I strongly dislike painting....

So, being the frugal gal that I am, I decided to paint my table and chairs as opposed to buying a new set. Wouldn't you all rather paint your old stuff than buy new stuff??? Okay, well, maybe not, but you gotta do what you gotta do. So, back in oh, ...say....February...I bought all of the paint to do the project. I had 5 chairs, a table, a sofa table and a bench. Piece. of. cake.

I just love a good before picture, don't you? It's kind of thrilling frankly.

BEFORE

(don't mind the naked child with the camo shorts in the background...I told him he couldn't help unless he took off his nice clothes....)

DURING

(don't mind the lady in the pajamas with no makeup on. It's not even me. Besides, what's wrong with wearing pajamas at 3:30 in the afternoon...nothing!)

Still during....Bridger is experimenting with the art of abstract photography...I guess...

AFTER!!!!

Yeah! Those chairs were a pain in the you-know-what to paint. All those annoying rungs--the drips--the horrid smell. I have to admit that the first few brush strokes were pretty exhilarating, but the rest was pure torture. I've read those blogs that show the amazing before and afters of their adorable furniture makeovers--I just want everyone to know what they're getting into :)

Now for the bench. I forgot to take a before pic of this, so here is the only one I could find...I have no idea why I took this picture or what the kids are doing, but here you go:

BEFORE

AFTER

It turned out so great! I spray painted this one--kind of a butter yellow color (although it doesn't show up as such in the picture...) Spray painting is wonderful, but for this big of a piece it did kind of make my finger hurt and it was super smelly...I'm just sayin'...

Now onto the table. I forgot again to take a before picture, but luckily I could find one out of my massive photo archive.

BEFORE

Oh yeah, here's another (it was moving day, don't judge me)

AFTER!!

I love it, it's not perfect, but I am very happy with it. Although I do have a little of Pavlov's Dog Syndrome (pretty sure that's not the technical term for it...) I can't look at the table without smelling that horrible paint smell. I've never had such an aversion to the smell of paint before! I think maybe it was because I had to get up close and could therefore smell it more??? I have no idea...

And last but not least, here is the sofa table that should have been finished say...2 years ago? One night I got ancy and took a bottle of black craft paint to it. I know, that was dumb. I have always meant to finish it, but never did....until now....

BEFORE

AFTER!!!!

I even got the cutest little handles for them. They are just like the one from Anthropologie, which I LOVE, but I saved myself a drive and got them at Hobby Lobby.... It's hard to tell, but they're kind of sea foam green. My favorite part of the whole table!
Aaaaahhhh, it's so nice and shiny now. So nice.....
So, I got this amazing temple print from a friend and a photographer, but I needed a frame. At first I searched thrift shops and antique stores for something really amazing...but there was nothing. So I went to the next logical spot...Ross :) I found a mirror there with a decent frame for $10. I had spray painting on the brain.

BEFORE

AFTER

I sprayed it an apple green color--and I am so thrilled with it! I am so tempted to spray paint every single frame in my house! Don't worry, I haven't...yet... It might be a little much....

And I just had to share this fun old suitcase I found. It still has all of it's travel stickers--Orient Express, Ethiopia, Paris, New York--soooo cute! I keep my current craft projects in it. That way I can clear off my table every once in a while and just stuff it all into an old suitcase :)