Tag: chalkboard

Furniture

Mini chalkboard table

Jessica Smith

I saw this abandoned kid’s table on the side of the road on my way home from taking the pup to the groomer. Of course I had to stop and pick it up. It’s not all that often that I see gems on the side of the road, and when I do it’s even less often that I am able to stop and pick them up. So when I saw this table and I wasn’t on my way to work, I had no passengers and I didn’t have a car full of crap, I quickly made a U-turn to pick it up.

Chalkboard Before

 

As most things on the side of the road do, the table needed love. I gave it a good scrubbing and tightened all of the screws so it wouldn’t wobble.

Then, I removed the slide-out white board top and painted the opposite side with chalkboard paint. I figured a duel-use table would be ideal when you have small kids.

To finish the piece off, I spray painted the frame black. To me, it looks much nicer than the yellowy oak color before.

Chalkboard Desk mini

I’d much rather see this little guy in my house than it’s trash-bound alter ego.

chalboard kids table

 

Furniture

Before & After: Child’s Desk

Jessica Smith

One of the big furniture projects I recently tackled was an overhaul of a kids’s desk. I found this awesome desk at a thrift store, but boy did it need some love.

Child's Desk_Before

I immediately had grand visions for this desk and let me tell you, they didn’t include the mermaid blue, shabby shic look.

So I painted, painted and painted some more. Again, I used a flat white paint and mixed in some Paint Minerals. This stuff gives the paint a chalky finish to it and leaves the surface very smooth. So far, I’m really pleased with how the Paint Minerals works with the paint. You don’t need to sand or prime and it covers really well.

I wanted the book shelves on each side of the piece to pop, so I painted a metallic glaze inside each shelf and then wiped each shelf down with a rag. It created a messy-ish sort of look in each cubby that I really like.

For the top, I painted with a gray-brown chalkboard paint. Some kid is gonna love this desk.

I waxed the whole piece using Johnson Paste Wax. This was my first time using a furniture wax and it left my piece feeling so smooth to the touch.

Check out these after pictures:

Love.

Child's Desk

Love.

Child's Desk Open

Love.Child's Desk shelves

I think this desk was definitely transformed for the better.

Graphic Design

Believe you can and you will

Jessica Smith

I love my Mac. OK, it’s not my Mac. It’s a work computer. But as I sit here on my laptop watching Iron Man 2 and messing around in Photoshop and InDesign, gah… it’s just awesome. I heart me some Adobe programs, too.

Before I go into this little graphic design project, I gotta give a shout out to my Ravens, who kicked some ass this weekend are going to the AFC Championship game next weekend. They will be playing the Patriots, just like last year. We lost at the last second, so it’s gonna be a huge redemption game for us. *Fingers crossed* This weekend’s game was probably the best, most stressful, well-played game I’ve ever seen. Holy moly.

OK, enough about football. Have you seen the printables that are meant to look like chalkboard writing? I tackled one tonight using a free chalkboard download here. They are available in three different colors from Blondie Loves. Download whichever you’d like and get to creating.

In InDesign, I messed around with the saying, “Believe you can and you will.” When I got an arrangement I liked (I used Appleberry and Clementine fonts, both are free), I copied it and dragged it into Photoshop.

Then, using the paint brush tool, I added just a few chalky accent lines.

Done-zo.

Believe you can

Check back tomorrow for a super adorable Valentine’s Day craft!