~distressed frames & a lil’ chalkboard paint too~

 

We’ve been doing a lot of sprucing up lately;

remodeling, painting the walls and changing decor around.

After doing some major changes to our kitchen,

we painted several rooms including the dining room,

foyer, and great room. 

After painting the foyer walls in Sherwin Williams Latte,

I wanted something different above our bench.

I loved this painting above the bench, but not the frame. 

We’ll fix that later in the post.

But first…

 

I had this mirror stored in the attic. 

(Sorry, I didn’t take an original photo.)

I taped down the frame and sprayed the mirror portion with chalkboard paint. 

(I know!  I’m probably the last one in blogland to explore this project.) 

 

 

 

 

The green paint on the frame didn’t work for me anymore

so I painted over it with one of the samples from painting the walls.

(Sample paints work great for projects like this one.)

Next, I rubbed a dark stain on the painted portion and wipe it off with a soft cloth.

Now I can greet guests to our home with a personal welcome message or dinner menu…

or for everyday just a quote that makes me happy.

~

Now, let’s talk about that painting in the first photo of this post.

Remember that ugly gold striped frame?

Go ahead – scroll up and check it out.

Take a look now.

I sanded it lightly and then painted with a dark brown color.

Next, I dry brushed it lightly here and there with different tones of gold, rust, and beige paints,

wiping the paint off with a soft cloth to get the effect I wanted.

I love this kind of distressing because you can’t make a mistake.

I just played with it till I got the look I loved.

While I was having so much fun, I also painted an old plaque to tie in with my wall theme.

(Sorry again; didn’t take a before photo of this.)

I used the same process as the frame on this plaque,

but also sanded the edges to distress a little more and stenciled it with the letters “HOME”.

 

I began to notice a while back that I have collected quite a few houses through the years.

So I decided to group several of them together.  

All of these represent a personal memory to our family which makes this collage extra special.

Sharing with other changes and redos at

Met Monday,  Before and After, DIY Showoff Project

Transformation Thursday , Make it 4 Monday

& Show Off Your Cottage Monday