood floors…

I loved the faux wood beams and white washed brick…

I loved the claw foot tub….

But there was something about that vanity that wasn’t sitting well with me.

I think I was having trouble with the dark cherry stain. It just wasn’t working with the walnut floor and beams.

I started thinking about painting it, but I didn’t want to tell Cy.

He was going to kill me.

But it kept bugging me.

And bugging me.

I mentioned to Cy that I sort of wanted to paint it. And guess what? I’m still livin’!

I guess after being married to me for 15 years, nothing really surprises him any more. Smile

So then I started rolling around in my head, “What color do I want to paint it?”

And here is what I decided on…

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen.

Perfection!

(If I do say so myself!)

I was able to add the original hardware back on the vanity, and it looks great.

It is the exact contrast I need between the vanity and the flooring. I was probably more giddy about this project than any other that I have done during our renovation.

I was DYING to show you guys last week! It is EXACTLY what I was envisioning for my bathroom, and I am SOOOO glad I painted it!

So here is my advice to you for what it is worth.

If something isn’t jivin’ in your décor…change it!

Trust your gut!

Just do it!

You’ll be so glad you did. I know I am. Smile

Let’s look back and the transformation of this $50 dresser…

Tomorrow, I will show you how I painted the dresser. It was super easy.

I will also give you a breakdown of the total cost of this dresser turned vanity.

So what do you think?

Do you like it better stained or painted?

Linking this project to…

and

“Show me What You’ve Got” at Not Just a Housewife

“Furniture Feature Friday” at Miss Mustard Seed

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, furniture makeover, makeover, makeovers, New Home, paint, Uncategorized 62 Comments

Fireplace Mantle Headboard {for a little girl’s room}

August 9, 2012 AT 10:13 am 16 Comments

August 9, 2012 By traci 16 Comments

Hello, friends!

I hope you are having a great week!

I wanted to share with you one of the projects I completed for the Habitat House last Sunday.

I knew that I was going to need to make a headboard for Jurnei’s room, but wasn’t sure exactly what to do at first.

Can you believe that the very first day of our 5 day journey that Lindsey spotted this headboard at the Habitat Restore in Detroit?!

Brooke and Lindsey started yelling, “Traci! Traci! Come here! You’ve got to see this!”

We knew immediately that we could use the fireplace mantle for a headboard. It was the perfect size to use for a twin bed.

Here are some inspiration pictures that we found on Pinterest…

source

fireplace mantle headboard

source

Aren’t they beautiful?!

Here’s how we made our headboard:

First, Cy cut a piece of plywood the same size of the inside of the fireplace mantle.

I laid the plywood on top of batting about 6 layers thick. Then I trimmed the batting around the plywood, pulled it over the top, and stapled it to the board.

Because we were rushing to get the rooms finished before the home owners arrived, I didn’t have time to take a lot of pictures.

But I did the same thing with the green material that I did with the batting. Just pull the material over and staple it to the back of the board.

I was also wanting to make it a tufted headboard with buttons, but again, time did not allow.

I found some tutorials online for you on how to make a fireplace mantle headboard. Just click on the links below.

Cy attached the plywood to the fireplace mantle with screws, and then he mounted the mantle to the wall.

Because we were running out of time, and the family was arriving in just minutes, Cy nailed a two by four horizontally to the wall and then attached the mantle to the two by four with long screws.

We were thrilled with how it turned out!

The adorable wall decal is from Leen the Graphic Queen.

Leen donated the wall decal to us. Here is the link to the decal in her store if you would like to purchase one for yourself.

Butterfly Name Wall Decal ($20.00)

I believe that Jurnei was thrilled with her new room!

I pray she has many sweet dreams in her new bed!

Have a blessed day!

Linking this project to…

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under DIY projects, makeover, makeovers, Uncategorized 16 Comments

Budget Breakdown of the Kitchen Makeover

January 12, 2012 AT 11:59 pm 71 Comments

January 12, 2012 By traci 71 Comments

Happy Friday, friends!

I am still trying to answer the many questions about our kitchen makeover.

One of the main questions I keep getting asked is: “How much did this cost ya?”

Well, we paid approximately $3,300 for our floor to ceiling kitchen renovation.

That sounds like a lot of money!

But when you remember what it used to look like…

And compare it to what it looks like now…

I think it was DEFINITELY worth the money, don’t you?

Let’s be honest. If we had hired out all of this work, from floor to ceiling, it would have cost us about $11-12,000!

However, we did 100% of the labor ourselves, so this renovation was a third of what it would have cost us otherwise.

That’s pretty darn good.

So here is the (approximate) breakdown of what it cost:

(click on the pictures to see the post about each project)

375 square feet of Southern Yellow Pine (Lumber Liquidators)

(3/4 inch by 5 inch) – $1.25 sq foot = $465

Flooring supplies (oil-based stain, semi-gloss polyurethane,

wood conditioner, floor sander rental, sand paper) : $200

Baseboard and Crown Molding: $175

Paint for cabinets and walls: $120

Cabinet hardware (Lowe’s): $50

Wood plank ceiling (Lowe’s): $240

Pantry doors (Lowe’s): $300

Recessed lighting: $40

White Subway Tile (plus adhesive and un-sanded, pre-mixed grout) from Lowe’s: $175

Open Shelving (3/4 inch MDF cut at Lowe’s) and Corbels (Home Depot) and Trim: $240

IKEA butcher block countertops (stain and poly): $525

Farmhouse Sink (Signature Hardware) $600

Faucet (Home Depot): $100

Supplies for making extra lower cabinet: $40

And that’s it!

I’m sure there were a few more miscellaneous expenses that I forgot about.

Like maybe the 128 times we went out to eat because I had no kitchen in which to cook.

Or a table to eat on…

Oh, those were the good ole days!

But we made it through!

And I’m so glad we did!

(I promise this is my LAST kitchen renovation post for a while!)

Now it’s time to get (back) started on our addition!

So, do you think all of our hard work was worth the $8-9,000 savings?

Did you think our renovation would have cost more or less than what we spent?

(Please say more, please say more, please say more…)

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under husband's handiwork, kitchen makeover, makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 71 Comments

Decorating Open Shelves

January 3, 2012 AT 1:43 pm 40 Comments

January 3, 2012 By traci 40 Comments

I will be honest that when I began putting items on my open shelves in the kitchen, I was a little nervous.

Mainly because I have seen so many pictures of beautiful open shelves in blogland, that I knew mine would never look that good.

source

http://jonesdesigncompany.com/decorate/our-kitchen-2/

But two days before Christmas, I went to work putting items that I already had on my shelves.

And to my surprise, it wasn’t as hard as I thought.

Now, they may not be arrange perfectly (as far as a “designer” may be concerned.) But for me, they work!

Most of the things on my shelves are hand-me-downs or Goodwill finds. The only “expensive” dishes I have are my Willow House dishes. (Most of which I got free for hosting parties or I bought them when they were severely on sale.)

I wanted a wreath for my window, so Cy went to Lowe’s on Christmas Eve day and picked up this real one on clearance. It was a little dry, but it was just what I wanted!

I just added some ribbon that I already had to hang it in front of the window.

The only part of the shelving that I did not like was above the microwave. It was Christmas Eve, I was tired, and I just threw what I had left up there.

I tried to space the pops of red and green dishes throughout my shelves.

Like I said, I know that someone else could probably do a better job styling my shelves (like my buddy, Layla), but for me, I love the way it looks.

Some of you (like my sister) said you would not like open shelves because you would always worry about it not looking “right”. Or it would stress you out when things were out of place.

I totally get that. I mean I REALLY get that.

I worry about that too sometimes.

But it was so easy putting this dishes out, that I think I will be okay.

I will let you know how I like my shelves throughout the year. It’s going to be fun to “grow” with this kitchen.

Do you worry about styling open shelves?

Also, winners of the

Jeanne Oliver Designs Ecourse are:

1. kelly (cooperkelly4)

I would love to win this!!! I need all the crafting help I can get. =0) Your Winner

2. Misti (sabinecreek)

This sounds wonderful!

3. Kim (ckaasa)
This looks so fun and like a great way to start the new year!! Happy New Year to you!! :)

4. Connie Wuske

This would be AWESOME! Thanks!

5. Cindy Burke

What a perfect giveaway for the beginning of a new year!! I would love to participate ..what a blessing! thanks, cindy

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover, open shelves 40 Comments

IKEA Butcher Block Countertop {Answers to your questions}

January 2, 2012 AT 4:08 pm 40 Comments

January 2, 2012 By traci 40 Comments

Happy 2012!!

I am so excited about this New Year! And I am so excited to share it with you.

The holiday rush is now over, and I am in the mood to get things in order. Are you?

One of the things I wanted to do is try to share a few posts with some more details about my kitchen. I had a lot of you ask questions about the specifics of our makeover like paint colors, stain color, etc.

So I am going to try and answer those questions. (Hope you are not getting sick of my kitchen. Smile )

Here is some information that I wanted to share about our IKEA butcher block counter tops:

Here is the link to the exact butcher block that we purchased…http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20057397/#/60057395

They come in different types of wood, lengths, and depths.

Cy cut the pieces of butcher block so that there would be a seam right under the faucet, and two 45 degree seams in each corner.

Cy wanted me to make sure that I told you that he used PL Adhesive to adhere the seams together.

This stuff is the bomb! When it dries, it is actually stronger than the wood that it is holding together. By using this adhesive, it eliminates the chance of the seams splitting or shifting over time.

He also attached a 1×2 underneath the seams with screws for extra strength.

After the butcher block was attached to the cabinets, we needed to fill in any gaps in the seams with wood filler.

Here is a little trick:

When sawing the butcher block, be sure to save some of the saw dust from the floor.

Then mix some of the saw dust with the wood filler before filling the seams.

This will help the wood filler blend more evenly with the wood and help the seam to accept the stain the same as the rest of the countertop.

Next, just press the wood filler mixture into the seam with your finger.

Once the filler is dry, you can sand it smooth with a sander.

Once the seams were all filled, Cy then sanded the whole countertop really well and then applied ONE coat of this stain…

You can see that the stain gave the wood just a little bit of a deeper color.

Then we applied 4 coats of Satin Polyurethane, sanding lightly between each coat.

Perfection! I love the way it turned out!

In the video below, you can see how Cy made the rounded corners in the wood around the sink. We applied a bead of caulk between the wood and the sink to keep the moisture out.

I’ve had my countertops finished for a couple of weeks now, and I can honestly say that I am thrilled with them. They are extremely durable and easy to clean.

Here is a little video I made of some footage of Cy working on the counters.

If I didn’t answer one of your questions in this post, please let me know in the comments, and I will get back to you. Smile

Have a blessed day!

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under husband's handiwork, kitchen makeover, makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 40 Comments

Before and After Pictures of our Kitchen Makeover {without mouse over effect!}

December 28, 2011 AT 2:30 pm 65 Comments

December 28, 2011 By traci 65 Comments

I know these pictures are a repeat, but I wanted to share the before and after pictures of our kitchen for those of you who cannot use the mouse over effect on your computer.

It was just too many pictures to put in yesterday’s post.

So here they are!

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

We have a few more things left to do, and I will share those with you soon.

I will also answer a bunch of your questions about our counters, lighting, floors, etc. in a future post too.

THANK YOU so much for all of your sweet comments! Sharing this kitchen renovation with you made it so much more bearable during the difficult days.

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under kitchen makeover, makeover, makeovers, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 65 Comments

Before And After Kitchen Makeover Pictures {mouse over effect}

December 27, 2011 AT 7:24 pm 89 Comments

December 27, 2011 By traci 89 Comments

Happy Week After Christmas!!!

Are ya hangin’ in there?

My boys are having a blast playing with their Christmas goodies, and I am getting the itch to get things organized around here. Are you feelin’ the itch?

Before I show you the pictures of our kitchen, I wanted to ask you to check to see if my blog feed is working in your readers. Some people have told me that my feed isn’t working. It isn’t working for me in my Google Reader either. The last post shown is from the middle of December, which means some of you may have not seen my last TEN posts! Yikes! I posted a lot of great stuff these past weeks, so be sure to check it out.

I am having so much fun sharing with you “before and after” pictures of our kitchen.

I can hardly believe our kitchen ever looked like the “befores!”

The following EIGHT pictures have the “mouse over effect” on them.

Just move your cursor back and forth over the pictures to see the “before and afters.”

*You will not be able to see this effect in your email or readers, you MUST click on the post title and view this post on my blog page. So come on over!

If you were not able to use the mouse over effect, do not despair! Smile

I am sharing before and after pictures without the mouse over effect in my next post.

See you then!

Linking this post to…

And Addicted2Decorating 2011 Year in Review: Room Makeovers Linky Party!

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under kitchen makeover, makeover, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover, room makeovers 89 Comments

A Laundry/Mudroom Makeover Re-visited

August 29, 2011 AT 11:47 pm 18 Comments

August 29, 2011 By traci 18 Comments

Last December, we built a laundry/mud room in our garage. We were trying to sell our home at that time, and we thought a laundry/mud room would help the house to sell.

Here is a before picture of our garage:

My very talented husband studded up some walls in the corner of our garage to create our new mud/laundry room…

He did all the plumbing and wiring himself, and created this little storage bench exactly like I wanted to store the boys’ shoes…

Four separate storage spaces for four sweet little boys’ shoes. HERE is the video of how he made it.

Cy also installed the board and batten treatment in our laundry room. You can see how he did it HERE.

We were so thrilled with how it turned out, and I had a blast decorating it!

I completed some of my favorite DIY projects to decorate the room on a tiny budget.

One of my VERY favorite projects I have ever completed on my blog is this $3.00 Pottery Barn Style pendant light makeover.

I probably get more emails about this project than any other!

Some more DIY projects for the laundry/mud room included:

This velcro skirt for the mud sink.

This mirror makeover for above the mud sink.

And this little blue mason jar soap dispenser.

I also made another Ballard Designs inspired shelf for my laundry room.

You can see the tutorial of how to make it HERE.

I was so proud of this room, because Cy and I worked so hard to complete it together. It was a lot of fun. And to be honest, I miss it like CRAZY!

But I have great plans for our future laundry/mudroom in our new home. However, it may be several years before I get to that project. :)

Thanks for letting me share our DIY laundry/mud room with you again!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under crafty project, husband's handiwork, laundry room, makeover, makeovers, mud room, room makeovers 18 Comments

Kitchen Island Makeover by My Suite Bliss, PLUS a Word Art Giveaway!!!

August 26, 2011 AT 8:29 am 3 Comments

August 26, 2011 By traci 3 Comments

I am so happy to have Brittney guest posting for me today. She has some great little projects to share with you,

plus a GREAT word art giveaway!

Be sure to click over to her blog to enter her giveaway, and say, “hi!”

Hello! I am so excited and so lucky to be here today on Beneath My Heart!

My name is Brittney and you can find me at mysuitebliss.blogspot.com.

I love decorating. In fact, I often stay up for hours in bed dreaming about my next project. If you know me well, you know that I am always up to something around my house, and my blog is a journal where you can see all my projects. My favorite part about decorating is recreating a million dollar look for less!

I am here today to share with you my most recent project . .

Meet my old kitchen island:

Meet my NEW kitchen island:

Here you can take a peek at how the process went down:

All I did was trim out the ends (home depot $20), paint everything white (Sherwin Williams white duck), add new drawer pulls ($Lowes 4 each), add corbels for a bar addition, and then add the walnut butcher block stained in midnight (greyloch cabinets $460). I wish it took as long as it sounds. A project that takes patience but well worth it!

Here is a photo that gives me inspiration in many ways…white cabinets, black board paint in creative places, an amazing chandelier, and of course the large EAT letters.