This Lil' Birdie's Kitchen Makeover

I love my house.  Really, I do.  But I hate the ugly colors the builder chose, so DH and I have slowly but surely been painting everything we can.  I use "DH and I" loosely because I have yet to pick up a brush or roller.  My sweet father-in-law has been the official painter which leaves me to be the color picker.  I'm totally fine with this arrangement.

But we have finally made it to the kitchen which was honestly pretty boring (this room was never actually painted  by the builder, just primed). 

Here's the before... Blah. 

And the after... The color is Benjamin Moore's Kingsport Grey & I love it!

(See the table & chairs?  Stay tuned for a major update in the next few weeks!)

This Lil' Birdie is Obsessed: Gold Ceilings

No, really.  Gold ceilings.

See?

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I cannot get over how amazing this looks!  It adds such amazing flair to this room.

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And this!  Ooh ooh ooh!  The cabinets are fantabulous!  If I thought I could talk FH into painting our cabinets, this would be on the list of possible colors.  All that natural light....I'm in love.

Now, FH isn't crazy about the idea of painting a ceiling gold, but I think it would look absolutely amazing in our guest bedroom/ someday nursery upstairs with creamy walls, dark furniture, and linen accents.  And so begins the process of convincing him that I am, of course, right.

This Lil' Birdie Sanded

So we've talked about my little obsession with Halcyon Green.

But if you know me at all, you know I'm never really "done" with anything.

Like the dresser that's currently my TV stand.

Here's the story:

The dresser was my Daddy's growing up, then mine as long as I can remember, and it wasn't particularly ugly, just not the wood color I would've picked (think walnut).  So when Sweet Sister and I were moving in together for college, she needed a dresser, this was an extra, and somehow it made it to Tuscaloosa.

I painted it cream and then added a brown glaze so that it would match her "shabby chic" room.

Then when she moved out, it was once again my dresser.  For two years, it was pretty and cream and made a great TV stand (plus, who doesn't need extra storage space, right?!).

You can see it in the background of this picture (please overlook the mess -- my best friend had decorated my apartment for my 21st birthday -- yes, that was years and years ago).  That's Isabelle being a nerd about the balloons.

But apparently that wasn't good enough because I got a whim to paint it one day.  I headed to the Sherwin Williams store, got Halcyon Green paint (didn't even take it home to look at the swatch), and bought paint.

Two coats later it looked a little like this....

(Hi Isabelle!  Always in the pictures....)

But I'm not a perfectly painted kinda girl (if you didn't know that before, now you do).  So I took some brown paint and "antiqued" it...

This was the "finished" product....

Here's a close-up of the brown on top distressing (it looks very light blue in this pic but it's not!).

In retrospect, the handles should have been changed, but I'm lazy.  They were good enough.

But now?  Now that I'm moving into a big girl house (more on that later!) and this could possibly end up in my foyer, it needed SOMETHING.

So on the rainiest day Tuscaloosa has seen in a month of days, I decided to sand it.

Here's what happened.

It turned GREEN and white.  Not quite what I was expecting, but I like it!  Sanded is obviously on the left.

I definitely like it better.  Like I said, it was absolutely pouring so I had to bring everything inside without finishing, but it gives you a good what it looks like now vs before picture!

Left is sanded, right is not.  And here's a close up of the sanding

This piece is a favorite of everyone that visits (except the Boyfriend, he doesn't much like it).  And now I think it's one of my favorites.

Can't wait to finish sanding it! (But my hands can definitely use the rest!).

This Lil' Birdie Painted Today

This Lil' Birdie had the day off of work!  And instead of cleaning up her nest, she decorated her nest.  And loved it!!

I have a confession:  I love anything painted this color --

It's called Halcyon Green from Sherwin Williams.  Someday when I get around to finding the pictures, I'll show you how I took an old hand-me-down dresser and turned it into a beautiful statement piece in my living for the tv to adorn.

For now, all you need to know is that I love this color.  Since I rent an apartment and can't paint (sad sad times), I have started using this color as a little accent everywhere around my house.  I have lots and lots of neutral furniture (think browns and khakis) so this little pop of blue is a perfect complement!

Yesterday, I posted a picture of my puppy.  Behind her are the curtains in my living room.  Surprisingly, I bought them 3 years before I ever decided to paint the dresser and found Halcyon Green.  But they are the exact same color, and that damask at the bottom?  It's velvet.

So why am I going on and on about this silly paint color?  Because I got to paint something today, and I think it turned out super super cute!

I've had two of these basic boring brownish cherry frames sitting around the house for way too long now, and an empty wall in the bedroom, so I figured it was time to do something about both problems.  So I decided to paint them.  Halcyon Green.

For the record, I don't use the Sherwin Williams paint.  I use Behr Paint + Primer and it is AMAZING!  I painted an entire dresser + lots of other things and I'm still only halfway through a QUART!!

After the first coat of paint!  Just so you know, this paint photographs a LOT lighter than it is in person.

After the second coat of paint.

I'm not a huge fan of anything that's too perfect, so I took some fine grit sand paper to the frames...

Much better!  I love that it looks like it's old and not from Hobby Lobby anymore!

Finished projects are only complete when it includes a picture of me and my boo!  :)

And that's how this lil' birdie spent her day -- painting her favorite color and framing pictures.  It was a very good day!