How To: Add a Little Spice to Your Living Room

I love my light green walls but I needed a pop of color in my front room so I decided to paint my piano red.


And here is how I did it...


My piano is over sixty years old now. We bought it about seven years ago from a neighbor who had purchased it from a local college. It looked like this....

Not pretty.


So the first step is to sand the heck out of it. (I took the above picture after I sanded it) I thought I did a pretty good job getting all the varnish off. I used 120 grit. Since I was not re-staining it, a good sanding is all it needed. But now looking back, I would have given it a little more sanding love.


Next you need to get some tack cloth and rub all the sanding residue off. 


Do not skip this step.

This is what it looked like after the first coat. It is supposed to look this bad. You want a light coat. I think I over did it a little and would have gone even lighter than this. * the lighting is horrible so the color looks a little off*

You wait a couple hours until dry and then sand. I used 120 grit again. Use tack cloth to get residue off. Apply second coat.

Then sand and tack cloth again before applying third coat.

This is the point I decided to take the front of my piano off. This is what I discovered...

...those would be canning tops. Hmmmm....I wonder who put those in there? No wonder it was sounding funny!

This is also the point I decided that the color I had chosen was to pinky red so I went and got another color.

So I sanded, tack clothed and applied paint two more times. Yes, that would be five coats and random touch ups. But it was so worth it, because this is exactly the spice my living room needed. (These pictures aren't doing it justice. It is not as shadowy as it looks in these pictures)

Those knobs belonged to a cupboard that my great grandma had. Now I get to have a little piece of her in my room and my girls love that they get to touch something that their Abuelita Tina touched everyday. It's their favorite part of the piano...and mine too.

So there you have it, a piano painting tutorial because I know you have all been dying to do this! I have to say that I have done a TON of projects in my life...sewing, painting, building, crafting, redecorating, etc...but this was definitely one of my most favorite projects...EVER!


BTW...I used 2qrts behr paint plus primer. The first color was red velvet...the color I ended up with is "BARN" a Martha Stewart color, I had Home Depot make it in Behr paint because I prefer it... I also recommend using a small foam roller and a small sponge brush. I normally tell people to stay away from the sponge brushes unless you are doing a pre-school project, but in this case they were definitely helpful.

How To Make Sure Your Family Eats a Decent Dinner Every Night

So I am not a "foody". I don't do meals. I prefer to serve either sides or a main dish not both. That would require too much work and way too much thought. So to say that I struggle in this area is a HUGE understatement. Realizing my weakness, and help me to not be a complete failure as a homemaker, I decided to make one of these...

I saw it on a blog somewhere and decided that it was cute and it would look good on my counter. I also hoped that it would help me be better at meal planing and feeding my peeps. I am happy to report that it has helped immensely. Unfortunately the rotation of meals is a small one because I only make like 12 things, but at least it's something right?

I think the reason why this is so helpful for me is because I hate that dreaded question....

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Seriously that phrase can suck the joy right out of me. So on Sunday night I look through the recipes I have and look at the activities we have that week and plan accordingly. We don't stick to it completely, it can change but at least I have the ingredients on hand and I know if I need to throw something in the crackpot before lunch.

The craft is pretty simple. 

You will need:

a picture frame with glass, 

a piece of scrapbook paper to fit in the frame, 

a piece of velum, 

and a dry erase marker.

Pick a font and print off the days of the week on the velum. Then put it on top of the scrapbook paper and then into the frame...TA DA! Instant menu. Your kids will love it. They will never have to ask you that nasty question again.

"How To Get Your Water From Cold to Hot" and "How To Lose a Challenge to Your Husband"

Okay I feel a little silly writing this post because maybe I'm the only one who didn't know how to do this. About three years ago my water went cold while Aric was out of town. He told me that the "pilot" light had probably gone out and that I just needed to get it going again...

Yeah right! I had no idea what that meant. He told me to read the instructions on the water heater. I did, but I still was intimidated by it. I thought for sure I was going to blow up my house with me and my children in it. I tried to get it going and it didn't work, so I called the water heater guy and $70 later I had my pilot light on. He also gave me a little lesson on how to get my pilot light back on by myself. (Why did that sound so inappropriate!?)

Well this morning I turned on the faucet and there was no hot water. Aric was at work and I needed a shower. I had just read Christie's "How-To" post and thought I would throw this out there as my offering...

"How To Get Your Water From Cold To Hot"

Do not settle for a cold shower while you wait for your man to get home.

Go to your utility room and find your water heater. (The round gray thing.) Then get on your belly to make sure the light is out.

You have to look closely at an angle, you should see a blueish purple flame...

Nada.

You read the instructions all the way through just like the sticker says...

Don't be intimidated by how scary this looks.

Turn this knob to the left, to "vacation"...

Then turn this knob from on...

...to off, by turning it to the left. Then wait ten minutes. The ten minute wait is really a good idea. This is so you won't blow yourself up.

After ten minutes, turn it to "pilot".

Now get back on your belly and look through the hole. Push the red button down and push the black button until it clicks. If the flame doesn't come on and stay on, push the black button again up to three times. If the flame doesn't come, turn blue dial to off and wait ten minutes before you try again.

I had to do it twice before the flame came on. You have to get on your belly and look at an angle to see the flame. Once it's lit you have to keep holding the red button down for one minute. Then let it go and put the blue dial back to "on". When you turn off the light in your utility room you will see this sweet little blueish/purple flame.

Now wait about 20 minutes and then enjoy your hot water...

Now take the $70 you saved and buy yourself something fabulous!

Now the fun one...

"How To Lose a Challenge to Your Husband"

Have some left over pineapple glaze that has turned into thick, nasty goo...

Accept your husband's challenge "If you eat that I'll give you fifty bucks." 

You underestimate how awful the texture is...

You spit it out and feel defeated while your husband laughs at you. You decide to challenge him, knowing he could NEVER do it, if you couldn't...

He takes it like a champ and proves that when dangled something he really wants, he can put his mind over his body.

Waaah Waaah I lose. Aric wins.