Clean and Simple Thanksgiving Decor 2013 {Tutorials and Ideas}

Like I have said many times I love to decorate for the Holidays. And although Christmas creeps up on us earlier and earlier every year. When the Halloween decor comes down Christmas doesn't go up quite yet in this house there is that middle holiday, you know the one we call Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and I especially love to bring out all the Christmas cheer but after thanksgiving that is.  I actually like to decorate for thanksgiving because it is calm, neutral colors and it just feels so fresh and clean bringing in a perfect amount of fall inside. I love this style in between the playful, childlike Halloween decor and the glits and glam, glitter and sparkles of the Christmas decor. 

Today I just wanted to show you how I put together some easy, and thrifty decor pieces and displays for my family and guests to enjoy this year. I like to incorporate a little of what I am thankful for in this decor because well that is what this time of year is all about so pictures of my family are a huge part. Pick up a few of these ideas and you will love the simplicity yet festive look it will bring.

First up is this fun sofa table decor! In love with this and it was all what I already had or made for super cheap. I wanted it simple but to speak volumes. I love it! You can find the ridiculously easy wheat banner tutorial HERE and the Dollar store pumpkins makeover HERE.  I made both the wheat banner and pumpkins to be able to use them for Halloween and keep them up for November. As for the rest..

-The Eat letters I made for my all year round kitchen decor, but of course EAT is perfect for thanksgiving. You can find the Tutorial HERE. 

-The amazing pallet piece is  handmade by yours truly {and I mean all by myself while hubby was out of town} using the plans from The handmade home ebook. I will be posting more about the projects I have made from this awesome book very soon, so stay tuned. You will die.

 

 -the candle sticks are from Ikea and I have had them forever, but they still have them and they are only a couple bucks over by all their candles.

-The big turkey is my very favorite to put out every November, we got it from a very close family friend from a Holiday shower I had for my wedding!

-Then lastly I simply added some of our most recent family pictures in some Ikea frames, because well I am sure as heck a lot thankful for that adorable little family of mine. I mean come on look at my boys! I die. There is just something about being a mom to boys and being treated like a princess from not only my husband but them as well. I am so spoiled. 

Next up my kitchen table display just consists of some DIY hand painted Mason jars Just like I did HERE, just fall color version. I also had these up for Halloween. Added a fun handmade table runner we got for our wedding, and some a mini white pumpkins and you are set. Easy peasy.

Like I said in my Halloween post this is what I like to call my "wannabe mantel" since I don't have one. Although I am working my DIY magic and will be building one for our rental very soon. So lets just pretend this is a mantel for a minute ok, humor me.

-I got the hay barrel for super cheap on sale at hobby lobby 

-White antique molding- A perfect little antique shop in Cedar City, Utah {I need to go back there they have the best treasures}

-Keep Calm and carry on sign tutorial found HERE

-Prints from HERE and HERE in some 99 cent Ikea frames 

-Mini pumpkins from a pumpkin patch left over from my Halloween decor

-Awesome long legged turkey from Ty's Grandma's old decor {treasure I tell ya}

 -The turkey banner was super duper easy. I had these letter cards I have had forever from Michaels and I simply just hot glued them to some burlap ribbon. Done and oh so cute!

  

-This chalkboard I keep up year round. It is from Hobby lobby and I just painted the wood trim red. Wrote Giving thanks and drew a little turkey on it. Nothing fancy just simple and fun. 

-Pumpkin from JoAnnes

-Adorable little turkey hand art plaque was made by my little Maddux last year and it is my favorite. Oh my gosh look at that adorable little hand. I die! He made it at a fun event at Poppyseed projects. 

Maddux was so excited to see it up this year. I think it is so important to bring your kids projects into your decor. Plus I am so thankful for him and his adorable little hands. 

-Super fun and festive Holiday countdown made from a Ikea metal trivet and paper leaves. Full tutorial found HERE.

I obviously like banners. Why not they are fun, easy to make and oh so festive. This banner was made by my oh so talented mom over at Organize and Decorate everything and she gave it to me.

I love it I just added the leaves to made to some backers twine with some tape.  You can find her tutorial HERE. Thanks MOM!!!

-Harvest sign- Won it at bunko when I was subbing years ago I think it is from Roberts Crafts {which sadly is no longer}

-Mini pumkins

-Adorable little banner- I made this cute thing at a fun event called Ignite that my cute friend Kami, from the Blog Sweet Charlie put together and this was one of our craft projects we did. They were precute mini wood triangle with holes in them to string twine through. I just simply mod podged some orange, a little blue, and black and white card stock onto the triangles and sanded down the edges for a perfect fit.  I also did Christmas card stock on the back to I could have two banners in one.

- Cute little card cute from a 12X12 scrapbook paper from Heartland Paper  just tucked into this adorable chicken wire frame from pick your plum 

Dollar store pumpkins makeover HERE, and a frame printable found HERE, displayed on my favorite antique table. My goodness I love this table my parents have had it forever and it was in my room when I was a teen I don't know why but it has been one of my favorite pieces and my mom gave it to me to put in my home when I got married.

  

-Antlers- Thank you Restless Risa {I have some fun plans for these for the upcoming holidays}
-Dish- Wedding gift 

-Pumpkin I have had forever I think it was from Roberts Crafts my first fall married.

-Pumpkin made from a drier vent I made clear back in my young women days.  Can you believe I still have it. Just get your drier vent cut it, bent it into a circle, hot glue it together, spray paint in orange and add a stick at the top. Done!

Loving my family gallery wall especially because I am so so grateful for my family. I added some new family pictures up there mixing them in with some old ones and I love them!!!

 

-Every Holiday HAS to have a themed wreath right...or do I just think that. You can find my tutorial for this beauty HERE. Also the fun Chalkboard Decal is found HERE.

-Corn Stalks bought at the pumpkin patch only $1 a piece 

-Crates- Smith and Edwards filled with Hay and pumpkins

-DIY side table tutorial HERE
-Apple picking bucket- Homegoods filled with burlap and apples\

-I also have a big Caravanshoppe engineering print getting printed at Staples that I will be putting up in that blank space above the crates as soon as I go pick it up  

Phew! Did you catch all that! Fun right?! Just pick a few ideas that you love

and bring them into your home and your style. 

I hope you were able to be inspired by some of my ideas 

PIN PIN PIN away for future years to come and holiday craft nights 

Happy Weekend, Happy Thankful Season, Happy Holiday Season

and smile it is Friday Love you all

 Don't forget to follow me on Instagram

@WHITNEYULRICH

to see all my fun pics, my real life, fitness, fashion ideas

and sneak peaks of what I've been working on

Thank you for your support, for reading and for following

Make sure to check out my other social media sites and follow along

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Painting Wood Furniture {Pinners Class PART FOUR} TUTORIAL

Welcome back to our How to paint/refinish furniture class! Sorry about the long break there has been a lot going on but I have not forgotten about you, so I am back and ready to teach you how to paint that piece of furniture you have been wanting to do forever.  How are you liking this series so far? Is it helpful? What questions do you have?  To catch Part one of this series GO HERE. Part one is an intro to me, the class, why I started painting furniture, and all about how you can do it too. Part two is helping you figure out the style you want you can find that HERE. Part three is very important it is the shopping list for all the supplies you will need, where to get them and why I recommend the ones I do, you can find that HERE.  Check them out before you go on.

Ok now that we have all the info we need and the supplies lets start painting. Below I am going to give the steps for spray paint, rolling on, staining, whitewashing, and I will also talk about sanding and glazing. To find out what your style is and which one you want to do read about that HERE.

The very first steps in any piece of wood furniture that you will be painting is Washing and sanding. I just wash my pieces of furniture with a rag and soapy water, then I make sure it is all dry. Once it is dry I get out my 220 grit sand paper, or electric sander and sand the whole thing until the previous finish is off, it is smooth, all gunk is off and all the scratches and dings are smooth. Then once it is all sanded yo are going to wash it all again using the soaping water and rag, to get all the saw dust off of the piece before we go on, then just let it dry or wipe dry.

Then you will prime you piece, I like to use the zinsser bullseye spray paint primer, find out more in PART 3.  I simply just spray the primer all over the piece getting everywhere I can. This can be one light coat and that will be good enough to paint over. You do not need to cover the entire thing perfectly just enough to put a layer on for the paint to bond to. I love this primer because it is so misty and covers so well and it doesn't run which is nice, but just like any spray you will want to make sure you are at least 12 inches away while spraying and do light smooth and quick lines. Most primers will dry within 30 minutes. Once it is dry you will then do a light sand to make sure it is all smooth for painting and then wash it one more time, letting it dry completely.

Do you want to spray paint or roll on? Find out which one is best for you and your piece HERE. 

SPRAY PAINT

Spray light multiple light coats letting it dry and sanding between each coat. With spray paint you want to take it slow to prevent runs and blotches. It will take more time to do it this way and more coats but it is worth it, because if you take it too fast you can get runs and then you have to sand them down and it takes more time in the long run. For most pieces depending on the color I do 3-5 coats of spray paint to get the right coverage. Remembering to let is dry, sand and wipe clean between wash coat. 

And there you go you have your spray painted piece if you are wanting to leave it a plan color with no glazing or sanding techniques you will then simply go on to the last step of sealing it. If you are wanting to use those techniques go to the end of the post to see how to do that before sealing  your furniture.

To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.

ROLL ON

now for some roll on. This is my dresser for my room well one of them we had two huge dressers to redo and spray paint was not only going to be more expensive, but I felt much more comfortable rolling on something this huge. Also it was mostly flat with only a couple details that were easily brushed on and rolled over just fine. First of course you will wash, sand, wash, prime, sand and wash just like explain above before you go on to painting.

Next you will take your paint brush and get into all the detail with the paint first. Let that dry. Once it is dry you can begin to roll on.

Remember you will need a small sponge smooth roller, your paint and a container like above. For this project since it was so big I used a bigger container for the paint so I wasn't constantly pouring more in.

  Then you will just roll it on. First you will load up your roller, then roll it over the little bumppies on the container so it isn't too much. Then roll it onto your surface covering the whole thing. It doesn't have to be perfect at first because then once it is covered you will take you roller with no extra paint on it and lightly go over the whole area you just rolled on in nice smooth over lapping lines. This is so when it does you don't see any brush strokes or lines on the piece and it just looks smooth. The first coat will not be covering everything you will need to do 2-4 coats to get the right coverage. Make sure that you let it dry, lightly sand and wash between every coat of paint. 

And there you go you have your rolled on piece if you are wanting to leave it a plan color with no glazing or sanding techniques you will then simply go on to the last step of sealing it. If you are wanting to use those techniques go to the end of the post to see how to do that before sealing  your furniture.For my dressers I wanted them to look antiqued so I sanded them to find out how I did that read under the sanding title, if you are leaving it plain read below.

To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.

 SANDING

Sanding is for an antiqued worn look. That is just what I was wanting for my dressers. I wanted it really worn but you could do as little or as much as your taste and style is allowing. You are going to want to do the sanding after you have painted the whole thing and before you seal it. So your paint has been dry for at least 24-48 hours now you can get sanding. You can use sand paper  or a sanding block for smaller pieces, since this was so big I used a sanding block for some and my electric sander for some depending on where I was sanding. First you are going to want to sand the edges until you can see the wood underneath or the dark color you had underneath hat you want to show. These dressers were already dark under so I didn't have to do anything before. If your piece is light under and you want it dark you can stain it before you paint, paint it brown before you paint your main color, or you can stain it after in the places you sanded.

Ok so you sanded the edges that is the most basic you can leave it like that if that is what you are wanting. For more you can then sand the details. For this dresser there were little rectangle cutouts that I sanded down and it have some details on the drawers that I sanded to make the details pop. If that is your style stop there. Or like me if you really want it antiqued you can go a step further and sand just random spots here and there on the flat surfaces to make it look old and that it had gotten beat up in several years and moves and has a story.

Now that you have it sanded as little or as much as you were going for now it is time to seal it.
To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.

GLAZING

If you want more of the glazing look to have the details pop you will need either a glaze or a stain will work, a brush and a rag. You will glaze your piece after you painted it and let it sit for at least 24-48 hours and before you seal it. To glaze you will take your glaze or stain and paint it into the grooves of the details with your paint brush, let it sit for  couple seconds and then wipe it off with a clean, dry rag. This will wipe away the excess but keep the stain in the detail making them pop. You might have to repeat this process a couple times letting it dry between each coat to get the desired darkness.  Once you have it the way you want it to look let it dry completely and seal it.

To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.

No those are the traditional ways to refinish or paint a piece of furniture with either spray paint or roll on and either kept a plain color, sanded or glazed and then sealed. Yay you are done. Unless you are wanting to do something a little different in that case lets talk a little bit about staining and whitewashing. Check out my post HERE to see which one is best for what pieces and for what styles. 

Stain

For my kitchen table I really wanted the country look so I spray painted white like I showed above and then I stained the table top and chair seats.These already had been sealed so first I washed them, sanded them, and washed them again.

Now it is ready to be stained. My favorite is Minwax brand I love all their colors, but I use early American the most. I dipped my brush into the stain and painted it on the whole top and sides of the seats and table top then I let it soak in for about a minute and then wiped off the excess with a clean cloth. You do not want to just leave the stain on to dry like you would a paint. That is not what stain is meant for in fact it will not dry it will get sticky. If you wipe it off and it isn't as dark as you would like you can just repeat the steps letting it dry between each coat until you get the desired color.

Once you are at your color you can seal it. To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done.

Whitewash

First you will wash, sand and wash your piece that you are whitewashing. Next you will need your mixture of 1 part white paint to 2 parts water. You will also need a brush and rag.

For my piece it was a rustic headboard made out of pallets so I wanted it to look like I got old white barn wood from all over so I wanted them different shades. So I did each board different coats, but of course you could also make this all the same look.

Paint on your white wash just like you would any paint, of course this is much thinner. Make sure to paint it on small sections at a time or it will dry too quickly. Then you will take a clean dry rag and spread the white wash around removing all the excess. A small amount goes a long way. Then move on to the next section. This will give you the thin white washed look.

Once you are at your color you can seal it. To seal my furniture I use the Minwax Polycrylic satin. I love this finish because it does not yellow it is crystal clear and it stays that way over time even over white.  It comes in cans or spray. I do 2-3 coats of the finish spray depending on how much use and traffic the piece will have. Let is dry for at least 48 hours before handling and then you are done. 

To find my full whitewashing tutorial go HERE.

Eeek and there you have it you have gotten the courage to paint your furniture, you know what style you want, you got all your supplies, you painted it and it is all done. And hopefully you are so in love with it. I am so so proud of you and I am sure you are feeling pretty good right now too. Still a little nervous and have some concerns before you want to tackle this big of a project? then make sure to come back for PART 5 and we will address those concerns.  This is to wrap up the class and answer some of your questions. Also remember if you have specific questions leave them in the comments or email them to me and I will address them in the next post. 

Don't forget to PIN this sucker as well as the rest of the series for the full class.

Happy Painting! 

PART ONE-Intro

PART TWO-Finding your style
PART THREE-style
PART FOUR- steps

 Don't forget to follow me on Instagram

@WHITNEYULRICH

to see all my fun pics, my real life, fitness, fashion ideas

and sneak peaks of what I've been working on

Thank you for your support, for reading and for following

Make sure to check out my other social media sites and follow along

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