DIY Chalk Painted Flower Pots

I have been whining ever since we put our house up for sale that I do not want to leave behind my plants. Although it is against the rules to dig up all of the landscaping before we leave, I decided to transplant some starters for our new house.

To go along with my garden contraband, I needed new pretty pots. I have used No Minimalist Here's recipe for homemade chalk paint once before and it is pretty easy to whip up. I used two parts latex paint and one part Plaster of Paris. 

I bought this intense blue-teal color from the oops section at Menards. The paint only cost a dollar!

After eyeballing the paint to plaster ratio, I added some white acrylic paint to tone down the blue.

I mixed the paint in a leftover airtight container so I can use my mixture again.

 After the chalk paint dried it was brighter than I expected.

I used a sanding block to distress the paint. I focused on the edges where the paint would naturally wear down. 

I like the finished texture and color, but I am not sure how well the paint will hold up with repeated watering. I will have to wait and see. 

My garden contraband: Sedum, Chinese Sedum and two varieties of hens and 

chicks. 

A few other flowers may end up making the journey with us too! 

Monday ~ The DIY Showoff Project Parade ~ Made by You Mondays ~ Embellishing Life Everyday ~ Just Something I whipped up Monday  ~ C.R.A.F.T.  ~ The Southern Institute ~ Making the World Cuter ~ Thrify Décor Chick ~ Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sumo Sweet Stuff ~ Gunny Sack ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~DIY Homes Sweet Home ~ 1929 Charmer ~ Everything Under the Moon  ~ ModMix Monday ~ Its So Cheri ~ thegingerbreadblog

Tuesday ~ Get Your Craft  ~ Tip Junkie ~ Blackberry Vine ~ Crafty Confessions ~  A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Home Stories A-Z ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia ~ Carolyn’s Homework ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ House of Grace ~ Passionately Artisitc ~ My World Made by Hand ~ Uncommon Designs ~ Trendy Treehouse

Wednesday ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Somedays Crafts ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Sew Woodsy ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ {Primp} ~ Rae Gun Ramblings ~ Polkadots On Parade ~ Lollipop Cards ~ JAQS Studio ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ My Girlish Whims   ~ itsoverflowing ~ theletter4

Thursday ~ Transformation Thursdays ~ Somewhat simple ~ Show off your stuff ~ House of Hepworths ~ Delightful Order ~ My Simple Home Life ~ Thrifty Thursday ~ DIY Diva Thursday ~ Tablescape Thursday ~ No Minimalists Here ~ Crafty, Scrappy, Happy ~ Thrifty Decorating ~ Between U and Me ~ 36th Avenue

Friday ~ The Shabby nest  ~ Show and Tell Friday ~ Finding Fabulous ~ I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~Bacon Time with The Hungry Hypo ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can't Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Answer is Chocolate ~ oneartmama ~  fivedaysfiveways ~ amynjesse

Open Shelving Cabinets

Josh and I moved into our home in 2010 and promptly inherited this ugly kitchen. I drug my feet with this room makeover because I was dreading the wallpaper removal process. (Actually, I am still dragging my feet.) Why anyone would want a red kilt-like kitchen is beyond me. 

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I longed for lovely glass-front kitchen cabinets to show off my collection of white dishes.

I had an aha moment and decided to simply remove the cabinet doors to create open shelving in the kitchen.

This task was super easy. Eight screws and one Phillips screwdriver later, I had open shelving in my kitchen! My eighty-nine year old grandma was convinced it was a joke. Why would anyone take off their cabinet doors?!?!

After a few weeks I set out to make the cabinets look even more shelf like. I removed all of the dishes so I could paint the back of the cabinet the same color (Thunderstorm by Dutch Boy) as the walls.

Although the change is small, the color on the back wall makes our white dishes stand out. 

Slowly but surely our kitchen is evolving into a room that I am no longer embarrassed to bring guests into. After this project, I am really excited to paint our cabinets. I know it is going to be a huge task, so I may drag my feet a bit longer...

DIY State Wall Art

I have run across several home décor items promoting state pride. These products prompted me to display some Hoosier love in our home. 

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Have you discovered AHeirloom’s state shaped cutting boards on Etsy? I ordered my father-in-law a custom Argentina cutting board for Christmas. The shop owners even put a heart over his hometown. I was very pleased with the product and he appreciated the unique gift.

(Funny aside: They accidentally shipped me the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan. I was quite confused. Regardless of how I arranged the pieces, they did not resemble Argentina. AHeirloom quickly rectified the geographical mix up and the correct cutting board arrived two days later.)

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I recently found these hand embroidered pillows at uncommongoods. They have a lot of character, but I will never be able to convince myself to spend $150 on a pillow. 

I set out to make a basic Indiana water color using supplies I already owned. I found the state outline by doing a Google image search. I printed the outline on sketch paper. 

I added two small hand drawn hearts over the towns that Josh and I grew up in. I am not a painter, but I do remember a few watercolor tips from my high school art class. Before painting, I used a brush to do a light water wash over the areas I wanted to color. This helped me control the paint.

This photo was taken after one layer of paint. All of the water made the paper wrinkle. If I had used proper watercolor paper, I would not have run into this problem. 

I needed a place to hang my Hoosier art. I created a collage with a couple of picture frames I already had and these cute hooks my mom bought for me. (Any suggestions on what I should hang on my new hooks?)

After a few coats of spray paint, all of the collage elements match. I used the same technique to hang these frames as I used when installing our gallery wall. This little collage is tucked beside some bookcases in our office. When I finally get around to making curtains, I will show you the rest of the office. 

Monday ~ The DIY Showoff Project Parade ~ Made by You Mondays ~ Embellishing Life Everyday ~ Just Something I whipped up Monday  ~ The CSI project  ~ Menu Plan Monday ~ C.R.A.F.T.  ~ The Southern Institute ~ Making the World Cuter ~ Thrify Décor Chick ~ Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sumo Sweet Stuff ~ Gunny Sack ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~DIY Homes Sweet Home ~ Dittle Dattle ~ 1929 Charmer ~ Everything Under the Moon  ~ ModMix Monday ~ Sew Stylish ~ Its So Cheri  ~ Bath Bomb Creations

Tuesday ~ Get Your Craft  ~ Tip Junkie ~ Blackberry Vine ~ Crafty Confessions ~ Me & my Boys ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Home Stories A-Z ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia ~ Coastal Charm ~ Carolyn’s Homework ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ House of Grace ~ Passionately Artisitc ~ Under the Table and Dreaming ~ My World Made by Hand ~ Uncommon Designs ~ Trendy Treehouse

Wednesday ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Somedays Crafts ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Sew Woodsy ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ {Primp} ~ Midweek Fiesta ~ Rae Gun Ramblings ~ Polkadots On Parade ~ Lollipop Cards ~ JAQS Studio ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ My Girlish Whims  ~ thethriftyhome ~ itsoverflowing

Thursday ~ Transformation Thursdays ~ Somewhat simple ~ Show off your stuff ~ House of Hepworths ~ Delightful Order ~ My Simple Home Life ~ Thrifty Thursday ~ DIY Diva Thursday ~ Tablescape Thursday ~ No Minimalists Here ~ Crafty, Scrappy, Happy ~ Thrifty Decorating ~ Between U and Me ~ 36th Avenue

Friday ~ The Shabby nest  ~ Show and Tell Friday ~ Finding Fabulous ~ I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ Family Ever After~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~ Addicted to Decorating ~Bacon Time with The Hungry Hypo ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can't Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Shabby Art ~ Answer is Chocolate

Vintage Chair Upholstery

 I found these chairs at a flea market in August. Over the past six months I have been building up the courage to tackle this project. I only paid $18 for the pair. The low price made me less apprehensive about botching the upholstery.

The chairs were not in fantastic shape, but they do have some nice details.

The less than ideal condition comforted me in knowing that perfection was not the goal for my makeover. 

Just in case the pretty summer photos fooled you into thinking the chairs were appealing as is, I wanted to show you that these chairs were DIRTY.

 I was apprehensive about what I would find underneath the blue bird upholstery. I had visions of dirt, mold and other griminess. I was pleasantly surprised to find clean batting.  It appears that the chairs were once pink.

 My naked chair.

I found a gallon of blue paint in the “oops section” at Menards. I used the bargain paint and Plaster of Paris to make my own chalk paint. I followed No MinimalistHere’s directions and was pleased with the results. 

The first time I upholstered the chair I used bleached drop cloths, which many bloggers have recommended. Unfortunately I was not happy with the way it looked. I ripped off the drop cloth and headed to Joann’s.

I found both of these fabrics in the red tag section. The cream fabric was $3 a yard and the damask fabric (which I will eventually use to cover small pillows for the chairs) cost $4 a yard.

 This is by far the most challenging upholstery project I have ever tackled and I still have a lot to learn. I know that my chairs are quite flawed, but I still like them.

Since I am a novice at this craft, I am not about to give anyone direction. If you are looking for some upholstery advice check out Miss Mustard Seed’s blog.

I want to eventually make small pillows to sit on the chairs. I hope the pillows will add some contrast…and possibly hide some of my mistakes : )

Monday ~ The DIY Showoff Project Parade ~ Made by You Mondays ~ Embellishing Life Everyday ~ Just Something I whipped up Monday  ~ The CSI project  ~ Menu Plan Monday ~ C.R.A.F.T.  ~ The Southern Institute ~ Making the World Cuter ~ Thrify Décor Chick ~ Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sumo Sweet Stuff ~ Gunny Sack ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~DIY Homes Sweet Home ~ Dittle Dattle ~ 1929 Charmer ~ Everything Under the Moon  ~ ModMix Monday ~ Sew Stylish ~ Its So Cheri  ~ Bath Bomb Creations

Tuesday ~ Get Your Craft  ~ Tip Junkie ~ Blackberry Vine ~ Crafty Confessions ~ Me & my Boys ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Home Stories A-Z ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia ~ Coastal Charm ~ Carolyn’s Homework ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ House of Grace ~ Passionately Artisitc ~ Under the Table and Dreaming ~ My World Made by Hand ~ Uncommon Designs ~ Trendy Treehouse

Wednesday ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Somedays Crafts ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Sew Woodsy ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ {Primp} ~ Midweek Fiesta ~ Rae Gun Ramblings ~ Polkadots On Parade ~ Lollipop Cards ~ JAQS Studio ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ My Girlish Whims  ~ thethriftyhome ~ itsoverflowing

Thursday ~ Transformation Thursdays ~ Somewhat simple ~ Show off your stuff ~ House of Hepworths ~ Delightful Order ~ My Simple Home Life ~ The Frugal Girls ~ Thrifty Thursday ~ DIY Diva Thursday ~ Tablescape Thursday ~ No Minimalists Here ~ Crafty, Scrappy, Happy ~ Thrifty Decorating ~ Between U and Me ~ 36th Avenue

Friday ~ The Shabby nest  ~ Show and Tell Friday ~ Finding Fabulous ~ I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ Family Ever After~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~ Addicted to Decorating ~Bacon Time with The Hungry Hypo ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can't Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Shabby Art ~ Answer is Chocolate