DIY and Home Decor Blog. Fly Your Freak Flag.
As we all know, I can’t get enough color.
In my opinion, too much color is always a good thing.
I’ve never met a bold kelly green or a pop of coral I couldn’t help but smile at.
And if you can’t smile at these bright spring colors that are popping up, then honey, you ain’t livin’ right.
Here are some of my own favorite colorful furniture makeovers.
You guys.
You guys.
No really, you guys.
So much has changed since the last time I did a full home tour.
Especially my living room. And my kitchen.
I’m almost pee-my-pants excited to show you.
And now that I think about the things that have changed in the past two months, I realize I have no clue how it all got done and that I must be insane.
Oh wait, we already knew that.
Even though, I know you’ve already seen the entryway, let’s start there since its still new-ish.
Want to kick your wood finishing techniques up a notch? Try making your own bright colored wood stains then! With this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make custom stain colors easily.
Let me be the first to say that I am not a great house cleaner.
If you’ve been around here long enough, I’m sure you could have easily guessed that one.
Its not that I’m a bad house house cleaner, its just that I don’t do it often enough.
We don’t have week old food laying out on the kitchen counter or anything, but most days its questionable as to what the sticky substance on the countertop might be.
I’m just keeping it real, y’all.
However, when I do get around to cleaning – like I did yesterday so that I could take photos for an upcoming house tour that didn’t include gross sticky unknown substances – I clean my kitchen with one single thing. I call it my little mouse.
Fo’ Realz.
Up until last October, I wasn’t a big glazed furniture kind of gal.
Glazed donut kind of gal…abso-freakin-lutely….glazed furniture…not so much.
But then I used dark glaze on the IKEA Tarva drink bar.
At that point, dark glaze and I started to become friends.
We experimented. We plotted makeovers.
We worked together on a glamorous dresser makeover.
Dark glaze and I were skipping happily along off into the sunset….
And then I met clear glaze….
And he swept me off my feet….because he can turn any color into a glaze….
Wondering what top coat to put over paint? Specifically what kind of top coat for painted furniture? Consider this guide the holy grail for just that. It will walk you through all the different types of top coats and when to use each.
I’ve begun a new love affair.
Grunt Labor doesn’t mind a bit.
Its more beautiful than I ever dreamed.
Its with green.
And black and white stripes.
Really, its just with the green, black and white combination in general.
I never considered the combination until my Enchanting green paint swatch accidentally fell on top of some black and white fabric and I was like…
Oh My Gosh.
Of course, I totally said that in the style of Usher’s song.
At that point, I did a walk-through of my house to determine which piece of furniture would be my next victim.
The lucky guy was this french country chair which ended up with a modern makeover.
I am all about a pretty space.
I’m also all about a real life space.
The problem is that pretty + real life don’t always work together.
And real life tends to trump pretty everyday of the week.
I always struggle with finding that happy balance between pretty and real life in the kitchen.
Prime example: the chips will always live on top of the fridge. No, its not pretty, but that’s where we expect them to be, so that’s where they will always be come hell or high water unless we magically get more pantry or cabinet space…which I won’t hold my breath for.
That being said, these are my best kitchen ideas for merging real life and pretty.
Doritos bag on the refrigerator not included.
Have you been introduced to my new favorite wall?
Its shiny, its gold, its fun, and it was so easy to make.
My favorite thing about it? There’s no way you can screw it up.
Meet my Confetti Accent Wall.
No one ever taught me how to paint walls.
I learned how to paint completely by trial and error after my Pap died and I had to paint every wall and ceiling in his house with two coats of primer and two coats of paint.
My uncle handed me a five gallon bucket of primer, a five gallon bucket of paint, some rollers and left.
I called in reinforcements.
My friends and I painted Pap’s entire house over the course of a couple months all while wearing his XXL overalls that we duck taped in the back to hold them up on us.
That’s one of my favorite memories and a couple pairs of those overalls are safely tucked away now.
Needless to say, after all that painting and all the painting I’ve done in my other homes, I’ve learned pretty quickly how to paint walls – and how to do it in less time with less mess.
This project will fall into the category with the snake bowl and the snake vase for many of you.
That’s the category classified as:
Things Jenna Loves & Most People Hate
That’s perfectly fine.
Me, my snake bowl, snake vase, and the newest addition to the category, the mohawk lollipop holder will be perfectly happy together.
With the exception of Halloween and Christmas, I’m usually not a big holiday decorator. I have a few little things I set out for Valentine’s Day and Easter, but that’s about it.
But…..the circus is now old enough to really enjoy these holidays a little bit more…and since I am mom of the year and all, I felt I should up my Valentine’s game a little.
So, I whipped up an adorable little heart garland and the kid and I even made her very own valentines in an hour.
Because I’m mom of the year like that.
I’m not sure that funnest is actually a word. I googled it after saying it over and over in my head a hundred times and still couldn’t get a clear answer as to whether or not it is a word.
I finally just went with my redneck instincts and left it in the title.
Keep in mind, I used to teach middle school Language Arts.
Those poor children.
So I know I didn’t tell you I was doing an entryway makeover.
Here’s the thing.
I hadn’t really planned on doing an entryway makeover.
And then it all just kind of happened.
Story of my life.
Looking for an easy DIY countertop makeover? If you’ve got $20, then you can take your laminate countertops from dated to modern beauties by using this tutorial for creating faux stone countertops!
This is probably the easiest tool to use – but that many people don’t have.
A Heat Gun.
I didn’t have a heat gun until last year – and I didn’t get it out of the box for a month or so after I got it because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
Let me tell you – it can do so many things.
And it is so easy to use.
Have I told you that my dad claims the title of “Rain on a Tin Roof Middle Tennessee Marketing Manager?”
I’m not kidding.
He even signs his emails to me that way.
And he hangs my business cards at the post office.
And tells all his friends about me.
And the people he works with.
I’m sure they loathe me by now.
One of his co-workers, Shannon, (who is forced to work right beside him – poor girl), offered me a dresser she had in her garage. Thanks, Shannon!
Seeing as I never turn down free furniture, I went and picked it up.
In my not-so-big SUV.
With my dad, the kid, and Will.
That was a tight squeeze fun ride home.
It was well worth it though for this glamorous dresser makeover.
He’s waited almost four years.
He thought it was going to happen in the winter of 2011 after I got knocked up.
We tore down paneling, had drywall and carpet put in, and added moldings.
We successfully made it less scary – and then moved onto the kid’s nursery.
And the man cave became a dumping ground.
It was a waste of space.
And I hate wasted spaces.
That’s one reason I don’t like vaulted ceilings because I think they waste too much space, but that’s another blog post, now isn’t it?
Finally, Grunt Labor is getting his man cave.
One makeover at a time.
We started with the Vintage Radio turned Bar Cabinet, and now we just finished the Built-Ins Makeover.
I knew there would be many of you that would hate it.
The Golden Snake Bowl.
That was fine with me.
Because I love it.
And even if you did hate it, you totally have to give me an A+ for creativity.
I mean, I took a rubber snake and made it into a bowl.
That has to count for something.
While I was melting snakes into bowls, I also melted one into a bud vase.
You read right – a Snake Bud Vase.
