When Coastal Blue & Lime Green Come Together

One of my favorite things to do is mix paints to make custom colors! I had some extra general finishes lime green & coastal blue and decided to see if the colors would work together.

 

I didn't measure. I added and mixed until it was a color I liked. If I had to guess, I would say it was 3 parts lime green mixed with 1.5 parts coastal blue. (I'm guessing)!!

I think they make a perfect color. 

 

What do you think of this color? 

Are you of fan of custom colors?

I'd love it if you followed me on Facebook. You'll find tons of behind the scenes photos.

Helen

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Spring Inspired ~ General Finishes Milk Paint

Hello again!

These blogging breaks keep getting longer and longer. My sincerest apologies. 

 Let's move on to the pretty stuff! I'll put all the details at the bottom of this post.

 

 General Finishes Milk Paint sent me a few paint colors, glaze and sealers to try. To make sure I had enough paint to complete this entire piece I had to mix colors . General Finishes, by far, is the best paint I have used to date. There were hardly any brush strokes, I didn't have to prep and it dried hard! Even though it's called milk paint, it's not like the powder form. It is already mixed and it doesn't get "chippy" like other milk paint. It's not as watery as milk paint...it's somewhere between milk paint and latex paint.

Love this stuff!! 

About the color.

 I mixed 2 parts Basil to 1 part Halycon Blue. It was a gorgeous shade of blue-green. It just wasn't the look I wanted so I mixed a few other colors to achieve the final look. At this point I didn't measure but I mixed in a little Coastal Blue, Lamp Black & Van Dyke Brown Glaze. It turned out to be a deeper blue with grey undertones. Perfect! 

You don't have to a top coat with General Finishes but I used paste wax to seal this piece.

 Our school is having a silent auction and I wanted to donate something fun and different for the auction. 

 I wanted to add something pretty to the drawers to entice bidders. Especially the female bidders!

 I found the fabric at Handcock's for $6.99 a yd. 

I kept going back and forth on the fabric but I had to pick something and stick with it. Yes, it's bright and bold...and probably not for everyone. 

On the other hand, it screams spring and it's a nice surprise when you open the drawer.

Let's start the bidding!

If you would like to purchase General Finishes you can visit their webpage (click here) or get inspiration from their Facebook page (click here).

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Savvy Southern Style

Dresser: Moss Point Green

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend! 

We spent ours around the house. Elise watched Ghostbusters for the first time, I worked on furniture and my hubby built me stuff. 

Notice the old wooden "thing" on the wall. I'm drawing a blank on the name...a wooden plank??

Any way, it's super sweet and I'm hoping to use it in many more photo staging op's.

 The old ladder came from my mother-in-laws house when she moved. It's been living in our garage for a while now and I finally found something to do with it. I didn't realize it was 12 foot tall until

 I put it against the wall. YAY, for vaulted ceilings!

 

These shades of green and orange make me ready for fall.

 Are you tired of my bunting? If you are, I have bad news because I am really hooked on it.  I do try to make a new color each time I use one for staging. Maybe a new pattern soon?

 This shade of green is perfect. 

It's moss point green in satin by Olympic One (found at Lowe's).

The original top had that hazy white film on the top and iron marks. I stripped the top and added a dark walnut minwax stain and protected the whole piece with wax. 

I kept the original pulls and sprayed them in oil rubbed bronze. 

I wanted the grooves in the legs to pop so I distressed the legs and lightly along the edges.

I mentioned this green makes me think of fall. Here's hoping it will bring the change of the season!


linking up:
under the table and dreaming

creatively living blog
alderberry hill
nifty thrifty things 

diy showoff
coastal charm
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inspiration exchange link party
start at home
the 36th ave
tator tots and jello
savvy southern style
all things thursday
treasure hunt thursday
uncommon slice of suburbia
redoux
popp 

A Taste of Americana

Our life is a series of projects right now. Money is limited so things are going slowly but we are getting them done. Since our extra closet (aka: my husband's closet) is in the nursery my hubby and I get to share a closet again. YAY.....not really. Our closet space isn't big so we needed to add a dresser to our bedroom to store most of my husband's clothes. 

BEFORE

AFTER

 I love this picture. Our Granddad took it in Spain and it screams Mafia to me. I love that Granddad took the picture but it also looks like a surveillance picture taken by the FBI.  So eerie but so cool.

This dresser was in rough shape when we bought it but I was okay with it because we only paid $25!! 

It was missing the trim around some of the drawers so I took it all off, sanded and filled any missing veneer and my husband sanded the top so we could stain it. 

I tried to polish the original hardware with Brasso but it was taking too long and it was hard to get in the small areas. Instead I used aged copper spray by Rustoleum. The top was stained with a walnut stain. 

I haven't put a protective coat on yet (but I will) and I also didn't distress or use chalk paint. 

The paint color I used was Americana by Behr and it took about 3-4 coats.

Now on to finishing the nursery!!

linking up to:
domestically speaking
savvy southern style
diy by design
the 36th ave
tator tots and jello
elizabeth and co 

under the table and dreaming

Custom Mustard Yellow Buffet

I spent the day running errands with my daughter, giving my hubby time to study for class tonight, and rushing home to take advantage of the sun poking its head out to take a few pictures. 

As I was getting ready to stage this buffet I got a text message from my client letting me know the sun was out and she was dying to see some more photos. This is for you Ashley!!

Ashley found a buffet and wanted to paint it mustard yellow. She gave me three shades of yellow to pick from and I picked Almond Puff by Valspar. I don't know if my eyes or going bad or the girl that was training in the paint department mixed it wrong but the color was off.  First, you get to see the color I mixed and at the end of this post you can see the huge mistake of a color I chose.

 BEFORE

One of our errands was Trader Joe's to get  flowers.

I don't have a color name since I mixed the color myself. 

I sprayed the pulls, waxed and very lightly distressed the edges. 

I sanded the top and used Kona stain to restain the top. 

Ashley has a farm table in her kitchen with a dark top and a coffee table with a dark wood plank top so we went dark with this piece too. 

Want to see what the Almond Puff looked like? 

It's the color on the right and the color on the left is the one I mixed. I took it with my phone at night so it's not too clear but you get the idea. 

I kept picturing yellow school buses, and those big bright smiley faces...maybe even a yield sign. 

I was going to use a black glaze to tone it down or maybe even add a little brown paint to help adjust the color. Both were a FAIL! 

Thankfully, I think I made the right call and came up with a great color that was very close to the three Ashley gave me.
 I can't leave you with this picture so here so one more good one!

Yellow is my grandma's favorite color and I never liked it. In the last two years, yellow (especially mustard yellow) has been added to my top 5 favorite colors. 

 Are you a fan of yellow?

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embracing change 

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no minimalist here
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Hepplewhite Dressers in Swiss Coffee

You know those really cool dressers you see with the oval pulls? Apparently they have an actual name besides old dressers with pretty oval pulls. My newest client Lauren contacted me requesting a set of Hepplewhite style dressers which is the actual name from this style of furniture. Ya' learn something new everyday!

Lucky for Lauren my neighbor was wanting to get rid of some furniture in her garage and she had two dressers identical to what my client was wanting.

BEFORE

AFTER

My client wanted a clean classic look so we decided to use Swiss Coffee by Behr. I used my homemade chalk paint recipe (1c. paint to 1/4 -1/2 c. baking soda) because chalk paint is so durable and has a great finish. Plus it drys super fast!

 

I lightly distressed the edges using a razor, sealed with Johnson's Paste Wax, and used Oil Rubbed Bronze to touch up the hardware. I primed these two pieces before I painted because I knew the original stain would bleed through. I primed, painted two coats of chalk paint and still had bleed through in certain spots. NOOO!!! I painted another coat of primer over the chalk paint and painted one more coat of Swiss Coffee. Thankfully, that did the trick.

Yes, professional furniture painters have paint issues/potential disasters too! My tip for the day for you ladies painting something for the first time: Don't be afraid and just go for it!!

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be different, act normal

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classy clutter

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