Kitchen Art Update & How To Hang With Anchors

 

Last week I finally hung the picture up on the other wall, after weeks of the picture leaning against the wall on the floor. 

Its not like its hard to hang a picture but it was just on the bottom of my long to do list. 

I still need to sand and paint over the holes on the wall the picture was on.

and I still need to paint the other chair

Here is an older photo where you can slightly see the picture on the other wall, it was also placed too high. 

 

Whenever I need to hang anything heavy and this picture is heavy and can't screw screws into a stud I use anchors or you call them wall fasteners. 

You also dont need to worry about when your kids running around the house and knocking things off the 

 walls.

So today I'm going to share the how to on this

There are so many different anchors or wall fasteners but I typically have these on hand and I've used these the most. 

The first thing you need to do with hanging anything is measuring, this needs to be 100% accurate to insure you hang your art or small shelves evenly.

I take my measuring tape and measure the exact spot where the hanger sits on the screw to the other hanger and then using a pencil I mark that on the wall I'm hanging on. I measure the distance from the hanger on the art and the top of the frame to know where it will be on the wall. Then I use my level and straight edge to to make it even. 

note: Take your time and measure twice , its not any fun if your art or shelf is crooked after installing the anchors otherwise you have to fill the holes and try again. 

level and straight edge

 the other tools you need 

measuring tape 

pencil

nail setter

hammer

screwdriver

drill

With your wall marked and ready 

get your hammer and nail setter 

and hammer the nail setter into the hole you marked. 

This makes the hole so you can screw the anchor in. 

now get your anchor 

and I prefer to hand screw the anchor in, I use my ratcheting screwdriver so its faster and easy. Sometimes with a power-drill you can strip the anchors.

now that its in

drill your screw in using a power-drill

depending on the hanging hardware your screw might need to stick out a little more

now follow these steps again for the other side

once you hang your picture or shelf check to see its level 

its level

and finished.

This is defiantly a good thing to learn, I use to have to wait for my guy to do it and then I decided I had to learn so I can get it done when I wanted it.

note: I only know how to attach anchors to drywall I've never done it on any other material.

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I Finished The Kitchen Chairs

After about a month or less of working on these chairs (when I had the time) I finished them today.!!

I love the outcome that's for sure, they lighten up the room and they are smaller and not as wide so there is more room, isn't it great what a little bit of paint can do to make a big difference?

They have a interesting style to them 

This is what I had before in the kitchen

Although I liked the style, they were big and cheap, they kept breaking in areas and I was getting sick of gluing over and over again.

The new chairs are solid wood and old, they are very sturdy.

Here is what they looked like before I gave them a new look

I sanded the seats, added a dark stain, then sanded again and dry brushed the white paint I used to paint the chairs (my own custom mix with behr and BM) and sanded the seat again.

I took all of the little round wood caps that covers the screws and took a small paint brush and painted the inside, I like the screw being viable.

I only slightly distressed the chairs, I knew they would get roughed up anyway from the kids so I figured why not. I decided against painting the seat white again because of the kids and I dont want o constantly clean them.

I used my favorite Minwax Finishing paste wax in Light Oak for protection. I love using that product because its really easy to apply and does a great job, easy to clean and makes it soft. 

I'm so glad I completed this, now I have to redo the end chairs and my next project for the kitchen is making a new table top. I want a farm style table, and I love the base and legs on this one so instead of building a whole new table I will make a new top. I'm hunting for barn wood, I have a few places I'm awaiting e-mails back to see price ranged.

I'm not in a rush to complete that, I do have many small items I'm working on for Etsy, some shelves and little stuff like that.

Do you enjoy redoing kitchen chairs?

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New Curtains in the breakfast nook

I put them up this morning. Its raining again...so please excuse the dark photos.
I put the hardware up yesterday for the rods which made it easier.

Before curtains

You can read about these curtains and where I bought them on a previous post here.

These are the original curtain rods my mother gave me a long time ago. They were not long enough and I wanted to be able to have the curtains pulled to the sides and not cover the window when I want light to come through.

To the right are the 1 1/8 inch dowels I bought at the depot, they were 8 inches longer so they were perfect.

To paint them white I brought them down to my workshop and put screws in a scrap piece of wood. Then put holes in the ends of the dowels which they need them anyway for the finials.
Then I place the dowels on the screws to make painting easier.
Once they were dried overnight I used Minwax finishing polish on them for a protective layer and help the curtains slide easier.

After staring at my curtains for a bit I realized the rod to the left wasn't straight, so I just fixed it now.

 

 I made the curtains to just barely hit the floor, as the kitchen being the dirtiest place in the house and thank goodness that these curtains can be washed in the washing machine. 

All I did was cut the tabs off and folded over the fabric and sewed. 

Now I'm working on painting the 4 new chairs and my plans for the new table top. 

Here is my hutch with my new metal Y letter I bought from Restoration Outlet for $1.49, on top of the hutch is a wire utensil and napkin holder that I will use for parties. 

 

Hope you enjoyed my new curtains! 

My Something Blue

I finished my corner hutch my mother gave me for my kitchen the other night but wasn't able to post it, we've been busy with baseball and what not. It also has been beautiful out so I'm trying to get a much painting done before it gets muggy again.

Here is the corner hutch before and after photo

I love mixing old and new pieces together so I wanted this piece to be very distressed, and even my 7 year old said it looks like a old piece of furniture!

I primed it with Zinsser primer and then painted it with a blue I mixed myself using a dark blue and white paint. Then I went over with a creamy white paint and let it dry a few days.

Then I used my electric sander and 220 sandpaper to distress it.

This hutch is made from pine so on the exposed wood I used a stain to make it darker. 

I added cute glass knobs and left the original hinges.

I used my Lowes Antique glaze all over it. 

I'm absolutely in love with it.

Now I took a lot of photos, like always but I have a hard time in choosing just a few so I like to share them all. 

I'm loving the mixing the white and silver.

I left the inside the blue

I plan on adding more white mugs and plates.

I had so much fun making over this hutch and I can't wait to show it to my mom. 

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Now a question, what do you think of curtains for my windows?

Sorry for such a dark photo, I love my bamboo blinds but I'd like to have white simple drapes or a simple pattern. What do you think I should do?

note: My Link Party Has Started! Hope you will join or take a look around at the amazing projects!