And the Armoir!

Yes, the almost final piece (we still have a $25 Craig's List desk to paint black) to my sister's room makeover is looking oh-so-pretty with a fresh coat of gray paint. See...

But that's not all this lovely armoir is adorned with. Looks what's hiding inside...

Gray, floral, wrapping-paper-covered back walls (yes, the patterns are turned opposite directions, but it was easier to do it that way!). Did you notice the new knobs that I first mentioned here?

But seriously, the most important question regarding this armior is, "How did the chalkboard doors turn out?" Well, I am pleased to anounce that with a little bit of this...

(a $2.50 bottle of unsanded grout- pretty exciting huh?)
You too can have custom color chalkboard surfaces that work wonderfully!!!

Just to prove it, I had my sister send me a picture text of what she has written on them now (sorry, camera phone's aren't the greatest quality). If you look really close though you can see a Thank You Debra written; what a sweet sis!

In case you are wanting to make your own personalized color chalkboard, here is exactly what to do.

1. Pick a fun paint color and buy semi-gloss paint (satin may work too, but I was going for wipeable)
2. Go to local hardware store and purchase white, non-sanded gout (I found mine at ACE Hardware)
3. Mix 1 cup paint and 2 Tbsp non-sanded grout in old bowl (like on old cottage cheese container) until grout is pretty much smooth (mine still had small lumps but this came out while I was brushing it on)
***I only used a little less than half of this amoutn to paint all 4 doors of this armior***
4. Paint the surface you want painted with a nice thick layer (I used a sponge brush)
5. Wait 3 days for paint to dry (this may be more than necessary, but I didn't want to sand too soon)
6. Lightly sand surface with 150 grit sand paper for nice smooth look
7. Condition chalkboard by rubbing side of chalk all across surface then wiping it clean
(Thank you Martha Stewart for the recipe)

All in all, this project was QUICK, CHEAP, and WORKED GREAT.
So great, that I already bought a new color of paint for my own chalkboard painting addition to my own house...let the fun begin again...ha!

Dresser + Details

Yes, this gorgeous gray dresser didn't remain undecorated for long!

Remember this lovely free mirror from Brandon's Gma...

Well a couple coats of primer and black spray paint later, it was looking polish and crisp hanging over my sister's lovely dresser.

I added two free black frames from Gma Allen to balance the mirror out and a few choice accesories to top off the dresser. This was just another part of her surprise she got to come home to.

Just wait till you see the armior!

Border Blues

Have you ever tried to remove a border by yourself? I would highly NOT recommend it!!! It only took a whole bottle of this...

And 4 hours of scraping with this...

(Yes, Lynn. It's a pampered chef pan scrapper!)
And all this so that her new bedspread that I blogged about here wouldn't clash with my sister's purplish pink walls when I made over her room. I got to thinking those purplish walls weren't so bad after scraping off all that border to paint though...ha! But seriusly, this process wouldn't have taken half as long had I had someone to help me do it. This is because the DIF spray only works when it is wet. It kept drying on me before I would get to everything I had sprayed, so I would have to rewet it and wait 5 more minutes before pealing. Not so much fun.

I also sanded, primed, and painted this...

and used this stuff...

to do this...

(see inspirationg for pillowcases here, and directions here)

And all this was to make this surprise possible...

This is what Kara came home to after her basketball tournament in St. Louis last weekend; and it's not even half the fun! Can't wait to post some more pics soon...just gotta find a little more time.

Master Bedroom Tour

I went ahead and took enough pictures to give you the full 360 degree tour of our master bedroom. It's not much as far a size goes, but we kind of like things nice and cozy!
When you walk in the door, you see our one, small closet. Hence, this is why we have 2 dressers! Brandon gets his clothes in this closet. I keep mine in the guest bedroom closet. It works out better this way...

I love that we have our own master bath. With the vanity sink, there isn't any place for storage. We keep our towels in a large basket on the closet floor, which works out pretty nicely. The dresser by the bathroom is Brandon's.

Notice the Clean Cotton Yankee Candle sitting on top of Brandon's dresser...one of my favorite scents!

Here is our bed. I would love to have a large enough room to have a bed centered on a wall with nightstands on both sides, like this one. However, the limited space in our room and oddly places windows left us with putting our bed in this corner. Just about everything in this picture was a gift to us in some way or another including the crazy weave, headboard, comforter, sheets, and brown throw. I love just how many house furnishings we have been blessed with!

The brown chair in the corner was also a gift, from the Kinder's, for our wedding. Please note the pillows on the bed and the chair are the ones I ordered from here not to long ago. I picked the wall color (Buxton Blue by Benjamin Moore) to match the blue in the pillows. The Blue just has a nice inviting, calming feel to it...

I bet your pretty jealous of our tower of electronic devices sitting on my dresser aren't ya...lol. Maybe someday we will get a sleek flat screen tv and get rid of this big clunker. Until then, we enjoy watching our late night shows too much to get rid of them. Speaking of which, I can't wait to Connan O'Brien takes over the late night spot!

And, just cuz I like my little star-shaped find, here is a picture of the cute little dish I found at Old Time Pottery for Brandon to put his pocket contents into when he gets home from work. He better not find anything more to put into his pockets, or I am going to have to find a bigger dish ; )

It's not exactly designer quality, but I tried my best to spruce the place up a bit! Let me know what you think of the new pillows and paint color...