Our 4th of July

Our holiday was both lazy and eventful, if that's even possible. Kind of how I like my holidays. The best of both worlds.

We spent the first half of the day lounging around the house. I cleaned a little and ran some errands while Denny and Peyton napped until I finally couldn't take it any more and decided to get festive, sickness or not. 

I got Miss Peyton dressed and snapped a photo (or 12).

An instagram shot.

Denny had to work today so he didn't feel like getting trapped in the post-fireworks traffic until well after midnight, so I packed up Peyton and went with his family to spend the afternoon out at the inlet in Atlantic City, where we had a view of both the Borgata's and the Revel's fireworks.

Also a sweet view of our normal beach spot, which we decided against since
I'm still under the weather.

It was a really great afternoon, spent with his family. Peyton had a blast being reunited with her cousins from Georgia:

I find that taking pictures of my ONE toddler is hard,
but taking photos of TWO toddlers is impossible.
But aren't they darling? They're eight months apart.

So proud of my big girl for sharing her book.

It was around 5 PM when my phone died, and therefore so did my only method of taking photos (since my camera is still MIA since the move). But Peyton LOVED the fireworks.

"Mommy, there're so cute!" She would say, and then name every color in awe of what was going on in the sky.

Love that child too much.

Needless to say, we didn't get home until 1:00 AM. Which means Mommy overslept for her oil change appointment this morning (whoops!).

I've been taking Peyton to the sitter all week as I'm terrified she'll catch my sickness, so I've been taking advantage of the solo time to get some things done. I went to my oil change appointment (late), and braved the Social Security office to FINALLY get my name changed (a whole month late, ha!).

My day of solo productivity included a trip to the Goodwill. Where I found this:

I smell a project!

The table and three chairs for $24.99 (!!!). It's pretty beat up AND the chairs need to be reupholstered AND I'd be stuck with an odd number, BUT on Saturdays blue tags are 50% off. Which means I could get the table and chairs for $13. It seems stupid not to get them. I took it as a sign that this set wouldn't fit in my car today and vowed that I would come back tomorrow. If it's still there, it's on.

I did just show Denny this photo and he crinkled his nose at me like I was a crazy person, but COME ON. Does anyone else see the potential here for a possible $13? Am I alone in this? 

I think he just has a vision of this stuff sitting in our garage for an undetermined amount of time, taking up precious man space.

Ahhhh well.

How did you spend your 4th of July? Do you think I'm insane for wanting that (incomplete and beat up) dining set?

4th of July Vignette

I don't know about you guys, but I love the 4th of July.

It's officially summer, spending time with family and friends, BBQs, pool time, beach time, lawn games, being outside, and most importantly, remembering how much I LOVE everything about America, and that the 4th of July serves as a grand reminder of our humble beginnings of 13 colonies who banded together and created some amazing ideas on what a country should be.

I love America.

This is where we all chant together...

USA!
USA!
USA!

I've never decorated for the 4th of July (SHAAAAME), and even though the 4th is tomorrow, I was determined to throw something together.

I know...a lot of you have been doing your 4th of July crafting and decorating since June 1st. Again, slacker blogger here, nice to meet you.

As for decor, here is my newest addition to the family, the buffet:

We don't have a fireplace and therefore no mantle, but I do love the idea of having a designated space to decorate for the seasons and holidays. So I'm super glad I picked up and fixed up this pretty little buffet.

Bonus: I'm going to store all of my tabletop decor IN the buffet so it's all in once place, instead of digging through various totes in the garage and shed. Storage, WIN.

As for what's currently on the buffet, I simply printed out these awesome printables and added them to frames I already had.

• "My Country 'Tis of Thee" printable from HMH Designs
• "Land That I Love" printable from My Fabuless Life
• "God Bless America" printable in 5x7 from Landee See, Landee Do

Please check out each of those wonderfully generous, talented bloggers! 

Then I spent a nice Saturday morning thrifting and searching around my house for red, white, and blue items.

I picked up some books, the red, white, and blue basket, the old-school Smucker's jar, the little blue mug and the big red beer stein, and the white milk glass from my local Goodwill. The milk glass actually reads "'76" near the neck of the bottle because it's a bicentennial Christmas piece, but if you don't look closely you don't even notice. (Which means that bad boy is coming back for double duty at Christmas!) The big glass jug is actually an old bottle that I found in my stepdad's basement and the little white bird I got from Michael's a year ago on clearance.

In total, I maybe spent...$10? on this set up. 

And now the problem that has been plaguing me since I moved pretty miss buffet into the house:

What should I do about this giant blank wall and stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb thermostat? Plate wall, gallery wall (but then...gallery wall with just frames or frames with ACTUAL pictures?). Some sort of homemade art? What to do? Don't you love it when you finish one project which inevitably leads to another project (I'm not complaining, though).

So, what are your plans for a Happy 4th? Feel free to share in the comments.

Enjoy and be safe, everyone!

Linking up to:
Southern Lovely

Ruminations on Being Home Sick and Daytime Television

I'm sick.

Like...sinus infection, ear infection, pinkeye (PINKEYE?!?!) sick.

Peyton is at the sitter's so she doesn't catch the plague from me.

Denny is at work.

So it's just me, the laptop, and the TV. All day.

I used to watch a whole lot of daytime TV when I was at home with Peyton (well, maybe not "watch," but I kept it on for background noise while a tiny screamy baby with reflux slowly chipped away at my sanity), but I find myself completely irritated by it today. Maybe it's the sickness. Who knows.

But seriously...

Whoopi Goldberg, WHY do you have to shout so much on "The View"? I have an ear infection, and you are hurting me.

Rachael Ray, WHY are you hugging up on all those puppies for adoption and then running right into your kitchen to make some delicious burgers? I hope you washed your hands during commercial breaks. I frown at dog hair in my food.

Contestants on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," WHY do you have to explain every answer? You know the answer, JUST SAY IT.

Ugh, here's to hoping I feel better enough tomorrow to actually go out and enjoy some holiday festivities.

Otherwise it'll be me, the laptop, daytime TV, and the rage again.

How to Glaze Furniture

I've done it twice already with the end table makeover and the buffet makeover and to be honest, glazing a piece of furniture can really bring out some amazing details and add so much dimension to a painted piece of furniture.

For some more great tips, check out All Things Thrifty and Vintage Revivals. Great tutorials and examples of glazing.

I'll demonstrate here, as done on the buffet project I just finished:

Step one: Paint your piece and let it dry completely. Don't be hasty, girl!

Step two: Distress by sandpaper. Get those edges.

Step three: If you bought your glaze tinted at Home Depot, good for you. If you didn't, like me, pour some glaze into a plastic cup and mix in a little bit of the paint color of your choice. I like to use regular old acrylic craft paint and it doesn't take much. Below you can see I used black, but really you could use any color your little heart desires.

Step four: either brush the tinted glaze or wipe on with a rag. Make sure to get into any edges, crevices, insets, carved motifs, whatever. If there is an awesome feature to your furniture, glaze is pretty likely to make it even more awesome.

Step five: Wipe off with a damp cloth. Make sure to let glaze remain in those cracks, edges, crevices, etc. 

After glazing the drawers and the doors,
it's so much more obvious how well the glazing works on the doors.

Step six: Repeat, if you so desire, for a more distressed look.

Step seven: Allow to dry and apply protective coating of some sort (wax, Polycrylic, Polyurethane, etc...I like Minwax Polycrylic because it doesn't smell as bad as the Polyurethane, nor does it yellow over time as Polyurethane is apt to do)..

Enjoy!

There she is again!

To see other furniture makeovers by yours truly:

End Table Makeover

Buffet Table Makeover

Buffet Makeover

Since I've been on a roll with furniture makeovers, I figured it was probably time to attack the buffet that's been sitting in my garage since April, and previously in our storage shed at Denny's parents' house. Behold, the big brown buffet that was in GREAT shape but was sadly lacking in the style I was looking for in our new home:

Sad buffet in sad Craigslist photo

Yugoslavia doesn't even exist anymore!

I had been trolling Craiglist for weeks trying to find a buffet in decent condition, but everyone wanted $100+ for theirs. What's up with that, Craigslist users? You're all crazy. If they weren't overpriced, then they were just too far away. I only just recently started testing the Craigslist waters, so I didn't feel comfortable driving too far for a piece I might not even like or bring home. 

Then, finally, I found one being sold in the next town over for...

...wait for it....

FORTY BUCKS.

The photo looked nice, and shockingly, the listing was still live after almost two weeks of being posted. So I crossed my fingers and emailed the owner who said come and get it.

So I did. It was a little dirty and covered in cobwebs, but it had potential.

And then my buffet sat for months while I figured out what to do with it.

I started sanding it. 

Originally I was going to sand it down to bare wood because I wanted to stain the top and paint the rest. But then, I thought to myself, 'Self, #AINTNOBODYGOTTIMEFORTHAT' (yes, sometimes I think in hashtags). So I just sanded just enough to give the paint something to hold onto.

Once I was done sanding, here's what I used:

• Kilz Oil-Based Primer (1 quart)
• Martha Stewart Living Salt Glaze by Glidden (1 quart in an eggshell finish. I wanted gloss but forgot to tell dear husband and got distracted by the fun stuff at Home Depot so he ordered the paint for me. And I could only find the link to the sample, sorry!)
• 4" Foam rollers
• Paint trays
• Martha Stewart Faux Finishing Glaze (leftover from my End Table Makeover and tinted black with regular old craft paint)
• Foam Brushes
• Minwax Polycrylic (also left over from the end tables)

If you'll remember, I spray painted the end tables. This time I decided to try my hand with just latex paint. To be honest, I like the convenience of spray paint for smaller projects, but using latex interior paint is so much better for bigger projects like this one.

And remember: 

Oil-based primer + oil-based paint = yes. 

Oil-based primer + latex paint = yes. 

Latex primer + latex paint = yes.

Latex primer + Oil-based paint = nooooooooooo. Just don't do it.

I use oil-based primers because I like them, but prefer latex paint with low VOCs because I can't take too much of the oil-based paint smell and fumes, low VOCs or not.

Here she is after primer, using the roller for the larger parts, and the foam brush for the insets on the doors and drawers:

Doors and drawers not pictured here, unfortunately,
but you can peep out the end tables hiding behind the buffet!

Here she is after one coat of paint:

Not her best look, given this was at almost 9 PM
and hubster installed some CRAZY bright LED lights in the garage.

Spray paint or regular paint, thin and even coats are key. This buffet used three coats of paint on top of one coat of primer. I probably could have done two coats of primer and two of paint, but...well...I didn't. 

Once everything was dry, I REALLY glazed the buffet. For the end table makeover, I really only wanted glaze in some of the details of the furniture. With the buffet, I wanted dirty and old looking. I basically used the same process as before:

• Brush on...really get it on there (this time I brushed over the whole thing, in parts, of course)
• Wipe off as much as you want to/need to with a damp cloth.
• Let her dry!

An example of the doors in all their glazed glory

Once everything was dry and had cured for a couple days, I put the drawers back in and the doors back on, and put two coats of polycrylic on the top.

Here she is, all finished up:

Hello, gorgeous.

I have big plans for this buffet (and it's NOT going in my dining room!). I can't wait to show it to you all spiffed up for the 4th of July! UPDATE: Psssst...click here for the 4th of July vignette!

Linking up to:
Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, Kammy's Korner, Artsy Chicks Rule, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, Domestically Speaking, The Trendy Treehouse, Savvy Southern Style, The Style Sisters, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, SNAP!, The Blissful Bee, Ella Claire Inspired, Ashley's Dandelion Wishes, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Brambleberry Cottage, The Thrifty Home, The Crafty Blog Stalker, House of Hepworths, 4 You With Love, Start at Home, French Country Cottage, Blissful and Domestic, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, My Romantic Home, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello,, House of Rose, The Happy Housie, Confessions of a Serial DIYer, The Hankful House, Just a Girl and Her Blog, House by Hoff