painted Archives - Spoonful of Imagination

Wake Up and Do Good

August 22, 2013 By Erica Deuel 7 Comments

I’m not a morning person. I am not a night person either. My poor husband married someone who really, really loves sleep.

This past weekend was kind of like the perfect weekend. We hung around the house, relaxed, slept in, and worked on some projects. I got a slew of signs done that I have been wanting to create. My latest sign was inspired to help get me moving faster in the mornings.

With the school year here, I have been trying to get up before the kids. It has been wonderful. I wake up in my living room rather than kids pulling on me, needing something, and feeling already behind.

I wanted a sign that could go in my kitchen (which is open to the living room) that could be a little reminder on those tired mornings or moments when I couldn’t wake up before the kids. I don’t want to be a snippy mom. My work is important and good. My heart beats for that, so all my actions need to show it…even when I’m tired and want to stay in those selfish moments.

It was fun creating this sign, and I fell in love with it once it was complete. I love the rooster silhouette rather than a cup of coffee like on most kitchen signs. I loved it so much-I decided to go huge. I made another one that is almost poster size to hang above my frig.

Do you find yourself turning to the art or music in your house to help remind you of what’s important in life? My house will probably end up having signs every where we turn because I need reminders. Now that I have this reminder sketched almost across my forehead since it will take up such a huge space, I don’t think I need the small sign anymore. It is approximately 7 1/4″ x 5 1/2″.

If one of you would like it, please contact me. I thought I would offer it up for $23 shipped which I can send an invoice for through paypal.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are having a great week!

Hello Pot

June 3, 2013 By Erica Deuel 6 Comments

What do you think of when you read that title? An earth toned flower pot repainted in a sizzling purple with a greeting for guests as they walk up to my front door? Yes, that’s exactly what I thought too! Glad we are on the same page.

I’ve always thought it was odd that when people come to your front door-they wipe their feet on the normal welcome greeting. I decided to go a different direction. It was really simple and I want to show you how you can make one of your own. But maybe a “Hello” pot isn’t what you are looking for. You could go with a “Love” Pot, “Happy” Pot, “Peace” Pot. Again, we are talking flower pots, stick with me people.

After I got my flower pots and taped off the area I didn’t want to paint, I was ready to add some color to these dull pots. I decided to go with purple because ~~it’s my favorite color~~ I thought it would look pretty with the gray/dark tones in the rock on my house. It took a couple of different coats of paint till I found the right shade of purple I wanted. That is the beauty with paint-you can keep covering it up with a new color if you don’t like it at first!

Once I liked the color of my flower pots, I printed off an oval from google images and cut it out. I taped the edges of the paper to my pot and spray painted the inside a nice creme color. Note: the spray paint will stick to the pot now that it is going on top of the acrylic paint and not just trying to stick to the pot instead.

I then used some black acrylic paint and free-handed “hello” into the center of the oval. I really liked the look, but decided it was too coloring in the lines for my taste. I wanted to rough it up some, so I used 60 grit sandpaper and sanded over the whole pot (including my hello design).

This might sound crazy, but I used a wood gray stain next on my pots. I painted the whole pot with the stain, and then started rubbing it off right away. I love how it stuck to the unpainted part of the pot. It made it kind of seem iridescent. It added a slight color, but still shows through to the natural finish of the pot.

My last step was to spray the entire pots with a shiny clear finish. This step made them look more finished. I love how just a little paint and time totally changed the look of these cheap flower pots. They add a sense of warmth, color, and sweet welcoming touch to my front porch that reflects us better than the brown clay pots. Now, if I can only keep these flowers alive, so I don’t have to plant my burlap flowers in these new pots!

I think the purple looks really good with the rock on our house. It blends in nicely, but adds a fun color pop as well. These pots help accent the purple in our wreath too. I spruced up the wreath I made for our last front door and will be sharing more of those details tomorrow, so I hope you will come back to check it out!

Note: The winner of the Mohawk Home rug is A. Bearchell!! Congrats friend! I will be in touch!

Take Steps Upward {step stool}

May 17, 2013 By Erica Deuel 6 Comments

Have you walked by those pretty step stools in home decor stores and started drooling? I have…well almost. It’s been border lined between lusting and spontaneous buying, but the price tags always scares me off. I seriously have seen these small pretty step stools priced at $50. No joke. I just couldn’t pay that for something that I could create something similar too.

So, I took my daughter out on a date one afternoon and we ended up at Michaels and I bought a plain, raw wood stool for about $6.00 (with the use of a coupon from Michaels’ website).

I made this so quick and it captures the look and ability of those more expensive stools. It allows you to take steps upward while looking beautiful sitting there in the corner. Here is how I made it, so you can save some money too.

Materials:

wood stool
spray paint
acrylic paint
stencil
sponge paint brush
clear glossy spray/mod podge

The first step is spray paint the bottom of your stool. You could also use acrylic paint here, but because of all the different angles I decide to just spray it. I thought it would be easier and create less “dripping”.

Next, paint the top of your stool. You can use any color, but something that compliments the color of the legs will help give a punch of “wow” factor to your stool.

You might be able to tell I have used my stencil before. More on that project coming soon. 🙂 Any stencil will do. I liked this one because it was a circle shape and my stool is also a circle. I bought this at Michaels as well. Use your sponge paint brush to lightly dab paint into the slots. Remember you don’t have to use all of the stencil. As you can tell, I am not catching the scalloped edge of my stencil for how I am using it on this project.

It was too boring for me left like that, so I wanted to add another color and used a small stencil that came with my larger one to go around it. I only used one of the flowers and just eye balled where the next one would go until I had filled the outer part of my stool’s top.

Don’t worry if you go over the stencil and get paint on the original base color. I did too! It is no big deal to go back, after the color has dried, and paint the original color back over it to cover the “oops” up.

I really loved it, but I wanted to look more professional and finished. I sprayed a light coat of a glossy spray on top. Mod podge would work as well. The idea is to give it that finished shine.

I love how it came out! My daughter loves to sit on it and draw on her chalkboard wall in her bedroom. What a cheap way to make a fun and functional accent piece. I am all about adding in pops of color!

What do you think? Will you save some money and try making one of these stools yourself?

Thank you so much for stopping in! I hope you have a great weekend! If you haven’t entered to win a Mohawk rug yet in my giveaway, there is still time! Click over to see my dinning room rug and enter today.

Recycled Old Dresser Makeover

April 12, 2013 By Erica Deuel 67 Comments

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is exactly the phrase I attach to this fun piece of furniture. I found this pretty wood dresser in my neighbor’s trash. No joke. I wish I had a picture of the sign because it said “take me home” and that is just what I did.

This is a real wood piece. I loved the shape and size immediately, but it needed some loving. The bottom two drawers were broken. I stared it for several weeks trying to decided what I wanted to do with it. I debated colors and if I wanted to fix the drawers or just turn those slots into shelves. I liked the idea of the piece have space to hide a little bit of stuff, so I left one drawer. I kept picturing the other slots holding pretty craft supplies and baskets, so I am glad I took a chance and turned them into shelves. I love what I came up with! I am going to show you exactly what I did step by step, in case you have an old piece that needs some tender loving care as well.

The first thing to do is to give your piece a good sanding and brush off all the saw dust.

Next, paint the dresser. It was really hard for me to leave the top wood. I knew if I could fight the urge to paint it, I would love the result. And I do. I love the contrast of the dark stain with the teal paint. As for my paint, I didn’t worry about priming or using a paint and primer in one paint. I knew I was going to re-sand the piece, so my paint job didn’t have to be thick or perfect.

If you are a messy crafter like me, there might be sections of paint on part of the piece where you didn’t want paint. Simply sand that area again.

Staining is the next step. You see the piece really come together and the dramatic change. I stained my whole piece. I did the top, all the teal paint, and even the inside of where my shelves would be.

There were areas I went back and did a second coat of stain, but the stain color you use will determine a lot of how your piece looks. The stain I used here is called Early American and its a nice deep brown. It’s not too dark nor does it have any shades of red.

Here is where I recruited my awesome husband. Saws scare me. I will use them, but I love it when I don’t have to. Matt cut some 1/8″ panel boards and attached them with wood glue for me. Isn’t he amazing!?!

After the wood glue dried, I stained those boards as well. Note: Be careful with the wood glue! If you get it on your board, it wont stain over that area as well, as you can see below in my picture.

Once the stain is dry, your piece is almost done! I switched out my knobs for some vintage, deep yellow wood ones from Hobby Lobby. I bought them months ago because I loved them, and I have been saving them for a project like this one. It was a perfect match! I love how my piece turned out.

I don’t know where it will end up in our new house, but I am excited about it. Isn’t it funny that you can pick an item out and not know where it will go, but if you love it…you will always find a use or way to incorporate it into your home? That is this piece to me. I hope the teal works somewhere :). It could go in our craft room, the dinning room, in our foster kids’ room, or maybe even behind a couch? I’m not sure yet, but I will keep you posted on what we do with it.

Can you believe this piece that is full of life and fun used to be that old brown dresser? It is crazy what a little paint and time can do. Now I will leave you with some eye candy. Since I can’t stage my shelves for me yet, I staged them up for you to get an idea of how a piece like this can be used. I hope you are inspired!

Thank you so much for checking in today on one of my favorite furniture makeovers I have ever done! It is Friday, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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