getting motivated to work out :: group fitness classes

Fridays are so much fun because I get to talk about two of my very favorite things: food and fitness!

And you know they go hand in hand, right? ;)

You see, this:

lets me enjoy this just a little more:

{it was my sister-in-law’s birthday and we ate this until we were stuffed! :) so, so good!}

Group fitness is one of my passions. It’s probably silly, but I get so much enjoyment out of doing it! Teaching fitness classes is fun, it's a great workout, and it helps other people to stay healthy too! And as an extra bonus, I get paid to do it! :)

It’s pretty much a dream job for me!

If you’re new to the idea of group fitness here’s what it looks like {that’s me at the front!}:

Basically you come to a studio at the gym and I get to kill you teach you how to workout with other people in the room. I teach Les Mills BODYPUMP, a group weight lifting class set to music. It’s fun and challenging all at the same time! It’s hard to explain, so here’s what it looks like {this is not me!}:

It’s incredibly fun, and by far the most motivating exercise I’ve ever done!

So last weekend I got to launch the newest choreography with this awesome team!

The theme was the 80’s, so we cut up gray t-shirts and had a little fun with it!

and of course I stole these pics from my bestie Abbie! We always snag a pic together at launch:

And we teach BODYCOMBAT together too:

Here’s what BODYCOMBAT looks like in real life {I was in the front right there- you can’t see me but the whole thing was amazing!}:

I love it. Seriously. It’s amazing.

If you are looking for motivation to workout consistently, I want to encourage you to give group fitness a try! It’s accountability, fun, work, and motivation, all wrapped up in one crazy package! Most gyms will let you sample a class and give you a trial for free, so do a search in your area and find one you want to try it out. {and if you want to try to find Les Mills classes like the ones I teach, you can do a zip code search here.}

I’ve got a bite of cake left for after lunch {the rest of it went straight to the freezer this morning!}, and BODYPUMP and BODYCOMBAT waiting for me tonight, and you know what, I’m going to enjoy them both! Whoop! :D

the $10 business: the first investment {#1}

The $10 business is a financial experiment I’m doing based on Matthew 25. My goal is to see how much $10 can become in 2 years! You can read more about it along with the “rules” here.

My very first investment in the $10 business was this sweet little vintage vanity I bought at Goodwill for $5.40:

We brought it home, put the handles back on it, listed it online as it was, and sold it for $30!

$10 initial investment – $5.40 vanity + $30.00 sale = $34.60 net {I will summarize all applicable sales/income taxes at the end of the year as a single total- so these numbers will always be pre-tax for the sake of simplicity.}

So my initial $10 more than tripled with my very first transaction! :D I was thrilled with the return! It might only be $24 in profit, but I’ll take it. :)

So far, so good! I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next few weeks!

next week: the second investment of the $10 business!

{what i wore this week} restyling it edition

I went on a date last weekend! Exciting, right? ;)

That’s definitely big news around here these days! :D Finding a willing babysitter for four little kids is quite a feat. Well, that and paying her. {so worth it!}

I ate the most amazing lettuce wraps, an entire plate of sushi {maybe my very favorite food ever!}, sweet tarts, and birthday cake frozen yogurt! Oh, and watched a movie in there somewhere.

It was a good thing we stopped for an outfit pic before all the indulging started! :)

I wore this outfit from last year {sweater- Loft, $16, and dress American Eagle, $10ish} and added the skinnies {$10 from Dillard’s} for the cold:

I love my Tulle coat I snagged last year for $25 at Marshalls. It has a hood and sweet button cuffs!

and of course, the most versatile shoes ever- the gray leather wedges from Marshall’s {Jessica Simpson, $20}:

I wear them all the time! Here’s proof- another outfit they went with this week:

{cords- AE, $9, Target sweater $17, jewelry, $1.29, and $2 from Goodwill}

Oh, and remember that top from this summer?

 

I added my favorite Target sweater and made it work for me in winter too! ;)

Do you find yourself wearing the same thing over and over again? Me too!

Like these $6 American Eagle trousers from Goodwill {and the gray wedges! did you spot ‘em?}:

I wore them again this week with an unusual combo for me- cream and yellow from the Gap {outlet clearance $20, $13} paired with my other fave Goodwill items- my bracelet $1, earrings $2, and my vintage Italian leather heels, $5.

And remember this $15 polka-dot dress from last year?

I’m liking it in winter too!!

It was a Target find that I’ve worn over and over again:

I added my Frye boots and a $3 pair of Gap tights to change it up a little!

so.much.fun.

Turquoise tights just make me happy. I’m so loving the colorful tight trend this year! :D

So tell me....how do you take your clothes from summer to winter?

 

linking up at the pleated poppy!

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on words and heart thoughts + a free 8x10 scripture art print

For the last few years, Psalm 19:14 has been one of my very favorite verses. I memorized it back when my babies were little bitty, and it’s been one of those verses that keeps replaying itself in my head all the time:

How I long for this to happen in me! But I know my flesh and my heart will fail without Him doing the work in me. I know how vile my thoughts can be- and how my heart dwells so much on the cares of this earth.

I’ve always made the assumption with this verse that whatever I happened to be thinking or saying needed to become more acceptable in His sight. Like my thoughts and speech- about the children, or my husband, or whatever I was doing- should become nicer, or more pleasing to Him. I wanted to fulfill the law of having the right words and heart, and knew I needed Jesus to help me, but I didn’t fully understand what that really meant.

I think I had it right- but only half of it. I should desire that my mouth and heart should become more and more pleasing to Him, but I didn’t really know what my mouth should say and my heart should dwell on specifically until I read this in Romans 10:

5For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I was blown away by those verses! First, because Jesus came- because He is Lord- my righteousness or His pleasure in me is not based on how I act or what I do or don’t. My righteousness doesn’t come from my behavior- it comes from faith in Jesus! His grace alone is sufficient!

And then I was even more taken by verse 8- here the cry for help that was given in Psalm 19:14 is answered by none other than JESUS Himself!!

What should be spoken by the words of my mouth?

The confession that Jesus is Lord.

What should my heart meditate on?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ {in all it’s power and glory!!}.

But why, what happens when I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart?

Justification in the sight of God and salvation is given- and the WORD {of faith} is near you because of those two actions!

What’s the word?

The WORD- the giver of faith, God, is near those who believe! In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.

The mouth and heart of those who believe should openly confess Jesus is Lord, and their hearts should meditate on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead- the work that was done on the cross, and the grace that was bestowed upon us when our Lord and Savior conquered death and sin!! ahhhhhhhhh!! :DDDD

We don’t need to change ourselves-our own thoughts or words- we can’t do it anyway! When we look to Christ- and remember the cross and the empty tomb- HE does the work!!

Are you feeling someone has done you an injustice and out comes the words of anger? Meditate on what Jesus did- he bore the highest injustice on the cross, and nothing that is done to you can even come close to what he forgave of you. When you think about that, angry words will quickly change to ones of grace- because of the work He is doing in your heart!

Do you like to talk? How often do your words confess Jesus is Lord? Do you speak of Him at all?  How often do you think on what Jesus has done for you? Could you meditate on Him in your “me” time? When I’m busy, it becomes so easy for me to section off my thoughts into what needs to be done next, and have another section of Jesus time- but when I really meditate on Him, He changes my daily attitude and my words!

Do you see what I mean? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks {Matthew 12:34}, and when Jesus fills your meditation of the heart, the overflow comes right out of your mouth, and Jesus pours out.

Now if you are like me, you see how miserably you’ve failed at meditating on Jesus and know you need to try harder.

My sweet friends, you cannot do this without Him.

Don’t fall in to the trap of thinking you can be better {more righteous!} at being like Jesus {one Satan would love you to try and fail at again and again!}.

Just ask Him, and He will do it for you. Because He did it all in the first place.

Doesn’t that make you want to jump out of your seat and dance?? It’s hard to wipe the grin off your face when you think about it!!

:DDDD {If only I had more than smiley faces!!!}

Isn’t He so good?

To visually remind us of Jesus and the cross every day, I made a print of Psalm 19:14 to share with you guys! I have mine on my fridge since I spend most of my time in the kitchen! It’s an 8x10 in size so if you wanted to protect it from water you can find a $1 frame at the dollar store.

Feel free to download and pass it along! Love you guys!! :)

download this 8x10 print

 

listen to more on words and hearts in the 10 minute audio devotion

linking up at Women Living Well!

giveaway winners :: Money Saving Mom’s Budget

The winners of the Money Saving Mom’s Budget giveaway are:

#11:

#96:

#209:

If you won, please email me @ mandy @ biblicalhomemaking dot com with your home address! Congratulations! :D

goals update: week of january 23, 2012

Goals update from January 15:

Do:

• make 4 more freezer meals and 2 bags of pancakes for the freezer- done- 5 meals + 3 bags!
• clean out the refrigerator {I'm going for two shelves each day! ha!} –did four shelves and cleaned out the old food. Will keep working on it!

• list at least 4 things on eBay {for some reason, I'm just dreading this! So thankful for their iPod app that allows me to list things easily!!} –five done, three to go.  Sold one overnight!
• check into hotel room and plane tickets for Blissdom '12!- looked but didn’t finalize. still haven’t! 
• do something fun with the kids- a fun project or a park trip- took the kids for lunch at McDonald’s on a cold day! They had fun!

Read:

• read more chapters of my book- finished Money Saving Mom’s Budget!
• did devos and prayer time before the start of week days

Learn:

• memorize 3 more verses of 1 Peter 1- pretty much done! It’s needs some perfecting at the end! :P

Be:

• work on smiling each time I ask the children to do things – did this and added please often. I saw some very good results from this- the boys have been telling me they love me even more than usual. It makes my heart happy! Nothing like that kind of sweet encouragement!

love these sweet babies...

goals for this week:

• check into hotel room and plane tickets for Blissdom '12!- so excited- one month to go! :D
• list two purses and one dress on eBay
• make 4 more freezer meals
• finish memorizing the end of 1 Peter 1:1-12
• have friends over for dinner :D
• work on new fitness choreography- Body Pump and Body Combat
• spend 6-8 hours on freelance web work

• wipe out more of the fridge- try to finish this week!
• clean out the bottom of the oven

• make a Goodwill trip- donation + shopping! ;)
• enjoy these 3 Christmas gifts from my hubs: my journaling Bible during my quiet time, this book in my reading time, and my last week of my free MONTH of coffee at Starbucks! {ahhh! most awesome present ever!}
  
  

What are your goals for the week?

{Don’t you just love them! goals rock!}

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feeding a crowd on a budget {food on friday}

I promised you the story behind this picture:

Well, we had a little impromptu get-together with some friends from church last weekend, and I made the oh-so-wise decision to ask my brother to take a picture of the food for me while I was getting everything ready...

Smart people know what happens when you ask your little brother for a favor-- he gets you back for those 15 years of childhood pranks you played on him! Now I’m a firm believer in the old phrase, “don’t dish it out if you can’t take it,” but I was off my game that night.
 
And to think I trusted this sweet face:

Yeah.

So while he was supposedly snapping pics of the food, I was telling a story to some new friends about the time we found a local newspaper from 1920 in our bathroom wall {it was so cool!}.

The photo speaks for itself, I suppose- I obviously use lots of hand gestures when I tell stories of great discoveries- and even better, I look like a maniacal serial killer when I chop tomatoes and tell fun stories at the same time!

{and I so couldn’t figure out why my friends were listening so intently from the other side of room... gotta love younger brothers who aren’t afraid to capture the awkward moment on film! ;) }

Luckily he did actually take a few of the food too! {thanks, Josh- I owe you one, bro! wink, wink}

Need to feed a crowd quickly without spending a fortune?

Enter homemade Subway sandwiches, the world’s easiest solution for party food!

We bought four large, fresh loaves of French bread at Sam’s, a huge bag of shredded lettuce, a double package of turkey, and a block of cheese, assembled and cut them deli style, and let everyone pile on the condiments themselves.

The cost? About $3 per foot with thick slices of real cheese and lots of meat! We fed 13 adults and 6 kids for around $18, plus the cost of a big bag of chips and lemonade and sodas. And I even got to take my Sunday nap an hour before the guests arrived!

Now that’s my kind of party! :)

What meals do you like to serve to a hungry crowd? I’d love some new ideas!

________________________________________

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the $10 business :: an introduction

As if this week could get more exciting- the big sofa redo, this awesome giveaway, a very happy Wednesday, and then today... even more big news! :)

I’ve had this little project in the works for a few weeks, and I couldn’t wait to tell you all about it!

I got this in the mail last month for completing a survey:

and it really made me stop and think, because these verses from Matthew have been a recent point of long discussions at our house lately:

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:14-30 ESV

Now we probably all agree that there is a larger concept being taught here- Jesus is telling a parable of using what you’ve been given by God for the glory of His kingdom- your gifts, your talents, your skills, your creativity- all of it belongs to Him, and we are to give back to His kingdom by bearing fruit. We aren’t supposed to take salvation only for ourselves, or hold on to and hide what God has given us! That’s a sin that is worthy of eternal punishment. Some very serious business- Jesus isn’t kidding around here.

But just thinking about what this parable means literally- a talent was worth about 20 years of wages for a laborer. In today’s terms that would be about $600k for your average worker making $30k per year. Imagine if someone gave you that much money to invest!! Would you be a little scared? And the one with the greatest ability got a cool $3 million to play with! Yikes! That’s crazy! It’s not so hard to imagine the one with the least ability being a little scared of handling their exacting master’s $600k, is it now?

It’s been such an interesting topic for us!

We are supposed to be good stewards of what the Lord has given us- we are to be faithful in finances as much as every other part of our lives. There isn’t one compartment for the physical matters of this life and a separate one for the spiritual things. They are ALL His. Right?

So anyway, my idea is this: I want to take this $10 bill and follow the literal example Jesus gave in the parable. God gave me the $10 {who randomly gets $10 cash in the mail from a survey, anyway?} and I wanted to take it and see what it could become in six months, then in one year, and then in two.

I’m calling it The $10 Business- it’s basically what I consider starting a business from scratch. Pretty much anyone can find an extra $10 to do the same, don’t you think?

The Rules:

• I will only reinvest any earnings the business makes for the entirety of the project {ending at year two.}
• I will not pay myself for my time during these two years.
• I will not go into debt.
• Every transaction will be conducted with cash behind it.
• Profits and losses will be recorded just the same way- the business will absorb any loss just as any gain.
• I will give you guys a running total each quarter of profit, loss, and completed transactions.
• I will render to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s, and follow business laws to the best of my ability.

This experiment is not a short-term one by any means, and I’m expecting as the investment funds grow, I will have to deal with larger transactions, which means more risk for the business. It’s going to be a big challenge- I can see lots of part-time work in my future!

Ahhh, I’m excited! This is going to be fun! I’ll be posting about this project on a regular basis! {as long as I don’t lose it all! ha!}

next week: the very first investment of my $10 business!

_______________________________________________

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to win 1 of 3 copies of the Money Saving Mom’s Budget!

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{what I wore this week} is green an accessory? edition

Ah, Wednesdays. You are fun. I get to talk about exciting, silly things like clothes on your day! It’s so much fun to be a woman. :D

I started doing what I wore this week posts to get motivated to get up and get dressed every morning for my family. I think it actually worked and I’m in the habit of getting dressed every day, even though I have to teach a fitness class every weekday afternoon! {it was a big improvement for me to get out of my daily uniform of black polyester Nike wear!}.

It’s been such a fun challenge, and you guys are so very sweet and encouraging- and so motivating for me to keep getting ready every day! {my husband thanks you! and I do too!}

And thank you Lindsey, for inspiring women to get dressed each day, and for making Wednesdays extra sweet!

So, to celebrate this lovely day- just for fun, I have a little quiz for you!
Can you tell me the difference between these two outfits?

I hope you got it! It was hard, but I knew you could!

the answer:

It’s what happens to your outfit after five minutes in Texas.

{It’s like 70 one moment and then before you turn around it’s 49!
No joke! Does this happen where you live too? Or is it only here?}

Oh well. It gives me an excuse to love jackets, anyway.

:)

I just can’t decide if I love jackets more or the color green.

Combine the two and I will fall in love every.single.time.

Anyway, cognac riding boots are right up there with them- they must be my second favorite accessory {or is it my third? Jackets, the color green, and boots. That’s it. Third.}

Deep blue-greens haunt me too.

I bet you have an accessory that you’re haunted by too, don’t you?

One that you are eerily drawn to in every store- even Goodwill?

Accessories can wield so much power over a woman. It’s scary.

 

My fourth favorite accessory?

Knives.

 

I told you accessories could be scary.

 

Have a lovely Wednesday, friends!

{oh, and you’ll have to wait for food on Friday for the rest of the knife story! ;)}

linking up at the Pleated Poppy!

 

 

don’t forget to enter the big giveaway:

to win 1 of 3 copies of the Money Saving Mom’s Budget!

win a copy of the Money Saving Mom’s Budget :: giveaway

I have a very exciting giveaway for you guys today!

Okay, so have you heard of Money Saving Mom? It’s one of my very favorite blogs! It’s a site dedicated to “helping you become a better home economist,” where you’ll find the newest shopping deals and get inspired to become organized and save money on a daily basis. {I love that!}

Crystal Paine is the woman behind it all. She is truly an amazing lady- I’ve been reading her blog since 2007! Crystal was the one who inspired me to read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, the book that led us to getting out of consumer debt back in 2008, and allowed us to buy this old house in 2010.

I give all the credit to Crystal for leading us to the right way to handle our finances- I’m so thankful that she shared their story and so strongly encouraged debt-free living on her blog! {Her family is very inspiring- her husband made it through law school and their family stayed entirely debt-free, and they just paid for a home completely with cash!}.

Her newest project is the Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands A Year. You might’ve noticed it was on my goal list to read this month. She sent me a copy to review, and I read it in less than two weeks! {reading is coming back this year! yay!}

I’ve read and loved Crystal’s blog for so long, so of course I was eager to read her book too! I didn’t know if I could learn anything new from it after being such a long-time reader, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

I was excited to read the chapter on doing a debit-free experiment for three months! That was a new concept to me! We don’t use credit cards, but we do love the debit card, so I think that would be tough for us! I love a challenge!

The book also gave me a fresh outlook on the importance of taking things like budgeting slowly instead of leaping into it full-force like I am apt to do- a concept that could branch over into all sorts of personal habits. I’m so into that.

Here’s the thing about it: I think her blog is amazing- you can find a wealth of information there- but it comes in bits and pieces, told through lots of clicks and shorter articles. The book gives you the steps you need to know, in the order you need it. Which I LOVED. It wasn’t overwhelming at all; in fact, it was just the opposite- one baby step after the other of practical ways to put your money and life back in order.

Blogs may become more and more popular {and I love them so!!}, but Crystal’s book made me realize the value of a single volume of information- it’s the whole story told by the author in the way in the order they want to present it. Does that makes sense? It was just so enjoyable to read her book- it was like having a conversation, or listening to a friend.

I also loved reading her personal stories as she weaved them throughout the book. The Paine family is so humble- but it’s so obvious that they love the Lord. I so admire their dedication to living for Jesus, and I love how they honor Him by sharing their testimony of His faithfulness in their finances and other parts of their lives. They’ve been great stewards of the resources they’ve been given, and it’s a blessing to see them and have their example in this culture that never has enough.

You’re going to love this too: all of the proceeds from this book go to Compassion International. No joke. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever? Ahhh, I love it!! :D

And my most favorite thing about the book: it totally inspired us to get back to a budget again and to really buckle down and pay off our home in the next year or two. Since we are debt-free but the house, we haven’t been paying as much attention as we should to our spending and saving, and the MSM's Budget really motivated us to get back to paying off our house debt!

The book is a must-read if you want to find order in your life again and make your money work for you instead of against you. I loved reading every chapter {especially the one about going completely plastic-free!} and was excited to pick it up each day and get motivated all over again.

So you all know I was completely thrilled when Crystal emailed me last month to see if I would be willing give away a few copies of her book!! Three of you lucky readers get to win a copy of Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands A Year!

All you need to do to enter is leave me a quick comment answering this question:

Do you use a budget each month?

You can also earn two bonus entries each day by using the buttons below to share this on Facebook and Twitter! Just leave me a comment for each instance to get another entry!

Entries close at 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday night, Jan. 22, 2012 and three winners will be announced Monday morning! Good luck!

*2nd picture from MoneySavingMom.com

**disclosure: I received no compensation for this post other than a copy of the book for review.  All opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links through which I may receive a small percentage should you decide to purchase the book.

how to paint furniture upholstery :: a DIY sofa makeover

Do you have an old couch that’s well beyond the point of cleaning?

We did:

That picture almost makes it look pretty, but here’s what it really looked like:

It was big, and after months of sitting in our back room, I had no desire to take on the huge project of reupholstering it. I bought it intending to do just that, but I needed about 16-18 yards of fabric to complete the job, and I knew deep down in my heart I would buy all that fabric and never finish it {do you ever just know it’s not in you? lol!}.  So I was stuck with a couch that I couldn’t sell.

One late night as I was in bed trying to fall asleep, I was thinking of all the things I needed to do {including doing something with the couch!} and I remembered I had some of this needing to be used:

and being the crazy DIY’er that I am, I jumped out of bed and found it and started painting my couch cushion. Yes, I am that weird! After I painted one side of a cushion, I went back to bed, and couldn’t fall asleep I was so excited. {even weirder, I know! ;) }

I’d read that painting furniture had lots of disadvantages like scratching, peeling, stiffness, etc., so I was super excited to try this liquid water-based stain instead of paint. It doesn’t have the same protective coating as paint since it’s just stain for wood projects, so I was hoping that would give it a softer finish and let it really soak into the upholstery.

{oh, and you can get Minwax brand water-based stain tinted in any of these colors- I had the Charcoal Gray on hand for a table project, but I can totally see using any of the others too! I can’t wait to try another color!}

The test cushion did very, very well, and I was so stoked, the next day I went for it. Yep. I wood-stained my big old cream couch Charcoal Gray. I started by giving it a good wipe down to clean off any surface dirt, then I just started painting the stain on it.

It went right on- all you have to do is shake, open, and start painting. You’ll want to make sure you paint or roll with the grain of the fabric.

I was really happy with how one coat did:

The only downside for me was how much stain the whole couch took. I used a can per every 7-8 square feet. And the cans were around $10 each, so I ended up spending about $70 to cover it from top to bottom with two coats. The padding seemed to absorb the stain quite a bit on the arms and back of the seats.

If you have the ability to remove your cushion covers like this, I would totally recommend it. The stain went much farther when I did:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting the whole couch twice took me around 5-6 hours, and I redid the pillows by seam ripping the cushion covers and using the original as a pattern for the new ones, then sewed  the new pillow covers to match the new gray color. {that’s a post all of it’s own!}

I ended up with this sweet little lady about 15 hours of work and close to $100 later:

I love it. The picture above was taken after 6 weeks of use, and I’m still a huge fan of the stain method. It's definitely stiffer than it was before, but you don’t notice because the back cushions are so soft and cushy.  It’s nearly waterproof, and anything you spill wipes right off.  I love the fact that my four little kids can’t destroy it. :D It’s been wearing very well, but I still kept my leftover stain in case I wanted to touch it up.

Everyone who saw it couldn’t believe it wasn’t the original couch color- they thought it was a whole new couch, and were completely surprised that I had treated it to make it gray! I totally loved that! :)

Two things I don’t like as much about the painting/staining method:
the high investment it took to redo it which I noted before, and the fact that the cushions wrinkle more than they did with the original fabric. I didn’t even notice it really until I started inspecting it the other day. It’s also dries a little shinier than regular fabric I think.

Even with all of it’s imperfections, I’m so, so excited to give it a funky brand new look! It’s so much more fun to have an adorable gray and yellow bird couch instead of a icky cream one! :D

Supplies you’ll need:

a good paintbrush and/or roller

floor covering

Minwax water-based stain tinted to your color
{how much you need will vary depending on your project, but one couch took 7-8 cans for me.}

Instructions:

1. prep your area and wipe off any surface dirt from your furniture

2. shake your stain very well

3. pour in your paint pan

4. start painting with the grain of your fabric {be gentle- it’ll splash easily!}

5. let each coat dry to the touch

6. like walls, when you can’t see the original fabric color at all, you’re done

7. enjoy your brand new furniture without having to reupholster!

*results may vary, so try this at your own risk! as with all DIY projects, we are not experts so of course, any particular method or outcome is not guaranteed or necessarily deemed safe or reliable. We’re just using the resources we have to make something old look new again. :) Good luck, and let me know how it goes if  you try it!

linking up at Savvy Southern Style, Blue Cricket Designs, It’s Overflowing, and The Thrifty Home.