Paint Can Organization

Hey, hey there!  First of all, I just wanted to say that I was very excited for today to come because the new No Doubt album "Push and Shove" came out.  They are one of my favorite bands and the album is excellent!  It has an 80s vibe to it and I just love it!  You should check it out if you haven't already!

Ok, onto the post...as part of my garage organization project (which seems to be never-ending), I have re-organized all of my paint.  Ideally, I would rather store the paint in a room that has more temperature control (our summers get pretty hot).  But for now, the garage is where my paint has to be stored.  So, this is what I was dealing with before (for the record, it wasn't me that stored the cans in this way.  Ahem).

These cabinets in the garage have removable shelves.  The shelf was taken out and the cans were stacked on top of each other.  They were an accident just waiting to happen. I could just picture them toppling onto me & splattering all over the floor whenever I needed to get in there.  And you can see that some trays and dropcloths were just stacked on top sloppily.

Here's what I did..
1)  Take all of the paint out of the cabinet & check if they are still good:
This step was easy.  I just opened each can and stirred the paint really, really well.  Some of the colors had separated from the paint,  but once I stirred it, they were back to normal.  I only came across one can of paint that was bad.  You can see in the picture below, the paint was very gloppy.   It reminded me of when you melt marshmallows and there are still some blobs that aren't completely melted.  Marshmallowy paint is no bueno.

2)  Make a label for each paint can:
All the paint labels/color information is stuck onto the top of the can, so I would have to pull out each can to search for a particular color. With the labels attached to the front, I don't have to do that. Even though I planned on using the original paint cans as opposed to the pretty silver cans in the link below, these labels made them look a tad bit more uniform. I just downloaded the printable from Brooklyn Limestone's post and was able to customize my labels with the following information: Brand, Paint name, finish, date purchased, store purchased, and rooms used in.  Using dabs of hot glue in each corner, I attached the label to the front of the paint can.  Easy!

 

3) Transfer paint into new containers:
I decided to skip this step. I had enough room in the cabinet.

4) Re-do the shelves and clean them:
One of the shelves had been taken out of the cabinet so the cans could be stacked. Before putting it back in, I cleaned that cabinet really well and put the shelf back in it.

Once I did these steps, I was ready to put everything back and this is how it came out.

The teal colored box with the handle (on the bottom shelf) holds all of my spray paint and small pots of paint samples. I made this out of an old cardboard box and covered it with the teal wrapping paper. I punched two holes in the front and threaded the jute rope through for a handle. It makes it easy for me to pull out all the spray paint and paint samples all at once. It all looks much more organized and not like a big mess.

Again, here was my plan of attack:
1)  Take all of the paint out of the cabinet & check if they are still good
2)  Make a label for each paint can
3)  Transfer paint into new containers??
4)  Re-do the shelves and clean them (one of the shelves was taken out and put into another cabinet)
5)  Organize paint supplies (brushes, rollers, trays, dropcloths, painter's tape, etc)
6)  Find a disposal center for any paint I know I won't use again 

My main focus the other day was 1-4.   #5 will be done later since the supplies are stored in the other cabinet below the paint and #6 - well that's just going to take me awhile to figure out where to dispose of the paint and actually get myself to do it.   It will get done, though.  Promise.  I'mjustnotgoingtosaywhen.  :)

Here's a quick before-and-after since we all love those.

BEFORE

 AFTER

I feel much better now that it's all organized. I've been doing more painting projects lately, so this makes life easier. And it's another step closer to getting the garage organized. Baby steps, people...baby steps.

Posted by: http://adventuresindiy1759.blogspot.com/

Mini Tacos

Hello!  I'm almost done with my current project, so I'll be able to share it very soon.  In the meantime, here's a little something I tried that I found via Pinterest:  Mini Tacos.  These were pretty simple to make and would make for great little appetizers.

Supplies needed:
*  Your choice of meat
*  Your choice of seasoning for meat
*  Wonton skins  
*  Cheese (grated)
*  Muffin tin
*  Pam (or something to grease the muffin tin)

***Preheat oven 350 degrees***

1)  First, cook your meat.  I used ground beef with taco seasoning.  But, you could make it with any seasoning you'd like.  You might be able to use other types of meat, but the ground beef is good for this because these are pretty small.

2)  Once the meat is cooked (or while you're cooking it), prepare your muffin tin.  Spray a bit of Pam and make sure the inside of the cups are greased completely.  Then, put a wonton skin in each cup.

3)   Fill the wonton skins with a bit of the meat.

4)  I added shredded cheese to half of mine to see if I would like it better with melted cheese or non-melted cheese.  It's up to you how you would like it (I preferred it with the cheese added afterwards).

5)   Put the muffin tin into the oven at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes.

The directions I found on Pinterest stated to bake them for 8 minutes.  I felt that this was not enough time.  The 2nd batch I made, I put in for 10 minutes and it was much better.  I'm thinking to try 12 minutes to see if that will work even better.

Here is how they came out!

You can add anything else to it that you'd like.  I love hot sauce, but didn't have any and I think these would have tasted great with them.  Buona appetito!  

Posted by: http://adventuresindiy1759.blogspot.com/

Lawn Update

Hey there!  The painting-of-the-french doors project is on hold for now because I've been working on something else that I'm trying to get done before my big trip (more on both later).  So, today I'm going to share the progress of my backyard lawn.  A month ago, I shared this post about my poor, poor front and back lawns.

Here's my yard from 2 1/2 months ago (it looked pretty bad):

Here it is about 2 months ago (after I fertilized it using my Scott's Snap Spreader):

Here it is a month ago (getting better!):

And just yesterday:

The front yard is looking much better too.   The lawn fertilizer I used with my brand new Scott's Snap Spreader worked really well to whip my lawn back into shape.  As you can see, there's still some dead spots.  And I mean DEAD.  We've had a pretty crazy summer here in Southern California - really hot spells, mixed in with thunderstorms, rain and humidity and it wreaked havoc with my yards.  I'm planning to get a bag of seed soon and I'll seed these dead spots (and any other weak spots) and try to get them back to life.  I'm really pleased with how easy the Scott's Snap Spreader worked and that it worked pretty well too!

Quick File Cabinet Makeover

I was in my craft room the other day so I could print something and while I was in there, I was looking at my drab file cabinet. 

It's nothing fancy, just a cheap, but durable plastic cabinet.  I've had it for years and it's pretty sturdy, which is why I've never gotten rid of it.

Anyways, while I was in there, I got the idea to jazz it up with some washi tape (I'm sure you've heard of the stuff).   So, while I was waiting for my stuff to print, I decided to slap some on the front of the cabinet.

I'm thinking to add something else to the front, but not sure what.  It's nothing too terribly exciting, but I like how it gives it a little personality and it ties into the rest of the room now. 

posted by http://adventuresindiy1759.blogspot.com/

Adventures in Taping off French Door Windows

I'm currently working on painting my french doors.  They're not going to be any cool color.  Just plain 'ole white.  The doors came with the house and are already primed.  I originally thought they were just a weird shade of white, but at some point, I figured out that they are just primed.  I'm pretty observant like that.  So, I'm finally getting around to painting them, but have come across some issues that have slowed me down a bit.  One of the issues is all the windows.  There are two doors and two sidelites, for a grand total of 30 windows.  Yep, 3-0. And it's been annoying to tape off the corners of the windows, because ya know, painters tape doesn't rip in a perfect straight line and I can't cut a perfectly straight line (to make a 90 degree angle).  I've tried different things and so far, it seems like the tape is the easiest and quickest thing.

Does anyone have any easier tips on how to tape off this many windows (or another way to not get paint on the windows) without me pulling all my hair out?

Posted by http://adventuresindiy1759.blogspot.com/

Picture Frame Makeover

Hey there!  Happy September!  We are getting much closer to my favorite time of year - the Fall.  Can't wait!  I just hope this wacky weather we've been having in Southern California turns into our usual lovely Fall weather.

On to today's subject...I've had this flower picture frame for, I donno - 10+ years maybe.  I don't even remember where I got it from (possibly Ikea?).  It's still a nice piece (I like the silver frame with the black & white picture), and although you can't tell in the photo below, the glass is dimpled which adds a nice texture.  But, it doesn't really fit with my decor.  I have it hanging in my hall/guest bath for now.

I decided the other day to see if there was a way I could re-use the frame, by just updating the picture in it.  I'm all about re-using & recycling if I can.  So, I took a look at the back of the frame to see if I could take this puppy apart.  (Please excuse the poor photos)

As you can see above, it's not like a regular picture frame because of that glass.  There were these little doo-dads, 2 on each side (total of 8), that fit between the piece of glass and frame (they are just like the ones that fit onto window screen frames).  So, I just carefully shimmied them out with my screwdriver - in fact, they came out pretty easily.

I noticed that in the corners, there are these little screws.  So,  next, I unscrewed the two bottom corners.  And wouldn't you know it, I wasn't able to unscrew the two top corners - those screws wouldn't budge!

But, it ended up being ok because after I unscrewed these two bottom corners, the bottom piece just slid right off!  Interesting.

So, with this bottom piece off, I was able to slide the glass out, even though I wasn't able to unscrew the top 2 corners.  Score!  There were actually 2 pieces of glass.  The front piece of glass is just regular, flat picture frame glass.  The bottom piece is the dimpled glass that the picture was attached to (you can see the dimples in the glass in the above photo).  I found a beachy print that I like (it's the same one I used on one of my coral pillows that I made).  I printed it to the right size and just added a small bit of tape to it on the back so it wouldn't slide out of place and put it back in the frame.  The nice thing about this, is that I can always change out the picture when I feel like it.

I just popped those little doo-dads back in (so, so easy!), slid the bottom piece of the frame back in, then screwed the screws back in.

Here it is all finished...

And hanging back up in the bathroom (thus the horrible lighting in the picture - there's no natural light in there)...

(The bathroom and also the hallway are both painted what I believe is Harvest Brown by Behr.  It came with the house and will get a new paint job soon!  It's not a bad color in person, but I like gray tones more than earthy tones).

BEFORE

  

AFTER

Much, much better!  And it only took me about 5-10 minutes to do (including finding the picture and printing it).  I know this is an unusual frame & not everyone has this type of frame, but I just wanted to show how you can re-use something that may otherwise be disposed of.

Thanks for stopping by!
Posted by http://adventuresindiy1759.blogspot.com/

Linked up to:
Thrifty Decor Chick's September Before and After Party