Painted Furniture

           I love a good painted piece of furniture ~ especially when the paint is what made someone else's junk my treasure.   When I graduated college and started teaching, I was on a strict budget.  I purchased most everything for my apartment second hand and refinished my findings by sanding, priming and painting each piece with a coat of black paint.  I still use all of that furniture in our home today, so it was worth the little bit of money that I spent to spruce up my findings.  Below are some of the pieces that I got for my first apartment.  I really wish the pictures were better (our camera has been taking poor pictures lately......or maybe it's just the picture taker ~ someday I will invest in a better camera).  Regardless of the blurry pics, check out what $40 and a can of black paint can do for a girl who likes all things beautiful but was on a teacher's salary. 

I bought this on clearance from JoAnn Fabrics.  It was unfinished wood when I bought it, and it cost me $30.  It's been used in several different rooms, but it's currently being used in the front entry.  I got the window the same time I got the table, but the window was free from someone who does demolition projects on old homes.  



I wish I had some before and after pics, but I did all of this before my blogging days.  The only thing I've changed since my apartment days is the hardware.   I recently added the knobs to all of these pieces.  I found  the hardware at Hobby Lobby for $3 a piece half off.  I think I may have spent more on all of the hardware than I did the furniture:) 



Ignore the ugly unfinished garage sale lamp on the bookshelf that still needs a makeover, and focus on the fact that this bookshelf cost me $1 at garage sale:) 

$3 night stand from a garage sale. 

The chest was free from my mom's attic, and it has always made a great coffee table.  It's had some wear and tear since it was first painted, and it's in need of a little touching up now.  Maybe I'll get to that in the next few months....



$5 Goodwill table not only made a fun paint project, but a fun decoupage project.

A friend gave me this for free.  It's been used in both the living room and the bedroom, but now it's being used in the dining room.

Now that we are in the new house, I have discovered chalk paint. It's fabulous!  No sanding or primiing required.  It's not cheap, but it makes big projects so much easier.  My budget is also not as small as it was when I was just starting out on my own, so to me the chalk paint is worth the money.  There will be projects posted soon that involve chalk paint.  I'm just not exactly sure when that will be.  In the meantime, the next time you see an ugly piece of furniture at yard sale or a thrift store for a ridiculously inexpensive price, ask yourself if you can turn it into something practical and beautiful with a can of paint.

 

I will be linking up at:
http://serendipitychicdesign.blogspot.com/
http://www.thethriftyhome.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
and the other parties on my link page

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Fun in the Sun

A few days ago, I gave you a glimpse into my job as a nanny when I put up this post.  The girls are out of school now, and as I'm spending more time with them throughout the day, work may occasionally end up in my blog every now and then. Today is one of those every now and thens. 

School ended last week, and today was the first official day of summer vacation!  We spent the morning in the pool splish-spashin' and soakin' up the summer sun ~ or at least I was soakin' up the sun, hopefully the spf 70 I put on the girls every hour repelled the sun.  After lunch, we continued our fun in the sun at The Old Custard Stand.  Who doesn't enjoy hand dipped ice cream in the summer time?  The girls loved it! I'd say they had a pretty good first day of summer vacation:)

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A Day With The In-laws

Had a good day with the in-laws today.  Matt's family is from the Southern Indiana/Louisville area, and we went down there today to celebrate his sister and nephew's birthday.  Matt's mom is home for the summer after spending half the year in Florida, which means we will be spending occasional Sunday afternoons at his mom's house over the next few months.  It was good to spend time with family that we don't often see.  Here are a few pics of our afternoon.

Most of today's photos are of this little cutie even though it wasn't his birthday we were celebrating.  I just couldn't help it....my camera kept flashing his way:)

Happy Birthday Leah and Aidan!

birthday boy opening presents

Grandma and Granddad

looking for fish in the pond



Kaleb with Uncle Matt



going for a golf cart ride

Kaleb having way too much fun with the chair....

...and Kaleb needing a little help getting out of the chair.

 playing with Grandma

Chloe and Matt

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A Glimpse Into My Job





      Since I started my blog, I don't think that I've shared much about my job and what it is I do at my job.  I know I've mentioned that I am a nanny for a four and six year old, but I don't think I've ever told you what that entails.  Let me share with a you a typical Saturday morning at my job.  How many of you get to go to two parks, a rummage sale, a farmer's market and a strawberry festival all in one six hour shift at your job?  I do, I do!  Yep, that was my job today ~ pretty cool,  huh?  On Saturdays, I get to take the girls to all sorts of fun things in our area.  Living in Indy is great, because there are so many cool things for kids to do.  We have the Children's Museum, the Zoo, Conner Prairie, bounce places galore, tons of parks, inside playgrounds, and all sorts of family-friendly community events ~ and I get to take the girls to all of those things when I work Saturday mornings :)

There are a lot of great parks in our area, and one of the local parks has recently undergone a transformation and received all new and updated equipment.  This morning was the ribbon cutting for the new and improved park, and hundreds of people came out for the community event.  The girls loved the playground, but like I said, there were hundreds of people out at the park this morning!  It was just too crowded to stay at the park!  I was having a hard time keeping track of them, so after twenty minutes we left the park excited about future summer picnics that no doubt await us at this new and improved play area!

Emily rock climbing

Amber rope balancing

After the park, we came arcross a community rummage sale at a nearby church where all of the procedes went to a little girl with cerebral palsy, her service dog and the expenses that all of that entails.  The little girl was adopted out of foster care, and she has cerebral palsy due to drugs during the pregnancy.  None of the items were priced ~ everything was donations.   It was a good unexpected lesson on charity for the girls, and they actually loved the rummage sale and donating money for a good cause.  While the girls walked away with a toy, I walked away with these three chairs.  I know ~ it doesn't look exciting....in fact, they look kind of scary.  But would you believe that these are the exact same chairs that go to my dining room set that I have been working on....and would you believe that I was in need of three more chairs!  What are the odds!  I was sooo excited to find them!  I promise you, that when I am done with them (hopefully in the near future), they will look nothing like the hideousness that you see in the above picture!



After the rummage sale, we checked out some other community events that were going on like the strawberry festival and the local farmer's market.  The girls were fascinated with the "popcorn man" who was making fresh kettle corn at the market, and they thought his kettle corn tasted pretty good too:)



Before eating strawberry shortcake at the strawberry festival we went to the nearby park and had a picnic.  Like I said, we have a lot of great parks in our area, but this one is my personal favorite.  This is the same park that I take my walks at in the morning, and it's just a really clean, family-friendly park.  There are lots a great shade trees to keep you cool, paths for walking, great play equipment, and all sorts of sporting areas to enjoy, like a baseball diamond, basketball court, volleyball court and soccer field. 

Emily picked our picnic spot, and she was very proud that she picked such a great spot with a nice breeze to keep us cool from the summer sunshine:)

Amber eating her PBJ

enjoying our picnic:)

This is a horrible picture of me (talk about a bad angle), but the girls sure do look cute!

About the time we started to have lunch, the heat wave that was supposed to arrive later in the afternoon decided to show up a few hours early.  The comfortable temperatures of the morning soon turned  into hot and humid ninety degree temperatures.  It was just too hot to run around and play on the playground, so I let the girls play in the shaded sand at the volleyball court while I packed the car up.  Let me tell ya, it doesn't take much to entertain preschoolers.  They thought playing in the sand was cooler than the playground :)

Last but not least, we took a five minute drive to the strawberry festival where strawberry shortcake awaited the girls.  They both like cake, vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream, so I naturally thought that they would love their first experience of strawberry shortcake.  Apparently, they don't like all of those ingredients together, and ended up wasting most of their dessert. That's kids for ya!   Emily liked the ice cream, and Amber like the cake ~ but that was about it!  Thus, the main event of the day was short-lived.  Before taking the girls home, we stopped by my house to cool off with a snack and a glass of cold lemonade.  It always amazes me how I don't have any toys at my house, but they think it's the coolest thing ever to visit my house just because they get to see Molly and Chloe.  Again ~ it doesn't take much to entertain a four and six year old:)  At the end of the day, we learned a lot about community and charity, so I think that was pretty good day!

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IMA Summer Nights Movie ~ Mommie Dearest



Had a blast with my hubby on our date tonight!



IMA Summer Nights was playing "Mommie Dearest".  We always try to go to at least one of the Summer Nights movies each year.  Tonight was the PERFECT weather for it!

We walked the gardens before the picnic and movie ~ so beautiful!

We got a late start to our date, because Matt had to work late.  The lawn was just a little bit full by the time we got out there.    Next time, we definitely need to be on the lawn by 7:00 to get a good seat.

A picnic on the lawn is great way to watch a summer movie!

Matt wasn't thrilled with the movie, but he loved the sushi ;)

Yes, it was definitely a fun date!

And of course, once the movie started, we kicked back in our lounge chairs with popcorn, gummy bears and chocolate covered raisins!  Now it's after 1:00 a.m., so this quick post is coming to an end as we are both dreading getting up for work tomorrow! 

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Read Any Good Books Lately?

        Yesterday was such a beautiful day!  I knew it was going to be pretty much perfect outside when I went for my morning walk, and there was a blue sky with absolutely no humidity!  It was wonderful!  I know that doesn't sound too exciting to some of you, but around here perfect weather is hard to come by.  For example, last Friday it was a dreary cold day with temperatures in the mid fifties, and by Monday it was an unbearably hot and humid ninety degrees!  Since it was such a beautiful day, I took advantage of the sunshine, grabbed a good book, a glass of lemon lime soda (with a slice of lime in it, of course;), and Molly and I headed out to the deck while Chloe sunbathed in a nearby window.  I love a great book in the summer sunshine, and reading was a wonderful way to spend my late afternoon:)  That brings me to my next point ~ aside from doing a little bit of reading yesterday, I also posted a "reading list" page on my blog.  I've been meaning to do it for awhile and finally got around to it last night.  Over the next few weeks I'll be posting my opinions of the books that I've read this year on my home page, and then linking the post back to the title of the book on the "reading list" page.  Have you read any good books lately? If you have let me know, and maybe I'll add it to my "to read" pile of books this year:)  Happy reading everyone!



What a great way to spend the afternoon!



Molly agrees.....

....and Chloe does too;)

I wish everyday had sunshine and a blue sky when I looked out the window.  I'll take this view any day:)

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It's A Goodwill Good Deal - $2 Mod Podge Checkerboard Tray

When I had my apartment, I found a tray at Goodwill for $2.  I used paint and Mod Podge to turn it into a checkerboard tray to display on my coffee table/storage chest.  Back then, I had a lot of red and beige in my decor.  Since my color pallet has changed, I took the old checkerboard and revamped into something that would work in my sitting room.  It was time for a change anyway, because the old board had seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. 

Here's how I got this.......

.....from this.

I used masking tape to tape off the checker squares.

Once the board was taped, I painted the red squares grey.

Once the paint was dry, I took off the tape, and this was the finished paint job.

I used Mod Podge to decoupage scrapbooking paper to the sides of the board.

Once the paper was decoupaged, I uded Modge Podge to decoupage the entire board.

While the board was drying, I began working on my checker pieces.  I used four bags of craft wood circles that can be found at craft stores for about a dollar a bag.

Using my leftover grey paint, I painted half of the circles grey.

Since I already had black spray paint for a previous project, I spray painted the other half of my circles black.  I also spray painted a plastic container black.  I found the container at the craft store for $1, and it's the perfect sized to hold the checker pieces.



Finished Project :)

Tray - $2
Paper - $1
Paint - $2
Craft Wood- $4
Container - $1

TOTAL = $10

Linking up to:

http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com 

http://www.thethriftyhome.com/  

all  of the other parties on my Link Party Page.

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