Everything from A to Z

On Monday a shared an update on Avery's toddler room, finally added a Flor Rug in his space. In addition I also upgraded how his books are now displayed. Over the weekend, I stopped into a consignment store near our house just looking around hoping to find furniture to fill some empty spaces in our home. I didn't find any furniture, but I did find cute bookends for Avery's room. He currently has two bookcases in his room, one dedicated to his board books and the other one for his toys. I was keeping less toddler friendly books on the toy bookcase on a shelf [read: the ones that tear easy & pop-up books] but there were a little too in his gasp and I was afraid he'd tear into them before he learned to be more gentle with his books. Plus most of them were gifts from Grandma and I wanted to keep them extra safe. When I saw the bookends, I knew they were the perfect solution for his books. 

Only one problem with the book ends, they are dark brown not exactly happy colorful bookends I was picturing for Avery's room. Have no fear, spray paint to the rescue! I'm not a huge fan of spray paint [at least me doing the spray painting!] because I get drips etc. This time around, I used a sheet of plastic and spray painted the bookends indirect sunlight and took my time doing thin coats of paint, allowing the color to build over time. 

I'm happy to report my spray painting skills have increased no drips in sight. I used Valspar Spray paint  + primer in one in stain finish, in the color New Avocado. I though a bright fun color would compliment the dark tones in his bookcase and also look nice with his Roman Shades & Pillow I made for his bedroom. I love how the bookends turned out, they look so much more kid friendly! They are super heavy which is great, because I know over time his book collection will continue to grow. I placed the books in the in middle of his toy bookcas, right next to his toddler art caddy.

Yay for the power of paint! I'm always amazed how it can truly transform a piece both big and small. In this case take 'grownup' looking bookends and make this youthful. 

What's the last thing you tackled with spray paint? 

Behind the Closed Door

For the past few months, I've been thinking about painting our front door. Not the outside of our door, I adore its shade of  chartreuse, but painting the inside of our front door. Currently the inside of our door is white, as is all our interior doors and I love me some white doors. But one thing I'm not loving is the inside of our front door, it collects finger prints and dirt and seems to blend in with the trim etc. 

I love the style of the Craftsman door on our rancher, and all its pretty pane windows. Frankly its just too pretty to blend in and look blah. With that said, I decided to paint the inside of our front door a deep shade of grey. We painted our walls Designer Grey [love how fitting the paint color name is!] which is a soft shade of grey with no funky undertones, I though a deep grey would look amazing with our wall color trim and our on Craftsman style front door. Here's our front door before painting the inside a deep grey. 

We chose Elephant Skin by Behr one of the three shades of grey we were considering painting the exterior of our house. At the time we felt the color wasn't dark enough from our exterior, but inside it works perfectly. 




I went with Behr primer + paint in one can, it was my first time using a built-in primer. I cleaned our front door with mild soap and water, let it dry. Next I taped off all the door trim around the front door, handles and windows using the 3M Edge lock tape. 

I used a mini paint roller along with a brush. First I would roll the paint on and then use my brush and put on a more of an even coat. I did the first coat of paint on Thursday night after the kiddos went to bed and then the second Friday night. I know I have wild and crazy Friday nights don't be jealous. Here's the inside of our front door now!! 

Isn't the door lovely! I love the color we choose to pain the inside of the front door, its a true darker grey that goes so well with our lighter grey walls. I'm also happy our oil rub bronze door hardware pops nicely off our new front door color. 

Here's another view of our front door and how the color relates to our living and dining rooms. As a reminder our front door opens directly into our living room, and with the door now painted it really helps define the small entry space more. Since we're planning on using our mudroom as our main entry into our house, I'm thinking of placing artwork or family pictures on the small wall next to our front door and opening to the dining room / kitchen. Also quick update on our vintage dining room table, it will be done this week! I'm loving how its turning out and can't wait to share. 

In case your wondering, I'm not stopping there when it comes to painting interior doors. I have one more door in our house begging for some paint love. 

Doesn't it look meant to be? What do you think of painting your interior doors in colors other than white? Any guesses which interior door I'm painting next?