Flying off the Handle

Take a gander at my current kitchen cabinet hardware situation:

Now don't get me wrong, these aren't all bad. But they aren't good. I am ok with the shape, but the gold is yuck.
I have been pondering over what to do about them for some time now and today I decided to just start trying different spray paint on them. I can always paint over the samples I decide I don't like.

I picked out Krylon's Oil Rubbed Bronze and Krylon Metallic Silver to see which struck my fancy.

This picture is after a few thin and even coats of ORB (oil rubbed bronze). I want to point out too that in the picture above my spray paint can has some sort of apparatus attached to it. It is actually a spray handle my sister introduced me to that makes spray painting even easier (as if it could get any easier!). They are located in the spray paint aisle at any home improvement warehouse store. I got mine at Menard's for around $6. It basically pushes down the spray button for you to avoid cramped and painted up fingers.

 

Here's the metallic silver result. (I washed the hardware with soap and water first and thoroughly dried them. Who knows what kind of grease/germs/yuck were on them after 18 years.)

 

Once back inside attached to the cabinets...

 

I like the way the ORB turned out. It looks especially good with the fridge next to it like in this picture. The problem is I don't love it. I do think I would love it if the cabinets were white, and painting the cabinets white someday is my intention.

I am not such a fan of the silver. These two handles originally matched the ones in the kitchen but are actually from the bathroom vanity cabinets. I am going to paint these cabinets black sometime soon and then I think these silver handles will look perfect. Either that or I will just scrap them and put in cute glass knobs. I guess only time will tell.

What do you think of the two options? Are there any other spray paint colors I could try out before I paint all the kitchen hardware ORB?

Bright White

Finally, my coffee table has fallen into line with the decorating scheme. My intention is to keep the living room to white and brown accents with all black frames, furniture, etc. being reallocated to the bedroom or my sewing room.
When I had to decide what color to paint the living room coffee table I just could not come up with any color I really thought would look good. When in doubt, go with white! I love how bright it is. It is a bright room with the sky lights and open ceiling and the bright white coffee table looks like it belongs there.

 

Here is her before shot:

It was always a nice oak coffee table, but since the furniture painting bug has bitten me, no plain oak anything stands a chance in my house! So I took her into the garage and sanded her down.

I put her up on blocks and gave her a few coats of good ol' bright white paint (photo after 3 coats). This particular bright white is from Behr and is the same white I used to paint the trim in the living room.

 I love that the legs are almost like a claw footed table but without the claws. So cute. 

The full room shot. I am still working up ideas for art above the couch... any thoughts on what would look good there?

Adventurous Mackinaw

One of the most exciting projects we did while in Mackinaw were personalized walking sticks for every member of the family. (see more about our awesome matching shirts here) Notice little Zachy's mini-walking stick!

T.J. headed up this project; it is something he does with guests at the park where he works. It took a bit of prep ahead of time but I think T.J. enjoyed every minute of it.

 T.J. rigged up a little clamp system and shaved down the bark on all the sticks.

We hauled them up to Mackinaw. When we got there, everyone got sanding.

                                          

 

Next, we sprayed them with Minwax spray polyurethane to protect them from the harsh elements they are sure to face as they guide us up and down mountainside paths. :-)

Then we got decorating. A few of us used our skills picked up in bracelet making seen here.

 

Todd was a little late to the game with his T-Rex hand, but finished his stick just in time for the hike. 

Todd quickly finishing 5 min before the hike.

What an absolutely beautiful week up north. Thank God for such wonderful land, weather, and family.

Bridges Bags & Bracelets

Here are some more of our creative Mackinaw adventures.

 

My sister found big bags of embroidery ribbon dirt cheap at a few different thrift stores. Let the friendship bracelet making ensue. 

The kids came up with creative ways to hold the one end of the string down and tight. Taping it to chairs, looping it around their toes, or just plain sitting on it.

Here Shelby is getting a lesson from Kate during a hot game of Scrabble. --- Really I just wanted a reason to put pictures of this Scrabble game on here. Check out this board... it never works out this well! We are almost evenly into all four corners!

By the end of the week my neices and nephews (and myself) were quite bedecked with bracelets.

 

Then mom busted out these cute little tote bags for all the kids to draw on... we even bedazzled them. Because everything is better bedazzled of course.

Even Mr. T.J. got in on the action.

Here is my chevron bag and half done (once lost and now found) chevron bracelet.

Does anyone else do anything creative on their family vacations? What about traditions? We have so many that make each trip so special.

Camp Dobrewha

For the final week of my summer vacation, T.J. and I traveled north to the beautiful state of Michigan, specifically Mackinaw City, MI. And it wouldn't be a Dorrance family vacation without a little touch of creativity. This year almost everyone brought some sort of craft project for us to do as a group. The flag below was made by my sister and mom before the trip and added some personalization to our rented cabins.

 

My sister decided that our group t-shirts (yes we are one of those families) this year needed to say Camp _____ (insert some combination of the last names in our family here). We played around with the combos and came up with Camp Dobrewha pronounced Doe Brew Hah. And accordingly we had these adorable shirts made. 

My mom and sister made the flags to hang outside each family's cabin for the week. Here is an in progress shot.

We had many other Mackinaw and Camp Dobrewha themed projects throughout the week as seen below. More to come in the next few posts too. :-)

 

Kate thought up the awesome idea of making something new to hang on her wall each year. This year we all signed our names on this paddle and mom painted the bridge and "Camp Dobrewha."

These ADORABLE chairs were outside the Dippin Dots store. Maybe inspiration for what I will do on our patio?

 Many of the days were spent sipping on drinks like the one above. Complete with mint sprig's from my sister's garden seen here.

Bridge rendition by Ava & Alex. Notice the little pink car. :-)
One thing is for sure, vacation is always more fun with family, especially mine (I may be a little biased).