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Announcements and Entertainment Center Remake

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Amy

Hello! First of all, what a week last week. Christy completely surprised me with her sweet post on my birthday. I was at Terry’s enjoying the champagne breakfast she hosted for me when I saw a facebook comment about it on my phone. My husband and I read it together a bit later, I was definitely crying and he was, well, happy to be included in the love fest! What a birthday it was, I am the luckiest girl to have these friends :) and your sweet comments made my day!

Well today I am going to get back to what we try to do best, talking about furniture and home stuff. Before I do that though I have a few quick things to mention. First, upon hearing that Google Reader was ending, I started using BlogLovin’ and I LOVE it. I just wanted to throw it out there, and I know that there are many ways to keep in touch with your favorite blogs but if you haven’t tried it, click HERE. You can search by blog name and add it to your feed, then when you visit the site you have a nice list of all recent posts. They also send you a nice neat email everyday with everything. It just makes my life easier (and more inspired!) so I wanted to share it with you all. Thoughts?

Second, we are CRAZY excited to be a part of BlogHer’s review team for Mary Kay Andrews new book–she just writes such fun ‘chick lit’–and this book is written about a DIY/Home Blogger! { you can pre-order it HERE if you are interested} Without giving anything away just yet, the book is called “Ladies Night” and so, of course, Terry and I decided we needed to host another Ladies Night in the book’s honor. Our fabulous friend Janet offered to have it at her lovely store The Empty Nest so we hope anyone in the area will come out and share in the fun. We’ll have lots of drinks, yummy eats and a super creative craft project, all essentials for a Ladies Night, right? Its scheduled soon at The Empty Nest in Warrenton. Stay tuned for more details via our facebook page or email us at 11magnolialane@gmail.com and we’ll put you on the VIP invitation list {just kidding, no list, all welcome!}.

OK, NOW back to our regularly scheduled programming! I am slowing making some changes around my new house, because we are still “renters” here I am taking my time about making many changes to the house. So, in order to make my home feel more like me, I figured it was a good time to work on some of our current furniture.

The “Before”…

Even though the colors in our family room here are very different then our last very white, house, my furniture seems to still work OK with the darker walls in this house. Since this is a two-story room, so we won’t be painting it anytime soon even if we buy it. I had planned to refinish our TV entertainment center to a Restoration-like gray in our last home, but never did and once we got here the obvious color choice was cream. So, I picked up some Annie Sloan Old White from Janet last week and got to painting.

The internet doesn’t need another “I painted with chalk paint” so I will skip right to the “Afters”…I still haven’t waxed it, but it brightens up the whole room. Its amazing what a bit of paint and a few hours of time does, isn’t it?

Here is the real reason the room works better now, not to give you vertigo, but this is the shot from our open hallway above. The room is now balanced with the cream colored couch and directly across the cream colored console. I feel much better and as with most projects, I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner?

Have you painted anything recently?

Thanks for stopping by~

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Posted in DIY, Furniture, Home Inspiration, Projects & Printables | Tagged chalk paint makeover, console makeover, cream, diy, entertainment center, furniture makeover, paint, white | 1 Comment

The Paint Colors at 11 Magnolia Lane

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Amy

We frequently get emails asking what paint colors we’ve used in various rooms in our homes so I thought I would pull them together in one post for everyone’s reference. Choosing paint colors is tricky, and it’s always helpful to see how the colors look in someone’s home first. We haven’t always gotten it right {like I wrote about here, though this color has grown on me and I don’t plan to repaint} but we’ve nailed down a few of our rooms with paint success stories for your reference.

So here they are, in no particular order, and I have linked the post on the room for more information on sources, etc.

Craft Room Makeover, {Post HERE.}

Color: Apple Blossom by Benjamin Moore {Natura}

Christy’s Dining Room, {Post HERE}

Color: Sherwin Williams Fawn Brindle {half strength}

Christy’s Kitchen Makeover {Post HERE}

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Waynesboro Taupe

Cabinets: White Dove

Amy’s Master Bedroom {Post HERE}

Wall Color: Dutch Boy Driftwood Gray {Refresh Line}

Terry’s Dining Room {post HERE}

Wall Color Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter {Dining Room}

Terry’s Baby Nursery {Post HERE}

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Moonshine

Amy’s Dining Room Ceiling {Post HERE}

Ceiling Color: Martha Stewart {Behr} Salt Water

Christy’s Bedroom {Post HERE}

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Pebble Beach

Amy’s Laundry Room {Post HERE}

Wall Color Benjamin Moore Windy Sky

Christy’s Daughter’s Room {Post HERE and update HERE}

Wall Color: Behr Iconic Sky

I am realizing we paint quite a bit and may need a Part 2 post! But that’s a start. If I forgot a room you are curious about just let me know.

Do you have a favorite “can’t miss” paint color? I’d love some suggestions!

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Posted in DIY, Real Spaces | Tagged favorite paint colors, paint, paint colors, room makeovers | 1 Comment

My Dining Room Table & Chairs–Painted White

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Christy

You all are stuck with me {Christy} for a few days, since Terry just had her baby boy on Saturday {CONGRATULATIONS!}, and Amy moved this weekend and is removing wallpaper borders, painting and unpacking {maybe we should all say a quick prayer for her?!}. I just sent my beloved aunt and uncle on their way, after a very fun visit, and wanted to show you my dining room table and chairs in a little more detail than what I posted on Facebook.

After my dining room updates {here} and {here}, things were almost done, but I have been seriously tempted to paint my table and chairs for about a year now. My double pedestal table is crooked, thanks to the last movers we had (I think they were crushed on the truck), and there are deep gouges and scratches on the table surface. Since it was a lovely piece, I didn’t want to get rid of it and start again, but I know that paint and distressing is much more forgiving of our transient lifestyle.

Here’s the “before” of the table:

I Scotchguarded the chairs way back when, but years of children and pets took their toll. Here’s a closeup of one of the chair cushions so you can see just how bad they were:

At first I was going to sew slipcovers for them, but after sewing a slipcover for our dog’s crate (I will write a post on that soon), I realized that my sewing skills are pretty bad and the resulting slipcovers would likely look crappy. So I decide to figure out how to reupholster them–the seats would be easy, but I’d never done anything like the backs before. At an impasse, I decided to start with the table, so I could enjoy quick results.

I used two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Pure White, and even though the directions say you don’t have to sand, I did lightly sand the tabletop only, because it was so glossy. Here was the table with two coats of paint (no wax, yet):

The Pure White looked so bright and clean that I nearly stopped here.

But then I remembered that the movers will distress my table and chairs this summer no matter what, and I figured I should continue with the dark wax and sanding.

I’ve never waxed furniture before, so this took some figuring out. I used Annie Sloan’s clear wax, then a little tiny bit of dark wax, then sanded, then put clear wax on again. The reason you put the clear wax on first is that it lets you play with the dark wax a bit; instead of soaking right into the paint, you can add some, lighten it up, and get it the way you like it. After it dried, I sanded a bit, and even added a little more white paint in a few areas that I thought were too dark. And yes, I painted the two leaves at the same time. Here’s how the table looked when I was done:

I love the shape of my chairs, and was excited to see how they turned out. One hint when recovering chairs is to keep the cushions with the correct chairs; they are not interchangeable because the nails on the bottom will want to match up with their original cushions. The back panels on my chairs were held in place by four screws, just like the seat cushions, although they were covered on the back with wooden caps (you can see those in the top picture). I had to pop them out with a flathead screwdriver to get to the screws.

Once all the cushions were removed, I gave the chairs the same paint and wax treatment that the table had received.

The medallions on the side looked great with the dark wax bringing out the details.

I then washed, dried and ironed a 4′ x 15′ canvas painter’s dropcloth (from Home Depot) to use as my upholstery fabric. My staple gun got a HUGE workout–my hand is still sore–as I covered the stained cushions with the canvas. The seat cushions are simple, and I’ve recovered cushions like that dozens of times in the past, but the back cushions were trickier. The fabric had to be cut exactly right, with no extra to hang over and show. Instead of sewing cording and using that, I bought gimp trim at Hobby Lobby (it took exactly two rolls for all six chairs) and glue gunned it into place. Here’s a close up of the gimp:

I used a neutral color, but if I had used a different fabric it would be fun to use a bright, contrasting color. Maybe I’ll do that the next time I recover them. And yes, I have Scotchguarded them thoroughly, because I’d like to avoid recovering them again for another few years!

Here’s the front of the chairs, finished:

I had a little gray chevron fabric left after covering the piano bench, and sewed a tiny lumbar pillow for one of the two armchairs. The insert is just a down one I found at Goodwill for $2.

If you follow on Facebook, then you saw pictures of this process along the way. One of the reasons I used the neutral canvas fabric was because I had a plan for these chairs–they were going to get a monogram using Citrasolv to transfer the ink to the fabric! Read how that works {here}. I printed out a couple of “B’s” on my computer, using the Monogram font, and taped them on the front and back. Dozens of you voted, and while it was pretty much even in the end, I decided to put it on the back.

Here was the front:

And the back:

I love how it turned out when I transferred the ink (and put the nail hole caps in place):

The room seems like it’s done now:

I found a huge, barnwood tray at C’est Moi (that’s our local store that sells AS chalk paint), and love how it looks on the table:

And while I’m tempted to paint the buffet as well, it’s not damaged, and I’m just not sure. What do you guys think?

As always, thanks for stopping by!

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Posted in Before and After, Home Inspiration | Tagged chairs, dining, paint, room, table, white | 12 Comments

Chalkboard Paint Dog Food Container

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Christy

**Don’t forget to enter our January giveaway here–it closes tomorrow (1/15/13) so don’t delay!**

I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve been doing quite a few pet-related posts lately, because we’re now up to two dogs, a geriatric cat, and a hamster. There has to be a system in place, or chaos (and animal hair) reigns!

I saw the cutest idea on Pinterest, by TidyMom, and knew I’d have to try it. She spray painted a big old popcorn tin and made a dog food container that looks just as good as the Ballard Designs one that I’ve been eyeing (that goes for $50 a pop).

I hit Goodwill last week and they had tons of these tins for $0.99 each. The price was right! Here’s what I started out with:

I’m sure my neighbors laugh at me, because the grass in my backyard is always spray-painted in a variety of colors!

I covered the Holy Family with two coats of chalkboard spray paint, but of course any old color would do to suit your decor. The chalkboard paint means that you can stop there, and just write your pooch’s name on the can.

I decided to take it a step further, and used my Silhouette Cameo and some white vinyl to cut out a white dog bone (purchased from the Silhouette store for $0.99) with Sunny’s name cut out in the middle (Boyz R Gross font–one of my favorites). I love how it turned out!

This is a slightly smaller tin that I wanted and would be better for a small dog or a cat, but it works for now and I will keep looking for a great big one. I suppose if you had two big dogs who ate the same food, which I don’t, you could buy one of those great big metal trash cans and use that.

Add a decorative scoop to jazz it up a bit:

If you haven’t checked out my repurposed shutters-turned-dog-gate, click here to see another cute doggie project.

Thanks to Cheryl (aka TidyMom) for the Pinspiration, and thanks for stopping by!

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Posted in Crafts, DIY, Pets | Tagged canister, cat, chalkboard, container, dog, food, paint, pet, popcorn, tin | Leave a comment

Dutch Boy Paints & Master Bedroom Makeover {sneak peek}

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Amy

Several months ago Dutch Boy paints asked us girls to give their new line of Refresh Paint a try. I was the one with a big project–my master bedroom makeover was on the horizon–so I was the lucky one to get two gallons of Dutch Boy paint to use.

Our bedroom is large, so large I let the paint sit for awhile before I mustered up the energy to tackle painting the large space. It also has a tray ceiling, so I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me! Hiring painters crossed my mind many times, but since I had to actually use the paint to tell you about it, that really wasn’t an option!

I finally dove into the project. The before of our room is really to bad to even show online–trust me, white walls, white bedding. It was boring, boring boring! We’ve just put off doing anything to our room in light of many other projects in the more public spaces in our home.

But, back to the paint. I have become a bit of a paint “snob” over the last year. After too many trips back to the store to buy more cheaper paint, I have learned it’s easier to spend more up front and do fewer coats.

In our home we have these HORRIBLE textured walls. They don’t take paint well, and of course, are ugly–a lovely surprise from the builder! The Dutch Boy paint covered them exceptionally well, in fact the whole room was easier to paint then I expected because the first coat went on so well, it only took a little bit of touching up to do the second coat and then I was done.

The color I chose was beautiful, its called Driftwood Gray. There isn’t a store close to me, so I picked online which made me very nervous as my computer monitor is not reliable. The paint came out a gorgeous blue/gray color that picks up the color of the lake outside our home.

The best part of the paint is it is odorless–Zero VOC and Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified as well as mildew resistant. Like with my Mom’s Craft Room makeover, using an odorless paint makes such a difference. Overall it was a great choice for this room, and I am thrilled that I was asked to try it out. I expect we’ll be using this low VOC paint again very shortly in Terry’s baby room makeover too! Thanks Dutch Boy!

So, the rest of the room is still “in progress” but I am at work on it and hope to show it all to you soon. Here is a peak of how its coming along…

Don’t forget to enter our PSA Essentials Custom Stamp giveaway!

XO,

Amy

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Posted in Home Inspiration, Master Bedroom | Tagged gray, master bedroom, paint, room makeover | Leave a comment

Paint Technique Tutorial: How to Paint Harlequin Diamonds–Closet Redo Part 3

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Christy

I posted last month on my closet redo, and then followed up with a post on how I organized my shoe boxes with plastic bins and chalkboard labels {here}. I promised a tutorial about how I painted the harlequin diamonds on my wall, and this is it. Sorry for the slight delay–Fall and Halloween posts bumped it off the calendar for awhile!

Harlequin diamonds are simple to paint, but time-consuming. Having done a few paint techniques in the past, like the painted wallpaper I did in my laundry room, it’s easy in terms of difficulty, and moderate in terms of time. Are you with me? Good.

The first step is to gather your supplies. Are you painting first? I did–I used an interior flat latex from Lowe’s (the color is “Princess”). I gave the entire closet a coat of pink, including the ceiling (I often paint the ceiling in a small space). Decide what color you want your diamonds to be. Do you want a BIG contrast, like black and white? If so, then you’ll paint the lighter color on your walls first, and then use the darker color when you paint the diamonds, so you’ll need twice as much of the lighter color. In my case, I chose to use a glaze technique, because I wanted a very subtle, silvery sheen, and my 5′ x 8′ closet needed two jars of Martha Stewart’s glaze in Mercury (available at Home Depot).

Supplies:

Paint for walls (and ceiling if desired).
Paint or glaze for diamonds (about half as much as the base color). Don’t forget that if you’re using glaze, you’ll need to mix it with your base coat color of paint, so be sure you buy enough to do that.
Dropcloths, brushes, rollers, and all that jazz.
Painter’s tape, and LOTS of it. I needed 3-1/2 rolls for my closet. Better to buy more and return it than run out in mid-project! Also, I would buy the painter’s tape that works on newly painted walls. You’ll be taping over paint that has only had a few hours to dry, and you don’t want to peel any of it off.
Any embellishments you want to use to accent your diamonds. I used brushed silver/platinum upholstery tacks and just nailed them in when I was done. I’ve seen others use a gem or a pearl. Of course, you don’t need to use any of these.
Chalk
A level

OK, here are your steps:

1. First, prep and paint the room in your lighter color. Here’s my closet with its coat of pink:

2. Now, decide how big you want your diamonds to be. The rule of thumb is that they should be twice as tall as they are wide. I decided to make mine 20″ tall and 10″ wide. Obviously, the smaller they are, the more work they’ll be with all the taping you’ll be doing. I’ll be using 10″x 20″ for the purposes of this tutorial.

3. Using the level and a piece of chalk, draw rectangles on your wall that measure 10″ x 20″. The level will ensure that your lines remain straight. Start in the corner that’s opposite the door, or whichever corner will be most visible. In a closet, that’s none of them since they’re all full of clothes! Also, I started my first horizontal line 10″ from the ceiling, not 20″, because I wanted the top row of diamonds to be a full PINK diamond, not a full SILVER diamond. Translation: if you want your top row to be diamonds of the lighter/first color, do it my way. If you want your top row to be diamonds of the darker/second color, then start your top line 20″ from the ceiling. When you’re finished, your entire room will look like it’s made of rectangle bricks!

Use a level and chalk to draw rectangles on your wall.

I like using chalk because all these lines will need to be erased eventually, but if you have a hard time seeing them on your paint, go ahead and use a pencil. Just write lightly!

4. Now, mark the midpoint on all four sides of the rectangle. For my rectangles, this meant that I made a mark with the chalk at 5″ on the top and bottom, and at 10″ on the sides. Using your painter’s tape, you’re going to use those four midpoint marks as the “points” of your diamond. You’ll only be able to tape every other diamond, and it will look like this:

Tape every other rectangle to form a diamond.

5. Paint inside each diamond with your second or darker color. Since I used glaze, I mixed one part glaze with two parts paint. This made the diamonds a subtle silver color, which I loved.

NOTE: If you’re using dark paint for a high-contrast look, I would experiment with one diamond in a discreet area first to see how much of a problem you’re going to have with the paint bleeding under the painter’s tape. That will depend on the texture of your walls, the consistency of the paint or glaze you’re using, and even how well you applied the tape. If bleeding is a big problem, you can “seal” the tape line by painting on the line with your first/lighter color, waiting until that dries, and then painting over it with the darker color. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do that!

6. After your diamonds have dried, remove the tape, and do the same thing for the unpainted diamonds. Make sure you line up the tape with your already-painted diamonds so that their points all line up! When it comes to corners, you can always make a diamond a little wider or a little thinner without it being obvious, so some of my corner diamonds are 9″ or 11″ wide. Just don’t make the diamond taller or shorter!!

Remove the tape from the first set of diamonds. Every other diamond will be painted.

7. Paint your second set of diamonds and let them dry. Remove the tape. I used a damp washcloth to wipe away all the chalk lines.

8. Embellish your diamonds with upholstery tacks or gems, if desired.

9. Wipe your brow–phew! that was a lot of work–and enjoy the gorgeous diamonds you’ve painted on your wall!

Leave me a comment if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to:

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Posted in Before and After, Closets, DIY, Home Inspiration, Real Spaces | Tagged diamond, diy, how to, paint, technique. harlequin, tutorial, wall | 1 Comment

JuJu Monkey Giveaway Winner & $5000 Room Makeover Contest

Posted on September 25, 2012 by admin

Just popping in tonight to announce the winner of the JuJu Monkey back-to-school notecard giveaway.

Congratuations to Kelly V, comment #16! Thank you for entering and of course, thank you to JuJu Monkey for sharing her gorgeous homemade cards.

AND…moving right on to the next BIG thing! We were thrilled to be invited by Dutch Boy Paints to offer our readers a chance to win a personalized design consultation or a $5000 makeover with interior design star Lisa LaPorta.

Click over to our Current Giveaways Page for more information. {HURRY! Contest end October 31st!}

Have a great night!

Tomorrow is going to be a very special day here…so make sure you stop by!

{Click above to follow us by Facebook so you never miss anything going on here at 11 Magnolia Lane}

Posted in giveaways, Uncategorized | Tagged giveaway, paint | Leave a comment

DIY Wall/Project Stencil

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Amy

There are tons of fabulous stenciled wall ideas out there right now, and an abundance of wall stencils available for purchase. I searched everywhere for a stencil to match a vision in my head for this nook in my Mom’s workroom {see the whole room HERE}, but just couldn’t see paying $40+ (with shipping) for such a small space.

So, I decided I didn’t have much to lose, and figured I could at least try to make my own. While I was waiting for the workroom paint to be mixed at Benjamin Moore, I saw these heavy duty sheets of paper (I think they are designed for sampling paint?). They were like a plastic poster board and cost just $3.95. I grabbed one, thinking at that price it couldn’t hurt to try it. And, I figured if it worked, I wouldn’t have to wait for a stencil to be shipped as our time in town to work on the project was getting tight.

It worked out GREAT.

First I printed an image off my computer. To make it the size I wanted, I drew beyond what printed out on 8.5×11 paper freehand, which worked out fine. FYI: You will want to chose a very simple design if you try to make your own, or you will drive yourself nuts cutting it out.

Using an exacto knife, I cut the image out with the print as a guide on the top of the plastic posterboard. I found I had to turn it over are re-cut from the bottom in order to cut all the way through the thick vinyl. I found it cut best if you used the knife at an angle instead of straight on. Go slowly, and be very, very careful.

Then I (or I should say Terry) stenciled the space just as you would with a ready-made stencil.

Because I only used half the posterboard (so actually the cost is about $2 a stencil! bargain I used the leftover to create a design for this little pot I have had forever, and to use as a second example.

I used the same technique, printing off a design, then overlaying it on the plastic/paper and cutting it out.

While this isn’t 100% perfect, the little pot is so much more interesting now? And the design possiblities are endless.

Have you stenciled anything creative lately?

Thanks for stopping by!

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Posted in Crafts, DIY, Projects & Printables | Tagged Craft, Craft Room, diy, paint, stencil, workroom | 11 Comments

Thrift Store Bench Gets a Paint Makeover

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Christy

I’m taking a detour from my series on my daughter’s room because I’ve been out of town the past two weeks and haven’t had a chance to do much in there. Plus, after I was away last week while she was at home, there’s NO part of her room that looks tidy enough to photograph! Next week!

I snagged a bench with Queen Anne legs at Goodwill several months ago, thinking it would look great at the foot of our bed, or even in the master sitting room under the window. As often happens with my projects, the bench had to sit in the garage for a few months before I got to it! Here’s what I started with and boy, was the fabric a special kind of 80′s hideous!

Sometimes it’s really hard for me to visualize what a piece of furniture (or even a room) will look like with a new coat of paint, but I had already painted a table and chair set from my parents’ house and I loved the way the look changed completely when I covered the dark cherry stain with flat white paint.

I started by removing the cushion, lightly sanding the wood, and then wiping it clean. Note the high-tech workspace (aka the living room), complete with old beach towels as dropcloths and canned foods serving as pedestals. Oh, and the basket full of clean laundry in the background. I need to learn to decorate my home with clean (and dirty) laundry baskets as they are ALWAYS around!

I used Behr’s Interior Flat Paint in their stock white: Ultra Pure White. I prefer a matte finish on furniture; not sure why. I applied it with a brush and it took two coats. And I can’t remember if I primed first or not this time, but I’m assuming that I didn’t.

I opted not to sand the legs to distress the piece this time, as we’re moving again next summer and I’ve found that the movers do a perfectly good job of distressing all my furniture for me!

I had some leftover canvas dropcloth from an earlier project and I do like the neutrality of the canvas, so I staple-gunned that onto the cushion. Yes, I removed the 80′s fabric first! At some point, I’d like to do a faux-grain sack/ feed sack treatment on the top of the bench, but I decided to wait since I couldn’t decide exactly what I wanted to put on it.

The bench is currently at the foot of our bed. I dressed it up with a couple of throw pillows and a soft blanket. The basket underneath is one that I did using Amy’s tutorial that you can read HERE.

That was one of the cheapest, easiest, and fastest projects I’ve done in a long time!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Posted in Before and After, DIY | Tagged bench, canvas, dropcloth, Furniture, paint, white | 2 Comments

~Thrift Store Tray Gets a Bright Makeover~

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Christy

A few months ago, I was making my usual weekly stop into Goodwill, when I came across the cutest breakfast in bed tray. It was dark red and $5, which seemed expensive to me (for a thrift store, at least!) but I saw potential. I debated painting it white or black, my usual colors, and using it in the kitchen or the screened porch, but then I thought it would also make a cute piece for my daughter’s room, which we’re currently updating with pops of watermelon pink (read my first post on her room HERE). Enter my trusty can of spray paint…I used Krylon’s “Watermelon” gloss and gave it a couple of coats. Here’s how it turned out:

When I first sprayed the top, it looked a little bare, so I used my Silhouette Cameo and some white vinyl to make a monogram to put on top. The font is a free one called “Contribute” and it’s one of my favorites for monograms. My daughter is a Francophile and wants to bring a little bit of Paris into her room, too, so I debated putting something French on the tray, but I want to avoid “Paris Overkill” if at all possible!

The more I get to know this little tray, the happier I am that I spent so much $$ on it. The legs fold under and secure so it can be used as a regular tray, too, if we ever want to put it on top of her bookshelf or desk as a display piece.