I am one of those people who consistently watched HGTV, DIY Network, and all those other awesome home improvement TV shows. Until one day I realized I have seen just about every episode there was. I guess it was time to take a break from my beloved shows. What better way to take a break from them than to actually do some DIYing myself, right? Practice all that awesomeness that I learned – heck yes!
Some of my favorite shows on HGTV are: Love It or List It, Brother vs. Brother, Candice Tells All (my all time favorite interior designer!), Color Splash, and House Hunters Renovation. There were some older shows that were awesome as well, but are no longer on the air. {Sigh.) Don’t you just hate when your favorite shows come to an end?
Ok, so as I get back on track with sharing my, or should I say my husbands project, since I am preggo and can’t paint at the moment. One of the projects for my upcoming mini session is turning trash to treasure. I had a vision in mind of how I wanted this session to look, and then set out to look for those specific items. Of the handful of props that was on my wish list for this event was a wooden chair – a red one! A fellow military spouse gladly donated her unused chair that needed a little TLC – something that I was willing to give this perfect prop.
Find that perfect chair to refinish.
The wonderful chair that was given to me to refinish. I actually really like the look of the chair as is, but it isn’t what I need for this awesome mini session coming up.
Remove any paint.
In our case, there were lots of flat areas that allowed us to use a hand sander. We just used a hand sander that we got years ago from Home Depot for around $25. Make sure you use a more coarse grit for the first stage of sanding.
Take a finer grit sandpaper and go over the entire chair to smooth out the surface.
With the type of wood that our chair was, we didn’t need anything super fine. We found that the 180 grit worked perfect.
In some cases you want to do three stages of sanding. The initial sanding, a 180 grit and then somewhere around a 400 grit.
Start painting!
Apply paint in a well ventilated area. Start with your first coat of paint and go from there. Make sure you let each coat dry before applying another coat.
We broke the chair down in two sections. We completely painted the top half with all necessary coats and then once it was completely dry, we flipped it over and did the same for the bottom half.
Different woods absorb paint more than others. Even though this spray paint that we bought is a primer + paint, it may be necessary to buy actual primer to prep for painting.
Spray any needed coats of paint.
Let it dry for a good 12 hours before letting anyone sit in it, just to be sure!
TA DA!!! Our finish product!!!!
Well, Valentine’s Day Mini Session of course!!!
These sessions are going to be so much fun! I wish I had custom Valentine’s Day Cards to hand out when I was in school!!
December 15, 2013
Supper in the front yard made with fresh veggies from the family garden and homemade sourdough artisan bread, goats and chickens, and horses to ride. The most relaxed and sentimental family session with the most amazing family.
Check out all the wonderful moments from this session, right before baby number 3 was announced into their family unit.
day in the life - W Fam
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