2 coats down, 400 more to go

It's time to share our "after" pictures for The Inspired Room's Procrastinator party!
I took on two projects. (See my "before" post here)

My $7 garage sale find toy bench and painting the kitchen (it has only taken a year since we had a water leak in the ceiling!).

First the bench.

This project was much harder than I thought it would be! Stripping off the yucky paint, then sanding, then using the orbital sander, then sanding some more. Did I mentioned that it has rained in Atlanta for like 2 months straight? (Don't worry, the bench only got rained on 3 times!) But I am pleased to report that I got *most* of the yucky paint off and managed to start painting. I started off with one can of spray paint. Really? I am not sure what I was thinking!! This is the biggest spray painting project I have ever taken on. My trigger finger is starting to hurt!! I managed to get enough paint on to show the color it will be soon. But yea, I have about 400 more coats to do. Luckily it has finally stopped raining, so I am hoping to be done with it this week. Also, I learned that when spray painting red it is best to wear gloves. Otherwise you come out looking like you just killed somebody. :)
Before:During (after stripping the paint):

And currently.Don't worry, I bought more spray paint! I am considering painting some chalkboard paint on the underside of the seat, so when you flip it open, it shows the chalkboard. Or perhaps some black polka dots (little bit's room is decorated with lady bugs) Any thoughts?

The kitchen-
Well, I can't blame it on the rain. I didn't finish this one either. Priming took longer than I thought. But it is all primed and there is paint on the walls!! And I LOVE the color. I want to paint all the ugly flat builder's cream in my other rooms with this new great color!!

Before:

During (the part that is painted). You can see the new color (brown), then the primer (white), ugly flat builder crap (cream). What a difference!! And when it is done, I am going to hang these awesome plates that I got from Goodwill for $.25 each on the same wall in the "before" picture (I took down the elephant plates). They go perfectly with my candy-apple colored dining room!

Though I didn't declare this one, we did finally get shelves up in the attic!! Yea!! Now all my classroom things have a home that we don't have to trip over every time we go in the office!Though we didn't finish, it is great to have made progress, and I am certain that we'll be done by this weekend. Check back! :)