How to Paint Your Doorknobs

I’m so glad I painted our doorknobs! If you’ve been following The Great Door Painting Project (here and here), then you know that this has been an enormous transformation. The good news is that painting the doorknobs was the easiest part. Even if you aren’t painting your doors, painting your doorknobs is an easy way to update your home.

This is a job that even a beginner can do. There will be two screws on one side of the doorknob. Unscrew them and twist each side of the doorknob in opposite directions while pulling apart.

Find away to support your doorknobs before you paint them. I used a block of Styrofoam and set it inside of a cardboard box. I have seen some other methods, which I pinned onto my Pinterest board on doors. Don’t forget to paint the heads of your screws!

This is my favorite spray paint for hardware. Rust-Oleum makes several different metal finishes in their line of “Forged Hammered Paint & Primer in One.” I have used this to paint the hardware and hinges on furniture as well. It doesn’t scream “I’m spray-painted! I’m cheap!” My favorite part of this spray paint is that it gives a slight texture and variation in color. You can order it from Amazon.com and have it delivered right to your door(knobs). hee, hee!
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I recommend using this is short bursts to give the most natural finish. The more coats you use, the more variation in color and texture you will achieve. Just like I mentioned when you paint doors, your painted doorknobs will need several days to dry rock hard. Even if they are dry to the touch, wait before you reinstall them. I felt like mine were completely hard after 4 days.

Super easy. Give it a try!
XOXO,
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Once You Go Black: The Dirty Details on Painting Doors


A few days ago I posted some before & after pictures of my painted black doors. I love how it looks. It’s completely changed the feel of the rooms. Despite how much I grumbled about it, I’m glad I did it.

I’ve gotten mostly positive feedback. It was a little funny when my mom commented, “What made you decide to do that? Well, it does take a little getting used to.” Translation: Why in tarnation would you paint your white doors black?? LOL, my mom rocks.

Now I’d like to share some things that I did or thought of while painting. I was completely wrong in estimating how long it would take and how hard it would be, but there were a couple of little things that I did that did cut down on the time and make it easier.

  • Research. Check out my Pinterest board on doors. I read a lot on how to paint a door. You might think that sounds silly, but there are specific ways to paint a door. Read on.
  • Doors should be painted with semi-gloss paint, similar to your baseboards and millwork.
  • The more sheen (shine) there is to paint, the more it shows brush marks. Semi-gloss has a lot  of sheen. Hence, there is a specific order on how to paint a door.
  • More sheen also means that if you use a roller for any of it, you need a large nap, at least 3/8″ or more. Otherwise, you’re going to see roller marks. It will drive you nuts once it dries.
  • Consider: Do you want to paint the entire door, or just the side that shows in the hallway? My thought was, “I want a black door, not a white door that has a black side.” So I painted the entire door.
  • Consider: Do you want to take the doors off of the hinges or leave them on? Taking the doors off of the hinges will greatly increase your workload for two reasons. One, You’ll most likely need two people to put the doors off and on the hinges. Two, you can only paint one side at a time.
  • If you’re leaving the doors on the hinges, prepping them will add some time.
If you leave the door on the hinges, be sure to tape them. Use an Xacto knife to trim the tape.
Prepping keeps it from looking sloppy.
Be sure to protect your floors. I taped down trash bags.
Drips don’t leak through the plastic. You can tape onto any surface, including carpet.
Paint can leak through canvas drop cloths or cardboard.

  • Each side of the door will need about 3 coats, even with primer.
  • Consider: Do you want to take the doorknobs off or leave them on? Taking them off adds time, but prepping (taping) and carefully painting around them adds time, too. I recommend taking them off. It’s not hard. I ended up painting all of my doorknobs and I’ll post about that soon.
  • Consider: It will take several days for the paint to cure and completely harden. Even if they are dry to the touch, they won’t be completely hardened for a few days. Ladies, think “nail polish.” Even if your nails feel dry on top, you know that it takes a few minutes for them to get rock hard.
  • Consider: Do you want to use a primer or a paint that has a primer already in it?

Okay, now there are some things that I would’ve done differently if I could do it all over again:

  1. I really hate to say this (hangs head), but I believe it would’ve made a huge difference. 🙁 I wouldn’t have used Behr paint. I use Behr a lot for painting furniture. It is my go-to base for my homemade “chalk” paint colors. But, I never, ever, ever use it to paint walls. Ever. I always use Benjamin Moore paints. People often assume that Ben Moore paints are super expensive. They’re not. In fact, the gallon of Behr that I bought was more expensive than the last gallon of Ben Moore that I bought. Ben Moore paints are superior quality. It covers better. The color is better quality. It is better paint, hands down.
  2. Instead of a jet black color, I would have used a dark gray. I’m crushing on Dragon’s Breath by Benjamin Moore.

I hope this helps you! The biggest pains (literally) for me were my knee and hand. It is a lot of up & down, and my hand was killing me from holding onto the brush for so long. (sooooo.long.)

XOXO,
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How to Fill-In the Gaps on Your Christmas Tree

 

I’ve had years when we had 4 live trees in the house. One year we had a tree that was 12 feet tall. We’ve had themed trees decorated only in peppermint ornaments. Once we even had a white and blue police themed tree with flashing blue running lights. We’ve gone to tree farms and cut them down. We’ve had artificial, table top, large real, and just plain ridiculous. All in the same year.

But the past few years when we get out all of the bins of Christmas decorations, all I can think about is how long it’s going to take me to put it all away when the Christmas season is over. Lame, yes. Maybe even a bit on the scrooge-y side. Hey, don’t judge.

This year we picked up a tree from Home Depot. It took less than 2 minutes to pick it out. Here was my check list: Tree? Yes. Green? Yes. Will it fit in our tree stand? (Oh, honey, that is another story for another time.) Yes. Perfect.

However, you know when you go some big box store to get a tree, the branches are all tied up in mesh. They cut open the mesh, and you can all “ooooh” when the branches spring down. But in reality it takes a few hours for the branches to “fall.” As it turns out, our tree is a little uneven this year with some gaps in it. But you know, no one is actually driving their Christmas tree back up to Home Depot and asking to exchange it. Wait a minute, are you? :-/

Should I have taken more than 2 minutes to pick it out? Yes, probably. Is it a big deal? Not for me. Can I fix it? Yep.

Should you find yourself in a similar situation, head on over to your local craft store. In the floral department you will find all kinds of floral stems. You are going to want to look in the section with long stems. Stay away from the short floral picks for this project.

Find something that will make your tree wonderful and fabulous. Don’t try to match the branches. Find something feathery or glittery or totally unexpected. I went with gold because I have mostly gold ornaments. I also wanted something with texture similar to pine needles.

You can fill in the holes by simply poking the stems into the tree. I also evened out our tree (it was a bit lopsided as well) by pulling some of the stems further out on one side, and pushing them further in on the other side.

And just because I love my new Shiny Brite by Christopher Radko ornaments from Home Goods:

 
Our tree isn’t perfect. It isn’t huge. But once you put lights and ornaments on it, any tree becomes magical.
 
 

XOXO,
Abby

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Painted Black Doors


I couldn’t decide to pull the trigger on painting the doors in our house black. I’m not really into doing anything trendy. Read: All of you who painted chevron stripes on your walls will be repainting in a year or two. But the more that I saw pictures of doors painted black, the more I decided that it was something that could actually last a while. When I decided to go ahead and do it, my thought was, “It’s paint. We can always paint them back to white.”

I did a lot of research before I started. Check out my whole Pinterest board on doors, and you can see some of the blogs that I read on how to paint a door. One of the blogs I read said something like, “This was so easy that I decided to go ahead and paint all of the basement doors, too.” Yeah, in that case, I’m in!

Y’all. I’m all about telling you when things are easy. I’m all about empowering you to do projects. But I’m not going to lie, this was no cake walk. I may or may not said a few curse words in my head  the whole time a few times. I don’t know for sure, but I’d be willing to bet that if you hired a bunch of painters to come to your home, and they needed to also paint a few of your doors from white to black, that they’d make the new guy that they all hate paint the doors.

So I may have once thought, “It’s paint. We can always paint them back to white.” But make no mistake, I will move before I paint those doors back to white. I originally thought I’d do one blog post on the whole thing, but I’m going to break it up into three: 1. Before & After pictures so you can decide if you want to do it, too. 2. What I did while painting the doors, that you might want to try. 3. How I painted the doorknobs from gold to antiqued pewter.

Here’s a before and after of the hallway. The walls are Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. The color I used for the doors is Black Suede by Behr.


and here’s a before and after of the front door:


I’d love some feedback! Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. I’ll be posting soon with the how to’s and what-nots.

XOXO,
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Thanksgiving Tradition: Ornament Exchange

We like what we like. Fifteen years ago I was the type of person that had to have everything a certain way. Everything had to be just so. No deviation from tradition was allowed. Thank goodness, I’ve mellowed. (Depending on who you ask!)

Traditions are important. Our children need them. Our society needs them. Our country certainly needs them. In our family the Thanksgiving meal is very traditional. If there aren’t certain dishes on the table, the crowd will find ways to politely suggest we return to the tried and true ones that we love. (Side note: the Year of the Turducken didn’t go over very well.) For more on our favorite Thanksgiving meal, go to this post here.

On the flip side, if we shut ourselves out to new traditions we may inadvertently miss out on some wonderful memories. Notice, we did *try* the Turducken. Traditions all had to begin somewhere. In fact, some of the things my own kids insist that we have to do every year during the holidays, I never intended to be a yearly tradition.

My best friend has a wonderful tradition with her family. The ladies all exchange ornaments for their tree on Thanksgiving. They try to come up with something significant to the events of the year. What a lovely idea! Starting the holiday season (No, I am not including the weeks in between Halloween and Thanksgiving!!) with a small gesture is simple and thoughtful.

A few years down the road, I’m still trying to get the new tradition to catch on with my own extended family. (Ahem, get on it, ladies!) I try to pick out an ornament that they might like. It’s just my way of saying, “In this hectic time of year, dear sister/mother/sister-in-law, I’m thinking of you.”

XOXO,
Abby

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Distressed White China Cabinet with Homemade "Chalk" Paint

Deadlines. Due dates. Time Frames. I work well under pressure. I know this about myself, so I’ve given myself unmovable deadlines to make sure I get stuff done.

This fall I didn’t participate in any antique fairs. The kids’ sports schedules and Ken’s work schedule were a little chaotic, and I didn’t think that fairs were going to be doable this season. However I had a lot of inventory to get rid of. So I decided to throw a “Yard Market”, which is just fancy-talk for yard sale but with some above average inventory that you don’t usually find at yard sales.

I advertised and my reason for doing that was because once I told the world I was having a “Yard Market,” then I had to do it. All was going well and smoothly, but I had one large piece that I still hadn’t tackled yet. I needed some help from Ken for this one.

This china cabinet belonged to a family member that had tried a few times to sell it. As it was, it was average. As you can see it was dated 90’s oak, which isn’t in demand at all right now. I asked them if they would trust me to paint it and sell it for them, rather than just giving it away.

It was an enormous job, from the inside out. Everything from the light fixture to the hardware got a new look. The glass even got some attention. There is no way I could’ve done this piece as quickly as I did without Ken’s help. We pulled an all-nighter!

As fate would have it, a friend from college was looking for a distressed white china cabinet. So this actually sold before the Yard Market even started. (Win-Win!) Here’s a picture of it in her home:

Hope you love it!
XOXO,
Abby

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Wait for it…Wait for it…

Once upon a time I painted my dining room three times in a weekend. Two of those times were in the same day. One of those colors was lilac. I make mistakes.

Enter: A chifferobe. This chifferobe started out in a cherry finish. And, well, no one wants cherry furniture right now. So since Ken and I were newbies to refinishing furniture, we sanded it. I can’t believe we did, but yes, we sanded it. Entirely. It took a lot of time. And then (embarrassingly) we used a vinegar barn wood stain on it. It was horrible.

After that the pig needed some lipstick, so we painted it white and put it in our antique booth. And there it sat. And sat. It got lots of compliments. And there it sat some more.

So we brought it home and put it in the garage. And one day I decided to slap some antiquing glaze on it, which was also horrible. It was so bad that it might as well have been cherry finish again. I cursed the chifferobe and spat on it (in my head) and turned my back on its ugliness for months.

Then last week I had a thought: Gray. And then I had another thought: Flat Spray Paint. Valspar sells some fantastic colors of flat spray paint at Lowe’s. So I picked up three cans and brought them home to introduce them to the chifferobe. But…gray is relative, apparently. And this wasn’t my idea of “gray” as much as “bluish ugly concrete primer color.”

So glad I quickly realized that the gray spray paint wasn’t the color I was looking for.

So, doing what I do best I went to Home Depot and picked out a nice shade of gray and mixed up a batch of “chalk” paint. And even though there was nothing wrong with the long mirror, I took it out. (hold the hate mail) I replaced it with some natural linen fabric.


We added a knob to the door after this picture was taken.

And now finally, finally, I love it. So I’m going to do what I do with all of my favorite pieces. I’m going to keep it (because I love it). At least for a few months until I decide that I love a paycheck more. And then I’m going to let one of you love it.

Mistakes are okay. They aren’t sins. They’re learning opportunities. I’ve made so, so many mistakes in my life. But I’ve also learned so, so much. I’m thankful for my learning opportunities.

Ephesians 4:22-24                
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

XOXO,
Abby

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Autumn Yard Market!

This Friday only, come to my Autumn Yard Market! Furniture, vintage, & antique items, as well as some other fun stuff that I’m purging. Prices will be great! Send me a message if you need my address or if you would like to know if I have a specific item you’re looking for. I’m in the metro Atlanta (Gwinnett) area!

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A chair, Me, and God

It’s raining today. It’s a typical Atlanta day in October, overcast and somewhere in between warm and cool. But the humidity envelopes you when you’re outside, so, for the most part, it’s basically warm.

Today I take my project outside despite the rain. I have a chair that I’ve painted gray with some spray paint. I’m going to finish it with some antiquing glaze. I take the chair onto my little front porch, and together my chair and I are protected from getting wet.

 

Since I’m outside in the humidity, it’s going to take longer to dry and finish once I put my glaze on. But it’s so peaceful. Amidst the steady rain, the birds are still singing and leaves are cascading from the tulip poplar in my front yard. I am away from the computer, iPad, and phone. I am away from the multi-tasking. It’s just me and the chair.

It looks so much better with glaze. More finished. More natural and “relaxed”. Less “freshly painted.” Less sterile.

While I am adding the glaze, I am thinking. I’m currently running a giveaway on my Facebook page, and Ken (my husband) and I were discussing a trend that I noticed. Every time I post something related to God people “unlike” my page. (The book I’m giving away has God in the title.) This makes me sad, and it makes me want to tell you part of my story.

For years I prayed. I prayed for a lot of things, but something that I prayed louder, and longer, and harder for was this: Please God, point me in the right direction. Lead me down the path I should go. I’m not always good at picking up on small clues, God. So please make it obvious.

For years God’s answer was “not right now.” About a year ago I was lucky enough to have God shout loud and clear. While “working” on the blog, searching for antiques, and repurposing I had a moment that with every fiber of my being, without a shadow of doubt in my mind, that THIS…this “Belle & Beau Antiquarian” is exactly what God wants me to do. In that moment I was 100% sure that I was doing the thing that God had planned for me. This is the path I should go down.

I can’t say that since that moment I have experienced 100% easy success. I wish I could say since that moment that I have not doubted that I was on the right path. I have doubted. I have wanted to quit. I have experienced failure time and time again, in small ways and big ways. I have had many months where I did not break even. I have had months where I overspent and then spent months paying for it. I have had months where I have neglected the blog. But I always return to that moment of 100% conviction. Despite failures, I have had successes. People read this blog. A lot of people. People are interested in what I do. I have an opportunity. This is what God wants me to do. Now, I need to make sure that I do it HOW he wants me to.

So like this chair that still needed a finishing touch, I still need some finishing touches, too. It’s hard not to take “unlikes” personally. But if you are “unliking” my page because I “like” God, then go ahead. The unlikes are certainly something that I will put in my “success” column.

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
Proverbs 16:3

Hope you “like” the chair.

XOXO,
Abby

P.S. Um, there’s a fabulous giveaway going on. You should really enter it!

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Giveaway Time!

 
I’m giving away a copy of Miss Mustard Seed’s Book, Inspired You: Letting God Breathe New Life into Your Heart and Home.
 
 
For details and to enter, visit my Facebook page.
 
Good Luck!
XOXO,
Abby
 
Update:
This giveaway is over. However, if you’d like to order your own copy of this fantastic book,

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