Painted Shelf and a Little Fall Decor

Hey guys! Sorry things have been a little slow around here.  It has been a busy few weeks with the kids returning to school.  The weather has also been BEAUTIFUL lately so we have been trying to soak up as much of the summer sunshine as possible before it is gone.  The rain is supposed to kick in this weekend though so fall and Halloween planning can officially begin!

In between housework and play time, I have been working on a few things around here.

This little shelf was in my piano room and used to look like this.

{The printable is from Eighteen25}

The piano room tends to be one of those rooms that I never do anything with.  Other than a few decoration changes, I have not really done much since we moved in almost 10 years ago {well, except for the addition of a train table!}  I still have a lot of other projects ahead of this room but I thought I would try out my Annie Sloan chalk paint again on the shelf for a quick little update.

I gave it a couple of coats of Graphite and wasn't really too happy with the color.  It was definitely more of a darker gray rather than the black that I was hoping for.  I waxed it with the clear wax and then distressed it after letting the wax dry.  The color was a little better but still not dark enough.  So out came the dark wax.  I have been a little leery about trying it but I loved the end result!

I think I still need to work on my waxing technique.  I seriously got a good arm workout trying to get all of that wax off!

Sorry I didn't think to take any pictures during the whole process.  Time has been very short around here and I was busy with housework in between coats!

Of course, once I was done, I couldn't wait to get decorating and brought out a few of the fall decorations.

I'll probably still change things up a bit but was itching to get started!  I loved these little owls that I picked up at Superstore.

And that is pretty much the extent of my free time over the past week.  The rest of my day off was spent with this little guy and his posse of puppies. Matthew was off to school so Connor was missing his favorite playmate.

I will be getting to the rest of the fall decorating this week and will hopefully have time for a craft project or two.  Don't forget to come back for The Creative Spark tomorrow night.  I'm hoping to see some fall inspiration!

Hope you all have a great week!

I linked up with Centsational Girl, The CSI Project, The Lettered Cottage, Just a Girl, House of Hepworths, Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Blog, Skip To My Lou, CRAFT, The DIY Showoff, Craft-O-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Young and Crafty, Funky Junk Interiors, Chic On A Shoestring, Tatertots and Jello, Whipperberry, 30 Handmade Days, Fingerprints on the Fridge, The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Delightful Order, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Blue Cricket Design, Lil Luna, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and Home Stories A to Z.