New Home | Beneath My Heart

DIY Dressing Table

June 3, 2013 AT 9:44 am 8 Comments

June 3, 2013 By traci 8 Comments

Hey Friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Mine was super busy and super wonderful. We had very special guests at our house this weekend, and I will share some pictures with you later this week. Smile

I want to remind you about the Summer Tour of Homes that started today!

Just click on the picture below to start the tour! Have fun!

Today, I wanted to show you how Cy made my dressing table in our new master closet.

I knew that I wanted a dressing table in our master closet. Because of where the windows and lighting were in the closet, the best spot for the dressing table was in this corner.

To make the table, Cy started by drawing a level line the height that we wanted on each wall.

Then he screwed two 2×4’s in the studs of the wall.

To give the table top support, he created a crossbar.

Then he cut the shape of the table top out of a 4×4 sheet of oak.

He trimmed the table top out with 1×2 pieces of poplar wood.

We thought the table may need a little extra support, so we nailed two 2×4’s underneath like legs.

For my skirt, I measured the distance from the bottom of the table top to the floor.

Then I folded my drop cloth in half and laid it out on the floor. The cool thing about drop clothes is that they are “hemmed” all the way around. So I didn’t have to sew a hem on my skirt. I just cut my drop cloth in a way that would make the hems be on the sides and bottom of my dressing table.

I ironed the drop cloth before I cut it the length I needed.

I hot glued the “unfinished” side of the drop cloth to the backside of the 1×2 trim underneath the table.

There was really no rhyme or reason for how I glued it on. I just folded a piece of the drop cloth over and then glued it. (and burned my hands several times!)

Since I had two pieces of drop cloth, I hot glued one piece to half of the table, and the other piece to the other side of the table.

Lastly, I filled in the nail holes with wood filler, sanded them after they were dry, then painted the table top white. I also applied a coat of poly to the top.

I LOVE my new dressing table. It’s going to be so nice to sit down while I put on my makeup and fix my hair.

And I love that it is hidden in my master closet so that I don’t have to worry about leaving a mess on my bathroom sink countertop. I can just hide it in here! Smile

I will share some info about the accessories in this room soon!

Where do you do your hair and makeup?

Do you like using a dressing table?

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Filed Under closets, DIY projects, drop cloth projects, husband's handiwork, master closet, New Home, Uncategorized 8 Comments

How to build a Fireplace Surround

October 11, 2012 AT 10:03 am 29 Comments

October 11, 2012 By traci 29 Comments

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my Fireplace Makeover Reveal yesterday.

I wanted to hug all of your necks! We (mostly Cy) worked so hard on that fireplace surround, so it was great for us to read all the great positive feedback. I felt like y’all were giving us a bunch of “high fives”, and it was awesome. Smile

If you came to my house to see the fireplace in person, you and I would look something like this…

And then we would go get a Coke at McDonald’s to celebrate, and probably eat chocolate too.

Today, I want to show you the steps we took in creating our fireplace surround.

Cy had to get pretty creative to make it work, but he did it.

We were using this picture as our inspiration…

source

There were two problem areas on our fireplace.

1. The brick stuck out in two different places.

2. The vents were going to need to be covered up by the surround.

Cy started the project by building a frame above the mantle ledge to create a flat surface between the two places where the brick stuck out.

To attach the wood to the brick you need to first drill a hole in the brick with a concrete drill bit. Then drill through the wood as well.

Next, add PL Adhesive by Locktite to the back of the wood…

Then attach the wood to the brick using a concrete screw.

The brick on top of the fireplace stuck out a bit, so Cy had to come up with a way to create a flat surface on the front.

He used his level to help him figure it out.

By attaching a “filler” piece to the 2×4, he was able to create a level surface to attach the plywood to.

Once he had his frame, he added a large piece of cabinet grade birch plywood to it.

Next, we added 1×6 boards of Poplar wood to create the “planks.” You could use pine or mdf boards to save money because you will be painting them.

If you put nickels between each board as you attach them, it creates nice even spacing between each board.

Next, Cy began attaching ripped pieces of 2×4’s below the mantle (the same way he did above the mantle) to create a frame to attach the birch plywood to.

He cut and attached birch plywood directly below the mantle…

And down both sides of the fireplace to cover the vents…

Because we wanted to cover the vents, we had to attach the wood a little bit closer to the fireplace opening than we would have liked. We only have about 4 inches between the wood and the fireplace opening on the sides. Therefore, it technically cannot be a working fireplace. It doesn’t work right now anyway, so we are okay with that.

Cy added a 2×4 to the front brick ledge and trimmed it out with the birch plywood to create the mantle.

Next he covered up the mantle and the sides of the fireplace with ripped 1×6 poplar boards to fit.

He also added 1×4 poplar boards to picture frame the planks above the mantle.

Then there was a lot of adding decorative trim to the fireplace.

It is really up to you how you want to trim out your fireplace. We just chose the pieces we liked and added them.

After Cy finished trimming everything out, he caulked all of the crevices. Don’t forget to caulk! It makes a world of difference!!

I forgot to take an after picture of the picture molding that Cy add with 1/2 x 3 inch poplar, but you can see it in the picture below.

I painted the wood with two good coats of white paint, and the brick with Ebony Fields by Valspar. It’s a gorgeous blackish, grayish, brownish color. Smile

Cy also cleaned out the inside of the fireplace and spray painted it with a high heat spray paint.

And we were finished!

You can see in this picture that I also painted our front door the same color as the brick. It really made a huge difference in the space.

Hopefully I can get the mantle decorated soon and share it with you.

If I left anything out, or if you have any questions about this process, feel free to ask!

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Filed Under fireplace, husband's handiwork, New Home 29 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

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

How to White Wash Brick {Bathroom Update}

August 22, 2012 AT 4:28 pm 97 Comments

August 22, 2012 By traci 97 Comments

For anyone who is new to my blog, my family lives in a 1400 sq ft ranch that we are updating and adding on to.

The addition to the house includes a master bedroom and bath downstairs and two bedrooms and a bath upstairs.

When we added our master bedroom and bath to the side of the house, I knew I wanted to leave the brick wall exposed instead of covering it up.

The only problem was the brick was not pretty. If you can see where the lamp is shining on the brick, it is very orange-y.

It looks a little darker in the picture below, but it definitely had an orange hue to it. Try as I might, I didn’t think I could decorate around orange brick.

So at about 11:30 pm the other night, I got a hankering to white wash the brick.

I posted about my idea on my Beneath My Heart facebook page, and I got a bunch of “Yeah! Do it!”

So full of courage, I mixed my wall color paint (SW Natural Choice) half and half with water.

I actually used my glass measuring cup, added two cups of water and two cups of paint, then mixed them together.

It gives you a milky consistency.

(Some people white wash with a lime and salt mixture, but not I.)

Then I just painted the brick with the mixture. Be sure to put down a drop cloth because it can get really messy!

It goes on white, but as the white wash dries, the brick color begins to show through.

Here is what the brick looked like with the first coat of white wash on it.

It looked really good, and I was excited about the process. I shared the pic on my facebook page again, and everyone gave me big thumbs up!

But the brick color still showed through a little too much for me. I needed the brick to be a little whiter.

The paint mixture had thickened up a little by the time I got to the bottom of the measuring cup, so I added a little more water. I had to do this several times. I would add a little more paint, then water it down. There is no perfect formula. You just want to water down your paint color

NOW HERE IS WHERE I FREAKED OUT!

It was about midnight, and Cy was tiling the shower next to me. I add the second coat of white wash on and the brick turned completely white.

It wasn’t pretty. I said to Cy, “Oh no! I’ve ruined it! The brick is going to be completely white!”

But there was nothing I could do at that point, so I had to finish.

Luckily, as I continued to paint up the wall, the brick below me began to dry and the brick color began to show through. WHEW! It just takes a minute for the brick to soak up the paint to give it that white washed look.

I was so relieved! And I was very satisfied with how it turned out. You can still see the detail of the brick, but it got rid of the orange color. And it gives me a more neutral palette to decorate around.

We have not finished the trim work around the doorway or the ceiling.

Cy will finish that this week.

I definitely love it! And now I cannot wait to white wash my orange brick fireplace!

I plan on doing that in the next couple of weeks. Can’t wait to share it with you!

Here is a little white washed brick “eye candy”

for you!

source

So what do you think?

Do you like the brick natural or white washed?

(You won’t hurt my feelings.) Smile

Have you ever white washed brick before?

Linking to…

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Filed Under bathrooms, makeovers, New Home, paint 97 Comments

How to Refinish an Antique Claw Foot Tub {Check out my New Tub!}

July 9, 2012 AT 12:32 pm 65 Comments

July 9, 2012 By traci 65 Comments

Last year, we found this great antique claw foot tub on Craigslist.

You can see the video HERE.

Well, it was finally time to refinish this baby!

So Cy set the tub up outside on some saw horses this past week.

I’m not totally sure how completely safe this set up was, but it worked for us. Smile

As you can see, the tub needed a little TLC.

I took a picture of the bottom of the tub to show you when it was made. How cool is that?

Cy used an orbital sander, with 80 grit sander paper, at first to get the flakes off the outside of the tub. With a cast iron tub, it is hard to get a perfectly smooth surface.

Next, he sanded it with 120 grit sand paper, and then 220 grit to get it as smooth as he could.

There were a few spots on the tub that sanded down to the metal, so he sprayed those spots with a spray primer so the paint would adhere.

Next, he chose to use white automotive paint from PPG that we had left over from another job that he had done a couple years ago. Many people use automotive paint for the outside of the tub, but it is not necessary.

You could use the same tub and tile kit that we used on the inside of our tub (see below) on the outside of the tub if you wanted.

Aaaahhh…doesn’t it look beautiful already?

Next, it was time to apply gel paint stripper on the inside of the tub. Cy didn’t have gloves on at first, but he quickly put them on, along with safety glasses. This stuff will eat your skin up!

Let me tell you that my husband did this work in 100 degree temperatures! It was BRUTAL!!!

He spent hours in the sun stripping the inside of the tub. This was the most difficult part of the whole process by far.

He used a scrapper and wire brush to help strip off the paint.

I kept bringing water and gatorade out to him about every 10 minutes. The boys and I watched him work from the comfort of our air conditioning inside the house.

He is such a hard worker! I think I fell a little more in love with him that day. Smile

After he cleaned up all the paint residue from inside the tub, he used his sander again to smooth out the surface.

He used 180 grit sand paper.

You can see that there was rust around the drain.

So Cy covered the rust with a spray primer/sealer.

Here is the spray primer that he used. This will keep the rust from coming back and help the paint to adhere to the metal.

To paint the inside of the tub, Cy used this Tub and Tile refinishing kit from Lowe’s. It’s about $40 for a box, and we used almost two boxes.

Homax Quart Interior High Gloss Paint and Primer in One

We bought the spray on refinishing kit, but Cy said there is also a brush-on kit you can purchase as well.

You want to make sure you spray the epoxy paint on in small, smooth strokes.

We did three coats of epoxy, lightly scuffing with steel wool between each coat. Cy also used a tack cloth between each coat to get any dust/steel wool particles off the surface.

Notice the red towel Cy is holding? It wasn’t for the tub, it was for his head because his sweat kept dripping into the tub. That’s how hot it was!

For the claw feet, we just removed them from the tub and lightly sanded them before painting. You can spray them with a primer first if you want, be we didn’t.

We used some Valspar metallic spray paint at first

I wasn’t crazy with the results. It looked a little dull.

I was hoping for a shinier, “chrome-ier” look on the feet, so I went back to Lowe’s and got Rustoleum’s metallic spray paint.

I was super happy with the results! I don’t know if you can tell the difference in the pictures, but the Rustoleum spray paint was definitely shinier than the Valspar spray paint.

We left everything dry real good before bringing it back into the house.

Here is Cy hooking up the tub faucet.

Here is Eli enjoying the running water we FINALLY have in our bathroom! Woohoo!

Now we have a beautiful claw foot tub to enjoy!

I love the way it turned out! We have about $250 dollars in this tub (minus the faucet), and I think it is just as beautiful as this claw foot tub that sells for about $1,200 at VintageTub. And that is on the low end of prices. Bella Casa 54 Inch Cast Iron Classic Clawfoot Tub Wall Drillings

Cy also finished the window trim in the bathroom this weekend. I will be posting a video tutorial of that soon.

What do you think of our “new” claw foot tub? Do you think the money we saved was worth all the hard work?

If you have any more questions about this process, just let me know!

Thanks!

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Filed Under bathrooms, New Home 65 Comments

Summer Open Shelves in my Kitchen

June 18, 2012 AT 7:00 am 25 Comments

June 18, 2012 By traci 25 Comments

Layla is having a Summer Mantel Party over at her blog, The Lettered Cottage today!

She asked me if I could like up my summer mantel to her party. Problem is, I don’t have a mantel to decorate. I have a fireplace, but no mantel. It DID have a mantel, but it was barely hanging on. Adam pulled on it one day and the whole thing came down! Since I want to paint the fireplace sometime, I haven’t done anything with it yet.

Soooo, I told Layla that I couldn’t participate in her party. And then she said, “Could you decorate your open kitchen shelves?”

Well, yeah, I guess I could! Layla said her party is for any shelf, ledge, mantel, etc!

So I got together some things around my house and decorated some of my shelves!

When I think of summertime, I think of LEMONADE! So I decided to create a lemonade station in the kitchen where the boys can fix themselves a refreshing cup of lemonade at anytime.

I am absolutely in love with these daisy cut mason jar lids! I wanted to find some fancy striped straws for my pictures, but couldn’t find them in time.

For the shelves, I placed a brown basket that holds cloth napkins on top, a green pitcher I got from Marshall’s a few years ago, pewter salt and pepper shakers, and a large white serving tray that was my mom’s in the background.

The green goblets are the ones I got from my Pier One project. For a touch of yellow, I put some real lemons in a glass hurricane. It’s hard to see, but I have some dainty fruit cups that were my mom’s stacked on each side of the hurricane.

For the “FREE Lemonade” sign, I used a piece of our wood flooring left over from our addition and wrote on it with my Chalk Ink pen. I also cut out a chalkboard label on my Silhouette machine and wrote “lemonade mix” on it for my glass jar.

I bought some white daisy flowers from Kroger’s for $3.99 and put them in a tin bucket. They make this space looks so fresh and summery! Why don’t I buy flowers more often?

I’m very pleased with how it turned out, and it definitely brightened up this side of my kitchen!

Now hop on over to Layla’s for more summertime inspiration! I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Also, the winner of the $50 Home Depot Gift Card giveaway is…

Debra Cheuvront!

Congratulations!

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Filed Under kitchen inspiration, My Kitchen, New Home, open shelves 25 Comments

Our Utility Grade Hardwood Oak Floors {Facts and Pictures}

June 14, 2012 AT 10:36 am 43 Comments

June 14, 2012 By traci 43 Comments

I shared on facebook two days ago that we were beginning to sand and stain the wood floors in our bedroom.

I cannot tell you how giddy I was that day!!! This was a huge step that I had anxiously awaited for because I knew that it was one of the last steps before we can move into our bedroom. Did I mention I have been sleeping on the couch for two weeks?

I wanted to tell you a little about the wood we chose for our floors.

We chose 3/4 inch by 4 inch wide Utility Grade /White Oak from Lumber Liquidators. Mainly because of the price, but also because of the character of the wood. It only costs $.99 a square foot because they are pieces of wood with flaws.

Here are the negatives about utility grade flooring:

1. There is a lot of waste.

As Cy was laying the floor, he had to throw out or cut down a lot of pieces of flooring because they are unusable. We purchased 1,700 sq ft and are going to be able to use about 1,100 of it.

They will tell you at Lumber Liquidators when you purchase utility grade flooring to expect waste.

2. It takes a lot longer to install.

It takes longer to install because you have to sort through a lot of pieces of wood to find the good pieces. Unlike other wood flooring where you can just pick up a piece and quickly nail it down. Also, with utility grade flooring, there are a lot of shorter pieces which makes the process take longer.

Here are the positives about utility grade flooring:

1. Character

I LOVE the worn, not perfect, look of the utility grade flooring! They have so much character and give our floors an “old house” feel and look.

2. Price

It’s only 99 cents a square foot. Seriously, how can you beat that?

Cy installed the wood flooring all by himself. It was a ton of work.

We did have a professional sander that Cy is friend’s with to come in and help sand the floor. Cy has used a drum sander on our other floors, but since the utility grade is a rougher wood, he wanted to use belt sander on them. The belt sander is a lot less forgiving and can eat into the wood in you are not careful with it. So Cy wanted someone who had more experience with a belt sander to sand our floors. Plus, this saved Cy some time, and we were able to get the floors sanded during the day while Cy was at work. Yay!

He also filled any large imperfections in the wood with wood filler before the final sanding.

Then Cy applied the stain by hand with a lint free cloth instead of with a lamb’s wool brush this time. He has learned that you get a much better result if you apply the stain by hand. The lamb’s wool brush tends to leave start and stop marks.

It’s a lot harder to do it this way, but definitely worth it.

We applied only one coat of Dark Walnut stain from Minwax.

Last night, Cy applied a coat of fast drying Satin Polyurethane with a china/natural bristle brush.

Again, in the past, Cy has always applied the poly with a lamb’s wool brush. However, he has learned that to get a more professional look, poly is best applied with a bristle brush.

It’s not as easy, but the look is worth it!

We also used a Satin poly instead of a Semi-gloss poly which looks perfect on this wood!

Cy got up at 3:30 am this morning to put the second coat of poly on the floors. You are supposed to put the second coat on 6-8 hours after the first coat.

Look at the beautiful morning sunlight on our floors!

Next, we are going to buff the floors, and then Cy will apply the third and final coat of poly on the floors.

And then we will be done! Woohoo!

Cy has done an AMAZING and PROFESSIONAL job on these hard wood floors!

All that we have left to do in our bedroom is the trim work. However, the bathroom is another story. Smile We still have to install the tub, toilet, and vanity, and we have to tile our shower. We probably won’t be able to complete those projects until after Haven next week.

If you have any questions about our flooring, feel free to ask!

Have a blessed day!

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Filed Under DIY projects, flooring, master bedroom, New Home 43 Comments

Our Master Bedroom Update!

May 24, 2012 AT 6:00 am 32 Comments

May 24, 2012 By traci 32 Comments

Whew, ladies!

I feel like we are finally making some headway in our master bedroom.

It may not look like much has been done, but believe me, my hubby has been working his tail off!

We have all of the ceiling and walls completed. (That is pine on our walls.)

Some of the crown molding is installed.

We have beautiful new oak on the floor! (I’ll tell you more about that later.) Smile

My husband has installed all of this hard wood flooring by himself. He has worked so, so hard! He usually gets up early before work to go run, then works all day at the bank, and then comes home and works on our house to 1 or 2 in the morning. I’m not kiddin’!

The other day he was installing the hard wood floor, and I noticed that I hadn’t heard the floor-nailer in a while. So I went into the addition to check on him and this is what I found…

Bless his pea-pickin’ heart! He was plum tuckered out!

Have you ever seen something so precious?!!

He was so worn out that he took a little cat nap right there on the tar paper.

I don’t know if I have ever met another man that works as hard as my man does.

I am truly blessed!!!

And he is doing a GREAT job!

I love our new oak floor. We are going to stain it a darker stain. Probably “walnut.”

Our walls will be painted a light neutral color. And all of the trim will be painted a bright white.

We’ve made HUGE gains in tearing out our current bathroom to make room for our new master bathroom. HUGE!

I will share those pictures with you soon.

We are getting there my friends! Smile

We are hoping to be able to actually move our bed into our master bedroom and start sleeping there in just a couple of weeks. WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!

And then I can start decorating!

Here are a few inspiration pictures that I love for our master bedroom…

source

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Filed Under master bedroom, New Home, Uncategorized 32 Comments

Our DIY Under the Cabinet Cook Book Holder

April 30, 2012 AT 10:10 am 24 Comments

April 30, 2012 By traci 24 Comments

Last week, I wrote a post called Simple Ways to Store Your Cookbooks.

I shared that post because I knew I would be showing you how we created a DIY Cook Book Holder for our kitchen.

Before I show you my new Cook Book Holder, let’s take a quick look back at what this part of my kitchen looked like about 5 short months ago.

WOW! We’ve come a long way baby! Smile

Notice the soffit above our cabinets. We tore out the soffit and moved our cabinet boxes up to the ceiling.

We also tore out our old pantry to the left of our oven, and created new cabinet space and a new, bigger pantry.

This is what our finished kitchen looked like the day before Christmas…

Much better!

Since we moved our cabinets up to the ceiling, we created some space under our cabinets for additional storage.

I thought this would be a great place to store my cook books and spices.

So I told Cy what I was kind of thinking about doing, and while I was in Utah at the SNAP! Conference, he made me a new shelf for my cook books.

Here is a video he shot of the process while I was gone…

I love this new storage space!

And I cannot wait to make another one like it on the other side of the microwave for my spices!

So if you are thinking about remodeling your kitchen, maybe you could move your existing cabinets up higher to create some under cabinet shelving as well.

If you would like to view the before and after pictures of our kitchen makeover again, just click on the picture below.

Do you have under cabinet shelving in your kitchen?

Do you have a space you would like to add some under cabinet shelving?

See you tonight for my “Best DIY Projects of April” linky Party!

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Filed Under kitchen inspiration, kitchen makeover, My Kitchen, New Home, New Kitchen Makover 24 Comments

Spring means Spray Paint!

April 19, 2012 AT 8:22 am 14 Comments

April 19, 2012 By traci 14 Comments

It’s Day 4 of RED LETTER WORDS week, and today I am featuring Dee’s beautiful

She Knew Collection…

AND THE

Just For Girls Collection!

Oh my, I love these collections!!

If I had a daughter, you can 100% guarantee

she would have one of these prints in her room!

Every girl, from young to old, need to know how beautiful they are in God’s eyes.

Just enter the code myheart15

if you would like to receive a 15% discount

off your purchase at Red Letter Words

(excluding custom prints and the

Hymn and Folk Song Collection which is already 20% off)

Dee is graciously donating 50% of the profits of sales from Beneath My Heart readers to help sponsor my trip to SNAP! So thank you!

Now to my post!

Growing up, I always knew it was Spring when Mom broke out the cans of spray paint! Smile

Every year, Mom would give all of her outdoor furniture, planters, and other décor a fresh coat of paint with a spray can.

I felt so much like my mom this past week as I broke out my own spray paint cans and began sprucing up my outdoor planters.

I LOVE doing this every year because I feel like I am getting brand new furniture and planters for just the cost of spray paint.

This planter was actually my mom’s and was hanging on her front porch when she passed away.

Since the weather was beautiful out, I laid the planter on a piece of wood in our back yard to spray paint it.

I sprayed the with glossy black paint.

I also went to Lowe’s that day and bought some flowers for my planter. Geraniums are my favorite flowers….RED geraniums to be exact! I also bought some little white flowers plants and a couple of ferns.

While I was at it, I decided to paint my plant stand a fresh coat of paint!

I also touched up a few other pieces with my black spray paint, and then I placed some of them on the front porch.

We haven’t painted our columns white yet because we are waiting to paint the trim when we paint the brick. (Which will be soon, I hope!) So when we paint our brick, all of our trim and the columns will get a fresh coat of white paint.

I cannot wait to see my porch with a fresh coat of paint!

But for now, I am making the best of what I got. Smile