home improvement.... a work in progress

i am adding some home improvements in order to join in the fun of link parties!

the fireplace before & after...

when we moved in, i was thrilled to have a fireplace.  but less than thrilled with the orangey-brown tones of the jagged rocks.  my original plan was to build a wood facade over the rock, but i needed to hire someone to do that and they are kind of funny about expecting to be paid.  so i decided to paint the rocks in the gray tones i would've picked. everyone thought i was crazy.  now they think i'm a genius!  i'm proud to say i did this project without the help of any men! (my sister may have painted 10-20 rocks)

before: 

don't you love the pea soup green walls!

during:

goodbye brass doors and vents! i painted them with a black high heat spray paint.  priming the stones was 

h o r r i b l e!

in fact it was so bad that i only did about 2/3rds.  

 

after:

once all the rocks were painted, i painted the mantle an off white.  then i sanded around all the edges and over some of the wood grain.  next i applied stain over the paint and wiped it off.  i ended up using a couple different colors of stain to get the right look.  

 

i was featured on: