Garage entry makeover!

My obsession with classic cars started at a young age. My dad drove a 60's era Ford truck when I was a child and I was in LOVE with that truck. I can still remember the smell of the interior and the grumbling growly noises it would make as we travelled down the road, as if I had just gone on a ride in it yesterday. The elements weren't kind to my dad's truck, and as the bed of the truck began to rust away from the cab he gave up his dreams of restoration sold it. A few years ago while driving down a lonely road in North Dakota I spotted a truck similar to my dad's and took this picture...probably someone else's restoration dreams rusting away in a field.

My husband and I purchased a 1969 VW Karmann Ghia with hopes of restoring it in 2011. We literally had no clue what that entailed, and shortly after purchasing the car we decided our 'project' was destined to be permanently placed on the bottom of the priority totem. So...the car sat in our garage rusting away until we sold it last year for $500.

With my dream of owning a classic car behind me, I had to settle for a substitute. I go to car shows whenever I get a chance, but I needed a classic car injection at home. One of my neighbors has a classic Ford and I noticed his garage is covered in Ford memorabilia. This sparked an idea to do a crazy thing...paint and decorate MY garage entry. I honestly had never considered the garage part of my 'home'. I try to go in my garage as little as possible, mostly because I'm terrified of all the creatures that inevitably inhabit Florida garages. I had some leftover pain and a lot of my own classic car signs, so this project didn't require any trips to the hardware store! This is what I started with...

Everything was dirty and dingy, as you would expect in a garage. The first thing I did was rip out the piece of remnant carpeting. The carpeting had a practical purpose, keeping sand out of the kitchen, but it had seen better days and didn't fit my design aesthetic. Once the carpet was gone I started painting. I had some leftover Glidden paint in Cement Gray from the Martha Stewart paint collection. It was a perfect color for the garage. I decided to add a pop of color to the door and paint it a fun (off the mistint shelf at Ace) turquoise blue! (Tip: Frequently check the mistint and oops paint sections at your local hardware stores, when you find a color you love buy some and keep them on hand just in case!) After all the paint was dry I hung all my signs and added a piece of black and white checkerboard remnant flooring.

Mailbox makeover!

I have spent most of my life living in military housing and moving every 3-4 years. In 2013 my husband received an assignment with a guaranteed five years in the same place, so we decided to buy our own home. I was incredibly nervous about the process, but I couldn't wait to PAINT my walls. It seems like the most mundane thing to be excited to paint, but after years of Dover White walls I was ready for some color. I had painted everything imaginable (including inside of every closet?!) and was desperate for a new project. This desperation for a project led me to redo my mailbox. I only have a before picture of the mailbox itself...

After removing the mailbox I gave the box a quick wipe down and roughed it up a little with a wire wheel. I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch in Seaside blue for the mailbox. While the mailbox dried I straightened up my mailbox post by putting a concrete sprinkler guard in the gap it had settled into. After the mailbox was nice and straight I began painting my mailbox post with a can of Rustoleum Satin black paint. You can buy this off the shelf at any hardware store, it's perfect for this type of project! I had considered purchasing a new post, but painting it instead was so much more economical and sustainable! As a final touch I added some concrete edgers and a small bed of ferns at the bottom of the post! This project took about 4 hours and the payoff was immediate, all my neighbors were complementing my handwork!

Vintage Pyrex Kitchen Decor!

My obsession with Pyrex started with three avocado green bowls passed down to me when I moved to my own apartment. I started buying random pieces from thrift stores and flea markets and now I have a whole cupboard stuffed full of pieces. I even use one of my favorite pieces as a fruit bowl!

I saw this print in a magazine and knew it had to be in my kitchen. I knew it would be just the right size for above my dinette set.

This fork and knife set had been lying around my house for a few years. I picked the set up for $2 at a thrift store. I hated the gold color but knew they had potential. I decided they would look best painted white, and since I had leftover white paint I didn't have to go buy any supplies.

Luckily, I had a 16x20 frame tucked away in the garage. I only paid $5 for the frame, but it was pretty ugly! Wish I had remembered to take a before picture! Once I painted the frame white it looked modern, but still had the vintage vibe I love. I would have easily spent $30-$40 purchasing a similar frame at a big box store. I was originally going to purchase a white mat for the print, but because I'm impatient I used what I had on hand. I ended up loving the black mat with red accent stripe on the black print. Here's a peek at the results!

New Smyrna Beach Adventure!

One of my favorite things to do is find a random place to go visit and take off on a adventure! This particular adventure had to be relatively close to home because I only had a few hours free. I googled a few random places and nothing caught my eye until 'Old Sugar Mill Ruins' popped up in my search results. I hate to admit that I've lived in Florida for nearly a year, and had only been to New Smyrna Beach as a pit stop. I made the mistake of selecting the first address to appear on my GPS and we ended up here...

Turns out the ACTUAL Old Sugar Mill Ruins are a little further down the road and fairly difficult to spot. The ruins are marked by one very difficult to spot sign. We ended up having to make a u turn, we then took a right into what appears to be a private driveway that leads up to the site of the ruins. The ruins are a little smaller than I had imagined, but worth a look. The sugar mill was originally built in 1830 and was turned to ruins in 1835. It is so amazing to be able to see something that has been preserved for so long, and that our ancestors had the foresight to leave it for others to enjoy!

After exploring the ruins we decided to venture through the nature trail. We had forgotten bug spray, so it was a very quick trip through nature. There were so many cool things to see on the nature path!

Once we finished up our trip to the Old Sugar Mill Ruins we got hungry and headed toward the beach. I have to say, New Smyrna Beach, is now one of my favorite beach towns in Florida. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite beaches in California, Pismo Beach. I spotted an oceanfront pink building in the distance and decided that was where we should have lunch! As we got closer to the beach we noticed that you can drive right on the sand, just like at Pismo Beach. The view from our table was amazing, too bad we couldn't open the windows!

With full bellies we continued driving around New Smyrna Beach. As we were making our way to the highway so we could head home I noticed an old fashioned soda fountain. I could hardly contain my excitement and made my husband turn around and go back. Since childhood I've wanted to go on a date at a soda fountain! We parked and walked through a door that led us right into the 1960's! We took our place at the counter on barstools and ordered a chocolate shake...it was the most perfect ending to an adventure yet!

Midcentury Modern China Cabinet Update

I purchased a Midcentury Modern China cabinet a few years ago for $100. It wasn't my first choice, but it was in my price range so I decided to make it work. In my opinion this piece was not rare or made by an in demand manufacturer so I didn't feel like I was committing a sin changing it. I felt like all my china and barware blended in to the cabinet and my collection didn't get the attention it deserved. Here is the dining room shortly after new wall paint.

I knew I wanted to leave the piece as original as possible, but somehow make it a little more dynamic. I contemplated wallpapering the back and decided I wasn't THAT desperate for a project. I finally settled on painting the inside of the piece. I purchased a few quarts of mistinted paint from Ace Hardware and found the perfect complement for my dining room's color palette. I decided to take a chance and paint the inside of my china cabinet. Here's a peek of the mid project mess...

Rather than go all in and potentially ruin the piece; I opted for painting the ugly backside of the cabinet. The backside had a rough texture and was stamped with production dates, I worried the paint may not camouflage well. After two coats of paint and 24 hour dry time I replaced the backing piece and secured it with new nails. Once the piece was put back together I chose my favorite pieces and put them on display!

Laundry Room Redo!

My last house had a huge laundry room. It was amazing! I could actually keep dirty laundry in the laundry room because there was so much room to spare! The house my husband and I purchased November 2013 has a laundry closet with bifold doors. Doing laundry actually felt depressing. Take a look at the before...

I wasn't lying when I said it was pretty depressing. Ultimately these items were my inspiration for the final product.

I didn't want to move the washer and dryer all over the house so I decided to tackle this project one side at a time. After disconnecting everything and taping off the trim I started painting. I chose 'Let's Have a Party', one of the new colors from the OPI line by Clark & Kensington.

It took FOUR coats of paint to get adequate coverage. I nearly ran out of paint but somehow I finished with a few drops left. I had a few accessories that I decided to repurpose but I also wanted some sort of storage. I decided to look at Goodwill and found this metal tiered storage rack for $2.99!

I decided to take it down to bare bones and gave it a quick spray of white paint. It is now the perfect place to store Downy balls and dryer sheets!

I knew I wanted a countertop to take advantage of having a front loading washer and dryer. This turned out to be the biggest challenge of the project. My husband ended up building the countertop. My only contribution was applying paint. I used Rustoleum Satin Black paint I had leftover from another project. It covered well in two coats and is tough enough to withstand constant wear. To hide the hoses and outlets I placed three Magnetic Bullet Boards along the backsplash of the countertop. The project took most of a weekend, but I ended up loving the end result!

Side table redo!

Some people bring home stray animals. I bring home abandoned furniture from the thrift store. There is something therapeutic about turning something ugly into something beautiful. This piece was a doozy...I actually haven't been brave enough to bring home something this ugly before. I actually paid $5 for this, but I consider it a worthwhile donation to my local SPCA. Here it is in a sad state of BEFORE...

This thing was dirty. I had to clean it five times before all the grime disappeared. Thankfully it didn't have any funky smells, it was just filthy. The sticker residue came off easily with a little bit of Goof Off spray. After it was clean I waited 24 hours for it to dry. Because this project was small I decided to rattle can it. I always use Rustoleum 2X coverage painter's choice. For this project I used Gloss White. Because this piece was already a light color I achieved ideal coverage with two coats. I decided to paint the inside drawer a bright cheery blue for a little pop of color. A few hours and about $10 later, you would never believe it was so ugly before!