DIY Old to New Headboard

This weekend we embarked on one of our most exciting projects to date and this one did not disappoint. We have been slowly redoing our bedroom, look out for a post of the finished project later this week. Our last major step was our headboard. We have replaced all of the other furniture in the room or added new furniture where needed. Our headboard was the only piece that we felt was worth saving and redoing so we didn’t have to spend a couple hundred dollars on a new one that matched our bedroom set. So one night I came up with an idea, it seemed a bit difficult but we decided it could be done. After our bench spray painting success we decided to embark on another project.

So we started with this

A plain, old wood headboard. The rest of our bedroom furniture is a black/brown color from Ikea so this was not going to do. Our walls are a lovely blue/gray color and our curtains have gray and yellow in them. So the idea I came up with was to spray paint the spindles a yellow color and then spray paint the rest of the headboard the black color. So we started off by spraying the spindles the yellow color.

After we had them painted, Tyler taped around the tops and bottoms and then took masking paper and wrapped it around the spindles and secured it with more tape.

We then proceeded to spray paint the rest of the headboard in the black color.

Don’t you already love the look of it? So exciting. Then we had to wait for it to dry which is always the hardest part. Once it was dry we began to carefully remove the paper and tape.

Isn’t it looking lovely? You can see a little bit of the wood but that is the back so we weren’t too worried about that/

And here is the final product, isn’t it beautiful!! I am in love with this project. It has completed our bedroom and it looks so good!

Here they are side by side, before and after of the headboard. Don’t you love the difference? Such an easy project and it made such a big difference in the room. All we needed was 4 cans of Valspar spray paint with primer, paint tape and masking paper. A lot cheaper than buying a whole new headboard.

Entry-Way Bench Redone!

So this is something I have been wanting to change for so long. It is the bench that sits at our back entry way right off the kitchen. It was ugly wood and didn’t match the kitchen and it had this awful cushion on it that I really should have thrown out earlier but just never had. We use it for storage, I got a basket to go on it earlier to put all of our gloves and scarves in but now it is sunglasses and random stuff because todays high is 81!!! So my plan was to paint this bench. We made a trip to Lowe’s on Saturday and after much looking we settled on spray paint. We picked a dark red color to match our kitchen curtains. We got Valspar spray paint with Primer + Paint.

On Sunday we decided to get out there and spray paint the bench even though we wanted to be lazy and I am so glad we did. It was so easy, like crazy easy. We took the bench outside and Tyler wiped it down to clean it off. Then we both grabbed a can of spray paint and just started spraying. We did one coat. We sprayed and watched it for spots that needed more. Once it looked to be all done we let it dry for about an hour or so. We just left it in the backyard and went on our way. Tyler then went out to check it and it was dry and looked great! He just had to flip it over to finish off the bottoms of the legs and underneath it.

And then viola we have a brand new bench in our entry way! It looks so much better, it matches the kitchen now and really adds a pop of color to the entry way. I am already planning other pieces of furniture we have that are hand-me-downs that I want to go at with the spray paint. I’m not sure how well it will do as far as not getting scratched off but for the bench it was great because we don’t use it that much just for storage. I will keep y’all updated as to if it stays well. But for now it looks beautiful and it only took two cans of spray paint and they weren’t even both empty. Such an inexpensive improvement to our entry-way!

Do you have any furniture you have painted and remade? Let us know, we love to hear your stories or let us know if you try this out on some of your old furniture!

Bathroom Remodeling Time!

Wow, am I terrible blogger or what? You would think with the 2-4 hours of free time I have a day I would get some blogging done. Or maybe it’s because we just aren’t that interesting? It’s winter and it’s cold. So we don’t do much that’s very exciting. But two weeks ago we decided it was the weekend to redo our upstairs bathroom! Our house is pretty old so we don’t have a master bath per-say, but since it’s just the two of us we don’t have to share the bathroom unless we have guests.

So we had some paint leftover from when my dad came and painted our entire house (in 3 1/2 days)! So we (and by we I mean Tyler) took our bathroom from a ugly yellow/beige color to a beautiful, warm tan color. Before we went out shopping I was looking at our ugly plain mirror and I said we need to change this mirror and Tyler was like really? So we decided we wouldn’t change it, too expensive. But we had measured it already and then when we were in Home Depot looking at shelves, there was a beautiful mirror for only $30. And my oh my does it add some beauty to the room! It’s amazing what a coat of paint and a new mirror can do for a room.

I also completed one of the Pintrest projects I had been after doing for awhile. I ordered a bronze spice rack off of Amazon and my wonderful husband put it on the wall for me and it now houses the majority of my nail polish collection. I own 71 bottles of nail polish, now you may say I have a problem and yes I do. My problem was they wouldn’t all fit on the rack! Although I should probably take some time out to go through them because I am sure that many are too old to be used.

So here is my post on our home remodeling projects. Next project is to complete the fence in our yard (once it gets warmer) so that Dolly can have a place to run around and play with a little less supervision. She loves the outdoors and sometimes refuses to come inside. She’s like a child sometimes.

Home Redecorating, Ballard Style.

For our wedding/my birthday present Mom, Dad, Miles and Meg came to visit us for a few days last week. The plan was a total redo of the inside of our house and the Ballard’s did not fail. Dad single handedly painted four rooms and one hallway on his own in 3 1/2 days. Mom got measurements ahead of time and made curtains for four rooms in one week. Tyler, Dad and Miles installed a new chandelier in the kitchen, a recessed light above the sink and Miles and I installed a dimmer switch for the dining room chandelier. We got new switch plate covers as well.

The room I am sharing today is the living room. The only thing we still need in this room is a lamp or two. The lighting we have is way to harsh and we need softer light. so we don’t have to sit in the dark watching tv like we are now. We painted the walls a beautiful green color, added curtains made by Mom with fabric from Joann’s. We finally hung our pictures. I love our Family Tree wall art from Bed Bath and Beyond. It was a great wedding gift! The switch plate covers are such a small addition but do so much for the room! We also didn’t bring the rug back in and that really helped open up a small room and the hardwood floors look pretty! So here are the before and after pictures, forgive the mess in the before picture but I guess that makes the after picture that much better!

Before

After