Convincing the Spouse

Sometimes the hardest part of a project is convincing my husband John that my fabulous idea really will turn out amazingly beautiful.  It's not that he doesn't trust my abilities to do something amazingly beautiful - he is the most supportive husband I could have ever asked for. No, I think it's more of a, "but we've owned this table/chair/dresser/desk for five years and it does it's job and it is just fine as it is."  While John may be thinking that the end table/bookshelf/lamp has been loved and appreciated for five years, I'm thinking that I did not like the paint color/lamp shade/knobs before we even brought it home. 

With such differing goals for our furniture and other home goods, you can see where I have a need to paint and sew and rearrange while John tends to just live with things.  This is the reason why I must put so much time, effort, and energy into convincing him that our side tables must be painted or that our gallery wall is just too small-scale.  I'm curious if anyone else has a spouse that likes to live with things as they are while you have a desire to make that tv console perfect.

I've learned that John needs lots of visual aids while I plead my case.  Remember those horrible end tables in our living room? He was adamantly against the idea of painting them and couldn't understand why I hated the tables so much.  I tried reasoning, begging, and bribing...and once I broke him down and we had painted them, he was in love with them.  He even went so far as to say, "Next time I need to just go with whatever you want to do - you know best." Does he remember saying that? No. I really should carry around a tape recorder.

One of our dressers

I've been talking about my desire to paint our television console for a few months and he's been ignoring me.  I've also shared with him many times about my desire to paint our bedroom furniture to help make our mix matched dressers and bedside tables fit together better. He's also poo pooed that idea. I know that I could probably beg until he consents - like I did with the living room tables - or do the project and ask for forgiveness once he sees me already painting, but I'd much rather have him excited about the project and believe that what we're doing will make our home 100 times more beautiful and comfortable.

Enter pictures. I've been collecting photos for the past month of inspiration colors and furniture that I plan on laying out nicely in front of John.  My plan is to help him visualize how a simple paint job could turn our bedroom from shouting hand me downs and thrift store to grown up and soothing cocoon.  I don't want to overwhelm John with too many options or pictures so I need your help. I'm trying to decide between painting our furniture white or gray.  The vision I have for our master bedroom is grays with pops of white and green.  We're renting right now and have white walls, but when we buy a house in the next year or two I want to paint the walls a pale gray...hence the indecision.  What do YOU think?

I'm loving this moody dark color for our bedroom furniture. I worry, though, if it would be too much with two bedside tables and two tall dressers...what do you think?

Here is a picture of white against pale gray...I love it and I know it will help John visualize the potential of our bedroom.

A softer, lighter gray bedside table. I think it may blend into our future light gray walls, though...I can picture all of our furniture painted this color, though.

I love this color with the pop of white in the knobs.

So, please vote for the color you think we should paint our furniture - white, dark gray, or light gray.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Try Again

I didn't succeed in my first try...or my second...or my fourth. Luckily I kept trying and am able to say that I painted some bottles. I know what you're thinking and you can go ahead and say it, "Painted bottles, that's the easiest thing in the world." I know and I'm still not sure why this craft and I don't get along. Maybe if I show you my journey you can tell me where I went wrong, because I'm still not sure.

The journey began two months ago when I was not quite satisfied with my spray painted wine bottles and realized that I missed the shiny, glossy look of the glass. I decided to try pouring some paint into an old spice jar and allowing the outside to remain clean and glossy. I didn't have any enamel paint, but I did have leftover latex paint and used that.  I left it upside down for several hours checking it periodically to wipe away the excess paint.  All was looking wonderful so I decided to do some more spice jars. When I went to bed that night, they were looking beautiful.  The next morning I discovered what would come back to haunt me time and time again:

This was actually the third try, but you can see the horror.

Overnight, as they dried, the paint ran completely down the glass and left areas paint-free. I thought perhaps it was the type of paint I chose so I tried craft paint next. All looked well, until 12 hours later when I'd see the streaks.

Looking beautiful before bed

I tried pouring more paint in and recovering the naked areas, but that left the bottles with visible streaks in the sunlight:

Streaks after trying to fix

I also struggled with the paint bubbling at the bottom of the jar after I started alternating upside down and right side up every hour in an attempt to keep naked areas from appearing. I tried keeping the lid on, keeping it off...


A few times I ended up peeling the paint completely off and starting again. I began to think maybe I should just give up, but then I saw others with their own jars painted around the blogging community and it just fueled my crazed mind. Why could others do it and I couldn't?

In the end, I spent days painting and repainting with a teeny paint brush to cover over the naked areas that appeared each night that I slept. After four days the paint finally dried and stopped running around the jar.  Let's just say, until someone can tell me their secret, I am done with these beautiful, shiny, amazing glass jars.

Only three out of 9 turned out

So, what's the secret?!? I desperately want more faux white milk glass!





Linking to:
A Crafty Soiree
Paisley Passions
A Glimpse Inside

A Makeover About to Happen

I'm sure you knew a furniture makeover was imminent after I shared my obsession with staring at before and after furniture pictures (found here).  With John on Spring Break, the weather looking warm and sunny, and many kind and encouraging comments, I figured I needed to take a deep breath, put on my big girl panties, and grab a paint brush.

I'm starting small on two side tables in my living room that I have hated since the moment I shoved them into my car.  Several years ago, when John and I moved into our first apartment together, we didn't have any furniture whatsoever. Nothing, nada, ziltch.  So, I went craigslist crazy and bought the first thing I saw in all categories.  These tables were the first of the mistakes.

I am planning on painting them heirloom white, which seems to be the diyer's ideal paint.  I've wrangled my husband into sanding them and I'll begin painting them tomorrow.

I do have some questions:
     1. Oil-based primer or water-based primer?
     2. Should I try and cover up the groves with wood putty or leave them be? I really don't like the plank look and would enjoy a smooth table.

Wish me luck, I'm off to Home Depot.