Decorating/DIY Archives - Page 30 of 269

I’ve been keeping a secret from you.

I haven’t been keeping it because there’s some awesome secret blog thing going on. I haven’t been keeping it because of my fears of an ax murder showing up at my door. No, I was keeping it because I was afraid someone might come over and try to steal my furniture.

A few weeks ago, Tom and I took a trip – ALONE – to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. We hadn’t taken a vacation without the kids since Zack was born (over 8 years ago), and we where thrilled to have some time to ourselves. We all flew to Florida, handed Zack and Emma over to my parents, and boarded a cruise ship to the Southern Caribbean.

To say that we had the time of our lives would be an understatement. We ate more than we should have, drank WAY more than we should have, met new friends from all over the world and saw some of the most beautiful islands imaginable. Over our 8 night cruise, we visited Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Curaçao and Aruba, as well as had 3 total days “at sea” where we didn’t get off the ship.

The time away was perfect to rest, relax and recharge. In fact, one day at sea, we woke up at noon. NOON! And we didn’t even realize we had slept that late until we looked at the clock. Do you know the last time I’ve slept until noon? It definitely hasn’t been my last 8 “mommy” years, I can tell you!

Without free and fast phone or Internet, I thought that I might explode. What if my blog went down? It did, and we were able to fix it using the 75-cents a minute satellite Internet access (Tom is fast!). What if my Facebook page went crazy? It didn’t. What if someone started tweeting that they hate me? They didn’t (and I probably took my “what ifs” to an insane level, huh?). At any rate, I survived it, and I loved not being so connected. It was really good for my soul.

But you can take a phone and computer away from a Blogger, but you can never take her camera. I took tons of pictures of the gorgeous scenery in the islands.

Of course, I did.

Willemstad, Curaço

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Back in March, my world was totally changed when my only favorite sister moved here from Orlando. It had been been 19 years since I had lived within a two day driving distance from anyone in my family, and now my sister is about 30 minutes away from me door-to-door. To say that this is one of the best things that has ever happened to me would be an understatement. My kids are thrilled that “Aunt Leigh Leigh” can just stop by for dinner any time, and I am thrilled that we are able to spend so much time together after 19 years of trying to catch up over quick weekend visits.

Like many people, Leigh Ann has gone gaga for Pinterest and has found some adorable projects that she wants to recreate. The thing is, though, that Leigh and I couldn’t be more opposite in our personalities. She’s the numbers girl and I’m the creative one, so she was nervous to even attempt these projects. So, we’ve had a Sister Craft Day where I’ve helped her put together the projects that she had in mind, and I have tried to teach her some things about crafting. She’s now making cute little canvas signs for herself and her friends.

But, Leigh has never painted anything before. So when she found a $40 headboard on Craigslist that she wanted me to paint, I said, “How about I teach you how to do it?” She wasn’t thrilled (to be totally honest), but she agreed. I had just gotten a HomeRight Finish Max Fine Finish HVLP paint sprayer in the mail, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use it. This isn’t the type of sprayer that you’d use for huge areas, like walls, but it’s perfect for things like furniture and cabinets.

I set up plastic sheeting in my garage and got her headboard prepped for painting (using a deglosser to remove the shiny factory finish instead of sanding it). Don’t you wish you had a big sister to do all of your prep work? Ha! Then, to try out the sprayer myself, I used it to apply a primer coat (Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3).

I have a few other paint sprayers myself, and the Fine Finish Max felt different to me than the other ones. It was much lighter weight to hold in my hand so my hands didn’t get fatigued. I did have a hard time using it the first time because you are supposed to hold it 6″-12″ away from the item you are painting – much closer than my other paint sprayers. But, once I got the hang of that, it was really easy.

After the primer dried, it was Leigh Ann’s turn. I gave her a quick set of instructions (basically just overlap the strokes by about 1/3 and use your legs to move up and down instead of your bending your wrists), and I turned her loose. Since she is not a DIYer, I had no idea how it was going to go.

As it turns out, Leigh Ann was a beast with that paint sprayer!

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Color Palettes Inspired by Dream Vacations

A Paint Sprayer That Even a Non-DIYer Can Use {and a Giveaway}