I hope you’ve all had a chance to enter the contest to win a $2,500 Walmart giftcard from Glidden.  If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?  I wish that *I* could enter!

You guys have been so sweet with the comments and emails about the little video we shot for Glidden.  It was such a thrilling experience, so I thought it would be fun to share the aftermath with you.  If you’ll remember, when the production crew showed up, it was white, white, white.  Like, the whitest room you’ve ever seen.  They asked me to paint it white so we would have a blank canvas to work with, and since I was already going to be painting soon anyway, it wasn’t a big deal.

Now?  It looks like I let my kids paint on the walls.  Oh, wait.  I did.

I’ve never been part of a professional production like this, so it was really neat to see how everything came together.  You know the yellow wall where Zack put his chocolatey hands and the turquoise wall I sat in front of for some of my interview?  Well, they weren’t really walls at all.  They only had me paint what the camera could see.

I was allowed to choose the colors for the video, and I selected the colors that I will be using in the room.  Ultimately, I will put Glidden’s Peacock Blue on my walls and use Candy Apple as an accent.  Pure Purple and Sunflower will be nice for small accessories.  All four coordinate beautifully with my beaded chandelier.

Two walls will eventually feature stripes.  Just not these stripes.

I’ve long heard that all of the HGTV and Extreme Home Makeover type shows are sort of faked for the cameras.  The designers do the work, but only what can be seen on camera.  It was fun to see that put into action here and then see the final result.

During filming, there were two cameras on me at all times.  I felt like I was living in a fishbowl at first, but it didn’t take long until I got used to it.  Tom snapped this photo during Day 1 (we filmed for 2 days).  We didn’t take many photos during filming, because my job was to be on camera and Tom’s job was to have the children away from the cameras.  :)

On another wall, I painted an outline of myself for one of the still shots in the video.  Every time I see it, I feel like Big Foot is in my playroom.  Ha!  It’s kind of freaky, right?

I mentioned earlier that I let my kiddos paint on the walls.  They got to go to town with some of the little Glidden testers.  Needless to say, this was “So awesome, Mom!”  Let’s hope that they remember that this was a one-time deal.

This wall wasn’t featured in the current video, but  I believe there is a second one in the works.  They really wanted us to paint a family mural, but only Tom and I did what we were told.

We’ve been living with the crazy walls for about a month now, as I couldn’t bring myself to paint over them!  But, now it’s time to bid them adieu and get back to normal (or as normal as my walls ever are).  I’ll probably prime over just the painted areas and then use Glidden Duo (paint + primer) to paint.  Stay tuned!

Any questions about the video or my experience?  Let me know!

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A little over a month ago, I teased you with my freshly painted, super bright white room.  Why on Earth would I of all people choose to paint a room white?  The little tease was fun for me for a few days as the emails and comments rolled in.  It didn’t take much before I was bitting my tongue and squirming in my chair, as I couldn’t yet reveal to you the real reason for my big white room.

It seems the general consensus was that I am pregnant.

Available at Walmart.com: 1. Glidden Brilliance Paint in Granny Smith Apple, Glidden Brilliance Paint in Cool Cobalt, Glidden Brilliance Paint in Cherries Jubilee 2. Drapery Panels (in Sail) 3. Lamp 4. Mobile 5. Wall Art 6. Changing Table/Dresser 7.Dresser 8. Area Rug 9. Crib 10. Crib Sheet 11. Toss Pillow 12. Rocking Chair

WRONG!

Wait, what?  Um, that’s a nursery design, Lindsay.

I know, I know.  I’m definitely not pregnant…but I know that some of you are!  So, when Glidden asked me to partner with them for their My Dream Nursery sweepstakes, I couldn’t have been more delighted.  From now until June 7th, you can enter to win a $2,500 Walmart gift card from my friends at Glidden.  But, let’s get to more of that in a minute.  Obviously, we need to talk about me and my white room first.

A few months ago, I worked with Glidden on putting together a sample “mood board” for a brightly colored, gender neutral nursery using their paints and products available at Walmart.com.  It was so much fun to dream about a nursery again.  My friends Nicole Balch and Melissa Michaels also put together mood boards, girl themed and boy themed respectively, and you can see them all over at the My Colortopia blog.  I used the jungle animal vinyl wall art as my inspiration, and I had such fun putting together a contemporary and unexpected nursery.  I think it would be great for either a boy or a girl, and it feels grown up enough that mom and dad would feel special rocking their new bundle of joy in this sweet new room.

Additionally, Glidden thought it would be invaluable to provide parents-to-be with some genuine, not scary, you-can-do-this-too advice, and they asked to feature me in a couple of videos on the subject.  They flew in an amazingly talented video production crew, and for two whirlwind days, I talked and painted and talked and painted and talked about a few tips and my own inspirations.  Needless to say, it was in the top 5 experiences of my entire life, and I am forever grateful for Glidden’s confidence in me.  It has been pure torture to not share this with you until today.

Welcome your little one to a world of color with Baby Room Colors from Glidden® Paint, as seen in What to Expect When You’re Expecting (only in theaters).

Okay, back to the sweepstakes.  Like I said, Glidden is giving away a $2,500 Walmart gift card to one lucky winner.  To enter, simply visit the sweepstakes page on Circle of Moms and choose your favorite nursery mood board – mine, Nicole’s or Melissa’s.  You can see a little slideshow type thing of the boards on the Circle of Moms page, or you can visit the My Colortopia site to see larger photos and more information about the products used and the contest in general.  Leave a comment on the CIRCLE OF MOMS page (not on my blog!) naming your favorite mood board to be entered to win.  You do have to register/log-in to Circle of Moms to leave a comment, but if that’s not worth $2,500 to you, I don’t know what is.

Y’all are more that welcome to leave comments here if you want to chat about my mood board or the video.  You know I love getting feedback from you guys!

So tell me – which of you are expecting?

I have been sponsored by Glidden^® brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

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On Tuesday, I had one last thing to do to finish my new treasure.  I simply needed to brush on a coat of polyurethane and let it dry.  I have gone down this road many, many times, so it should have been a breeze.

I set to work on the poly as soon as Emma went down for her nap.  Unfortunately, the fast-dry poly dried so quickly on the top of the piece that I had trouble keeping a wet edge.  When my brush drug across a spot that had just been painted 15 seconds earlier, it was already a gummy mess.

I thought that perhaps I was applying the coats too thinly.  So, I let it dry and added another coat with a loaded high density foam roller.  This time, I had a different problem in that the poly was super bubbly (and I’m not talking about it’s personality, y’all).

Instead of freaking out, which is quite often my reaction to something like this, I grabbed a sheet of 220-grit sandpaper and lightly sanded off the poly coats on the top.  I then went back to my paint can and repainted the top of the piece.  It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly good enough that only I will notice the flaws.  Today, I’ll reapply the poly in a thicker coat and hope that it will solve my problem.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I mention all of this because there is something I want you (and I) to remember:  It’s Just Paint.  Instead of worrying about messing up a finish or not liking a color, just remember that it can always be undone.  You may have to sand it.  You may have to strip it.  But there is nothing that you have painted that can’t be repainted.  And then repainted again and again.

The holds true for walls as well.  A few weeks ago, my Question of the Day on Facebook asked if any of you have patterns on your walls.  One sweet and loyal reader replied that she didn’t because she doesn’t want anything permanent.  I totally understand that line of thinking.  I change my mind with the seasons, too.

But the thing is, paint is one of the least permanent things you can do to your walls (or your furniture).  If you paint a stripe or try out a new stencil on a wall and you absolutely hate it, just paint over it!  You’ll only be out the time it took you to put it together and the cost of the paint.  That’s a pretty low risk for a giant payoff in my book.

Paint has amazing transformative qualities.  So much of what I do in my own home is driven by color, and that would be hard to do if I was paralyzed by paint.  The number of projects I’ve sanded down and repainted are too numerous to even remember.  I just keep washing my brushes, waiting on the coats to dry, and stocking up on fine grit sandpaper.

Do you feel nervous to tackle a painting project?  What is it that worries you?

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For much of our lives, we’ve heard the following about love:

If you love something, set it free;
If it comes back, it’s yours;
If it doesn’t, it never was.
- Author Disputed

But, when we are talking about something much less human, such as a great piece of thrifted furniture, I generally follow my own advice:

If you love something, snatch it up;
If you come back, it could be gone;
And you will spend months obsessing about what never was.
- Lindsay

Y’all can quote me on that, if you’d like.  I know it’s really deep.

Recently, a new furniture consignment store opened in my little town. We had a consignment store here previously, but it was more like 5% consignments and 95% new furniture that the owner bragged to me just came in from Thailand. Nothing against Thailand or new furniture, but that’s not really what I go into a consignment store looking to find.

I had my doubts about our newest shop, but stopped in a few weeks ago when my son had an appointment in the medical building next door.  I was initially disappointed because inside the front doors I basically saw nothing but new pieces.  But, the owner told me that he had two warehouses full of consignments in the back.  What looked like a small store was really about 8,000 square feet of space.

There was nothing that I particularly needed, but I was like a kid in a candy store.  I viewed each piece with the same amount of delight…until I saw two pieces that stopped me in my tracks.  One was a long, deep stereo cabinet and the other was a matching hutch and console.  I immediately recognized them as being pieces from the 1960s (too much Mad Men watching?), and my brain went into hyperdrive trying to find a place to put them.  I didn’t really have the space.  I then tried to figure out where to put them in friends’ homes.  It’s a bad sign when you try to mentally decorate your own friends’ homes without them asking you to do so!

Did I mention that each piece was only $80?  Yeah, you’d have been searching for a place, too.

That day, I couldn’t justify buying either of the pieces since I couldn’t find a place for them, so I had to walk away.  It was hard.  I obsessed about where I could put them or how I could refinish them.  I told Tom about them.  I told my best friend about them.  I told all of the mothers in the waiting room at Zack’s appointment about them.  I was a woman possessed by the thought of owning one of those pieces.

As the week went on, I decided that I did in fact have the perfect place for the stereo cabinet.  I had a piece I was already planning on refinishing for that space, but I loved this one so much more.  I told myself that if it was still there 7 days later, it was destined to be mine.  I had dreams (literally) about what color I would paint it.  I was all prepared to store my kids’ wooden puzzles in its wooden slats that originally held records.  I didn’t follow my “if you love it, snatch it up immediately” advice, and I knew that I was taking a risk.

Those seven days crawled by, but eventually the day arrived.  Emma and I went into the store and made a beeline back to the warehouse where it originally was.  Would it still be there?  Would it have a ‘sold’ tag on it just to taunt me?  If I ran (even though no one else was in the store), would that help my chances of finding it?

Yes.  No.  And probably not, but it didn’t hurt to try.

She was there.  The owner told me that the consignor’s dad had purchased it new in 1964.  The daughter-in-law hated it and wanted it out of her house.  Obviously, she didn’t see it for all of it’s awesome potential.  Do you?

This piece is currently in my dining room, drawers out and doors off.  She underwent a major transformation this weekend, and I have a few finishing touches to put on her before I can show her off.  Any guesses as to what color her faded, green-tinted self is now?  She’s now a little Don Draper meets Living With Lindsay.

Which of the thrift store love tenets do you follow – Set It Free or Snatch it Up Immediately?

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Getting a new, glossy decorating catalog in the mail is such fun.  I love looking through the pages, but I admit that I rarely buy what they are selling.  Why?  Firstly, it seems like everything is always way too expensive for my cheap taste.  Secondly, I know they are trying to trick us into thinking whatever we buy is going to look just as good as it does in the catalog.

Trick us?  Yep, that’s right.  The catalog photographers use lighting, extra props, and backdrops to set the scene.  Just as fashion magazines airbrush their models to give you the illusion of perfection, home decor catalogs do whatever they can to suck you into buying their goods.

Don’t believe me?  Well, let’s deconstruct a photo from a recent Crate and Barrel catalog that arrived in my mailbox.  I was really drawn to this photo of their Regatta Lounge Set.

What they are selling here is $4800 worth of patio furniture (and I’m not even exaggerating the price).  I love this photo, but it’s not the furniture I love.  I am drawn to this because of the feeling it conveys.

So, let’s start taking away some things and see when we stop loving it.  The first thing I’m going to remove via my super awesome photoshop skills (ha!) is the gorgeous background that overlooks the ocean.  Obviously, the vast majority of us don’t have this view from our back patio.

Okay, that’s not really that large of a change.  Now, let’s take away the lanterns that are placed in the foreground of the shot.  You may have one or two lanterns on your patio, but you certainly don’t have them spread all over the floor.

And I’ll take away the backgammon board, because I’d assume you don’t have one of those just laying around on your patio, either.

Let’s now take away the tray of decorations and the beautiful cocktails from the coffee table.  Maybe I should have left the glasses since you would probably have those on the table if you were throwing a party, but they wouldn’t be there every day so I took them out.

Now, let’s take away the rug.  You might have a rug under you set, but I would guess it wouldn’t be the nearly $400 rug that’s pictured here.

Okay, now it’s getting really interesting!  What if we removed the other table top accessories and bucket of iced beverages?

A ha!  Now it’s looking more like something I’d actually have in my backyard.  And honestly, I really am not loving it all that much anymore.  Let’s remove the pillows, though, since just those four would cost about $130.

And just because I thought it would be more realistic, I went ahead and removed the beautiful wooden decking.  If you are lucky enough to have a deck in your backyard, it’s probably stained closer to the color of the above chairs.  If you are like me, you just have a slab of boring concrete.

Woah.  Here’s what they are really trying to sell you – the $4800 patio set.  It looks a lot different without all of the extras and the beautiful scenery, doesn’t it?

I show you this not to discourage you from falling in love with a catalog and magazine photo.  I love taking that sort of inspiration and tweaking it to fit my reality.  If I had the above set, I’d add a few accessories, but it would still look nothing like the original photo.  I show you this to help you see through the styling tricks and encourage you to see what they are really selling.

Just for giggles, I put together an animation of all the layers being stripped from the original photo.  I found it really interesting!

What do you think about all of this?  Have you ever been drawn to a feeling conveyed in a catalog photograph and then been let down when you saw the actual item that was being sold?

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For years, I stored all of my leftover paint in the garage.  We had several shelves full of half-empty gallon and quart size cans.  About this time last year, I decided that needed to change.  Not only were they taking up valuable garage space, but it turns out that paint goes bad after being stored outside for just a short while.  I felt silly for not realizing that.

So instead of storing the new cans I have more recently acquired in the garage, they now take up residence on top of the cabinets in my laundry room. It’s a great solution for the new paint, but I was left with a conundrum of how to dispose of the old paint.  You shouldn’t simply throw it out with the weekly trash, as it presents a hazard to the sensitive environment.

In many areas, you can take your half-full cans of paint to be disposed of in hazardous waste collection facilities or recycling centers.  You can find a place in your area by visiting Earth911.com.

It’s also quite easy to harden leftover paint to make it okay for curbside pick up.  Now, I’m certainly no expert, but I understand that most municipal trash pickups will collect dried latex paint.  I have heard that you can use mulch or cat litter to harden the paint, but I just picked up a package of Homax Paint Harder for a few dollars at Home Depot.

To use the paint hardner, you simply dump the powder into up to 2/3 gallon of paint.  I had about a quart of paint in a plastic box that I needed to harden, so I just poured the powder into it.

With a stir stick, I stirred the powder into the paint until it started to thicken up.

After about 15 minutes, it had hardened to the consistency of thick oatmeal.  The wonders of chemistry!

At this point, you can simply scoop the hardened latex paint into something like newspaper and throw it away on trash pickup day.  Your cans can then be recycled.

Oil-based paint cannot be disposed in the same way.  Instead, it does need to be taken to a local hazardous waste facility.

Now I just need to buy about 30 more packets of paint hardner to finish up the rest of the paint left in the garage!  What do you do with your leftover paint?  Have you ever used a paint hardener?

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