Cupcakes & Coffee Breaks

Today's post is a classic example of a DIY gone wrong, that actually ended up even better than anticipated. When we moved into our home a few weeks ago, I knew that I wanted to paint the fireplace. Some people love old brick, but it just wasn't working for me, and it made the room in the basement look a lot darker. Plus, there was a section of mismatched brick and ugly mortar in the middle of the wall, where a hole was clearly patched. I was at first inspired by this gorgeous painted fireplace , so I started by following those instructions. The two paint colors that I chose were "Creamy White" by Behr Ultra, and Behr "Blanket Brown", both satin enamel. I used a roller to paint the brick with the white shade, and a paint brush to paint between the bricks and completely cover the mortar. I used roughly two coats, to completely cover the brick. Now, the blogger at the previous link stated that her brick had a rough texture, and was uneven, which helped to get t

We've recently moved into a new home, and after ripping out some hideous wallpaper (post to follow), and painting our bedroom our beautiful shade of teal, I had some paint left over. In a rush to get some seating ready for our housewarming party, I used it to transform some old dining chairs into cute, comfy seating. Using some upholstery tacks , grey and white chevron printed fabric, and leftover paint (and some primer!), I was able to turn these chairs (which I got for free from a friend) into something eye catching and new. To prime them, I used Kilz  Original primer, and painted one coat (kind of haphazardly) over all four chairs. I wasn't really worried about getting paint on the seats, since I planned to cover them anyway. After letting the primer dry, I painted each one with a coat of teal paint. The paint brush definitely leaves some lines in the paint, but that was the look that I was going for. If you want a smooth finish, you might want to try a roller. To cover the