This was one of my summer vaca projects. Take a look at the before pics of how I kept our family's schedule and you will see why I needed something just a squinchy bit more appealing to the ole eyeballs. Scroll down through my mind-numbingly long post to see pics of the individual pieces if you like.
I pretty much used the same painting technique for all the wooden pieces which consisted of spray painting with Rustoleum painter's touch ultra cover 2Xwhite primer and satin heirloom white paint. I really like that stuff, it covers well and leaves a nice smooth finish. I also distressed the edges with fine grit sandpaper and finished off with a coat or two of Fiddes and Sons wax in brown and then clear. It gave everything a nice shabby vintage look.
This was my organization center before. Pretty classy huh? And no we really don't ever have any free time. Don't let sunday fool you, I just don't have enough space to write in all the chores I have to do that day. This is the bulletin board we had been using. I repurposed it for this project by first removing all the crumbling cork from the top.
I painted the wooden frame as per the instructions above.
At first I thought I would cover it with fabric then I remembered I had this gorgeous BoBunny paper pack with just the right feel and colors I wanted.
I assembled the papers on the floor first to see how I wanted them to go together then glued them to the board. So purrty doncha think?
I had a roll of dry erase that I purchased from Pat Catans for another project, woo hoo, I didn't have to get out of my cruddy sweat suit to go to the craft store. I used Sharpie Markers to make the outline of the calender and punched a half inch circle out of paper to use as a template for my date circles.
So, the Sharpies are pretty good with staying put on the board when I erase for a new month but it has come off in spots. I just reapply and try not to rub so hard with the eraser. I didn't glue this to the board, I got some fancy tacks at wall mart and used them cause I wasn't sure the whole sharpie thing was going to work well.
I also had some thin cork (again yah for not getting dressed or showered) so I cut a strip to go on the bottom of the board. I decided it was too plain for my fancy smancy board so I used some Stampin up stamps and brown ink and gussied her up a bit.
I needed something for the months that wasn't part of the dry erase, sooo
I got out my Spellbinders oval and scalloped oval dies and made some out of the same paper as the background. I printed the months on paper first then die cut around them. I also added a little shading around the letters with brown ink.I used a small square of self-adhesive velcro both on the backs of the months and the board. I do plan to make the days of the week look better than my crappy handwriting but I haven't gotten around to that yet.
The following pieces were again painted in the same way.
I forgot to take a before pic of the letter holder but the one on the left is what it looked like before painting. I didn't even sand them, just put on primer then paint. I got both of them at Goodwill for a couple dollers each.
If you squint you will see that this is our new grocery list space and marker keeper. The wood was another GW find. It started out as a candle holder but I removed the candle part and painted over it. The papers for this project were from Prima not the BoBunny stuff. The marker container is big enough to hold a bunch of markers and an eraser. Bet ya can't guess what it is made of....ok i'll tell, it is a drink flavor container. Pink lemonade if I remember correctly.
I can't even tell you how much better this is than what we previously used. A place for everything and everything in its place. At least in this tiny corner of our house. Certainly not anywhere else.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Linky Parties