my first restoration project…antique cabinet

i couldn't wait to show all of you my latest project. this is my first "restoration" piece and i am ecstatic with how this turned out. my grandma gave me this white antique cabinet last year. after the hard winter we had we brought the piece in and then it sat for a month or so…between our busy life and the fact i wasn't sure what direction i wanted to go with the cabinet it sat.
i wanted some extra storage space for either my office or kitchen and decided to refinish it for the kitchen since the kitchen needed it more. my first thought was to paint it solid matte black and switch the hardware to a brushed aluminum handle…then i had a thought. our kitchen has a vintage wine "theme" so what better way to compliment the style than to distress the cabinet a little so it looks more rustic.  and this was so easy!
i sanded the white cabinet first making sure any scratches or dings were smoothed. i wiped it down with water/lysol mixture, then applied 2 coats of matte black latex paint. Once the paint dried for 24 hours i started to strategically sand different areas and voila…all finished.  i think i have created a monster though…i already have 2 other "projects" i am planning to do this too.

bathroom facelift…painted tile

so i did the big no no…well depending on what diy website or blog you read it can also be a big yes.

i painted the tile in our bathroom…yikes!

i honestly wish i would have taken a before before pic of the bathroom since this was a 2 segment project.  we started the bathroom facelift when i moved in. when my husband moved in it had carpet!! for me i was totally grossed out by the wall to wall carpet in a bathroom. when i moved in that was one of the first things i did was rip that out. we had a tile floor put in. and i painted and went with a color pallet that would compliment my dilemma...

the walls are tiled halfway down and the top row and bottom row have blue tile.

so i went with the green color pictured here (corn husk green behr). the color pallet was green, blue and brown and actually looked great for the time being until we decided what to do with the tile. i found a ton of decor in that color scheme so it worked. we thought of ripping the tile out of course then that lead to ripping out all of the drywall and taking it down to the studs to just start over. 

but honestly we didn't want to invest that kind of money into a house we will only be in for another 2-5  years. so this past winter i started "researching" the do's and do nots of painting tile. 

i started out thinking i would sand the sheen of the tile off so it was dull and the primer would adhere better. 

wrong... even with a stronger grit than recommended (220) online on multiple websites and an electric sander, the sheen was not easily removed at all. and the sheen is what will cause your paint not to adhere which will in turn cause peeling. 

so i began researching annie sloan's chalk paint.

i actually called a local specialty store that carries it then in the end called the company and spoke with a specialist. she was awesome! so this was it...i was going to use annie sloans country gray on the blue rows of tile to clear the blue hue so when i applied the pure white the blue wouldn't show through. then the final coat would be their extra strong matte laquer. even at the pricey 40.00 a quart i was willing to spend it because i had heard soooo many great things about the results of this paint. and my mom uses it  so it has to be wonderful… : )

but i still had to run it by the pro (mom)…my mom thought that wasn't the best idea because our bathroom is large and would end up costing 200.00 or more just on paint. 

soooo back to researching and at this point i actually tried the sanding again…no luck.

i went into home depot and started looking at the oil based primers…this was my last resort before removing the tile. the nice employee saw me "searching" and offered assistance. without hesitation he pulled out a can of

which can be found at home depot.  he said apply this without sanding and then use any type of paint over top…even latex! 

yay!

i was so excited that i finally had a solution.

but i will not lie this stuff is potent and you have to have open windows. even with the windows open it was terrible. we had headaches and stomach aches and this was the first time i actually dreaded painting. thankfully it does dry fast so the smell starts to dissipate over the next few days.

i did not sand and began applying the primer to the walls. i used a miniature smooth nap roller and a small paint brush for the grout. i would paint the grout in a 6-8 square section with the brush then roll to fill it in. oil based paint is very runny and thin…flat out messy would be the truth. so a little paint at a time is best. it dries fast as well so definitely go with smaller sections.

here is a photo of the tile being primed

even though the grout and tile had been cleaned with bleach regularly, i couldn't believe how grossed out i was after seeing the difference the primer had made to the dingy old tile! getting very excited here!! i did do two coats of primer just to make sure all areas of sheen were covered with the matte looking primer.

the above pictures show the contrast between the primer then the final paint color.

i used behr porch and floor paint in gloss enamel in ultra pure white.  i am a matte paint girl but i thought the tile needed a little sheen and also wanted something easy to keep clean. i also chose the floor and porch paint over the regular interior paint because of the adhesive and durability property.

and here is the finished look!! i did do 2 coats of the final white color on the blue rows as well to make sure there wasn't any blue tones showing through the white.

and now for the walls...

we are going with an ocean theme in our newly mad over bathroom and i am so excited to add the finishing touches. we chose porpoise by behr in their matte premium plus ultra paint.

and we are ecstatic with the results!!

and now to begin adding the finishing touches. towel racks, outlet covers, shower rod and curtain along with the ocean themed accents and gray towels!! we already updated the mirror, lighting and tub surround. eeeeeeeeek! very excited.

the tile project would roughly cost about 100.00 but i had some of the supplies already and just had to purchase extra rollers and paint. you could by a less expensive latex paint if you wanted to cut it back a little more but do not scrimp on the cost of the primer. odds are it will not adhere and peel. 

hoping this little facelift will be just what our bathroom needed to add to the appeal when we sell.

i know we love it!!

i am a fan of painting and restoring things so stay tuned there may be more blog posts.

have a great day thank you for stopping

home made playdough

when i was a kid my mom and grandma would make home made play dough for me often. when i got old enough to make it myself i became the little helper. we used to put baking flavoring in it so the dough had a scent. like vanilla for white, banana for yellow and so on. although i decided adding the scent would only make ethan want to eat it, i skipped that and just made the dough in his favorite color of course...greeeeen!

this recipe is super simple and only has six ingredients which are pictured below.

1 cup of flour

1 cup of water

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tarter

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

food coloring (color of your choice)

place all six ingredients in a medium saucepan and wisk together as it warms. continue to stir with a spatula or whisk until dough becomes thick and turns into a ball.

See pictures below...

once its done there is tons of fun to be had. ethan and i played for quite a while this morning. i cut out shapes for him with mini cookie cutters he would tell me the shape and he loved poking at it and making hand prints!

success!