Spray Painting Furniture {My DIY Disaster}

While I not-so-patiently wait for our kitchen upgrade to be finished (see this post and this), I stumbled upon the best yard sale find of my life. These solid wood stools...4 for $30. Yay!

After reading about a bazillion blogs about spray painting furniture, I thought I was ready to jump on in and paint these chairs a nice glossy black. First, I went shopping and picked up a can of gray primer. Ha! If you are familiar with spray painting, you'll know this was a rookie error. One can of paint for four chairs? Don't be silly. Each chair required it's own can!

Other than the cost, about $20, this step was pretty easy. For the first chair I used Krylon primer, which I loved. I used Valspar from Lowe's for the next three and didn't like it quite as much. Well, for one thing, one of the cans exploded in a huge gloppy spray of paint right onto the chair. Huge mess. HUGE. Lesson learned: do a test spray before aiming at your furniture! The other thing I didn't like about the Valspar was that you have to apply a ton of pressure on the nozzle so your fingers get sore almost immediately. Not a huge problem, but still, annoying.

So at this point, I was feeling ok about the process. Then enter the black glossy paint. I tried my hardest to do thin even coats and I failed miserably. I did three coats on each chair and still ended up with drips and random patches of crackle. I'm still not sure what that's all about.

By this point, my fingers are about to drop off and all I have to show for it is a sloppy, drippy, crackley mess. Deep breaths. I decided to just keep going, knowing that these chairs will be used by 3 children every day and most likely wouldn't look nice for very long anyway.

I unloaded a full can of transparent gloss sealer on each chair. I was envisioning a lacquer type finish...smooth and tough. The end result was more of a dusty gray, rough look. Womp womp.

From a distance they look ok but get up close and they're a hot mess. What's that...like a Monet right?

I would LOVE any advice on spray painting in general and specifically if I can salvage these guys. Help!  Thanks!

Style in Suburbia {Pros and Cons of Gel Manicures}

A few months ago I treated myself to my first gel manicure (read that post here). I loved how durable the polish was and how long it lasted.

It was so rugged in fact that when I went to take it off, I couldn't. Now I completely fault myself for not hitting up Google immediately. If I had, I would've known that you need pure acetone to get that stuff off. But, I didn't.

So, I proceeded to scrape the hell out of my nails until I finally got it all off. And, I ruined my nails. They were scratched and thin and just plain sad looking. I took that as an opportunity to spend the summer having fun with nail polish colors:

Since my nails were so weak I had to keep polish on them. But if I was going to the trouble of painting my nails, I wanted to get more than a few days without chips setting in. Lo and behold, using a base coat, two layers of polish, and a top coat can extend the life of polished nails for DAYS. Awesome.

Once my nails were semi-normal again, I wanted to grow them a bit longer. But since I'm so rough on my hands, my nails were breaking before they ever got a chance. And secretly, I was itching to try a gel manicure again. I convinced myself it was worth it if my nails were protected under all that shellac, I'd be doing them a FAVOR. (Yeah, right.)

This time I got my first ever French manicure. It was LOVE at first sight:

Now, remember when I said I'm rough on my hands? Yeah, rough like a spray painting project gone horribly wrong.

Woops. Lesson learned...wear gloves when you're rocking an awesome mani. But, all was not lost. Guess what? That gel shellac is so slick and tough that the spray paint rubbed right off! Phew. More on the DIY spray painting fiasco tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Mini Makeover {Dressing & Jewelry Corner}

Equipped with my own tools and toolbox (see my post about reclaiming my tools here), I thought I'd add a few items to spruce up a little corner of our master bedroom. I'm really drawn to fun dressing tables but there are a couple of issues with that plan. First, there's really not enough room in our master. And secondly, I still have to store jewelry and make-up high up to keep Freckle Girl wreaking havoc on my things.

Here's what I came up with:

Freckle Man gave me this light wooden chest of drawers when we first got married and I use it to store stockings, letters, and jewelry from family members that I don't wear every day. At some point, I'd like to spray paint it a fun color and replace the pulls with cute hardware. Ok, down to the makeover. I snagged this mirror from Target for $19. I love the shape!

Ever since I saw this post from I Heart Organizing, I've been wanting a simple but pretty way to display some of my jewelry.

I used a simple black cork board made by Board Dudes and bought a package of colorful push pins. And voila!

On top of the drawers, I store smaller jewelry in this ceramic egg holder, also from Target.

And this beauty was my grandmother's sewing box. Is that wood inlay on top amazing? I store buttons and other random pieces in there.

I love that it was so simple and quick to make my own little dressing and jewelry corner in our room. Stay tuned for more updates.

IKEA {Our Love/Hate Relationship}

First things first. What do you think of the new header? I kinda love it but that could be giddiness from the fact that I made it myself...so proud, so proud.

Anyhow, if you've read any of my previous posts, you will know that I love IKEA. Like it's unhealthy how much I LOVE IKEA. Go into just about any room in my house and you will find an IKEA product, whether it be furniture, rugs, linens, baskets, decor...well, you get the idea.

But recently, my LOVE of IKEA has turned into more of a LOVE/HATE.  Let me back up to explain. We decided to use IKEA cabinets to build our new kitchen island. We used them for a peninsula in our first house and were very happy with their quality. So Freckle Man and I hit up IKEA and bought all the bazillion pieces to make our island.

When FM was assembling the cabinets he realized one of the doors was the wrong color. And this is where we made our fatal flaw...we brought all 3 kids to IKEA on a Saturday to exchange the door. BIG mistake. First, you have to wait for your number to be called. Once it was our turn, the returns/exchange employee told us she'd have someone pull the replacement and call for us. And then she went on lunch break. For an hour. I think all three of my kids were crying by the time we finally made it outta there. And I had to get bitchy, which I don't like to do, but will when necessary.

Then IKEA and I had a little break. FM put together our slide-out trash cabinet. I was thrilled I wasn't looking at this gaping hole anymore:

We went with a 15 inch cabinet with a pull-out door:

It also came with two inner drawers:

That left the bottom trash area with about 15 inches of height to work with. I wasn't too sure that would be tall enough but figured, hey, IKEA thinks of everything. I'm sure it'll be fine! Off to IKEA I went. My first sign was that there was a woman crying in the returns/exchanges area! Maybe our horrible experience in returns/exchanges was not unusual?

Anyway, this trip to IKEA was frustrating too although I didn't realize it until I got home and tried things out.  The frickin' Rationell trash cans don't fit! They are tiny. As in, we'd fill that sucker up in about 20 minutes tiny. Plus, the can had so much room on the sides that it would rattle around every time we opened the cabinet.

One of my pet peeves is wasted time. Time is so precious in my life now. I work 32 hours a week and spend virtually every other waking moment with my children. So taking the time out to make the 45 minute trip to IKEA, wrestle through crowds, etc. and then have it NOT work? Not cool IKEA. Not cool.

Ok. We were going to have to get creative. FM uninstalled the two drawers and re-installed the deeper of the two so we could get some extra height for the trash. Then I went on the great trash can hunt. Seriously. I hit up at least 3 stores in search of the right trash can. I really wanted to get two back-to-back so we could have trash and recycling in the same place. In the end, KMart came through for the win. Go figure.

Great! However, now I have $50 worth of unused IKEA trash accessories. Oh joy. Another trip to IKEA! I tried going at 1pm on a weekday. And lo and behold, half the college kids in New England were there too! Let's just say it was another unpleasant experience to returns/exchanges. So, IKEA and I are taking some time to think about our relationship. No no IKEA, it's me not you.

What do you think of the IKEA experience? I love to read comments so go ahead and write one!

Dining Room Furniture {Decor on a Dime}

Now that our dining room/kitchen renovation is {this close} to being finished, I'm longing to update our dining room furniture to match the new look.

Here's what our dining room currently looks like:

We love the upper wall color (Benjamin Moore's Revere pewter) with the white panel molding below. But the  hand-me-down Scandanavian dining set really doesn't do anything for me:

The fabric is stained from kid spills and shredded by one of our cats. Enter pinterest. I've been crushing on metal cafe chairs for a while now and love how sleek and industrial they look in contrast to a giant wooden farm table like this:

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After looking around a bit, I found this set on Overstock:

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The set of 4 is only $199. I love that they're kid and pet-friendly and also stackable. I think these may be in our near future!  Eventually, I'd love to get a pair of upholstered chairs for the ends of the table for Freckle Man and I. Something like these beauties from Target (less than $200)...wouldn't they look awesome with the gray wall color?

Farmhouse tables seem to cost a fortune so I started thinking about how "easy" it would be to whip together one on my own with 2x8's. I'm sure that kind of project is easy for some, but most likely not for me.

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Then I took another look at our existing table. Take away those chairs and the table is actually fine as is, don't you think? 

The kids can continue to beat it up until we're ready to upgrade at some point in the future. Wouldn't adding some metal cafe chairs to that table make a huge difference?

Last but not least is that drab rug. We've had it for at least 12 years and it's in a sad condition. But I just can't see investing in a beautiful rug that my kids are just going to ruin in short order. No offense kids, you're messy buggers! Perhaps a nice indoor/outdoor rug would be a good option but I'll wait on that.

So, that's the plan to spruce up the dining room furniture without breaking the bank. We'll have some kitchen updates to report soon so stay tuned. Thanks!

Style in Suburbia {I'm Plum Struck}

When I first started this blog, I wanted to also include my experiences with trying to prevent into the suburban mom schlump as well as documenting our home remodeling and decorating. Suburban mom schlump...that's the technical term for it ;)

I've found it a lot more challenging to keep looking fresh and put together over the summer. Add heat and humidity and my hair frizzes right up. So most days it's in a ponytail. The three days I'm at the office I try to wear cute but professional clothes and accessorize a bit more. But when I'm home with the kids in the heat, I tend to go for pure comfort.

For clothes, I'm usually drawn to neutral dark colors like black and gray. Bor-ing. Then I try to spice it up and buy a bright pink top. And then I realize that bright pink looks weird on someone like me. Someone with reddish brown hair, freckles (obviously, wink wink), and brown eyes. According to the season color system I'm a "fall". But, doesn't that mean I need to wear all muted browns and earth tones? Again, bor-ing.

Enter PLUM. A friend lent me a top for a night out on the town and I fell in love. It complements my coloring and is a lovely mix of burgundy and purple, two colors I love. Please excuse the awful iphone pic:

Now I'm itching to get out there and do some fall clothes shopping! A quick pinterest search for "plum" led me to these:

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Do you have a "signature color"? What looks are you thinking of for the fall?

Decorating a Tall Space {The Sky's the Limit}

The tallest piece of furniture we own is an antique desk that was Freckle Man's grandmother's. She lived in a rambling farmhouse and the desk came down through the family. It's gotten a few dings and scratches over the years but it really is beautiful and makes such a statement in our living room.

At night, when FM and I are hanging out, I gaze at this big guy and started to think about accentuating it's height by adding some decor on top. Typically, we'd stow a bunch of bills, paperwork, or electronics we didn't want Freckle Girl (aka The Puppy) to get into. Not that attractive. One quick trip to HomeGoods and problem solved:

We already had this little basket which is home to my camera but I wanted to add items with some height so I picked up the globe, red basket for magazines, and tall woven basket for larger items. Here's a close-up. 

FM thinks it's too busy and wants to take down the big basket and spread things out more. It is crowded but I like the tall basket. What do you think?

Thank you to Cassie for inspiring me to bring in a cool globe. I love the colors on this one.

And with the desk open you get a view of all the awesome storage this desk provides. We have all sorts of office supplies, school forms, bills, checks, etc. up top and cat supplies, exercise gear, extra decor and DVDs in the drawers below.

For a whopping $56 for the globe and two large baskets, I say that's a pretty quick, easy, and inexpensive way to dress up this tall space. I'm going to bite the bullet and do a full tour of the living room before too long so stay tuned!

Kids Rooms {The Personal Touches}

Hi y'all. Despite the fact that we've lived in our home on Berry Lane for almost two years, I'm just now getting around to hanging some artwork in the kids rooms. I'd like to blame it on the fact that I dreaded hanging anything up because I'd either have to ask Freckle Man to do it OR try to find all the supplies in his mess. I don't normally mind his lack of organization, except for when I can't find a tool I need. When I was in college my dad gave me my own toolbox with a starter set of all the basic tools a college girl could need. Over the past 14 years, FM has slooooowly stolen all my tools and they've been lost in the abyss.

I don't know why it took me this long to think of it, maybe because I'm doing more projects on my own, but I recently reclaimed my tool box. All that was left was a big tape measure and some random hooks. I went out and bought a set of tools ($8 from IKEA) and supplemented it with a level, picture hanging supplies, and tape measure. I put the toolbox in an easy-to-find location and told FM to keep out!

With new tools in hand, I set about hanging some artwork in the kids rooms. I'm a big fan of original artwork and went direct to the artist herself for decorating Freckle Diva's room. Early this summer FD went to an art camp and came home with loads of artwork. We picked her favorite creations and got them up on the wall. Here's a beach duo:

In the pictures the walls appear gray but they're actually pale purple, Benjamin Moore's beach plum. Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to take a decent photograph. Here is a decoupage creation. I love the cheerful suns and details in the blue sky. 

Now Freckle Girl is only 3 years old so her taste is still pretty whimsical and young. FG is obsessed with animals. Preferably farm animals. Having seen some cool animal silhouettes used as art in children's rooms on the web and Pinterest, FM and I set out to make our own.

Wall color: Benjamin Moore pink peony

FM downloaded a stock image with tons of different animals, blew up a handful of different ones, and we let FG choose which she liked best. No surprise that she went with a pig, horse and cow. We seriously had these pictures and frames sitting around for about a year. With my new tools, I was ready to get those suckers up on the wall! I'm pretty jazzed about how these look. So cute!


I hung artwork in Freckle Boy's room a while ago but thought I'd add in his room to show as well. A year or so ago I snagged these free NASA prints of the planets and sun at a science conference I attended for work. I picked out my five favorites and bought inexpensive frames from Michaels. This is the view you get when walking into FB's room:

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Georgian green

He also has this piece of artwork...a fingerpainting he did when he was 3! His preschool teachers framed it for us and it makes me smile every time I see it.

Maybe one day the kids rooms will be clean enough to show you the rest! Stay tuned.

Bathroom Series: Master Bath

Hi y'all. It's time for the third installment of the Berry Freckles bathroom series. Drumroll please...the master bath. When we bought our house we were thrilled to have more than one bathroom. Period. To have a master bathroom all to ourselves was a dream come true.

Two years later and reality is sinking in a bit. Like the family bathroom, it is "vintage" 1974. Like mustardy-gold tiles everywhere 1974 style. And, it may be the smallest bathroom ever. I actually measured. 5x7!

Ok, ready to sneak a peak? Looking in from the bedroom you see this:

Even though the bathroom is actually 5x7, the walled-in shower takes up 3x4 of that space. It's one saving grace is that huge window which gives us a lot of natural light. Closing the door behind you, there's this little nook of wasted space:

Going around the shower, you get a full view of the bathroom in all its glory:

Opening the shower door, you can see the teeny tiny enclosed area.

Complete with tiles on the ceiling!

Now, what to do about this little guy?  I know it needs to be gutted and rebuilt from scratch. I go back and forth between wanting to take a few feet from my closet to expand the bathroom or just leaving this size but using the space better.

Installing a frameless glass shower would make a world of difference to this space. I liked this inspiration pic of a similarly tiny bathroom:

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I would definitely want to use a small vanity under the sink to give us some much needed storage. And maybe a shelf over the door, like this one?

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I'm starting to think of timeline and budget for remodeling these bathrooms so stay tuned!

Bathroom Series: Family Bath

Hi there. So I tried something new last week. I took all of the bathroom pictures for the week, put them in posts and tried using the blogger app from my phone to write all the text while we were on vacation. Hmmm, I managed to get one post done. Not such a success given that our vacation spot doesn't get a signal and the blogger app on android is tough to use. Well, I tried!

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I'm just going to bite the bullet and show you one of the ugliest bathrooms in North America. I try to convince myself that it's vintage or retro (circa 1974) but I don't think there's any working that angle.

Let's start with the view from the hallway. Aside from the poor lighting, blue tile, and brown trim, it doesn't look THAT bad right?

Not so fast. Let's take a closer look. Gazing down, you see this oh-so-lovely tile floor. Varying shades of blue and white, grungy grout, and tiles popping up throughout. 

Ack. It pains me a bit to blow that picture up that big! 

Ok. So you walk a bit farther into the room and see the blue tile that goes halfway up the walls.

I think I could live with the blue tile, I really do. But then BAM--check this out:

The tile in the shower has this funky blue pattern with an etched texture:

My sister's solution was to buy this shower curtain and suggest we keep it closed at ALL times.

My kids get scared when the curtain's closed--don't ask me why--so we usually are sporting the funky blue patterned tile. Ok, turning your back to the shower to face the vanity, you see this beauty:

Laying it all out there is actually cracking me up with how hideous it is. At least it is going BIG ;) The sink is in keeping with the vanity style:

And the cherry on top is this lighting fixture:

Ok, where to begin? We need some serious cash to fix this bathroom. A friend and I have been talking lately about the question of saving for the big job vs. doing a smaller "band-aid" project to see you through. It is soooo tempting to spend about $1,000 for a DIY fix here. By painting the tile all white, replacing the floor and vanity, I could give this bathroom a face lift.

Right now I'm leaning towards saving for the real deal. Ripping that whole thing down to the studs and starting over from scratch. I want something timeless, sleek, and kid-friendly.

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I'm thinking a big trough sink so more than one kid can use it at the same time...

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...and hooks for towels instead of bars.

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What do you think about doing a quick/inexpensive "band aid" project vs. waiting?  I can't wait to get going on renovating this bathroom either way! Stay tuned.