Fun with Fun Paint

So, while I was yet again procrastinating on our bathroom project, I decided to start another DIY painting project in our house. You see, I had been inspired by Martha thanks to Pinterest . . .

Source: marthastewart.com via Kristin on Pinterest

. . . and decided that we needed to make a more permanent calendar, like Martha's. Somehow I convinced Chris because on the next trip to Home Depot I purchased some Rustoleum Magnetic paint primer and Chalkboard paint (in Fresco Red).

Here was our wall before, just gray with our old calendar-turned-wall-art.

We decided that we wanted to paint the entire "bump out" section, floor to ceiling, with magnet paint, and then cover it in chalkboard paint. I wasn't going to be like Martha and make the fancy, different colored squares because, let's be honest, I'm too indecisive. I figured this way we could use the space for a calendar, to-do lists, grocery lists, and for a drawing space for very-distant-future kiddos.

Step 1 was to paint on the magnetic primer. For those of you who have not played around with this fun paint, it's really not so fun during the actual painting process. First of all, if you buy this stuff get it shaken at the paint counter and then use it right away. Don't be like me. I bought it, let it sit around in our house for a few weeks, and then opened it only to find that all of the magnetic "stuff" had formed this huge mass at the bottom. Some quick internet searches revealed to me that you needed to get the stuff shaken, and shaken really well, or you could stir it for 15 minutes or more (and no, the directions on the box didn't mention that). So, I went back to Home Depot and had it shaken, and then still had to stir it. Ger. I repeat, if you buy this stuff get it shaken at the paint counter and then use it right away. 

After running back to Home Depot and then stirring, I was finally ready to actually paint. The directions on the box state that you need to apply 2-3 thin coats. Lies, lies I tell ya! I think I probably applied 10 thin coats. Yup, I spent an entire day painting on a thin coat, waiting 30 minutes for it to dry, and then painting on another. After every coat dried, we'd test our magnets on it, only to find that it wasn't quite strong enough yet. After 10 coats, it was decently strong. And, I was tired of painting (the stuff smells too). As you can see from the "after" photo of the magnetic paint, there were also patches that didn't cover too well - Chris thought it was because of a poor dry-walling job . . .

Then, I moved on to the chalkboard paint, which was much much easier. I chose the Fresco Red tintable chalkboard paint, and if you happen to chose it too, don't be alarmed if it looks hot pink. I was a little nervous about it too, but the Home Depot-paint-counter-guy told me it'd dry much darker, and it did. After about 8 thin coats of the chalkboard paint, the wall was done! (These instructions also told me 2-3 thin coats. Lies.)

The chalkboard paint instructions tell you to let the paint dry for 2-3 days, and then cover the entire surface with chalk for 7 days before wiping it clean with a damp cloth to "cure" it. It was really really hard to be patient and wait all of that extra time before I could actually use it, but I think it paid off. Here is our new wall now complete with our new chalk calendar and magnets!

By the way, if you haven't caught on to my habit of having a short project turn into a long one, this small project is a great example. I bought the paint around mid-September, I got around to actually painting the first week of October (before our vacation), we finally started using it last week, and I am just now blogging about. That's our life, I guess!

What do you think? I'm not too crazy about how our November calendar is set-up now, but at least I can erase it and start over! So, that's the story of our almost-two-month long fun chalk/magnet wall project!

Lazy productivity?

Have you ever had one of those evenings where you intended to work-out, but then didn't feel like doing it so out of your guilt for not exercising you do something else productive? No? Yes? Well, that happened to me the other night. I fully intended on busting out my running shoes and jogging on our treadmill while I caught up on Days or Castle, but then my plans changed. Chris ended up going to a local community meeting, I caught up with both my brother and my parents on the phone, and before I knew it, it was 8pm and hadn't worked out. I didn't feel like jogging anymore, or doing anything really (except watch the Cards game), but I also felt pretty guilty for wanting to be lazy, especially since my "to-do" list is looonggg.

So, I decided to work on a small project that I just came up with over the last week. A project that, *gasp,* wasn't on my original "home" to-do list. See, we're going to make a more permanent calendar in our kitchen, so the calendar I got on sale from Paper Source last winter wasn't needed anymore. Plus, it was more "pretty" than functional. See what I mean . . . .

(Paper Source)

We can't really write much on the dates, so it isn't really working as a calendar for us. Boo. I didn't want to throw the calendar away, since it's pretty, but I didn't really want to hang it anywhere else in our house either... oh the dilemma!

As I was trying to decide what to do with the calendar, I also kept coming back to this wall in our house that has been bothering me lately:

I can't hold a camera straight.

It just seems so dark. No?

The black shelves, the shadows from our recessed lighting, the dark table, the dark greige walls, plus the sepia wedding photo with the black frame all just makes that wall so dark. It has been bothering me for a while when a light bulb went off in my head - I could swap the wedding photo for images from the garden calendar framed! And, I didn't even have to buy frames since I bought 4 silver Ribba frames from Ikea last year a while ago for our bedroom that I just haven't gotten around to using. (Of course, this idea also required me to find a new location for the wedding photo, and then a new location for some decorative plates. Needless to say this created a snowball effect and I decided we needed to move a lot more around besides the wedding photo!)

So, Chris and I picked out the prints we wanted to use and the other night (when I decided to not be too lazy and to be somewhat productive) I began to prep them to be hung. Luna wanted to help us pick out prints. . .

Gosh I love Ikea frames because they are so gosh-darn cheap, but man do I hate the hanging hardware that comes with it - i.e. the wire-across-the-back assembly you have to do. See below, ergh.

Not only do you have to add the wire and pick its height, but if you are hanging a grid of frames, you have to make sure all of the wire heights of your frames are even. Grrr. What we do for affordability . . .Anyway, once I put the prints in the frame, it was Chris' job to hang them. Since he likes math and all. And, apparently he need a lot of tools just to hang four frames . . .

And, to make a long story short, here's our finished product:

Voila! We both think it definitely lightens that wall up a bit and adds some of the red and turquoise colors that we have on our main floor. It might look a little busy, the verdict is still out, but I do know that those bookshelves are always a work in progress for me. Ask Chris, I am constantly changing what is on each shelf in the hopes that some day it will look perfect and balanced and still be functional and purty. (My expectations are high.) Oh, and our walls don't usually look a khaki color. The lighting in our dining room area at night casts strange shadows and makes the paint look funny in places. Stupid recessed lighting, someday we'll change that.

Here is each calendar image up close:

So, what do you think? Have you ever had one of those nights where you are surprisingly productive when you just wanted to be lazy?

And, by the way, my goal for Saturday is to FINISH our guest bathroom. Finally. Cross your fingers that this actually happens and that I don't get lazy or start working on another project!