My mom and I had a very similar decorating style. What I mean by that is we liked the same style. Mom had an incredible talent for making her home look like Traditional Home magazine was  coming to photograph for an upcoming issue. I, on the other hand, am pretty good at duplicating a picture that I’ve ripped out of a magazine. However it was accomplished, we both loved traditional, French Country style, with some Victorian antiques added for accents. Mom did lean more formal, where my style is a little more rustic. Our similarities were what made leaving things behind so difficult when we divided up her and dad’s estate.  My sister and I continue to remind each other that “we each filled a 21ft truck and we did the best we could.”

Everything I brought from mom and dad’s has worked perfectly in my home. While difficult to have constant reminders that they are no longer with us, it gives me great comfort to have part of them here with me. One of the things I brought from their home was a pair of wine pictures. They are completely decorative, but I love them and knew I had a place for them.

The pictures had light gold frames which looked great on mom’s dark walls. I, on the other hand, have light walls, so I knew I was going to either have to reframe the pictures (definitely not worth what it would cost) or attempt to paint them.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve seen me post pictures of things I’ve made and normally it will come with a disclaimer that “I’m not crafty…but I made this.” Again, my mom was so talented at making anything she touched look like a work of art. Maybe that’s where my lack of confidence comes from? But how hard can it be to paint a couple of frames?

So off to Hobby Lobby I went to find  paint. I knew I wanted a dark brown, and I wanted some of the gold to show through because that’s what most of the frames in my house look like. I found a metallic paint called “rich espresso.” It looked perfect. I brought it home, jumped in…annnnnd it wasn’t espresso AT ALL. It was a rich gold. Ugh. So this morning I headed back.  It’s a good thing craft paint is cheap, as in 82 cents, but that means I drove to Hobby Lobby for an 82 cent bottle of craft paint. Insert eye roll. Thankfully there was a woman working in the area that helped me choose another type and color.

I returned home to make another attempt at my project. I need to insert here that things like this bring out my worst personality traits. One, I’m a perfectionist, so if it doesn’t look exactly how I want it to, I’m not going to be happy with it. And two, I’m impatient. So I began again, and immediately wasn’t optimistic as it didn’t seem like it was going to cover. I took a deep breath and thought, well maybe if I let it dry and add another coat, it will get there…and it worked! After I gave it a second coat it was exactly what I wanted…a flat finish that looked like natural wood with gold accents showing through. Again, patience is not my best quality and there were areas that I kept trying to touch up before they were dry, so I kept messing them up over and over. Lord, give me patience. Right now!

All in all, I’m really happy with the results. The pictures are hanging in the exact same place in my kitchen that they were in my mom and dad’s. I think they would love their new look in their new home.