The Beast that turned into a Beauty

This entertainment center was something we bought when we first were married and we loved it. However, over the past eleven years of bliss, it has taken on some bumps and bruises and it was a bit dated. I actually wanted to paint it last year, but Steve kept saying he didn't want me to- he liked it just fine. A few weeks ago we reached a compromise- he could stain the console table that he was making (more on this later) if I could paint the entertainment center. Done. It took a week and a 1/2 to finish this project with some long nights involved. I read several blogs on how to paint laminate. You can read here how we painted it. Our house was under construction during this process- its good to have it back to normal and less clutter.

Here's the before shot in all its cardboard- backed beauty.

Now we have a bead board backing that we painted with a mix of colors from our paint supply store in the basement.

Another improvement we made was to hide all the wires and access holes. No more wires!

Some crafty days

I saw this framed fern idea on another blog and being the copycat that I am I snagged it. This summer I collected some ferns on M.V and pressed them in a big book. Then, I used some modge podge to really glue it all down and now I love how it looks. I made two, but its so easy I think I'll be making more- good gift ideas?

Our gallery wall looks better now that I made our button L for Laverty. However, I think I'll continually be adding to this wall.

the china cabinet

I found this beauty at a local antique store that was on a major sale! Yippee! I had been looking for a china cabinet like this one on Craigslist hoping for this look with the broken arch up top. We have been in need of more storage as of late since I keep finding paper clutter everywhere. The cabinet needed a little TLC so of course I painted it (Steve helped too). We used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It's not chalkboard paint, but a special paint that distresses easy and you don't need to sand or prime. I really liked using this paint because there is no major prep work, and it only needed one coat.

Our house has been looking like this lately with all the projects we're doing. But we had to take all the pieces apart to get by all the glass.

Here's the before

and here she is now! We are very happy to have a place to hide some craft clutter and display books.