Back 2 School Ready!
For fellow Alabamians and many across the south United States, school begins within the next few weeks. I’m spending some time now preparing in order to be back to school ready. Read along for some quick tips for how to ready yourself and your family for the upcoming school year.
Out with the Old
A couple of weeks before school begins is a great time to go through your children’s closets and see what items no longer fit or have been stained or torn. Get rid of any of these items that are taking up precious space. Determine what needs to be donated and what needs to simply be thrown away.
Take inventory of what materials and supplies you have available at home. Do you have left over school supplies from last year? Will last year’s backpack still be a good choice for this year? From your assessment, create a list of what is missing for the upcoming school year.
Plan for the New
Once your children’s closets and backpacks have been cleaned out, determine what your needs are. Does your son need more pants? Has your daughter’s shoe size grown? Make a list of all needed items for the school year. Include school supply lists to your master list of needed items. Now, shop! Look for some great deals. Like to Know It has some amazing influencers to follow that will show you wonderful deals to check out.
I found a few clothing deals for my kiddos and linked them up here. You can also check out my Liketoknow.it images on the right sidebar of my blog.
In addition to clothing items, school supplies such as: colored pencils, binders, and pronged folders will all be on sale at area grocery and box stores. Publix usually does a great job of running Buy One, Get One sales on school supplies in the weeks leading up to school. I am so excited because I was recently able to purchase the Bentgo Kids lunchbox I have had my eye on for a while from Amazon during its Prime Day sales.
Establish or Reestablish Routines
Lastly, think through what your school days will look like: nightly routines, morning drop off, and lunch plans. As I shared in an older post, I had the privilege of sitting in an Organized Mom small group led by one of the children’s ministers at our previous church. This woman is amazing! She shared so much wisdom for back to school routines. Her guidance on preparing for each school week and how my morning ride to school should look like still has a positive influence on my family’s lives.
What did I learn? 1. Prepare your family’s outfits the weekend BEFORE the upcoming school week. Iron each day’s outfit if necessary and place with the appropriate shoes, underwear, and socks together or in a hanging organizational bin such as this one. (*As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission off any viable links.*) 2. Prepare lunches the night before or get one of your kids to help prepare lunches. The last semester of last year, I worked in long-term substitute positions and my daughter would make our lunches every morning. This act of service was greatly appreciated! 3. Rides to school should include NO LECTURES. Proper preparation before the school week helps to avoid running late to school. Not being in a rush, reduces the chances of frustration and parental lectures. Play worship music and pray together. 4. Don’t bail your kids out. This one was and is a challenge but man, it has some good fundamental lessons for kids. Your kid left their lunch at home? Don’t deliver it. Homework come up missing from their backpack? Don’t go searching for it. Sometimes our children need to fail in order to learn how to thrive on their own.
Now You’re Ready!
Taking some time to purge the old, plan for the new, and establish positive routines will have you and your family back to school ready!
Styling My Master Bathroom
Styling my master bathroom is a task I have taken time to think about and I enjoy creating an inviting space. Since moving into our home (you can read about our recent move here), I have been extremely excited for creating a home filled with spaces we will both love and enjoy. Due to much time spent in a master bathroom getting ready for each day, I wanted ours to have features we would use and like.
What to Consider
When styling your master bathroom, what features are a must and what are luxuries? Do you need only a shower? What is the size of your space? Do you want a tub/shower combo, a stand-alone tub, or a huge shower? Taking the time to ask yourself what you want out of your bathroom then researching what you can afford, will help avoid headaches down the road.
For our bathroom, my husband wanted a large, tiled shower with glass walls. I wanted a wonderful, freestanding soaking tub – we both planned for these items. Likewise, we both knew we wanted a double vanity. The selection of sconces and beveled mirrors as well as the color of the walls and trim and the design and pattern of tile, were decisions my husband gladly turned over to me. I happily accepted these decision making tasks 🙂
Where to Shop
The internet can be a wonderful tool when shopping for items, materials, and decor for your bathroom. While oftentimes good deals can be found online, sometimes just plain old word-of-mouth helps you locate the best materials for your bathroom.
For our bathroom, we pulled items from a variety of locations. Our sconces came from Home Depot, our double vanity came from Lowe’s, our beveled mirrors came from Amazon, and our tub came from Wayfair. (*As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission off any viable links.*)
How to Decorate
Now that all of our key items are in our bathroom, now it is time to decorate. In addition to a woven basket, a small table stand, and a couple of plants, I am going to hang a few prints in our bathroom. Viewing pins on Pinterest and posts on Instagram as well as creating a mood board, get my creative juices flowing when it comes to decorating my own bathroom. In the right sideboard of this blog is my latest mood board for a master bathroom that I posted to LiketoKnow.it Follow my LiketoKnow.it account as well as my Instagram account to see how I place decorative touches in our master bathroom.
Weigh in! Tell me what are your must-have items in your master bathroom. What did you splurge on? What did you save on? I hope this post gives you a moment to pause and think about how to style your own space. I would love to hear from you! Let me know your thoughts 🙂
The double vanity of our Master Bathroom. What to do at Seagrove Beach
A vacation to Seagrove Beach is a trip packed with fun! My family recently stayed at this beautiful 30A community and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. With lots of free activities, plenty of eating options, and gorgeous water, Seagrove Beach is a fantastic vacation destination.
The waters off of 30A are beautiful! Where to Stay
AirBnB and VRBO are my two go-to sites for vacation rentals. I am uncertain if AirBnB still does this trick but in the past if you “favorite” a location then come back to it later, the site will increase the price. I have learned to keep a running, written list of houses I like then go back and type in their description in order to avoid the price increase. On one hand, the fees are ridiculous but on the other hand, there are several whole house rental options that are a good fit for my family’s needs.
I do strongly encourage you to read the reviews left by previous guests. Do not only read one or two reviews – do a deep dive to see what a place is truly like. This advice was given to me years ago in an attempt to reduce being scammed or tricked by a fake rental host. Thus far, we have had great experiences with both our AirBnB and VRBO sites.
What to Do
There is an app called 30A and it provides a wealth of information about the stretch of highway 30A that includes several coastal communities in Florida. This app provides a running list of ongoing events in the local 30A communities. During the summer time, there is no shortage of free concerts, plays, and family movie nights.
We had the privilege this year of vacationing during the week of July 4th. The night of July 4th was nothing short of magical. From our beach chairs, we were able to view the fireworks shows from Destin, Seaside, Alys Beach, Panama City, as well as the fireworks shot off at our very own Seagrove Beach. The comradery of other beach goers along with the cool ocean air and music playing freely provided such a neat holiday experience.
This year, we were able to vacation with extended family.
Cousins are friends for life!As I have shared in other vacation posts, here and here, bike riding is a biggie for me on 30A. Another reason I like bike riding at the beach…it’s free! Seagrove Beach has several bike paths and gravel roads that will give you an abundance of adventure options. We would even ride our bikes to the Publix in Watercolor to pick up sundries.
Biking in Seagrove Beach Another free activity is games. Many vacation rental homes will have card or board games available to play. Don’t have a lot of money to go out and spend while on vacation? Stay in and play a board game as a family. We brought the game Taboo with us this year and played with my extended family. We laughed until we cried. This was a cheap way to make good memories!
Where to Eat
While on vacation at Seagrove Beach, we did not eat out every night. The 30a Farmer’s Market provides several meal options to make at your vacation rental. My family loves the tamales from It’s Tamale Time! We also picked up chips and guacamole from Alligator Pear Foods.
Local seafood markets such as Buddy’s Seafood and Goatfeathers Seafood allowed us to have a low country boil one night. We ordered our shrimp from Goatfeathers – it was delicious!
Low Country Boil for the win! Two restaurants we did visit this summer are Le Crema in Rosemary Beach and Bayou Bill’s Crab Shack in Panama City Beach.
Le Crema is located in Rosemary Beach –
a beautifully designed seaside community.No matter your tastes and likings, Seagrove Beach provides a wealth of options to enjoy your beach vacation!
Getting Ready for Vacation!
Lots of preparation goes into being ready for vacation. This summer my family will visit Rosemary Beach, a beach community located on the beautiful 30a highway of Florida. Read along to pick up ideas that may assist you in getting ready for vacation.
Make a Packing List
A packing list is a guide for me to ensure I do not leave anything important behind when heading out on vacation. Items included vary from clothing to toiletries to beach supplies to kitchen aids. When a family is gone for a week or longer, there is a lot to pack for said trip!
Not only do I keep a running list nearby in order for me to jot down items when I think about them, I like to also draw on the experience and expertise of other mamas who have been there, done that. Here is a blog post of a packing list I pinned from Pinterest.
The Folding Lady is also one of my favorite influencers to follow and check in with regarding how to get all my family’s items neatly and efficiently into our suitcases.
Bring Products that will Help You
Any mama or person in charge of packing for an entire family will have an idea of what products make your trip easier. For me, individual laundry bags like these help my kids keep up with their dirty laundry. When it is time to wash clothes, I simply consolidate the laundry bags and wash as needed. The bags can also be used to hold clean and folded laundry for me to return to each kids’ room.
Vacation is always a fun time to buy a few new things for the beach! We found a cute patriotic swimsuit from Target for my daughter.
You can check it out here!While I have yet to try them, I have heard a lot of people rave about packing cubes to use for organizing clothing and toiletries for trips. Here is a best seller on Amazon.
Travel size toiletry bottles are helpful as well as a variety of product bags. Rolling luggage is a plus on vacation. The ease of rolling your case along side of you allows you the space to carry other items in your arms or stack on top of your luggage. Our daughter got this set a couple of years ago. She gets a lot of use out of them. Truth be told Jeff and I need a new set for ourselves.
*As an Amazon Associate, I will earn from commissionable links. *
Create a Meal Plan
While I would love to share with you all the fun activities to do and places to eat while on 30a, I am going to save that post for the future. You can read up on our last year’s trip here. For this post, I simply want to focus on the preparation of vacay readiness.
Taking the time to think, dream, and discuss what food you want on your trip will help you save time and money while you are away. We have stayed at many beach houses over the years and when all the family is together, there is never a shortage of starving kiddos (at least they all think they are starving). Having a rough idea of what foods to bring, what foods to buy, and what nights you are eating out, makes for a smoother vacation experience.
While we have some favorite places to eat (The Donut Hole), we have some new places we are going to try out as well this year. My goal is to blog about everything we will do in an upcoming post.
For this preparation, you will need to make another list as well ( I love lists!). How many nights do you want to eat out? What special occasions are taking place while you are away?(birthdays, holidays, anniversaries?) Take this time to determine if any of your party has food allergies. Also, what are some favorite meals? For me, when I head to the beach, I want fresh, local shrimp. We have a funny but not-so-funny-at-the-moment story of the time my husband went to Publix and bought shrimp instead of going to the fresh seafood market while we were at the beach. Who knew Publix shrimp could cause such an uproar? 😉
Being ready for vacation will actually assist you in enjoying your vacation once you arrive at your destination. Hopefully, this post has given you ideas to implement as you prepare for any upcoming trips. Enjoy!
Moving…A Cautionary Tale
It has been just a little over six months since we moved into our current home. And while I am loving being here and the neighborhood we have moved into, I will share my cautionary tale of moving with you. Preparing for your next move by heeding my warnings may be just what you need.
By now one would think I should have moving down to an art form. In our nearly 19 years of marriage, this move was our ninth move. While there were several aspects of this move I would change, experience is what gives us the opportunity to collect nuggets of wisdom for the future. So, sit back, drink a cup of coffee, and possibly take notes from my cautionary tale 😉
What Not to Do When Moving
Today’s real estate market may be just as crazy as it was six months ago. Six months ago, we were able to list the house, show it, and have it under contract all within four days. That is crazy fast! The other portion of the move that was crazy fast was the new owners wanted full possession within 48 hours. Closing took place within 30 days and we were to be moved out completely within 48 hours of closing. While everything was fast paced, I enjoyed not dragging our feet on how long it would be before we moved. Now that I am able to look back at the situation, here are a few things I would not do when moving:
- I would not give myself a tight packing schedule. Thirty-two days is not a lot of time to move anyway; however, I still told myself I had plenty of time. For any future moves, I will start collecting moving materials and begin packing various sections of my home immediately. For a look back at our previous home, you can catch some snapshots here.
- I would not schedule any other events the weekend of the move. We moved during the Christmas holiday season and my husband had a business function that we had to attend. For a portion of our moving day, we were not physically able to stay with our movers. One of my parents stayed at the old house and the other parent stayed at the new house to observe the movers; however, there is only so much my 72 year old parents can do to help in such a big move. Our time away from the movers proved to be detrimental to the condition of our items moved.
- I would not have used the moving company we used. This last tip is a difficult one because I am not sure we could have done anything differently. We had used this company on our last move and they did great. For this move, something was off from the get go. I noticed some of the employees were different – same manager, different employees. I thought that was not going to be a big deal, but as I was talking to them at the beginning of the move, I felt like one of them could have been under the influence of drugs. At the time, I felt like we were trapped due to our deadline for being off the property. The tight deadline in addition to us not being able to physically oversee how the movers treated our items upon arrival at our new home due to our business function, really left us with some big regrets. Boxes were just thrown into a room. Furniture was broken and damaged. Ugh! It was extremely frustrating to discover.
Now that the painful tips are over, utilize these tips when preparing for your next move.
What to Do When Moving
- Collect the tools/materials needed for your move. Tools/materials that I would recommend would be: plenty of black Sharpies, clear packing tape, a tape gun, a variety of sizes of boxes, packing paper, and a hand truck. In our area, we have several community Facebook groups. Asking on these sites for moving boxes or simply reading daily posts to see who was getting rid of some boxes, proved very beneficial. I will add, get WAY more boxes then you think you need. We ended up having to run and buy (and that nearly killed me) extra boxes to finish the move. A hand truck will help you move boxes out of your way while you wait for your actual moving day.
- Hire professional cleaners. At first, I baulked at this. I had never hired professional cleaners for my move out. We had always cleaned the house ourselves before we left. However, our agent and the buyers agent had it listed for a professional clean of the home we were selling and of the home we were buying. We paid for the cleaners to clean the home we sold and the seller we purchased our home from paid to have our current house cleaned. Do it! Nothing is better than having your home deep cleaned before you move in. It just created a better mental space for me as we moved.
- Oversee your movers or have a contract that will hold them responsible for any damage done to your property. Personally, I believe our outcome would have been different had my husband and I been physically present to give guidance to the movers as they unloaded our items into our new home. This doozy is no one’s fault but our own. And while it was a painful lesson, I still am not sure how we could have done it differently due to our business function. Overall, there were only a couple of items damaged but it makes me cringe whenever I think of the poor job the movers did when they got to our current house. We were with them as they loaded all of our items from our previous home. You live and learn, right?
Hopefully, you use this post as a cautionary tale if you are planning a future move. Don’t worry, you can be sure ANY move will have some bumps in the road but this blog post can give you some helpful guidance. Happy moving!
3 Steps to Gobble til You Wobble
Thanksgiving is next week! Let’s look at three steps to gobble til you wobble. I love a good numbered list. It keeps me on track. Here’s another numbered list for how to decorate for fall.
1. Consider your audience.
As you begin to prepare for Thanksgiving, think of who you will be entertaining or who’s house you will be attending for the holiday. What are their likes/dislikes? Are there any food allergies? What are the ages of your audience? Toddlers and littles may make it worth considering to serve finger foods. Do you know your uncle’s favorite dish? Is there a certain recipe that seems to be a family tradition? For example, I typically bring a pecan pie. I can still remember one of my first Thanksgivings at my in-law’s, I made a homemade Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie with a made-from-scratch crust. During baking, the crust bubbled up into the top of the pie! It looked more like some type of cobbler and was very doughy. Since then I have nixed the bourbon and the made-from-scratch crust – ha! Pillsbury does a fabulous job with their ready-made crusts.
A nice table setting sets the mood for Thanksgiving. 2. Divide and conquer.
Once you’ve determined how many Thanksgiving meals you will be attending (we will be attending my husband’s family dinner one day and my family’s dinner the next) and who your audience will be, hatch a plan on who’s bringing what. If “what can I bring?” gets you nowhere try, “what are you making?” When your family members respond, then add in dishes that you know will compliment what is being brought.
For my in-law’s side, this will be a new experience. My mother-in-law, who always put on a big spread, passed away in December 2020. This will be our first Thanksgiving without her. I am feeling that void in more ways than one. For my husband’s side, I needed to talk to the other family members to decide what will be the main course, what the other family members are bringing then adding in what food I will bring. Having one member bring the appetizers and drinks while another brings dessert and side dishes helps to evenly distribute the work load on cooking.
Give thanks. 3. Plan a cooking schedule.
After your menu is set, plan a cooking schedule in order to know how many days out from Thanksgiving you need to start. For example, my father-in-law is providing the ham and turkey for the meal; however, I am going to pick them up this week in order to prep and have them ready for next Thursday.
For my side of the family, I am working with my mom and sister to see what is on the menu and deciding when I need to start my prep work. I can make my pies at the beginning of next week and let them sit for a day or two. Personally, I believe pecan pie tastes better the longer it sits. Other parts of my cooking schedule will include: purchasing my supplies a week before, making a cheese ball over the weekend and storing it until Thanksgiving, and prepping any side dishes a day or two ahead of the big day.
In planning your cooking schedule, are there any decorations you need to prepare ahead of time? Will you be in charge of setting the table or can you bring a floral arrangement for the host?
This pin from Pinterest shares a pretty good prep schedule for having your dinner ready or at least prepped for the weekend before Thanksgiving. Like any other event in life, taking a few moments to map out a plan of action will help the event run more smoothly. What dish are you bringing to your Thanksgiving meal? Whatever it may be may you gobble til you wobble!
(One year my sister-in-law gave me a Mud Pie dish towel. It was the cutest accessory to my kitchen. This towel I included above would make a cute hostess gift. *As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission off any viable links.*)
3 things my family did at Lake Guntersville State Park
Camping is a hobby our entire family enjoys. Recently there were three things my family did at Lake Guntersville State Park. Our fall break was held in mid October and we took full advantage of the break from school by visiting Lake Guntersville State Park. We camp in our pop-up camper that we recently renovated. You can check out the transformation here.
1. We camped.
Lake Guntersville State Park offers an amazing campground. Not only are there camper/RV spots available, there are also cabins and tent camping spots. We selected a prime location for our pop-up camper – next to the bath house and across from the playground. Even with a portable potty, you cannot go wrong with parking your camper near a bath house. Our stay was four days and three nights.
2. We toured the property.
The Lodge at Lake Guntersville State Park boasts some of the best views in the entire area. Views from the back deck of the Lodge overlook beautiful Lake Guntersville. Fall colors shine bright next to the blue water. Views of sail boats and fishermen give off tranquil vibes. This park also has a reputation for being a nesting spot for many an American Bald Eagle. These amazing birds are quite a sight to see.
3. We hiked and biked.
Besides the playground, tennis courts, basketball courts, and nature classrooms, Lake Guntersville State Park offers, the size of the campground alone provides a lot of area to bike through. Bringing our bikes is a regular habit for us when we camp. Even if the entire family does not take a bike ride together, the kids love the freedom of being able to jump on their bikes and go throughout a campground. Meeting new friends while camping is a common occurrence. The following image shares a link to some inexpensive bike lights that we use while camping. The lights have three different settings: one is a steady stream while the other two are a variation of blinking light patterns. They are easy to add to your bike handlebars or wheels. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission off any usable link.
Lake Guntersville State Park is a favorite camping destination for us mainly due to the volume of wildlife we are able to view here. Deer are in abundance within the park and do not shy away from onlookers. Our kids loved seeing the many deer.
Such pretty scenery and beautiful creatures can be seen from the seat of a bicycle. The campground has an on site Camp Store with guide pamphlets for a variety of hiking trail choices. We gave our first attempt at geocaching. Let’s just say, we have a lot to learn. We could never exactly understand what we were looking for; however, memories were made as we trekked along a trail that ran beside the lake. We hiked on Seale’s Trail, an easy trail that covers up to two miles. We hiked awhile and turned around when we were ready to move on.
The sunsets each evening were incredible. Other activities available at Lake Guntersville State Park that we did not participate in are ziplining and horseback riding. Between the three things my family did and the other activities nearby, Lake Guntersville State Park is a wonderful camping location.
How to Clean
That’s quite the bold statement to just throw out there as a blog title. In fact, that directive has taken me YEARS to try and master. Even now, I am uncertain if mastery is the level I have obtained. However, here I am willing to share what I have learned over the past nearly 20 years and teach you how to clean.
The Helms House kitchen Cleaning Experience
As far as cleaning experience goes, my concept of cleaning and level of action taken has evolved over time. When I think back to my childhood, I can remember having specific chores to do: sweep out the garage and dust the furniture. Beyond those two tasks, I can not think of any structured cleaning I had to do. It is my understanding that my mother did it all. Fast forward twenty years and how to clean my home has been a task that lands squarely on my shoulders.
Key Influencers
The feelings of “how do I clean?” are still vivid in my memory from when I was a newlywed with a new-to-me home. I would come in from work and the house would be a wreck and I would think, “what do I do?”, “where do I start?” I believe it was my sister (she is five years older than me) that introduced me to The Fly Lady. Going from chaos to a set routine was like water to the dehydrated.
Learning how to clean helps keep your home in tiptop shape. Slight Evolution
While FlyLady got me on a routine, the need for consistent deep cleaning continued to perplex me. My next cleaning “influencer” that inspired me was/is (she is currently a big inspiration to me) Toni Hammersley with A Bowl Full of Lemons. Toni has a gift for taking any task and placing it into a step 1, 2, 3 format. Personally, I love a listed format of what to do. Her home, business, and books are some of the most beautiful areas and items to view.
My final step in the construction of my cleaning routine came from a pin I pinned from Pinterest. From the site The Simply Organized Home, I found a cleaning routine that I could tweak and implement in my daily chores.
Toni Hammersley from A Bowl Full of Lemons does a wonderful job of outlining how to clean and organize your home. Current Cleaning Routine
Nowadays, I typically spend 2 hours and 15 minutes a day on my house and laundry. Creating a timely routine keeps my home running smoothly. Roughly 30 minutes a day is spent on throwing a load of laundry in the wash then taking the previous day’s laundry out, folding and putting it away.
After laundry is tackled, I spend time cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the bathroom, and focusing on a specific “zone” for the day. Zones for me are set areas of my home that I can rotate out cleaning and deep cleaning. Currently, I have designated 22 zones for my home. These range from the front porch to the master bedroom to the stairwell to the launch pad. Curious as to what a launch pad is? You can check mine out here. Each day I spend 15 minutes either picking up in a zone or deep cleaning a zone. This method helps keep my entire home in an orderly manner.
Resourceful Guide
To help you form your own cleaning routine, I have crafted a version of my daily cleaning routine. Subscribe to my blog and you will receive my daily outline for how to maintain your home. Comment below if you have subscribed. Tell me how you like the cleaning routine!
I Bleached My Furniture!
I bleached my furniture! Who does that? Shouldn’t bleach be avoided at all cost? Well, I had an idea and I carried it out this week. While social media has its flaws, one thing I love about it…inspiration is to be found in spades. With the typing of a specific hashtag on Instagram or a few keywords on Pinterest, you can find quick, how-to’s.
Some Inspiration for Bleached Furniture
Run, don’t walk, to follow @vintageporch if you do not already. She is amazing and funny! Her feed is filled with beautiful pieces that I would like recreate for my home. A quick search of #bleachedfurniture can turn up some beauties like this or this .
Steps to Bleach Your Furniture
Outlining steps to bleach furniture has actually been a work in progress for me. Not knowing what exactly I’m doing leads me to try a variety of steps. At the beginning of this week, I simply took a paint brush and standard bleach and brushed it onto my desk. While it did lighten the furniture a bit, it was not the light color I desired.
Applying a coat of bleach. Once my desk, the furniture item I bleached, was dry, I sanded the entire desk lightly then wiped it with a clean cloth. After wiping with a clean cloth, I applied another coat of bleach and allowed it to dry in the sun. Again, the desk was lighter but still not the look I am trying to achieve. You know what they say, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”
The image on the left is after one coat of bleach. The image on the right is after sanding and a second coat of bleach. I believe after using acetone to strip down my furniture, I applied three different coats of bleach to the desk and sanding between coats. Once the final coat of bleach was dried, I washed the entire piece with water. My final step, I put a coat of clear wax on the desk in order to seal it. As with my chairs I painted last week, I used the Waverly Clear Wax sealer to give a final coat to my desk.
This is a great how-to video to watch for using bleach to change your furniture. My Philosophy
I have jokingly told other women my spiritual gift is to make them feel better about themselves – meaning, I usually do not do a task to perfection or there is room for improvement. My philosophy with my home decor is, “use what you have or get creative with a frugal project”. I share this to concede there are better pieces of bleached furniture out there. However, as this is my first attempt at bleaching furniture, I am proud of my progress.
My desk after three applications of bleach, without clear wax. The Results for Bleached Furniture
Well, learning as you go has its own set of pros and cons. Cons are: it is time consuming to figure out what you are doing. The pros are: you are learning a skill you will not easily forget. After working a little each day on this desk, I am excited to show you the results. This desk will be used to hold our daily mail and bills.
The final result – with a coat of clear wax on it. Now, what type of chair/stool should I use at this desk? Let me know in the comments. I’m thinking some type of stool would be nice. What are your thoughts? You can see how I previously styled this space here. There was a small end table between the chairs; however, now I have this desk in the space.
3 Easy Steps to a Furniture Refresh with Chalk Paint
Three easy steps to a furniture refresh with chalk paint sounds too good to be true. In fact, for years I have had friends talk to me about this paint but I thought “who has the time?” and “that will take too long”. I am glad to share I was wrong on both counts. Putting my style on a set of chairs was as easy as 1, 2, 3. Rolling up my sleeves and giving DIY projects a try are becoming more of a habit for me. Check out my first shared DIY here then read on for my easy steps to a furniture refresh.
Step 1. Clean your furniture
Our area has a few community Facebook groups. Thankfully, a set of four chairs was placed up for grabs in one of these sites. Four matching chairs for free? I’m on it! (Actually, my husband went and picked them up – he’s the best!) Borrowing from my wonderful cleaning mentor, GoCleanCo, I placed one teaspoon of Tide into two cups of hot water and scrubbed down each chair. Cleaning and drying your furniture helps paint to stay on it.
The original look of my freebie chairs. Step 2. Paint with Chalk Paint
After cleaning your furniture, paint with chalk paint. Again, I have been told about the joys of chalk paint but until this week, I was a skeptic. It IS amazing. My neighbor gifted me the remaining portions of her Chalky Chics. At my neighbor’s recommendation, I ordered the chalk paint and wax brush set below. (*as an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission from any valid Amazon links*)
Using the larger brush, two coats of paint was applied. Drying time for chalk paint is relatively quick. I was able to paint all four chairs within an afternoon.
The photo on the left is after one coat of chalk paint. The photo on the right is after two coats of chalk paint. Step 3. Wax
With the smaller, wax brush, apply quick strokes of clear wax to your furniture. The beauty of chalk paint is it’s design is to be shabby chic – meaning perfection is not the desired result. I love the charm of some natural “distressing” to the furniture. I purchased a chalk paint clear wax coat from Walmart for only $6.54! What a deal! The wax helps seal in the paint and prevents it from flaking or scratching off in the future. For the brand I used, waiting 24 hours to buff the wax with a lint free cloth was recommended.
The products I used. The Result
I am so pleased with my “new” furniture. My sunroom work station had a mismatch of chairs. Now, I have a beautiful set of black chairs that make the room so inviting. Who knows? Maybe I will get more work done!
What do you think? Have you used chalk paint before? What are your thoughts? If you have yet to use it, I strongly encourage you to join in the fun! For around $25 I got a beautiful new space!
All four chairs around my farm table in the sunroom.
