Let's Talk Paint

On Sunday, I went to Lowe's (my favorite of the two big box hardware stores..) to look for some paint. It is for this project, which is coming together quite nicely :) First I looked at the spray paint section, and was utterly disappointed by the lack of color options. I had really hoped that a hardware store would have a better selection of spray paint than Michael's, where I had also been to that day. Frustration settled in as I realized I would have to hand/brush paint this project if I wanted a decent color *sad face*. I finally narrowed my choices down and picked samples of Valsapar paint:

Gypsy Teal

Danish Blue

I sanded. I primed. I painted with the Danish Blue paint using my purdy brush. Meh. I loved the color, but I wasn't getting the evenness or color saturation like spray paint. I think the important factor here was the quality of the wood I was trying to paint- it is a plywood/oak (maybe?) consistency, which made every. brush stroke. visible. NOT the look I was going for...

On a second trip to Michael's, for some other craft supplies, I wandered over to the art supply section and was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon the mother load of spray paint:

Liquitex

I have used other paint products from Liquitex and love their quality, so I was quite happy to see that they 1) make spray paint and 2) that Michael's now carries it!!  It's a little on the pricey side (as far as spray paint goes) at $12 a can, but with a Michael's coupon from my phone, it dropped it down to ~$7, which was a little easier to swallow. Plus I found a color I LOVE.

This paint is usually used by grafitti artists... but I decided to try it out on furniture anyways. My project is in the last stages of drying, but I'm hoping to give an updated with pictures of a COMPLETED PRODUCT later this week!!

Let's Talk Paint

Food Around Austin- Donuts!

So, one of my goals this year was to branch out of my food "comfort zone" (aka the usual spots my husband and I hit up), and check out some of the many new restaurants/eateries that are constantly popping up around town.

On Thursday, I met my sister after work at one of our favorite happy hour spots, Opa!, but not before I picked up a few goodies from Gourdough's, a donut food trailer nearby.

OMG I had no idea what I was missing out on!  I picked up two Son of a Peach, a Miss Shortcake (my favorite), and a Sara's Joy. We ended up splitting the shortcake and one of the peach donuts during happy hour. I ate half of the Sara's Joy for breakfast on Friday, and there are still 1.5 donuts sitting in my fridge- how they made it through the weekend, I'm not sure.

Miss Shortcake

Son of a Peach

Sara's Joy

Drooling yet? The donuts are fried before covered in fruity/coconut/chocolatey goodness.  They reminded me of a less greasy funnel cake. I thought all of them were sweet, but not in an overpowering way. 

The donuts are about $5 a pop, but they are huge and definitely share worthy.  I guarantee I will be returning here soon to try out some of the other flavors on there menu- I'm thinking the Mother Clucker and Flying Pig will definitely be next, yummmm.

**Disclaimer: Gourdough's has no idea who I am and is not/will not/has not provided any monetary or foodiary gift in exchange for this review.

Food Around Austin- Donuts!

Lessons learned in Chicago

Two weeks ago, I made a little weekend trip to Chi-town to meet up with some friends I have met around the internets. Pictures will be coming soon, but in the mean time... here's this:

1. This is awesome, but ONLY if it's served on ice. Warm is no bueno.

via

2. If I drink red wine (or anything dark for that matter), I WILL spill it on myself and all over the place. Maybe on someone else too :P

3. Larry Byrd will not give up his reserved table to a group of great looking women. No matter how awesome they are.

4. The bean is a really, really, disgustingly dirty piece of art. They need to scrub that thing down.

5. There are many, many people in Chicago. This Texas girl was a little overwhelmed by that.

6. Trader Joe's- there are just no words to describe this place. I cannot wait until they arrive in Austin!

7. Red velvet pancakes are as good as they sound.

8. I (not surprisingly) am continually amazed by the incredible women that are a part of this group. I am so blessed that I have been able to meet you and call you my friends :) Miss y'all! + can't wait for next year!

Lessons learned in Chicago

Gold Leaf + Furniture: Part I

I'm not sure when I decided that gold was such an awesome color to have on furniture. I used to think it was kind of tacky, and only belonged in stuffy estates. No more, I tell you!

If you remember, a while back, I scored two awesome end tables on craigslist for $50 (I am still excited about this!!). Originally, I was going to paint them with a white or black lacquer. That was before our coffee table arrived and I discovered that the stains on the end tables + the coffee table top almost nearly matched. AND I loved it. There were only two problems: 1) There was some damage on the table legs- nicks & scrapes- where the stain was uneven or coming off, so I really wanted to re-stain them; and this lead to problem 2) The tops of the side tables are laminate, meaning I can't re-stain the tops (or I could try, but I don't think it would end up looking right).  I really did not want to leave the tops as is, with a new coat of stain on the rest of the table... because that would probably look off too.

For a while, I thought about painting the tops.  Sort of an inverse of these (because I've found it nearly impossible to find any images of painted table tops, with wood stained bottoms):

Pink Postcard via Pinterest

Perfectly Imperfect via Jill on Pinterest

Modg via Apartment Therapy

Or, like this (ahem, after further googling, this was the ONLY image I found that depicts what I'm trying to accomplish):

via Rachel Bishop Designs

Anyways, after deciding the end tables would be stained with some sort of painted top, I had to decide on a color. I didn't really like idea of a black, gray, or white top (it doesn't go with the overall look/feel of our sofa + coffee table). I was leaning toward a shade of blue or green, but as much as I love these brightly colored pieces:

via Centsational Girl

via House Candy L.A. on etsy

via Nice Thing on etsy

via Young and Broke on etsy

(almost the exact same table!!) via Mint Home on etsy

I wasn't sure I could commit to having such a dominant accent as a permanent fixture in our living space (even if it was just the table top I was painting). Decisions, decisions....

Gold Leaf + Furniture: Part I

Full Circle

Once upon a time, long ago, I started sewing curtains for our master bathroom. There used to be curtains hanging made from this fabric:

Joel Dewberry || Aviary-Sparrows (Almond)**

I love this fabric in the fall (Joel Dewberry is one of my all time favorite fabric designers!!), but come spring it was a little too, um.... fallish? Great description, huh? I thought so too. So, thus began the search for new fabric(s).

**Note Bird is not as creepy in person

I ordered several yards of fabric in an array of blues and greens, with the intent of creating something like this:

Turns out I was not patient enough to sew these strips into a cheveron pattern, and they became this instead:

Then I found this great cheveron patterned home dec. fabric (from here), and decided I would sew that into curtains:

Premier Prints || ZigZag (Village Blue/Natural)

I have one panel half way finished and hanging in the bathroom. I'm thinking that maybe I haven't finished sewing them because I've lost interest in this pattern and want something different (yet again).

So today, while browsing through fabric online, I discovered that this store carries fabric by designer Thomas Paul. *Cue a chorus of angels*

I am seriously smitten with all of the furniture I've seen upholstered in this fabric. And today, I came across this bird yardage:

Thomas Paul || Perch (lilac)

Five minutes later, four yards of this fabric were in my shopping cart ready to checked out. Hopefully it will be on it's way to me soon!! Maybe some curtains will be hanging in the bathroom by next month :)


ETA: Oooh and I found a pic of what it looks like in action:

Lonny || via Dana on Pinterest

Full Circle