DIY Striped Pendant Shades

My kitchen has been through many phases to say the least.  In the past four years, the walls have been painted 3 times, the tile came up (due to my husbands hard work) and we laid hardwoods (with the help of Bob, our handyman neighbor!) I also painted the stained cabinets a warm white and we replaced the recessed lighting over the island with instant pendant lights.  I love the drum style shade, but just a little boring for me…

With a little help from paint- I transformed them…

New Striped Pendant Shades!

It was very easy to do and can be done on most shades that you feel are a little drab.  Here’s what you need:

• Lampshade
• Paint (I used acrylic from craft store)
• Painters tape (I’m a fan of Frog Tape)
• Paint Brush
• Ruler or measuring tape and pencil

I chose a medium brown paint and I took into consideration that when the lights are on, the binding that is currently on the shade looks darker, so I chose to start with painting the binding dark brown and measured 1″ from there.

After taping is complete, paint away.   I applied it pretty heavy after I realized the fabric from the shade was soaking it up and once you hung it back up you could see little white places where the paint didn’t take (I still have a few touchups to do).

Now here’s where I’m supposed to tell you to let it completely dry before pulling off tape, but most of you know I am very impatient.  I decided to pull off tape so I could admire them while they dried!  and voila…

Even though my kitchen has come a long way, I still need to do a backsplash (if I could just decide!), butcher block countertop on island, a few glass front cabinets, new counter stools and It’ll be good to go!

Here is what my kitchen used to look like

Kitchen Before- this is what it looked like when we bought the house 4 years ago

and today…

 and now we’re off to the pool!!!

My baby girl- AKA "Toadey"

Deck Makeover

I consider myself an outdoors person – I grew up in Vermont, so it’s inevitable!  So tackling the deck for me was top priority this year. As you can see from the before picture, it had not been re-stained in numerous years.  We used to have the traditional table,chair,umbrella set, that quite frankly, we never used.  Overall, our deck wasn’t inviting and I wanted to create a space that was an extension of our home.

This is the Before Deck

I knew I didn’t want to do all one color.  I wanted it to be brighter so I chose a solid outdoor white stain for the rails and a darker semitransparent stain for the floor.  Those of you that know me, know that I love love love to paint, but I can honestly say, this was the most dreadful job ever.  I also chose 2 days to do it when it was in the 90′s- ugh.  I still have a few things to finish up on the other side (you can’t see:).  Anyway, the final result…

I’m pretty pleased with the result.  We purchased some new furniture with comfy cushions and a new rug and now we have a deck we enjoy.  I still need a few more flowers out here, but overall, I think a good start!