December 19, 2013

Ikea Hack #3: bar stools painted.

This will be another post of my ikea bar stool series, so lay back and enjoy the "ride". About a month ago I have repainted cushions on my ikea bar stools and I have not stopped there, I decided to add even more color to my dining / living area. 

This one was error and trial, I wanted to give a try for chalk paint, I made another batch of my own, some paint from Lowes and got to painting my bar stools, once one stool had couple of coats of paint, I decided that the the paint was just to bright. 

Almost forgot to mention that I did not sand the piece because I wanted to see if the paint will adhere, but I was wrong. Once it dried paint could be easily scratched off. I had to start the process all over again, but this time I have used spray primer.  Put the chairs together to see if I like the white look: Nahhh.

Then I went back to store and got a sample paint but in much darker yellow almost orange, mixed with my old yellow and results came out beautifly. 
Photos show slightly brighter color then it is in reality.
 I think for now I am satisfied with the look and will keep these chairs untouched for a while :)

December 11, 2013

IKEA Hack #2: barstools painted cushion

***disclaimer: please excuse my phone quality photos***


A while back I posted my little hack with IKEA barstools, all I did was upholstered them, nothing special.

 For this post I have something interesting to share with you. 
 As time passed I got really bored with the pattern that I chose in the beginning, I have no idea what was I thinking by choosing that granny pattern. This time around I was not really up to reupholstering stools again, that's where the idea came to paint the cushions. 
 I made batch of my own chalk paint, and after 3 coats of paint(I've sanded in between each coat) Now my barstools look  soo much better. If you are wondering about cushions being crunchy: for this step I used wax. Once my final coat of paint dried, I waxed and buffed cushions, now it feels like leather. It has been a month since I've painted them, they are really steardy and so easy to clean, specially after my sons painting/drawing sessions. Just wipe cushions with a damp cloth, and you are good to go.

Another Before and After



Here's all of them together:


P.S. Sometimes in the near future I will post step by step how I did my turquoise canvas in dining area.

December 7, 2013

Chalkboard picture frames


Today I've tried something new to me but  not so to the Pinterest world, that is making chalkboards with picture frames. 

The recipe is quite simple:
-  half a cup of acrylic paint (color of your choice)
- 1 tablespoon of Plaster of Paris.  
- mix everything very well

Original recipe asks for I non sanded grout, I didn't have that on hand and decided to experiment with Plaster of Paris. The results came out beautifully. We had invited over my neighbor and her kiddos, and went for it.  For this project we have used couple of old picture frames and a box from chocolate candy. 
Here are results.

 Enjoy :)