Giving these photo frames...

...a new lease on life.

Here's just one of the thrifty finds I've discovered lately.

Inspired by my sister, I knew what the possibilities were when I saw these frames and it brought at the dreamer in this Southern Belle.

So far, like most of my painting projects, it's not finished.  Surprise, I know.  Its just that I am always waiting for that perfect, peaceful moment that never does quite come to paint.

{photo courtesy of my sister, Jenni}

However, hopefully in the next couple weeks, I'll be able to catch up and not only paint these thrifty finds, but turn them into something beautiful.  

belle

simply . living . life

The Chalkboard Pantry Doors

Last summer (2009) I found this picture

at Better Homes and Gardens, while searching for kitchen inspiration pictures. Of course, I must admit to wishing my pantry was as big as this, but it is what it is! It doesn't mean, however, that it has to be either ugly or boring! ;)

(Which it was.)

Here is a "before" picture of our pantry doors. I actually finished the doors last February, and posted on them at my other blog, Nest to Keep. BUT, I learned something important:

If you use green chalk, and then, while trying to clean it off, smear it on the white trim, it makes the trim green. Permanently.

So being the perfectionist I am, I repainted them. So here they are, "take two"!

There is a "grooved" design around the edges of the cabinet, which separated the chalkboard from the "trim" around the outer part, which I painted white. It is really difficult to make a clean, crisp edge between the two colors.

But that's where this came in:

Have you seen these paint pens you can buy?
They saved my life. Practically.

I used the black, medium tipped ones and they were able to make a clean line dividing the chalkboard paint from the white part. (It was a lot harder to do with the doors already hung up. It was a cleaner and crisper line the first time around when I painted them while they were laid flat on a table, but I eventually just had to call it "good enough".)

And then I hid all the green chalk.

Here below is a better picture of the doors, although I don't think it's the best picture of the kitchen itself! You can see all I am still working on, including the crown molding! And our very ugly stove to the left of the pantry...but the good news is my husband is just about to start rewiring our "new" vintage stove we will be installing! (Hopefully this fall, if everything goes well!)

Oh, and yes, I changed my mind about the bead board on the back of the upper cabinets...

(Again.)

I am repainting them white, and I love it so far! It feels so much cleaner and open!

I am linking this to:

Under the Table and Dreaming

Between Naps on the Porch

Domestically Speaking

The Shabby Nest

Tatertots and Jello

Well, that is all for me for now! I sure do hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

Blessings,

Sparrow

Something old...

...something new.

So Sparrow's been holding down the fort here at {Beautiful Nest} for awhile, so I decided to jump in and show you all one of the projects I've been working on.

Now since I have four little ones, five years old and younger, from start to finish my projects tend to take ten times longer than my sister, Sparrow's. Good news is she assures me in time that as the kids grow I will be able to accomplish things faster.

I hope so.

Since it took me all day to clean the house. My really little house!

Though this before and after project isn't complete yet, I thought I would share with you a glimpse of what it is and what I hope it will become.

Now by now, you probably know I adore chalkboard paint! As a momma of little ones I also love the idea of having a wall my kids can scribble upon. Seriously what's not to love? However since we rent and do not own, I can't very well paint the walls so what's a girl to do?

When I was younger this chalkboard was mine and my parents recently gave it to me. {Neat aye?} My first thought was oh my goodness, I know exactly what I can do with this!

Now in my upcoming post I share details, details, details, but this post is like a trailer for a movie. Its just a juicy snippet of what's to come. So without further ado...my project.

After I finish painting this, me and the chalkboard are on our way to Sparrow's where she will show me how to add the finishing touches.

Thank the Lord for sisters!

So...did reading this inspire you to come back to see the the transformation? I sure hope so. In the meantime I hope you all have a fantastic week. Blessings!

belle
simply . living . life

Bead board in the cabinets: Choosing a color

It's not as easy as it seems. [Of course, this is coming from someone who tends to make everything hard, but that is another topic all together!]

But truly, there is something daunting about picking out paint, especially for certain projects. You know, the kind where you want it to be *perfect*. For some reason, every project in my kitchen renovation has fallen into this category. Actually, if I were to be totally and completely honest, everything in my life falls into this category...but please tell me that there is someone else out there who agonizes over paint colors like this!

It all started very innocently:

I put bead board on the inside back of our upper kitchen cabinets, and painted them the same pistachio green that I painted the wall. It was exactly what I wanted.

Until I started thinking that I needed a white paint color on the walls instead, which I repainted a creamy white hue. And maybe I would have left the bead board like it was, but then when I painted our kitchen floor, I chose this very grayish green color:

I wasn't sure it matched the light green, but I chose it because it was the completely right color for our floor. [I know this is true, because the countless other samples I tried were not the right ones.] And I loved the way it looked, and David agreed.

Just one problem~ the clash between it and the pistachio was giving me a headache.

So we went from this:

(Cabinet by stove; first green)

To this:

(Cabinet by sink; new green)

To this:

(Cabinet with things inside of it again! Yea!)

This picture shows the floor color better, and a little bit of the cabinet by the sink. No more clashing now! :)

(Picture disclaimer: I still haven't sewn a sink skirt, and I left the drawer open because the drawer front was freshly painted!)

In the end, I realized the grayish green on the floor would work for the bead board. And if I want to repaint it someday, I can. Besides, the floor is technically a temporary fix anyway!

Well, thanks so much for stopping by and listening to my ramblings! I hope your week is going well! Oh, and if you haven't entered our giveaway, be sure to check it out here!

Have a beautiful day!

~Jenni

Vintage School Desk {Transformed}

A big thank you to Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming & Shauna at Perfectly Imperfect for featuring my school desk!

 

When I was a teenager my mom was given two of these desks.

I never thought they were that pretty as they were. As the years went by, I wondered what it would be like to have them and transform them into something pretty.

Not long ago, I noticed the desks were still in my parents' garage and asked my parents if they had plans for them. {Hint, hint...If you'd like, I'd love to give these beauties a new home.} Ends up my Dad was thrilled to get rid of them. {Gives him more space for his tractor and tools!}

So far, I've only transformed one desk...

Step one was cleaning and sanding...

Second step was painting the desk with white primer paint. {Over and over again...}

Third step was painting the color I discovered for .50 cents at Lowe's on their clearance aisle. The minute I saw this small can of paint I knew it was love! Both the price and shade were right. The paint color you ask? That would be,Woodlawn Colonial Gray Satin, by Valspar.

I've always loved chalkboard paint. While sanding this desk I got to thinking. What would be better on a school desk than a permanent chalkboard? Nothing that I could think of so...

...I painted some on a well sized square of the desk.

Still the desk wasn't "complete." I noticed a sweet stamp in my Mom's office and asked if I could "borrow" it. She said that would be fine.

{I love my Mom!}

I think this little design adds to the desk. What do you think?

I used chalkboard paint, because well, it's what I had on hand. Literally.

So are you ready to see the new improved school desk?

Painting tape removed around the chalkboard...

...voila! A {vintage} school desk transformed!

Lower shelf ready for school books...

All that's needed now is some chalk, but not for 24 hours until the last coat of chalkboard paint has time to dry.

{waiting, once again. taps foot impatiently...}

{It's love}

belle

simply . living . life


I am linking this desk to the following parties...

Perfectly Imperfect 
C.R.A.F.T 
Under the Table and Dreaming
Domestically Speaking 
Shabby Nest
Tatertots & Jello

From Vintage Dresser to Kitchen Island

IN OUR KITCHEN, counter space is a precious commodity. We make most all of our meals at home, usually from scratch. My husband likes to cook, whereas I enjoy baking. What we needed was another work station...

We knew before revamping our kitchen that a new floor plan was not in the budget, so this left the option of an island. There was just one little problem: we felt that because of the way the room was arranged, it wouldn't leave enough room for one. Which brought us back to the option of changing the room's footprint, which wasn't an option.

What to do? The answer came when I realized we were going to have to think outside the box a little. We didn't have a place for a work station in the middle of the kitchen, but we did have a long stretch of wall on one side of the room.

If we relocated the little breakfast table that was there, we could easily fit a nice long "island". I could imagine a pot rack above it, with open shelves on the wall for storing plates and cups and such.


With that idea in mind, I began designing an island, but was also keeping my eye out for a cabinet or other piece of furniture that I could cover with butcher block and convert to an island. Then I saw something here that solved the entire dilemma: a talented blogger that used a small dresser as an island (a "real" one!), decorated so cute, and with a small cutting board on top. I had thought to use a dresser for a buffet, but not as an island! This was perfect! SO, to make this already long story shorter, I found the right dresser on Craigslist~ a unique vintage piece with loads of character!


Height was a concern~ unless it was near counter height, it wouldn't be as comfortable to use. My husband saved the day by suggesting elevating the dresser with furniture feet, and made me a very happy woman by doing this for me! I chose bun feet, because it fit the style of the piece the best.



Off to IKEA I went~ my sister was kind enough to make the trek with me. In fact, she drove! I chose a 1-1/2 inch solid oak slab of butcher block, along with some stain and oil to treat it with.



I didn't end up needing the stain, however. It was already as dark as I wanted, so I simply oiled the wood. David cut it to fit and screwed it on, and sanded the cut sides to match the others.



I was determined to make it look less like a dresser, and more like an island. Even if it couldn't be an island in the conventional sense, it was the only island I was going to have, and I wanted it to look the part. So out came the bead board, which I added to both sides. I used trim on the top, back and bottoms of the sides to give it a more finished look. Using vinyl spackeling helped to fill all holes and gaps in the woodwork.


(before)


I was negligent and forgot to take a picture before we added the bun feet and butcher block. So you'll just have to imagine what it looked like without those! ;) BUT here is a picture of it after just putting on both the feet and butcher block:


(before)

I took off the old handles and knobs, and used wood putty to fill in ALL the holes where they had been. I drilled new holes for my new handles, glass ones to match the glass knobs on our kitchen cabinets. Changing the places for knobs and handles was a new thing for me, and considering I was doing it at one in the morning, I'm just thankful I was successful! :)



Out came the primer and the paint. I tried three different colors before choosing the creamy white on the walls above the bead board, which is a brighter shade of white. I wanted a little contrast since it would be pushed up right against the wall.

I am happy to have this extra space, although I think I will need to trim down my decorations on it a little so I have room to bake! ;)

Do you think I put enough pictures on this post?









We are linking this to the following parties:
{blog party buttons located on sidebar}


Just a Girl
My Romantic Home
Perfectly Imperfect
Under the Table and Dreaming
I Heart Nap Time
Coastal Charm
Between Naps On The Porch
Domestically Speaking
The Shabby Chic Cottage

Shabby Nest
Tatertots & Jello
Funky Junky Interiors

Thank you so much for coming by! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Jenni