Paint is my friend...

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that you can spray paint/paint just about anything that will stand still and now I'm like an addict, constantly seeking out my next victim around the house.  Charlie joked the other night and said he wasn't going to sit still too long for fear I'd try and paint him. Hmm...maybe we'll try that for Halloween. 


I started small with some picture frames, candlesticks, lamp bases... Then I got brave enough to tackle a piece of furniture after pouring through some amazingly talented ladies' blogs that I have added to my blogroll.  Check them out if you want some inspiration.  But be warned, it is addictive!  


Last Saturday I got it in my head that I was gonna paint that old  brown wooden bench in the kitchen I found at a thrift store last year.  Many of the blogs I read said spray paint was best while others prefer brush painting.  I decided I'd start out with spray paint.


If I had that one to do over though I probably would have gone with brush painting, mainly because I ended up going for the distressed look and it was over 100 degrees outside and spray paint can't be used in the house.  


I moved the car out of the garage, put down my drop cloth and got busy sweating it out with the sandpaper and primer.  I think I took about a hundred and two breaks, coming in the house, turning the ceiling fan in the bedroom wide open and crashing on the bed for about 15 minutes, allowing my sweat to dry out before heading back out into the sauna.


While I really had no clue how to properly go about distressing a piece of furniture, I decided about halfway through that this bench needed that look so while the paint was still tacky, I hit it up here and there with the sanding block. And all in all, I think it turned out pretty good for my first time (and sorry, but I was so anxious to get started that I forgot to take a before shot)...

This clock tower pillow I found at TJMaxx.  It made me think of the clock tower in the town I grew up in, Rome Georgia...

These are pillow covers I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond and put some old ratty pillows from the bonus room in them...

I was so happy with the bench, that I couldn't wait to get started on my old childhood dresser I brought home from my mom's house several months ago.  And again, I got ahead of myself and remembered that I had not taken the before shot until after I started disassembling it but this gives you an idea what it looked like...

I planned on putting it in the entryway since it still remained barren. I debated on whether or not to brush or spray paint and finally decided that since I had so much of that aqua smoke paint left over from my bedroom that I'd just go with that.  I did a little light sanding, then applied two coats of primer and then two coats of the aqua smoke the next day.  After another 24 hours, I applied a polyacrylic to protect the paint job.  What do you think? 

That lamp also got a makeover.  I scored it yesterday for seven bucks at the thrift store.  This is what it looked like before...

  
And this is what looks like after a couple of coats of Krylon spray paint in brushed metallic nickel and a new shade I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 50 percent off....

These candlesticks were given to me by a dear friend for Christmas several years ago and I gave them a new look with some white spray paint.  Hope you don't mind, Michelle!  

I plan to move this picture to another place and hang the perfect mirror here...once I find it, that is!  This frame was a wedding gift from some friends and those notes were written to us at our reception.  We asked that everyone write a little something to us and put it in a box.  These are only the ones from our parents.  I still need to do something with all the others.  They are priceless to me...

 And that's it!  Now I must go find my next paint victim...