darling octopus and r•home magazine – the november issue

This months do-it-yourself article for R•Home Magazine is all about chalk paint. If you pay any attention to DIY, Pinterest, or painted furniture I’m sure you have heard of chalk paint. But you may not have tried it – there seems to be only one producer of chalk paint, Annie Sloan. And although her product is pretty wonderful it is also pretty expensive (usually costing upwards of $40 a quart, ouch!) And it is hard to come by – only stocked by a handful of stores. It is now available near Richmond, in Ashland, at a store called the Thrill of the Hunt.

But crafty people everywhere have been making their own recipes for chalk paint and I share one in my latest R•Home article. It is super easy to put together and pretty close to the Annie Sloan version.

Here are some pretty chalk paint pieces to inspire you:

from dittledattle.blogspot.com

 

from cherishedbliss.com

 

from alittlebitoshizzle.blogspot.com

 

from anniesloanunfolded.com

Annie Sloan also makes this amazing clear and dark wax. Even if you decide to make your own chalk paint I recommend trying her waxes. The clear is just a good finish for the chalk paint and the dark adds age.

 

darling octopus and r•home magazine – the september issue

In the new R•Home magazine my DIY article is all about using an overhead projector to paint an image onto a piece of furniture. This is a really fun technique because you can take an image from anywhere – a favorite fabric, a drawing, wallpaper, or an illustration.

For more details about the project read the article online here.

Here are some other projector projects that I found online that might inspire you!

from sawdustandembryos.com

From paintedfurnitureonline.com

From designsponge.com

From sawdustandembryos.com

make me pretty – my biggest project yet!

When I re-did this chair for R•Home magazine a couple months ago I knew that I had three more just like it waiting in the garage for me to work on. Along with a dining room table with a leaf. Oh my goodness, the same chair four times. This was not super exciting but seeing it all finished and put together is pretty awesome!

Here is the before:

And here it is all set up at the West End Antiques Mall.

The sad thing is that this dining set is so much nicer than the one I have at home (which could really use some work)! If I had a smaller family this might just have ended up in my house.

darling octopus and r•home magazine – the july issue

The new R•Home Magazine is out and my how-to article is all about creating a fun space in your backyard. I take an old window and make it into an outdoor chalk board – perfect to entertain your kids on these hot summer days.

Writing this how-to wasn’t much of a stretch outside of my comfort zone. And now I think it’s time for me to admit it. I have a chalk board obsession!

When I started to think about it I realize that with this new chalk board we now have a total of 4 chalk boards at our house. That’s kind of a lot, right? Part of the problem is that I am a list maker and the chalk board really comes in handy and it is great kid entertainment.

Here is our kitchen chalk board – and it gets the most use. We write down things as we run out of them so I remember to pick them up at the store. I recovered the top cork board section with a piece of fabric to make it a little cuter.

This vintage chalk board hangs in the office area of my mom cave. It has a picture for each letter of the alphabet and the “G” had a gun drawing. I found a goat sticker and covered up the gun. I didn’t want to deal with the “What is that a picture of, Mommy?” question.

And you might remember this craft project -  a kids table painted with a chalk board top. I will warn you that once you buy the chalkboard paint you will want to use it on everything.

And one more idea to leave you with. I haven’t made these yet myself but I think these wine glasses look like a fun project. Everyone could write their name on their glass so things don’t get confused. You can get the directions at Vivaciously Vintage.

Photo from Vivaciously Vintage.

darling octopus and r•home magazine – may issue

My article in this months R•Home magazine is all about closet doors. I re-did these door in my basement and they might be the most elegant doors to hide a hot water heater!

We are just finishing a bathroom remodel which included a bonus closet in our master bedroom. (I use the word “master” loosely – it’s the largest bedroom in our house but come on, it didn’t even have a closet!) Anyway, at the end of the remodel, and over budget of course, we don’t really have $400 dollars, or more, for cool closet doors. So my plan is to buy the cheapest doors around and fancy them up!

I bought these hollow core doors for less than $60 for four panels at Lowes. They are hideous, I know! But they are totally flat. A blank surface for my creativity. I am thinking about wallpaper with molding around the edges. I will make sure to post a photo when I am done. Here are the doors that are inspiring me:

from S. R. Gambrel

From House Beautiful

From cococozy.com

From Houzz

From Martha Stewart Living

darling octopus and r•home magazine – march issue

Pick up this months R•Home magazine and you will see one of my chair re-do’s step by step. I give you all of my secrets!

Everything looks so pretty in the magazine but it’s not all so glamorous behind the scenes. The photographer had a special assistant at this photo shoot – frankie!

That’s right, not only did he have to worry about lighting and composition, he also had to work around this snorting, snaggle tooth pug who thought he should be in every picture. Or we should at least stop everything and rub his belly!

The other two guys around my house who are always trying to get in on the action are Jasper and Emerson. Here they are posing with the chair before her big makeover:

One more thing that I wanted to tell you is that this chair is not alone! I have three more just like her and a dining table that are all going to get the same treatment and become a set. If you are going to paint your furniture the pieces don’t need to match perfectly. The table I have is not originally part of the set with the chairs but once it is all painted the same I doubt you will be able to tell.

darling octopus & r•home magazine

Go out and get the January issue of R•Home magazine! There you can read my article about shopping for vintage furniture and home decor in RVA. There are lots of useful hints and a resource list of some of my favorite shopping spots.

I thought it might be fun to elaborate on some of my ideas in the magazine. I found this armoire at the Salvation Army on Midlothian Turnpike but you know you see one of these at every thrift store and yard sale you go to. Flat screen TV’s are making them an obsolete piece of furniture but you could always re-purpose them.

Turn it into a cute home office and just close the doors when you’re done working.

photo from funkyjunksisters.blogspot.com

Or check out this adorable kids art center!

image from thedesignfile.net

I thought this dresser was almost perfect. I love the shape and the color I would just add some new hardware to make it look a little more modern.

My favorite source for cool drawer pulls is Anthropologie. I regularly shop their clearance section – there you will find pulls for as little as $3 each! Below are two picks that I think would look awesome!

photo from anthropologie

photo from anthropologie

I am the queen of the chair re-do. I know I have re-done more chairs than any other piece of furniture. It is hard for me to pass up a chair with good bones because it is usually pretty easy to give it a new look.

Here are some of my past chair projects that might inspire you.

Victorian Chair

Kid Friendly Laminated Cotton Chair

Curvy Chair

Next issue, I will be showing you how to re-do a chair, step by step, with very detailed directions! Yeah R•Home – Yeah DIY!

PS – You can read my first R•Home article, all about shopping for vintage furniture, online now!