Dresser Make-over {Living Room}

So clearly I'm on a chalk paint bender.  I might need rehab.  We bought this little buffet through a family friend's estate for not much money - probably less than $50.  I had already done my initial chalk paint experience on a silver chest and I loved the results.

Next up on the chopping block… this little sideboard…

This piece sits in the back corner of our living room and holds all of the kids' craft supplies.  I'm not sure it's a piece we'll keep forever but for now, it does the job well.  I'm just not in love with its '60s country-ish style.  And let's just ignore the missing screw on the handle.

I broke out the chalk paint that I bought last spring at the Old Luckett's Store near Leesburg, Va.  If you have never been, you SHOULD GO.  It's so much fun!!  I want to go back again when I have furniture I need instead of being in furniture unloading mode.  Anyway, they sell Amy Howard One Step Paint which is a type of chalk paint.  I didn't really notice any difference between Annie Sloan's and this but this is a much bigger piece.  The coverage was very good and I did not sand before I painted. I originally left the top stained but I decided it only emphasized its country look so I went back and painted the rest (months later!).  I distressed the whole thing just a little bit with a piece of sandpaper, and then waxed it with basic furniture wax (nothing fancy).  

Now it looks like this…

I replaced the handles with these because they are simple and easy to grab. The kids are still using this cabinet for paper and crafts.  

So that's how chalk paint is continuing to rule my house.  I am still debating painting the dining room furniture.  I have some interim pieces to remake before I tackle the dining room! 

A New Old Dresser for Alex

Some things look better in pictures than in real life.  Alex's dresser was not in great shape and had been a $50 Craigslist find before he was born five years ago (gulp!).  It was probably an unfinished piece of furniture that someone stained themselves.  Time to go.

Luck was on my side with this find.  My parents were cleaning out  my father's cousin's house last summer and asked me if I was looking for any furniture.  Uh… yeah!  Any dressers?  Yes - and perfect size!  The finish was shot so it would have to be refinished or painted.  I never miss a chance to paint a piece of furniture!

Not long after my parents dropped it off at my house, Jim was creating a new paint booth in his shop and preparing the sprayer…

 Forgot to take a before picture unfortunately but the finish color was similar to the piece that was already in Alex's room below.

And now his dresser looks like this -

I changed out the hardware with some new pieces I found at Home Depot. I wanted them to be a bit masculine and this seemed perfect.  We also replaced the original handle on the top with a knob (you can sort of see the original holes in the picture below but it's not nearly as clear in real life).  

I think it's a huge improvement and a piece that will be with him for a long time to come, although I have my doubts that the finish will survive.  It is already showing some concerning signs of wear and tear.  The color is Sherwin Williams Naval - same as in our powder room - but it looks much lighter in this room.

What do you think?

1-Hour Update Ottoman

Happy New Year!  We had a great week off but now it's back to school and work and we're all struggling a bit.

I was doing some photo clean-up and came across a few projects that I documented but forgot to blog about last year.  This is a small part of a much bigger project that has been happening in our upstairs den over the course of the last year.  As soon as I clear out the random Christmas junk I'll show you, but until then here's the story of a sad ottoman I purchased from a local listserv about a year ago.  I think I paid $10 for it.  It was in good shape physically but the denim fabric was a goner.

Purdy, right?

So, probably 6 months ago, I found this fabric on Etsy and loved it (Cuzco Orchid in Stone).  I was going to recover the stool but then got lazy and decided to just sew a quick slipcover instead.  It took less than an hour and required no measuring - just turn the fabric inside out and pin the seams.  Easy-peasy.   

I think it needs something around the bottom edge like a sweet yellow ribbon trim or something like that.  If I find the right thing then I'll add it but I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking!  

What do you think?  Nice little improvement.  

Rec Room Progress

I have finally made some progress getting our basement rec room together. Slow progress, but some progress.  It still needs some more toys purged from it but generally it's getting much closer to what I want it to be.  Of course, I should be spending more time on the treadmill and probably a little less time thinking about the decor!

So, here's where I started back in December.  Actually, this picture was from July but it looked the same even in December.

This was way too much furniture for this space.  The red leather chair on the left found a new home in Alex's big boy room.  The chair and sofa were sold via Craigslist.  (Hello $450!)

Next we moved the family room sofa down to the rec room.  Our sofa looked like this...

 Until I got a slipcover for it and then it looked like this...

Next I brought in one of a pair of chairs previously in the family room (the other is still in the family room), moved in some end tables (one was already here and the other was in the attic), and hung a great new canvas-mounted picture of my kids.  Finally my lamps came back fitted out with their $15 Target shades which happened to fit perfectly without a harp.  Hooray for happy accidents!

After a little bit of tweaking, the room now looks like this.  

More accurately maybe like this...

The sofa works so much better here than it ever did in our family room.  Maybe this was all part of my original subconscious plan! 

Those end tables work well here as well.  They were a hand-me-down from my parents and they have lived in my attic for a few years.  They are perfect down here because they have drawers and storage. Need to brain storm the options...

Also, think I need a couple more canvas prints of my kids.  Looks like I'll be back on the Groupon hunt!  This all leads me to my new color scheme which was previously (in my head only) beachy cream, yellow, blue, and green. Now though I think I am heading in a more colorful playroom direction.  I'm not saying wild color everywhere but a few fun pops of color might be in order.  It's time to stop fighting the toys which dominate this space but embrace them and their wonderful color!

Doing any furniture swapping in your house?  Amazing how different and perfect a piece can feel in a different space.

Lamps Transformed

I have had these brass lamps since we moved to Arlington 14 years ago.  They have followed me through several apartments and now our house.  They used to be in our living room but eventually they made it back to the attic where they have lived for several years.

I had contemplating spray painting them for a couple of years.  I finally got up the guts to do it last weekend.  Enter Rustoleum Harbor Blue.

The lampshade is from Target and just happened to fit over the existing lamp works so I didn't have to get a harp.

More to come tomorrow...

Family Room: Dresser Accessories Switch-up

With our recent reorganization of the second floor and regaining office space in the upstairs den (more on that here), the family room no longer needed to prominently house our rather large all-in-one printer. I'm fairly certain printers do not qualify as home decor accessories so this had to go.

I quickly moved the printer upstairs to the den (thank you wireless printing). I then reassessed the lamp situation and realized that the lamp that was previously in Alex's nursery was way too nice to live it's life out of the public eye, so I moved it to the family room, and the brass lamp you see above (a gift from my alma mater, St. Lawrence University) moved to the basement desk area (which I have never shown you).

If you can ignore the droopy flowers and the not so neat files, I think it looks quite nice. I still can't bring myself to remove the files because they are so handy for putting various receipts, coupons, trip information, school papers, and other things that I love to keep close at hand. Not sure it would really work to put it upstairs in a room that I don't have a habit of using daily (yet).

If you want to read more about the dresser restoration project, click here.

P.S. Don't forget to vote for HOUSEography on Apartment Therapy's Homie Awards! Click here...PLEASE!

Mini Table Makeover

This is both a mini-makeover and a mini-table. I have had this little table on our porch for at least 8 years but maybe longer. It's absolutely tiny and is probably really just a plant stand. I think I bought it at Michael's or someplace like that.

I thought about selling it in my yard sale but then decided that if I saw it in a yard sale for $3 I would probably buy it so I opted not to sell it. Instead, I took a can of spray paint to it. This is the first time I've used Rustoleum and I don't think I'll ever go back to Krylon. Definitely worth the extra couple of dollars. Every time I use Krylon it bubbles which may be the paint's fault or mine but that didn't happen this time so I'm betting it was the paint.

Here's the result on my screen porch -

Definitely not a life-changing makeover but that little table bothered me every time I walked out on the porch. I bought that giant bell on the clearance pile at Pottery Barn at the end of last summer. I use it as a giant door stop (great because no one trips on it!) and as a decoration on our screen porch which is still a bit behind in the decor area. More to come on that.

Anyone else doing any mini paint makeovers in your house this week?

Linking to...

Tale of a Dresser: The Sequel

Following onto yesterday's post, I had to follow-up on the easy update I made to the dresser which has COMPLETELY transformed it. Really amazing actually. All it took was new hardware from the clearance bin at Lowe's. For about $36 dollars, this dresser was changed from a mid-80s period piece to become very current or, perhaps more accurately, timeless.

Here's the before -

And now the after with new, not so shiny hardware -

The finish is actually antique brass, but it looks a bit silver-ish in these pictures. It works beautifully with the wood and the style of the dresser. Makes the piece look much more expensive and totally current I think.

Of course, when I was buying the hardware, I could not leave well-enough alone so I had to buy some matching hardware for my dresser as well. Ironically, this dresser (and our bed and nightstands) came from the same store as the new (to us) dresser. I'm so sad they closed and hope they find a new space soon! I had been thinking about making this change for a while but decided this was as good a time as any and it would not hurt for both to have the same hardware to unify things a bit.  There were only six handles that needed replacing so it was not a major investment.

Here's the before -

And the after -

The results were great but not without a little work. First, the screws on the backs of the existing hardware was ridiculously tight thus causing me to have to call in the hubby to help loosen them. Fortunately he was game and quickly removed the old hinges. Under the hinges, things were a bit grim - grimy and the stain was not as faded as the rest of the piece.

A little bit of furniture polish helped remove the grime and old polish but the finish needs some work overall. We'll get to it some day. Maybe.

But still, I love the results and I love how it works well with the newer dresser. 

You can still see the slight outline but I am hoping that will fade over time or with some extra elbow grease!

What do you think?  Any furniture make-overs this week?

Nightstand Makeover for a Little Girl - FINALLY

Finally, FINALLY I found the time to redo the nightstand in Elizabeth's room. After writing my last post (here), I decided I had to do it or I never would and she would be a teenager in a blink of an eye.  Here's the room and the nightstand before (in the middle of a snowstorm a couple of weeks back thus the dark picture) -

The nightstand was a hand-me-down from my grandparents.  It's a really good quality piece - solid oak and it is HEAVY.  No particle board here. There was nothing wrong with it and the finish was in good condition - just not what I wanted in Elizabeth's room.

First, I removed the hardware. Then, I primed the whole thing and filled the double drawer pull holes because this needed new hardware (although I considered spray-painting the hardware).

After a good sanding, I painted the whole thing pink.  I didn't take a picture of this stage because as soon as it was done, I knew it needed more...

I actually bought the hardware from Target on clearance a while back. I think it was five dollars for a package of four clear plastic knobs. We had all of the paint. I mixed the color with the leftover red (Benjamin Moore Raspberry Truffle) from Alex's room and a little of the white trim paint (Duron Toque White) we had laying around. I think the color works because it is different enough from the walls so that it doesn't compete but it's really close to the colors in her quilt and duvet and pillows.  The strip seems to mimic the quilt pattern which really ties the nightstand to the bed.

In the end, the nightstand set me back about $5 total. I'm sure my grandmother would love its rejuvenation!

Today, I'm linking to Primitive and Proper, Coastal Charm, Thrifty Decor Chick, and Domestically Speaking.

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Re-dressing the dresser: Antique dresser make-over

The decorating blogosphere is filled with dresser make-overs.  Here are a few just to give you an idea if you don't follow 30+ design blogs like I do!

 via Blue Cricket Design

via Young House Love

 via Kathy Peterson Inspired

Well, my mom got me a great dresser from a family friend (who got it from a member of my family ironically).  I loved it when I saw it but knew it would need some work to really hold up to the abuse it would doubtlessly receive as a hold everything place in our family room for the printer, telephone, and all sorts of home office type stuff in the drawers.  It has some great details on the sides and the overall wood tone is perfect for our house, but it was literally falling apart, had some hideous drawer pulls, and it looked like maybe the original legs were cut off at some point because it was only about 26" high!  Very odd. 

Unfortunately I cannot seem to find a good "before" picture but this will give you an idea of how ill-fitting the handles were for this piece.

Fortunately it didn't need the kind of work that the dressers in the blogs above needed, so the project didn't take all that long.  I cannot, however, guarantee that a coat of paint or two will never hit this dresser at some point in the future!


So, in comes the hubby to work some magic once again. 

 Jim had to re-glue almost every piece of wood on the dresser and rebuild the drawers so the bottoms could withstand the weight of office supplies.  We added legs we found in the molding department at Home Depot (made to replace upholstered furniture legs).  It took some ingenuity to attach them to the existing stumpy legs but Jim found a solution. He then cleaned the grime off the entire piece and put on a clear coat of polyurethane.  Finally, we replaced the handles with some simple handles from Home Depot which cover the extra set of holes we discovered when we took off the old handles!

And here's the finished product!

I'm sure we'll enjoy this piece for many years to come, with or without a coat of paint!