Painting Projects Times Three, Fave DIY Makeovers, Easy French Bread Pizzas w/Garden Tomatoes, Autumn's Coming!

  

Painting Projects Times Three-
I decided to take Friday off a while back and have had a four day weekend! Work has been crazy busy and I wanted to do something fun! Since we basically spent our vacation time/vacation $$$ on painting our house in May we're basically done with vacations for now. So... I had some painting projects in mind. I had seen some china cabinets similar to mine, with a nice dark cherry stain. We bought it at Goodwill as it was being brought out onto the floor for about $80. That was ten years ago after we bought this house. It was small and fit into our kitchen/dining room perfectly. It was missing the 2 glass shelves (and brackets) so I measured exactly and bought 2 new shelves to replace them. They fit!!! Dave installed some replacement brackets. Lately I thought about doing the "paint it white and add chicken wire" thing, but I like the warm cherry color and grain. I think it might be mahogany? "Before" picture, nice contrast to the light wall color-

I stumbled onto a few photos a while back and it gave me an idea-

Why not paint the inside? I did some research and these colors are a variation of Robin's Egg Blue. I brought home several paint chips and found a nice chalk-type paint at a big box store. I didn't want to go too minty so I bought this-

"Serene"

I wiped down the inside with a damp cloth with Dawn. I taped off the edges and used kitchen parchment paper to cover the bottom-

My goal was to do the inside sides only. It took 2 coats, not a surprise. I used a brush on the edges and a medium sized foam roller on the walls. Worked great! I even have some paint left! I'm happy with the result!!! It's lighter inside and brighter. I also down-sized the items inside. I donated some and stored the rest of the seasonal items-

All done!

I bought some cherry toned Danish Oil and will do the legs and rest of the wood tomorrow. It will mask some of the wear marks and protect the finish. Then it will really be all done!!! Link for paint, come in several colors-

                                            

Painting project #2- I had a nice wall shelf that was a matte black I bought it used after we bought this house. I wanted some vertical storage. Last year when I re-painted the kitchen I decided to paint it a medium blue. I checked 3 stores for a satin blue and couldn't find it. I went with glossy navy and I was not happy! It looked almost black in the lighting, but I decided to live with it- 

I finally found my paint, much better!

Painting job # 3 is an old oak dining chair we had from our big family dining set years ago. When we downsized and donated the set we kept one chair. It was ready for a makeover, worn but still sturdy-

Lots of nice scroll work

I went with bright white satin paint to go with our other spare chairs-

It was just about ready to start raining, so I painted the 1st coat in the garage. Second coat tomorrow! I'm really glad I didn't try to paint it with a brush! I have some glaze I may use to enhance the carved areas. I will wait until the paint cures more. I may add a blue plaid chair cushion to it, to tie together with my other chairs.

Fave DIY Makeovers-
While browsing thru Pinterest I saw the china cabinet above. What a great idea! No glass? Put in fabric! I love the red and blue together.

 I also found this, an old Grandfather clock stripped down of the mechanisms and shelves added. Great idea! Just some paint and distressed-

Not my photo!

Easy French Bread Pizzas w/Garden Tomatoes-
Last week I decided to make some French bread pizza, for something different. I bought a medium size baguette on the way home. I sliced it down the center and cut 2 good sized chucks. We each would have 2 slices. I topped with these ingredients in order-

Garlic powder, 3 leftover provolone slices (3) torn, 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan, 1/2 cup fresh shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh oregano, several fresh sliced garden tomatoes. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Once all your ingredients are on the bread put on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for about 8 to 10 minutes. At this point turn up the heat to 425 degrees F. When the cheese has started to bubble, bread looks toasted and veggies are soft, you're done!  In my oven it was about 5 minutes. You could also broil if needed. Serve hot! The bread was nice and crunchy and I topped with fresh basil. Perfecto!!!

Autumn's Coming!

We've had a real shift in the weather the last 2 days. High in the low upper 60's/low 70's. I love it! While it was odd to see a Winter Weather Advisory in the mountains, we need it. Idaho currently has the largest forest fire in the U.S., but it doesn't make the national news. Named the Pioneer Fire, most of it is in unpopulated areas. It's at about 175, 000 acres!

From Idahostatesman.com

I'm hoping for some substantial rain soon. We need to get that fire out and wet things down here. The radar is looking like rain is heading in this evening, happy dance. With a low of 45 I'll be throwing on another blanket!!! Come on rain!!!