It's been rainy, but I did manage to get the soil mix in my garden boxes and the wood lath painted and attached. I'm trying square foot gardening this year. In the past, I have not had much success with my garden. I rototilled, fertilized, planted, mulched, fed, watered, and...ended up buying tomatoes and gratefully accepting free zucchini and cucumbers for canning. We don't have a lot of sunlight in our yard, so I picked the sunniest spot for these boxes, which are loaded with a special soil mix of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 compost. We shall see...
They do look cute, though...don't they? ;)
I also painted the living room and refinished this entertainment center:
I primed it, painted it, and spray-painted the hardware black.
After painting this, it was a little too bright and "flat".
So, I added a chocolate glaze to age and grunge it.
{Before}
{After}
Linking up with
Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia
DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
Power of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Favorite Things Friday @ A Few of My Favorite Things
Saturday is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Power of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Favorite Things Friday @ A Few of My Favorite Things
Saturday is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Posts
31 comments:
Wow, it looks awesome! What did you prime it with considering the composite wood? I've been holding off on LM's bookshelf since it's not real wood and I'm nervous about the process. Way to be productive, girl!;)
love ya!
I primed it with a contractor's primer from Valspar (Lowes). It said it would grip on anything...we'll see. I figured I didn't have much to lose. (Our ancient TV will eventually die, and we'll end up with a flat 'whatever' that, of course, will not fit in this stand. Isn't that how it works? ;)
You have been busy! What great accomplishments.
The gardens look so great...I'm a bit jealous of the space you have...I would love to have enough sun for 3 4x4 beds!! Can't wait to see the goodness you are going grow..
The tv cabinet looks amazing. Love the color you choose. Thanks for linking up to "AP Tuesdays!"
Oh what a difference a can of paint makes! I did a sq ft garden a few years ago for my herbs and had great success. The actual wood dividers have since been removed and the plants all occupy their same spaces. Following you!
WOW! I love how your entertainment center turned out! Its so fun!! And totally jealous of your garden!
~Morgan
Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!
Don't be jealous of the space or the garden, girls...until I have veggies and herbs lookin' good, it's just a pretty way to contain expensive dirt! lol
Thanks for all the encouragement!
Seeing yours and Amy's square foot gardens has greatly motivated me to want to give it a try as well. However, I feel like I am a bit late in starting especially I am still waiting for my SFG book to arrive. I think if I am too late to start one for this year, I should just read the book and got the detail info and prepare myself to do it next year.
I need to show your entertainment center to my hubby and daughter. We have been talking about doing something like this but not really sure how it would turn out. Thank you for sharing the visual result.
Blogging is great!
I came over from Amy's AP link.
You really classed that tv cabinet up, in a big way. It looks great!
I love the name of your blog. :)
Looks like you have a lot to keep you busy. Jane F.
What a transformation. It looks great!!
I'm having a blog party tomorrow and I'd love it if you linked up!
http://www.iamalongfortheride.blogspot.com
It turned out beautifully! I just love those wood to white transformations.
What a big difference paint makes! Thanks so much for linking on Favorite Things Friday!
your hard work is sure paying off, the entertainment is very pretty. Visiting from Saturday is craft day. love your blog, I'm a new follower. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
featured you today!:)
What a lovely job on the television cabinet! Soon you'll have deliciously fragrant herbs for your table too. Wonderful!
Love the look of your blog - it's calming and very pretty.
It's gorgeous!!! I'm just starting out. Can you please give some pointer. So you primed, then painted, then glazed... did you glaze the entire entertainment center, or just the parts you wanted to look 'aged'? can you please break it down for me??
Sure! First, I primed the whole thing so the paint would 'stick'. (This is composite, not real wood. If you have unfinished real wood, you probably wouldn't need to prime it.) When that was dry, I painted the entire thing with my gray/blue paint, making sure it covered evenly. The next day, I mixed 1 part chocolate brown latex paint with 4 parts faux finishing glaze. I really wasn't happy with how bright the blue color was and didn't want that color at full strength, so I glazed the whole thing. The important thing is to work in sections at a time. I started with a side, applying the glaze mixture with a damp sponge. Right after I put the glaze on, I used paper towels dampened with water to wipe glaze away. (You will go through a lot of paper towels, but it seems to work well. You don't want to use the same rag on the entire piece for wiping away, because paint/glaze will just start to get smeared around, rather than wiped off.) Make sure you really get the glaze into the creases. Then, when you wipe those areas, it will remain there and look aged. I wiped mine in straight strokes, because I found that it made it look like wood grain. Just play with it to see what effect you like. Be careful to get it how you want before moving to another section, though, because once it dries a little you can't work with it. It will either be stuck like that, or it will wipe completely off. Hope this helps! I'd love to hear how your project goes! Thanks for stopping by my blog! :)
Thank you so much for the very through explanation:)
I'm guessing I did it wrong.
I primed , then painted then sanded areas, then used just glaze (not mixed with anything) and I put some on with a brush then used a rag to wipe off. I'm not sure it did anything for my furniture?!?!? maybe I'll try it again the way you described with mixing the glaze with another color.
thank you so much for helping out! I'll try to use your advice for the next piece i work on.
Also, do I HAVE to use glaze? since I'm just learning, I'd prefer to just use sandpaper and then seal, but if the glaze REALLY makes it look good, then.....
You could still try to glaze the piece you already worked on. The glaze is just clear and thins out the paint color that you mix with it. So, you could mix the glaze with some paint, and start at the glazing part. If you like the end result...you didn't do it wrong! ;) I don't know if Lowe's still does this, but they used to hold painting/faux finishing workshops for free. That's how I got started years ago. Happy painting!
You can absolutely distress it without glaze! The glaze is just for when you want a makeover with paint/faux finish. If you want to actually distress it with sandpaper, and seal it, that looks awesome too! Just play until you're happy:)
Great thanks!!!
I have clear glaze and didn't mix it with my other color. Maybe I'll try that out tomorrow, or just leave the table as-is.
Thank you so much for answering all my questions:)
No problem! That's what I love about blogging...you can really connect with people!
here are some pics. I don't love it. Do you have any advice for me? I could do the glaze thing tomorrow.
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r167/Caydensmom/IMG_0957.jpg[/IMG]
Also, do you have any great recommendations for this gem (it was 7.00 as GW and the coffee table 10.00... they are absolutely gorgeous and look hand crafted:) and SOLID oak:)
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r167/Caydensmom/IMG_0958-1.jpg[/IMG] sorry the pic is bad. I just got a real quick one today.
What a great transformation!
Thanks for linking up to Saturday is Crafty Day! Hope to see you next week!
Meggy~ Maybe sand it a bit more? Then glaze? Is your glaze color lighter or darker than the base color? You should check out Jennifer's blog, http://themagicbrushinc.blogspot.com
She does faux finishing for a living, and she does an AMAZING job. Her blog is full of inspiration!
my glaze is clear. I'll check out her blog. thanks!
Sorry...what I meant was, what color were you thinking of using to tint your glaze? Glaze always needs a color added to it. (unless you buy a glaze that is already tinted/mixed.)
oops, sorry, as you can tell, I'm a veteran.:)
I have two colors, one is the same green as the table and one is two or three shades lighter.
Her blog was way too sophisticated for me;) gorgeous stuff , for sure.
Another question. when i glaze do i follow direction on can or do i glaze and wipe right off with a damp paper towel?
thank you for all your patience with me!
No problem! What does the can tell you to do? Definitely use a different color than your table, or it won't do anything. If you use the color that's a little lighter, the end result will be subtle. If you want a more noticeably aged look, you probably want to use a brown of some sort. You definitely don't want to wipe all of the glaze off...just enough to add depth. Does that make sense?
yes, it makes sense....NOW!! thank you!!! I'm glad i'm not working (practicing) on a nice piece of furniture...like my thrift store finds;)
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