Art and a headboard...

...that's what we are making/working on this weekend. 

First up, we have the headboard that I've been talking about for weeks. Due to the chaos that is life we have not gotten around to them till now. This project should be fairly inexpensive considering what the end result will be. The doors were free from Andy's mom. When she did renovations/preservation work on the old barn they were discovered up in the loft I believe. We finally hauled 'em back from the farm Memorial Day weekend. So all we have to purchase is the painting supplies.

We have a lot of black furniture. And we have a lot of distressed furniture. I decided that we needed to at least change it up a bit even though a black headboard would really look best in the guest bedroom. So while the doors will have a top coat that is black the bottom coat is going to be a mustardy-goldish color. In between we are going to try our hand at a crackle finish! I hope it turns out well. At first I was quite put out with the woman at the Lowe's paint counter.  (Our Home Depot, my store of preference, no longer carries crackle supplies because there isn't a huge need for it apparently in our area.) So I found myself at the Lowe's waiting for a good 15 minutes to talk to the paint specialist. My question was if I want the natural wood to show do I have to paint a base coat? And she informed me that yes I have to. I asked there isn't any other way to do it...nope. Fine. I waited all that time for two words. I probably would have been okay if she had at least been polite. Instead she reeked of smoke and glared at me...I think I interrupted  her smoke break. Whatever. Grouchy and put out I purchased only the crackling supplies and headed back to MECCA aka Home Depot to purchase my paint. So there's the first project...

And here's the second...

This is my kitchen the night before it was demo-ed. That hot pink post-it is a reminder to the contractor not to trash my cabinet doors. On a completely separate note I do not miss my old kitchen one bit. This picture is proof that the kitchen needed a face lift.

After a year in the cellar (yes, we actually have a cellar) they are a little dirty but no worse for the wear.  

Since we re-did the kitchen I have wanted to have something on the walls to highlight our college "family" but was unsure what I wanted and where. After much thought and the itch to have something new on the wall before they return in a few weeks I have decided. If you look closely my old cabinet doors have raised molding around the inside. I've decided that we are going to paint a magnetic primer on the inside portion followed by a chalkboard layer. The outside portion will be painted to look like a frame. The nasty brass pulls will be replaced with pewter ones to match the rest of the kitchen hardware. If it works out the way it looks in my mind I should end up with some fabulous art to hang on my wall...that can be filled with photos, quotes, doodles, and who knows what else when our students return.

In addition, I'm going to make an extra door for AG. We have stainless appliances and thus, he has no place to put magnetic ABCs, 123s, shapes, etc. Plus we don't have room in this house for an easel. So by giving him his own door we can place it on his play table, put it on the floor, tote it around the house, etc.

We'll see how it all works out. Should be fun and interesting since we've never crackled, painted with magnetic primer or chalkboard paint. More pictures to come...

PS- I couldn't leave you without showing an after photo of my kitchen because the before is pretty rough! Once I get the art on the walls I will have to take pictures of everything. For now this shot from Christmas works.