A few days ago I posted under “Black Cabinets”  that I painted the counter-tops in my bathroom.  I said that I didn’t recommend this. Let me explain a bit.  I do recommend painting counters that are not exposed to much water. The polyurethane and latex paint has come off in spots where water sat for more than a few minutes. I painted the counters in the adjoining laundry room and have not had any problems. I should mention that I did the laundry room after the bathroom.  I am much happier with the results in there. I should have done a practice board before I started the bathroom.  Practice makes perfect. 

     If you are interested, this is what I did. I started with pink laminate (above).  I lightly sanded and then cleaned with TSP. After the counters were dry I applied a coat of Bonding Primer. When the primer was dry I used a natural sea sponge to apply latex paint. I think the trick to a more natural look (as natural as faux painting can look) is to sponge randomly with both hands at the same time with different colors. In all, I used four colors; black, gray, tan, and beige. I did two coats of the sponge painting (one color in each hand twice). When the sponge painting was dry, I applied about four coats of polyurethane with a sponge roller. Here are the results. 

     I am hooking up with my friends over at Between Naps On The Porch, please hop on over to see other before and afters.

     In one of my design classes my instructor  told us that nothing humanizes a home like fabric.  So, for the past year I have been trying to play around with adding color, pattern and texture around my home with fabrics.  There has been a lot of trial and error both in coordinating fabrics and teaching myself how to sew.  All in all it has been a lot of fun.  There really isn’t a cheaper or easier way to spice up a room than with fabric.  The fabric on the pillows in the first picture came from Calico Corners.  It was in the clearance bin priced at $1.00 per yard.  There was just under one yard left so I bought it.  I knew I wanted to make pillowcases for my bed but there wasn’t enough for two whole pillowcase.  I found a sage green pillowcase I no longer used and took it apart.  I sewed the green on one side and the floral on the other.   Now I have  two new pillowcases for a grand total of $.96.    I got the chairs in the second picture at a consignment shop for $50.00.  I repainted them and changed out the fabric on the seats.  The fabric was $5.00 per yard.  I already had the paint and primer, for a grand total of $55.00.  The chairs were a bit of a pain to paint so stapling the fabric on the chair was definitely the easy part of that project.

     This small bathroom off my laundry was pretty bad.  The walls, ceiling, and trim were painted pink.  The vanity was golden oak,  The counter top was a green laminate.  And the floors are a white vinyl that are glued partway up the wall to resemble…molding?  I don’t have the budget to gut this bathroom and start over, which is what it really needs.  Oh, I forgot to mention there is a window that has been walled over, so when I do get the budget to gut, the window will be uncovered to allow some light in. 

Here are the befores:

      I was able to come up with about a hundred dollars to freshen things up a little.  I had primer and variety of paints leftover from other projects. So, I painted the light fixture, toilet paper holder and vanity black.  I also painted the counter tops.  I would not recommend this however.  It hasn’t held up well and it didn’t really look like granite like I was hoping.  I painted the  ceiling and the trim white.  I also painted the walls tan.  I took out the towel bars and replaced them with hooks.  I got a new rug and some new towels.  The only big expense was the wall art.  The other accessories were either taken out of storage or moved from other rooms.  

Here are the afters:

     Our old sofa had to go.  Rips, stains, sagging-yuck.  The only good thing about it was I didn’t worry about the kids ruining it.  Besides it being past it’s prime it was too big.  (I swear it didn’t look that big in the showroom.)  This time I measured my space then took a tape measure with me shopping.  I looked at hundreds of sofas.  I just couldn’t make a decision because I knew I would get sick of the color, the pattern, or the whatever.  One day it dawned  on me “slipcovers”.  I bought a new sofa with a red and a white slipcover.  The pillows have slipcovers too.  Now, I can have a completely different look in a matter of minutes.  And a great bonus is the wash-ability.  I don’t have to have haul out my steam cleaner every time the kids spill something.  All I have to do now is throw everything in the wash.  Ahhh, that sigh is the sound of my life just getting a lot easier. 

     Yesterday we took the whole family to This is the Place Heritage Park.  I live just outside of Salt Lake City Utah with my husband and four kids.  We have been to this living history museum before but my in-laws are in town for a couple of days and they haven’t been before.  We were there about five hours and still didn’t see and do everything.  There are crafts and activities set up  everywhere for the kids.  For those of us who are old enough to like “boring stuff”  there are a few  dozen real or replicated pioneer homes and other buildings that make up the town.  My husband and his Dad had a great time in the blacksmith shop.  My mother-in-law and I loved looking at all the antiques.  If you’re ever in town I highly recommend visiting.   Here are a few of my favorite pictures.