One Frame Down...

Those of you that have been around here a while (thank you, love you!!!), you know our hallway has gone through a bit of an evolution.  I tackled my first stencil project on those walls...

...and then I even hung a few frames. 

Not long after they went up, I realized I wanted something more.  I decided to hang a few mini-galleries on each wall. 

I liked it, but I wasn't satisfied.  I wanted something a little bold...something that made more of a statement.  So I did what any insane person would do...I removed all the frames (don’t worry, I only hang stuff with 3M picture hanging strips), rolled over the hours of stenciling I had originally done and started stenciling, again.

I’m 99.9% certain my hubby thought I was nuts, but I had a picture in my head I just couldn’t shake.  

After a veryyyyy long day, I had the results I wanted all along!  I was smitten.

...except for the fact that I had to re-hang. all. of. those. frames.

UGH.  I, legit, loathe hanging things.  I really don’t know why I hate it so much, but I do.  It’s one of my least favorite things to do...which is evident by the fact that our halls are still bare.  Yup, I re-stenciled well OVER a year ago, and have yet to hang a single frame back up.

Until now!  Thanks to UncommonGoods reaching out to review one of their products, I quickly found some motivation to hang at least one piece up in our hallway!

UncommonGoods is a super cool company, out of NYC, that supports artists and designers.  Half of what they sell is made by hand and most of it is created right here in the USA!

Their site is super easy to navigate, and allows you to shop by category.  I headed straight to their art page (here) and fell in love the minute I came across this piece, Balloons Over Brooklyn Bridge.

The print looked so good online, and was even better in person!!  It came matted and mounted on matboard. All I had to do was pop it into my frame and hang!

Like their name suggests, UG sells many interesting and unique gifts.  Mother's Day is just around the corner and they have a page dedicated to buying gifts for her that you can check out here. If you want to make sure you're mom's favorite, then click here to get her something good! ;)

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Thank you UncommonGoods for providing me with the art for this post.  All opinions are 100% honest and my own!

Elegant Black Porch Door (& Winners!)

A little over a year ago I was introduced to an awesome company called Modern Masters.  The kind folks there asked if I wanted to review their metallic paints, and I jumped at the opportunity!  I loved getting to use their product, so when they approached me about trying out their new front door paint, I couldn't say yes fast enough.

But there was a catch for me...I didn't want to use the paint on our actual front door.  Instead, I was itching to give our back porch door a makeover.  You see, I've been mentally sprucing up our back porch for well over a year now, and getting the porch door painted would be step one of the vision actually coming to life.

So I scanned through the 24, yes 24, amazing color options available and chose Elegant...a rich, classic black.  I wiped my door down so it was free of dirt and lint, and taped off the edges of the door.  Per the directions on the container, since my door was previously painted, I could start painting without priming. Modern Masters boasts that it takes only two coats for full coverage, but I was skeptical...especially since I was going from white to black.

(I skipped taping off the windows, and decided it'd be easier to scrape them with a razor after.  Clearly, I hate taping.)

Here's where I started (booooooooring)...

After coat #1 (I was a bit scared)...

After coat #2 (that looked a little better)...

After coat #3 (almost there)...

And one final coat for good measure (nailed it)...

Although it did take me 4 full coats to cover the white door, the results were worth it.  The paint dried quickly and has a beautiful satin finish that really pops against our home.  The paint was also easy to scrape off the windows.

If you are antsy to revive your entrance, but scared to take the plunge, you can download Modern Masters' free iPhone and Andriod app to instantly see the transformation this paint can make for you.  And once you fall in love with a color, visit select Lowe's and Ace Hardware locations, or go online to Amazon.com and Modern Masters to purchase!

***I was not compensated for this post.  All opinions are 100% mine!!***

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Winners of the Paisley Print giveaway have been announced here.  Check your email ladies! :)

Modern Masters Metallic Paint Review & {Giveaway}!!

One lucky day I was contacted by the sweet people at Modern Masters to review some of their products.  I could choose from their metallic paint collection or try out their metal effects kit.  You all know how much I love to paint everything {some examples here and here}, so reviewing a paint product was right up my alley!

I headed to their website, and was immediately impressed with the number of colors they offer.  I had quite the difficult time narrowing down which I wanted to try out, but after a great debate, I made my choices...and then stalked my mailbox until my package arrived. ;)

My thoughts then turned to what I wanted to try the paint on.  Luckily, I was in the middle of a project that could benefit from a little metallic paint.

We had a large wooden tray that needed a major makeover.  {Yes, I had already started sanding when this "before" was taken...whoops!}

I sanded and re-stained the piece because the undertones were a little too red for my liking, and the cup rings were not the prettiest thing to look at. 

Once that was dry, I tapped off {and aluminum foil-ed off} the areas of the tray I didn't want to get paint on.  Then I grabbed a couple different widths of stencil tape from my craft basket and started laying out patterns.  {And before you ask...nope, I didn't measure a thing.  I just eyeballed everything to make sure it appeared even.  One of my requirements for this design was that I did NOT want to have to measure a. single. thing.}

After all the tape was down, I used an exacto knife to cut away the pieces I didn't want.

Then I took my tray outside and gave it two coats of gold spray paint and primer {Rustoleum's Universal in Pure Gold...best gold spray paint out there...in my opinion, of course}.  I wanted the design to appear pretty opaque, and I wasn't sure how sheer the metallic paint would be.  So I figured, better to prime the surface and be safe, rather then sorry!

Once the spray paint dried, I pulled out the new paint...woohooooo!  {I used Brass - ME289.}

I placed a few small blobs of paint onto the tray and rolled 2-3 coats on, waiting only a few minutes in-between each of them.

Then I peeled back the tape to see things unfold...

It's amazing what a little metallic paint can do, huh?

And now for my honest opinion of this stuff....it rocks!!  I was hooked after the first coat of it went onto the tray.  The paint is incredibly easy to work with, the finish is beautiful and a little bit goes a long way with this stuff!!  In fact, I was so smitten with it after completing our tray, that I immediately started working on a couple wooden signs for some special blog ladies in my life...and thennn I used it on a couple gallery wall additions for our hallway!

Word even got out to a friend of mine that I loved the paint so much, that she graciously volunteered a table of hers to be made over with the Blackened Bronze - ME238 Shade. ;)  Keep a look-out for the reveal of that next week, and enter my very first giveway below!! :)  One super lucky reader will win their choice of either one quart and 6 oz. container of any color OR four 6 oz. containers of any color OR a metal effects kit {one pint primer, one pint reactive paint, one 4 oz. solution or rust activator, one spritzer cap, one pint of Permacoat Xtreme for rust only} from Modern Masters!! :) 

Good luck everyone!

**All opinions in this post are 100% mine...I'd never lie to my amazing readers!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm linking up to:

http://www.thisthatandlife.com/2013/06/bling-it-out-link-party-link-your-gold/