How NOT to Paint Your Counter!!!! (and a how to)

Could it be?! Could I really paint a counter?  Seriously, this sounded too good to be true.  Something that I find interesting on Pinterest and other sites is that there seems to be 1000 different ways to do things, and every way is SOO easy, and usually turns out SOOO great.  They can’t all work can they?  So here is a big failed project….with a somewhat happy ending.

This is how the bathroom was when we bought the house:

This is our guest bathroom.  It has been a total pain in the rear.  This was actually the first room that I painted.  I chose to paint the walls “Sea Salt” by Sherwin Williams.  I also, right away painted the door, trim and vanity white (after sanding and prep, of course).   This was all done about two days after we officially bought the house which was before we even moved in.

The room clashed.  Ugh. 

I knew it was the color of the counter top throwing everything off but who wants to buy a new counter top?  So, since the 90’s beige counter top and white did not look good, I sanded the vanity back down, made a quick gray chalk paint Homemade Chalk Paint and painted the vanity gray.  Yuck.  Still, this did not work. 

 A week or so later,  after doing our master bath and seeing how much I liked how my black vanity came out, Master Bath Surprise, I sanded the vanity down again and spray painted it black.  I actually like how the black looked most, but still, against the beige sink, it did not work.  Yes, I recognize that the fact that this sink bothered me so much makes me slightly OCD. But really.  Look at it! Ugly, right?

OK, I give. The counter has to go.

 I started looking all over Pinterest trying to discover the best way to do this.  As previously mentioned, there were tons of different ways to get this done.  So, I just picked one and went for it. J

I went to Home Depot. (I love Home Depot, they should make candles that smell like Home Depot.  You know wood and dirt and…I am not sure what else but I love the smell of hardware stores!)

I found a can of Rustoleum Spray Paint that was a shimmery white (so pretty) and a can of Super Glaze. Super Glaze.  Basically, in the blogs that I read, I should have been able to paint the vanity however I wanted and then use the Super Glaze to make it counter like.  Uh huh. 

My Supplies:

I got home, put the kids down and sealed up their rooms from the inside, opened their windows and turned their  fans on (in case any fumes escaped my blockades). I am super crazy about keeping them away from any fumes.  

I then taped all around the sink.  Napkins got in there too.  You know how spray paint gets on everything around where you spray.  I had to get creative.

I first, gave the sink a really good cleaning and then sanded it down with some sand paper.  (I didn’t want to wake the kids with an electric sander)  I then gave it another wipe down and started spraying.

Guess what….it came out beige.  Are you kidding me?!  I feel like since we moved I have been in a war against beige.  (PS some beige is really nice…that nice beige is not what I am taking about)

I gave it a quick coat just to make sure that it wasn’t the beige sink coming through and sure enough the spray was a beige. I did love the shimmer in it so I got some white paint from the garage and painted it over the spray.  This came out perfect with a little shimmer but a fresh white color.  I also dabbed it all over with a cloth to give it a really cool texture.  I was very happy with how it came out and watched a movie while it dried.  

Super Glaze Time!

There are very specific instructions with this glaze.  I was such a good girl and actually followed the directions. 

As I started to spread it, it seemed to melt the paint or maybe it wasn’t as dry as it seemed? It came out this gloppy mess.  So much for my awesome texture.  I pressed on and got it looking decent enough, but it was not great. 

The next day, the glaze took on a bizarre color and looked chunky in spots.  It was not good.  I began peeling . Some parts where I must have painted a little thick peeled right off, the rest I scrapped, and sanded, and scrapped some more.

Back to Home Depot

I decided to try another way that I found online and picked up a box of this stuff. 

 Tough as Tile

Following the directions, I gave the sink a clean using the cleaner provided, scrubbed with steel wool (also in the box) and did this about 4 times to get it as good as possible. After drying the sink off, I started painting with the paint provided.  Ahhhhh.  Much better. This stuff works well.  It is strong though so if you use it please use a ventilator and do it when kids are not around! I am glad that I read about this ahead of time so I was prepared. 

This stuff was so easy to use and came out looking just like tile.  There are still some issues from where I couldn’t get all the last stuff off but I am pretty happy with how this came out. It would have been perfect if I tried the Tough as Tile stuff first.  This will be used more in the future.  It does take a long time to dry.  Like 3 days long! I kept touching it too early so there are a few spots from that J I am very patient. Can you tell?

At least through my adventure of painting my sink I can share with you all how not to do it so I am OK that my sink is less than perfect.  Character right?  It sure looks a heck of a lot better than it did!! I will be switching this out for a new counter eventually but this will work for now J

What I Would do Different

-Buy a better paint brush.  I cannot get myself to buy the more expensive paint brushes.  I always buy the cheapest that I can find.  I am sure that it would have helped to have nicer ones. With the "Tough as Tile", I noticed after buying the foam painter thing that the instructions said to only use a paint brush to make sure that you keep the coats as thin as possible.  I made sure I did super thin coats so I do not think this made a difference but maybe I would have gotten a nicer finish?

-I wish I kept my gloves (also provided in the box) on when I washed my paintbrush!  Without even thinking I ran my brush under water and squeezed it out with my hand like I always do, forgetting that this was counter top, oil based paint!  My hands were completely white and I had my wedding ring on! I had to soak my hands in mineral spirits to get all of it off.  Luckily, my ring is mostly clean now but my hands are still pretty covered even as I am typing this. 

-Be extra careful not to dip your hair in Super Glaze or anything like it.  I had to cut some of my hair off to get it out J

- I wish I just got the easy stuff first.  But then again this blog post would be super boring and just say “buy this and follow the directions” …..so you’re welcome ;)

-The “Tough as Tile” refinishing kit comes in a spray paint version instead of the paint on.  It was more expensive so I chose the paint on but I am certain it would have been nicer to work with.

-I just saw a way to make a vanity out of old pallets!  I think that I will probably be ripping this whole thing out and building a vanity and buying a little bowl sink to go on top.  I am not sure when this will happen so I might have just wasted a heck of a lot of effort? At least my OCD is under control for a while having a white sink and not a beige one that clashes. J

I know now that you can successfully paint your counter tops but not all ways work well. 

Good luck with all your projects and experiments and thanks for reading!

-      Erica

Master Bath Surprise

My husband likes to joke that he is scared to leave me alone at the house because he never knows what to expect when he comes home.  Usually, I will have painted or refinished something.  What can I say?  I get bored easy.

With My Handsome Man

  A couple Saturdays ago, my husband was going to hang out with a buddy of his after a really long stressful week at work.  I went to call a friend to come hang out with me when I decided that it would be really nice to continue painting my ceilings white (finally, my ceilings were getting done!)  I texted my husband asking him to pick me up a couple cans of white paint.

When my husband came home, I realized that he picked up the name brand paint when I use the super cheap paint.  There was the chance that the whites would not match and this paint was twice as expensive as the kind that I had been using.  By the time I realized that I had the wrong paint it was already time for him to leave. 

“No!!  I only have a quarter of a can of paint left!  What am I going to do when you are gone!  The ceilings won’t get done and it will be another day staring at stupid beige ceilings!  What a waste of time!”  I am sure I said something like this and, no, I am not dramatic at all. ;)  I just really wanted to finish a large part of my ceilings!

Christian is a really hard working attorney and I had been complaining about having to paint the ceilings since we bought the house.  He had told me that he was going to paint them and not to worry about it.  When he works all day and finally gets to come home I want him to get some relax time!  I make sure to try to get as much work done as possible so he can come home to a stress free, works already done space…..This is the intention.  Not saying this happens often but I try!  I’ll take my, once in a while successes as being successful!

I used almost the rest of the white paint I had left to finish painting the master bedroom ceilings.  This took all of about 20 minutes. 

Ugh!  I needed something else to do! 

At this time, there was only one room had hardly been touched yet…the master bath.  

I thought, “If I hurry, I might be able to finish this before Christian returns!” 

I set off like a mad woman! 

After getting all the supplies that I needed and setting up my tablet so that I could catch up on “Grey's Anatomy” as I worked, I removed the knobs from the vanity and used my little hand sander to sand it down.  

I then, wiped the whole thing off with a wet rag, taped the edges and spray painted it black.  To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure if I would like the black vanity, I just happened to pick up a can the last time that I was at the store.  It cost all of $2 and change.  Figured why not?  When you are addicted to updating things, bad choices really are not that scary.  I could always change it if I didn’t like it. 

I then painted the trim, door and the ceiling white.  

 Last, I painted the walls “Passive Gray” by Sherwin Williams. This is my all time favorite color.  At least for paint…and at least for right this moment I am almost certain that this will change.  Gray won’t be awesome forever you know. My daughter’s nursery is the same color and to me it is the perfect gray and I had just enough left over to paint the bathroom. Baby Girl's Room 

I seriously cut it close.  I had a paint brush in the can trying to get any last bit out to finish the last little part of the bathroom.

 

Right as I was finishing I heard Christian come home.

 “Uhh, Erica.  What are you doing?”  the sound of concern in his voice. Surprise! J 

He is learning to trust me on these things. 

A friend of mine recently asked if I discuss all my projects with my husband before I do them.  No way. If ever there was something that I knew that he didn’t want me to do then I would not do it or any significant purchase to make then that would be discussed. 

  It is much better for his stress level when he comes home to work done than if I discuss all the plans in my head.  There is a lot rushing around up there.  Also, if I tell him what I am going to do he would want to help.  I love his help, but once again this guy works hard for us and gets a whole lot less time with our kiddos than I do.  He has a really hard time not doing a bunch of stuff when he gets home from work.  He is always cleaning something or fixing something else.

So far he has been very happy with all my work and I sure love surprising him!!

I still would like to update the lighting, mirrors, bath and shower…and other things, but we will get there.  I didn’t spend a dime on this project.  I was able to use supplies that I already had!

Here is the bathroom now!

Love the black vanity!  I did our guest vanity the same way after how this turned out.

What I Would Do Different

-        -  The only thing that I would do different is that I would have a ventilator!  I still need to buy one of these.  The spray paint is so strong.  I will not use spray paint again without one.  I value my brain cells way too much and it is quite possible that I killed a few.  Please do not use spray paint in a room without protecting your lungs and brain!!!!

Thanks for reading!

-      Erica

When Life Dumps On Your Garden…Make a Pool?

Mother’s Day weekend!  I do enjoy Mother’s Day but I have to say, my favorite thing about it is that when Mother’s Day rolls by I know that it is time to plant my garden!!!!  WooHoo!  My Grandma Nijakowski would say that you have to wait until after Mother’s Day to be safe from the frost.  I waited till the day before Mother’s Day. Close enough.

It has actually been years since I have been able to have a garden….a real garden.  Last year Jackson (my son) and my husband took me to the store on Mother’s Day to pick out a few things to plant in pots on our balcony off of the apartment we had.  So sweet.  We had some basil and maybe 20 cherry tomatoes from our harvest J I loved growing things with my son even though we didn't have the space or the money to do much.  But now, I have a whole  yard to work with!!!

I also planted a few plants when I was living in New Zealand.  I was sharing a small house with 8 other girls. This was a two bedroom one bath home.  I miss those days and all you beautiful ladies. I planted a few plants, but for whatever reason I got a few beans out of it and out of two tomato plants only one tomato grew!!!  I think the dirt was too sulfuric or something. Who knows? 

 When we bought our house, we couldn't see much of the back yard since it was buried under a bunch of snow. As spring has now sprung, all these wonderful plants, bushes, and flowers are coming up!  It has been such a joy to find new things growing all around.  The previous owners had put a bunch of love into this yard.  I could hardly wait to get a vegetable garden going, especially being able to do it with my son.  I love doing things with him, teaching him, and seeing his little mind grasp new things. 

This is my boy after we went on a bike ride/run (he rides, I run). We love to find new places to explore and came across a park loaded with dandelions.  Of course, he got so excited and started picking a bunch for me. Uhh, who would have thought dandelions could become such treasures?  I made this chain from all the flowers he picked me.  

Focus Erica, focus…Garden got it. J

So the week before Mother’s Day, as I found time, I began to dig out a big rectangle in our back yard.  I had a bunch to dig up since it was all landscaped, taking plants that I wanted to save and replanting them elsewhere. 

I went out to begin gardening and I hear rushing water.  As I walk closer, I realize that the whole corner of our yard was flooded.  I ran and got a patio chair to stand on and look over our fence only to realize that our neighbors were draining their pool.  We have a drain right behind our fence that they were aiming for but a ton of water was coming into our yard. Awesome.

As I am stressing out by the fact that not only is our back yard being flooded, but a bunch of pool chemicals were also dumping right where I was going to plant my garden, my little guy comes up to me with a huge excited smile.  “Mommy, is it OK if I put my feet in the water?” he asks.  I sighed giving up my garden spot and told him to run inside and get his swim trunks on.  He was thrilled, to say the least. 

As he was changing I built up a bunch of dirt along the fence to keep more water for coming in and then dug out a little hole for my son to play in.  

“Mommy, it’s ok?” He asks again to make sure I didn’t change my mind.

I love him.

Such a happy guy!!!!

After this I decided to move my garden right up by the house on either side of our deck, and since I have a billion different seeds, I planted in other random spots around the yard.   I cannot tell you how happy I am that our neighbors didn’t decide to drain their pool one day later.   Thank you Lord!  All of my plants would have needed to be moved and I would have needed to buy all new seeds.  I probably would have cried.  Like, a whole lot.

I love that I will now be able to pick from my garden as we sit on the deck! Love it! We can also, watch to make sure bunnies aren’t eating everything.  There are at least 3 bunnies running around our yard at most times.  This could be a problem, but they are so cute!

I had a real love, hate relationship with what happened. There was a ton of wasted effort that I put into clearing out the back corner of our yard. A TON.  However, Jackson and I had a blast.  It is also quite possible that I really enjoy playing in the mud. 

 

I know you all are wondering where my little girl was this whole time.  She was with her daddy mostly.  Every time she goes outside she eats dirt, rocks, mud, anything she can find!

That’s not chocolate on her face. 

Girl, stop eating mud! It’s nasty! Pretty sure that she thinks it is a game now.

Here are some pictures so far of our gardens and some of the fun surprises around our yard.

I got the back mess somewhat back together

We found a birds nest up in our shed.  Everyday, I would lift Jackson up to see what was in there.  He was so excited when the first time he looked he found four eggs.  Yesterday, I lifted him up and his little face lit up when he saw that the eggs hatched!

We are loving this yard!  

We are so excited to see our garden continue to come to life!  I will be posting updates on our gardens in the future.  Thanks for reading!!!

- Erica

Free Ottoman! No Sew Reupholster Project

The church that we attend has decided to update some of their furniture.  As they were getting rid of an armchair and ottoman, I asked if I could take them.  This furniture has seen better days but has great bones.  I was very excited.  Sure, I can totally reupholster things.  J Well, worth a shot at least.  This was my first time reupholstering anything but I will definitely be reupholstering again....  soon.  Like as soon as I can get to a fabric store because I still have to do the armchair. 

I started by going to Walmart.  I will say, there are a TON of places that I would rather shop than Walmart but some of their prices can’t be beat.  I found the perfect fabric.  It was a thick light gray fabric with just a little shimmer in it.  There was only 2 and 1/2 yards remaining with a patch that was a little beat up.  The lady sold it to me for $4 total!   I prayed that it would be enough.  I also bought 3 packages of nail heads for doing a nail head trim. These were around $1 a box.

Once Christian (the husband) and I put the kids to bed, I started taking off the fabric.  I first cut off the buttons and then cut around the base of the ottoman.   The old fabric came right off. 

I then laid my new fabric over the top of the ottoman leaving a little slack so that I could fold the fabric to leave a nice clean line.  Next, I stapled the fabric all along the base.  The old fabric had fabric tubing along the bottom that I left on.  This made for a perfect ridge to staple underneath.  

 Look at that nice clean line I got! 

I did both the long sides first to make sure that everything was lined up.  I then folded the edges in (as you would a gift) and did the short sides.  As I was on the last side, I accidentally cut the extra fabric a little too fast and went a little short.  The very last spot I had to do was a bit of a stretch.  I seriously almost ruined this whole thing right as I was about to finish.

Once the fabric was on, I couldn't wait to pretty it up with a nail head trim!  I measured out all along the base where I wanted the trim to go making marks as I went.  How hard could it be to nail these in a straight line?........  Freaking hard!  Are you kidding me?!  Uhh.  As I would hammer them in they would bend every which way!  And then, when I tried to take them out to do them over the stupid heads would fall off!! This was a blast, can you tell? My husband gave it a go too with no more success. 

If ever any of you get into the predicament, forks work awesome to get the nail heads out.

Christian enjoyed getting this picture of me as I was about to lose my mind.

After way too long fighting these nail heads, I gave up and went on Amazon to buy this beautiful invention.  Nail Head Trim. With this trim, you just have to nail in every fifth spot. The others just look like nails! 

So much easier!  Ahhhh!   I kind of liked the look of the nail heads being more separated but we are not even going to go there because this was 1,000 times easier!

I did plan to wrap the buttons with the same fabric and reattach them to ottoman but my husband threw the rest of the fabric scraps out.  I cannot really complain about this because I love how he cleans up for me when I do stuff like this. 

I plan to put a shelf with hooks and a built in type thing behind this.  Another day J

 

Anyway, I love my new ottoman!  Yay!

I used about half the trim and I am not going to count the stupid nail heads because I am going to return them to Walmart since they were useless.  Total, this project cost $11! 

I am really looking forward to doing my armchair.  This ottoman was a great first project and once again crazy easy (minus the nail head issue).

What I Would Do Different

·         I wish that I did some research on nail heads before buying the first cheapo thing that I found.  I am assuming there are all different types of nail heads and some super awesome fancy ones, but here’s the thing, if I wanted to spend a bunch of money I would just go to Pier 1 or Homegoods and buy something that didn’t need a lot of love.  If anyone has nail heads that they love to use and are reasonable let me know!  I really like the ones that I got on Amazon but I am very open to different ones.  I love the look and kind of want to put nail heads on everything. J

·         I would have cut slower.  What can I say, it had been a long day and I went a little scissor crazy.  If it was any shorter at all I would have been out of luck.  I did great all the way around. It was just the very last bit that got me.  Uhhh!! So maybe I should say I wish I had drunk a cup of coffee because I should probably not cut fabric when I am so tired.   As I was going along I was shocked at how perfect it was coming out.  Perfect! Due to it being too tight in one spot it now does pull a little.  Not very noticeable if you are not looking for it.

·         I really wish I had the buttons to put on it!  They would have looked so great! 

\

This ottoman turned out pretty dang good.  Especially, with it being my first time.  I am looking forward to taking on the armchair.  More and more I am realizing that a lot of things are way more doable then they seem to be.  Don’t be scared to tackle new projects!

Thanks for reading!!!

 Erica

Light Fixtures

Oh, how I am tempted to buy like 20 new light fixtures to replace the not so nice ones in every room of our home.  I have been so good!  I haven’t even bought one yet…..OK you caught me.  I bought two but they were cheap, used ones.  So that doesn't count. I bought one for the chandelier I did for Adelaide’s room. "From the Chandelierrr" And then, this beauty that I picked up from Habitat for Humanity for $15.

Have you all been to Habitat for Humanity?  Home owners dream store.  Not to mention shopping there is for a good cause.

To my husband-“Christian I am so excited about my new light fixture!  I am going to make it look nice!  When I do where should we put it?”

Husband- “Hmmm, I say we put it in the garage.”  Along with his “Why in the world did you buy this ugly thing?”  look. 

I love him.  

The garage?!  I am on a mission to tackle all the ugly fixtures! 

Which to choose?  In the kitchen and living room we had….well…for lack of a better term “boob” lights.  I am sure there is a better name for them but I don’t know what it is.  And, well, it’s kind of funny to call them “boob” lights.  My mother would be appalled!  Sorry mom!  I did not make up calling them “boob” lights, nor was I the person who designed them to look that way! 

My mother actually proofs these blog posts for me so I am looking forward to getting in trouble for my profanity.  :) 

You know…

These actually don’t look awful.  Just not my style and they are strange on our angled ceiling.

Here we have a saggy….you know what….in our entry….I don’t hate it.  It is just not my style.  It might be my style in 40 years.  Note to self, hang on to this because I might like it when I am older.

I sanded and wiped up the fixture.  At this point, I hadn't decided if I wanted to keep the glass in it or not.  I decided to keep it in and decide later. I taped up the glass before I sprayed.  I sprayed it down with Rust-oleum.  I know I am full of surprises.  I love my Rust-oleum.  They should totally cut me a check for how much I recommend them to people.  

This fixture actually gave me a little bit of trouble.  I realized that after spraying it twice that the glass blocked some of the brassy color.  I ended up taking out the glass and spraying it down again.  I would have done this instead of taping had I realized the glass came out so easy!

I decided to leave the glass out since the glass had a green hue on the edges that aged it a bit.  I did have to convince the husband that lanterns without glass are stylish these days. Oh yes, they are.

We are both happy with it now.

For those who have been reading my other posts, here's a quick side note.  I, officially, have painted TWO rooms’ ceilings white! I did a bathroom and baby’s room. Hallelujah.  Killing the beige ceilings one room at a  time.  So this beige ceiling will be much nicer by the end of the week.

A few days after this lantern was hung, my husband found another one in our attic!  The previous owners left some random stuff up there.  We also found some bows and arrows.  I am going to have to take up archery now.  Darn.  Katniss who? Here comes Erica. :) Oh yes.

Being that this fixture was very similar to the one in the kitchen, I knew that I wanted it a little different.  I searched Pinterest for ideas and surprisingly, did not find anything that I loved. 

Randomly, when I wasn't even thinking about my light fixture, I started thinking about how I really like the look of twine.  I have a little vase wrapped in twine and I was trying to figure out why something so simple could make things so pretty.  Light bulb went off.  Ba dum chi.

I went to a craft store first and bought some rope and a roll of twine.  The twine was almost $7 and the rope $3. After that, I had to make a stop at Walmart where I happened upon twine for a dollar something.  It was the same size.  Needless to say, I bought that and returned the expensive one.

When I got home I got out my hot glue gun and started attaching the rope and twine. 

Here is how it looked at first.

As my husband was hanging this for me and I was, I don’t know probably painting something, I hear an “Oh no!”

He sure does not like to disappoint me, but proceeds to tell me that this is a huge fire hazard.  (Heart sinks)  I did not even think about the fact that this could catch on fire!  The lights were right up against the twine.

I say, “Maybe it’s not flammable!” Wishfully thinking, as I grab a piece of twine and light it on fire.  It was flammable.  So, I had to rearrange things a bit.  I actually like the new look better.  And, I am glad my house won’t burn down.  :)

Once again, this will look cooler once my ceilings are white, but I love this one!!

Moral of the Story

  Light fixtures are awesome.  Once again, I believe that you can make over any fixture.  I might even make over the “boob” lights into little chandeliers or something.  Who knows?  Since, I did buy the one fixture for $15, these two fixtures cost $22 total. This is a high estimate because I actually didn't actually need to buy the Rust-oleum since I had some left from other projects.  Also, beware of fire hazards when making a fixture over. 

Thanks for reading!

Erica