My new TV stand/Media Center

I recently (finally!) got a new couch and chair/ottoman for my living room.  They were a long time coming.  We were using my mom's old loveseat and chair for the past few years.  They did the job, but I just wanted to actually be able to LAY down on the couch if I wanted to.  Since then, I've been on a mission to redecorate the whole room. 

So, I went to a local decorater tag/barn sale and, of course, found tons o' stuff I wanted.  I ended up getting a really good deal on an old dresser and 2 other pieces that I'll write about later.  I knew from the beginning I wanted to turn the dresser into a TV stand.  So, in my true fashion, I had to get started RIGHT AWAY!  Ahhhh, when will I ever learn the art of relaxation and taking my time??

I almost forgot my before shot, so here she is, not the best angle, but hey, it's something...

It's actually in good shape for as old as it is.  It does have a pretty bad paint job though.  Although you can't really tell from this picture, the paint is chipping and peeling.  That pink tinge you see on top is the paint stripper.  Like I said, I "almost" forgot my before pic!  I'm in love with the wood top/painted body look so that is the route I took.  Well, I have to be honest.  Stripping is messy.  Stripping is a pain in the a$$.  OK?  So, as far as I'm willing to go anymore is a nice straight top, not the full thing!  It had several layers of white paint, this is the best I could get with 2 rounds of Citristrip:

The edges came out nicely, but I had to enlist the help of my orbital sander for the top.  It worked great.  It's not perfect though, it has marks and dings and isn't a shiny piece of new looking wood.  But, then again, I don't want it that way anyway, right?!

I painted it Louis Blue in ASCP, heavily distressed it, then topped with clear wax and dark wax.  The very small amount of dark wax I used really gives it an aged look.  A lot of the white came through also, I originally didn't expect that, but it looks like I meant it that way.  One thing I did do purposely was to paint very lightly over the inlay design on the drawers so the white outlines it and gives it a pop.

I didn't put the top two drawers back in to allow a space for the DVD player and the DirecTV receiver.  I originally wanted to cut the drawer tops off, then replace them with a hinge to be able to pull them down and click back in place when the TV wasn't in use, but the drawers are dovetailed and I didn't think that would work.  So, I removed the big piece of wood running down the middle of the inside and opted to not paint in there.  You can see some of the wood, but that adds to the rustic feel, well, at least I think so!  I made holes in the back to allow the cords to go through:

Finally, I had to find knobs or pulls.  The dresser didn't come with any so I couldn't reuse or repaint.  I had always had in my mind that I would put some pretty glass knobs on the drawers.  There is a store downtown where I live that sells bigger sized ones which I thought would be perfect on these big bottom drawers.  When I went there, I came across a basket with a bunch of old pulls.  Would you believe there were only 4 of these in the whole basket?  Would you believe that I only needed 4??  I never have that much luck!  I did pay more for these than I normally would, but I'm not selling this, so I don't need to worry about profit margin, just what I like!  Aren't they just beautiful:

My flash must have been on crack when I took this pic because they really don't look this gold colored.  Look how pale this Louis Blue looks also.  Photography is just not my thing I guess.  They've aged well, so I didn't do anything to them. 

I've decided it's my mission to convince the world that everyone needs a pop of blue to brighten up a room.  It's just so happy. 

We were going to mount the TV on the wall and have this directly below, but I think it looks fine the way it is.  No point in spending more money and drilling more holes in my wall, huh? 

Just look at that dark walnut top.  I'm so pleased. 

The only issue we are having is with the wheels.  I believe it would be a crime against the furniture Gods to take those rustic, pretty, vintagey (now I'm just making up words)wheels off.  My husband wants them off.  Because of the age of this dresser, the drawers are not super easy to open and with the wheels, the dresser does move when yanking at them.  He is afraid that Emma will yank one of the drawers, the dresser will jerk around on the wheels and the TV will fall.  I'm still not sure if it's the TV or Emma he is trying to protect, but whatever.  I suppose it may be a legit complaint.  So, I'm going to try and sand the edges and wax them down in hopes that the drawers will open smoothly and I can keep the wheels.  Any other suggestions if that doesn't work??

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Primitive and Proper

Miss Mustard Seed

A quick craft

I first need to give credit where credit is due...I found this idea on Pinterest, here is the direct link to the blog it came from.  With a ton of ideas all around the internet, no "craft" project really belongs to one person, however, giving a shoutout for a great idea and a tutorial like this is only right when using it on your own blog.

I've long admired those wooden painted signs with clever sayings or names on them, especially the more rustic ones.  I've had my eye out for a really beat up plank of wood to do it on and actually found some, but time got away from me and couldn't go pick them up.  So, a quick stop at Lowes got me these type of boards:

Actually, this was one board I had cut into 3 pieces.  I think the whole slab of wood was, um....about $4.50! 

Earlier in the day, I decided I was going to use my friend El as my guinea pig, even though she doesn't know it yet.  Well, maybe she does if she reads this before I see her tomorrow.  She has twin boys who are almost exactly one year younger than Emma, so I thought it would be neat to test this out using thier names in opposite colors.  So, I got on the computer and found a font I like, blew it up to about 150, then printed them out.

I painted one board ASCP Graphite and the other Old White, just one coat.  After it dried, I took my ballpoint pen and traced over the letters on the wood.  After finishing this, my suggestion would be to press REALLY hard to get a nice dip in the wood to avoid some of the mess I made.  Can you see the outline on this:

Make sure you click on the pic to make it larger, but I can see it on my screen, hope you can!

After tracing onto the wood, I  painted in the letters in the opposite color:

Although at first glance the letters look pretty good, it's a bit messy.  I would suggest getting a very thin strong paintbrush for the letters, not raid your little one's art supplies, like I did!  So, what's a girl to do when her paint is a bit messy??  Distress it of course!  The sandpaper helped me sand away some "oops" lines, especially since it was ASCP and I only used one coat.  Although I wasn't planning on it, I got out the wax because after sanding, the Graphite gets a whitish hue all over it and needs to be spruced back to life.  So, after the clear wax, I gently brushed on dark wax and quickly wiped away to just leave a small trace of it.  I'm so glad I did that because it really aged the look it since I couldn't go buy my pretty piece of already aged wood.  Here they are finished...not bad for my first try, huh?

Since my crappy camera ran out of batteries AGAIN, these are all taken with my cell.  I really hope you can tell the difference between the last two pics!

Finally...furniture makeover for a BOY!

OK, seriously, I almost forgot my password when logging in because it's been SO long since my last post.  Sorry.  What can I say?  Life is busy!  Now, onto the good stuff...

The same friend who I did the armoire/nightstand/desk makeover for decided she needed something for her son's room.  We kind of talked about it on and off, but not too seriously, then she came into my office one Monday morning telling me of her trips to local furniture stores.  Can you say expensive?!  So, give me the green light and I'm a lady on a mission!  The same day I was taking a long walk during my lunch hour and just happened to end up in front of the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  (just happened, right?)  I walked in and instantly knew I found what she would end up buying.  I went back to work and drug her to the store after work.  Sure enough, she agreed.  She not only purchased this dresser and armoire, but also a great loft bed frame.  Unfortunately, I can't shove that much furniture in my house so I did these two pieces first and now I have the bed to start.

My first thought upon seeing this set is that it was the typical 80's orangey/oak set.  It's SUPER heavy, solid wood.

Because the dresser was outside before I realized I needed a before pic, it doesn't truly capture the oranginess (real word?) of it.  Then, as I was dragging pulling the dresser around, I saw the stenciled stamp on the back that says this set was made in April of '94!

We went back and forth with color options, then settled on brown.  Then, she decided olive, which I have to say intrigued me.  I hurried and pulled up the color samples of ASCP on my computer and low and behold, OLIVE!  It's pretty dark so I mixed the Olive and Old White to tone it down a bit.   We knew from the beginning that the tops would be stripped and restained a nice dark walnut.  Here is the dresser top before:

Notsogood, huh?  I got out my orbital sander with some 80 grit sandpaper and after about 30-45 minutes of sanding (I thought it would never end!) I got this:

Ready for stain!  So, I'll admit, I'm not an expert stainer, that's why I've pretty much reserved staining for long straight spaces like this.  I'm sure I'll branch out eventually, but for now, I can still pretend I know what I'm doing!

The pulls that were already on these pieces were actually quite nice, so we decided to reuse them.  I was going to spray them a flat black, but noticed this at the Hardware store:

It's just what I wanted, it's only a slight difference, but it adds a bit of texture, which is great for a piece I was trying to make a bit more masculine.  I just bought some very simple dimpled black knobs for the armoire doors.  I think you can tell from this close up:

And, voila!

I can't stop looking at them!

I'm going to digress a bit for anyone who is new to using the ASCP.  Do not freak when the colors are a bit different as you first paint.  I mixed two ASCP colors to what I really liked.  As I was painting, it looked really bright, almost a sage green.  I was getting nervous.  But, it dried darker, just as I had imagined.  Then, as I sanded down everything, there was a whitish hue all over from the sanding.  My husband thought I had ruined it, but I knew I still had the last step, the wax.  I had actually decided that I would probably have to add some dark wax after the clear wax to darken the color, but as the wax went on I realized the color was perfect.  The wax really deepens the color and just provides another dimension.  Yes, I sand before waxing, some say you shouldn't, but I do.  So there.  hehe  Not to mention, smooooooooth.  Super smooth.  Honestly, it's hard to tell it wasn't factory painted by the feel of the finish.

And, after 3 coats of stain, waiting at least 6 hours in between and rubbing down with a piece of steel wool each coat, check out the new finished top:

And, just some more for your viewing pleasure:

I think it's very masculine, perfect for a boy's room, not only as a young boy, but can really grow with him for a long time.  What do you think??

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A small whitewashing project

As you all know, I just switched my daughters' bedrooms recently.  Emma's room is complete, I thought I still needed curtains but have since decided that the faux wood white blinds look pretty and I don't want to clutter up the room with more fabric.  So, I was left with Santina's room that was pretty bare.  Even though she isn't going to be here much longer, she still needs a nice place to stay when she comes home, right?

I'm too overwhelmed (and broke!) with things to do at the moment to think about painting it and buying new bedding.  I'd love to paint it two shades of a very nuetral beige and get some bright teal bedding, but again, budget, budget, budget.  I have to work with the purple, which still is pretty, just reminds of a younger childs room since it was a nursery at one time.  I found a cheap purple coverlet to attempt to match a bit.  The chair rail is white and so is the dresser and nightstand.  

My plan all along was to buy an old door and repaint it, hang it sideways and use it as a headboard.  Alas, I realized I couldn't exactly do that with the chair rail where it was.  I kind of put that idea on the backburner until I came across this:

Please click on the pic to get a better shot, each space has a design inlay carved on this old rustic wood shutter.  The wood is just beautiful, but was just a bit to boring for me and didn't fit it with purple and white.  You know, I love me some paint!  I didn't want to just paint it and have it lose it's rusticness (is that a word?) so I decided to do a whitewash although I've never done it before.

It's really quite simple and there's no messing it up.  I didn't want stark white, even though it would have matched.  I thought an off white would help keep the old look of it.  I add a tiny bit of ASCP Old White leftover, I'm actually suprised I still had the can, I kind of thought I had already gotten rid of it there was sooooooooo little in there.  I added some water and stirred.  I dabbed just a small amount on the brush, then rubbed the first stroke on a piece of cloth, then just dragged the brush all over, going with AND against the grain of the wood.  Going against the grain of the wood allows the paint to settle on the top grooves.  I just kept at it until I got the look I desired.

There are spots where the paint is thicker and my original plan was to sand them down, but really does paint wear evenly?  NO!  So, I left it as is and hung it just over the chair rail.  It's a combo headboard/art piece.

Again, please click on the pic to get a bigger view.  The wood is still very evident, I just toned down the "brown-ness" of it, if that makes sense??

I had, had, had to buy this when I saw it.  My usual furniture/home decor motto is that something else will always come along if this isn't the right time.  However, I don't see things like this coming along often, it's so unique.  And, at $35 how could I NOT buy it?



More furniture for a little girl!

This story starts back WAY before Christmas when I finished a matching armoire and side table.  The same set I ultimately used in Emma's room I just posted about the other day.  It was for sale for a while and I had several interested buyers but nothing definate.  Well, I thought nothing definate.  I'm so worried about being pushy to people I know who want to buy my stuff, I tend to not take them seriously.  My friend/boss was really interested but I didn't want to be pushy.  I didn't realize how interested she was, of course, until after I had made the decision to keep the set.  I felt SO bad telling her but assured her that we would find something else.

Fast forward to the week after Christmas...she was on a mission to get her daughter's bedroom redone, which included wanting an armoire and side table.  We scoured Craigslist, found a beautiful one, but it was $350.  As pretty as it was, I just thought it was too  much to spend for something that had to be painted and fixed up.  Later that same day an ad for a pine armoire for $50 was posted without pictures.  There were a few things she definately needed.  The top of the armoire where the doors opened had to have storage, not the kind for a TV, but something like shelves or cubbies, and the bottom had to have drawers.  I responded right away and he assured me the top had shelves.  We set up a time the next day to meet so we could look at it.  We were really quite a sight, all dressed in our work clothes, hopping in my big ole pick up truck and meeting some stranger at his storage unit.  We meant business!  At first sight, my heart sunk, I wanted this to be it so bad, but the whole back was cut out for a TV and there weren't any shelves.  Boo.  But, then he picked the shelves up off the ground and showed me they fit right in.  After a second look, I realized the back could be replaced, but of course, being the cheap, cheap person I am, talked him down to $40 instead of $50.  Yay!  Here is what she looked like, very sad and orangey, knotty pine:

Good bones though, right?  I mean, look at those cute ball feet!  Here's what she looked like open:

Not exactly good for using as a dresser, huh?

Then, we start poking our head in his storage unit.  He asks us what else we are looking for and we mention that she also needs a side table.  What luck, he just so happens to have one in the back of his pick up truck.  It's like it was meant to be.  Such a cute shaped table, but it definately had seen better days.  He tells me to make an offer and I blurt out..."how about $15?"  There is silence for a few seconds, so my partner in crime blurts out..."how about $20?"  I think he would have sold us the table for my price, but she felt bad.  Either way, great deal, even though my cheapness may have suprised her a bit!  Here she is as we found her:

The detail on this table is fabulous, I didn't really realize that until I got it home and got a closer look.  OK, so my $15 was a bit low...But, check out those gaudy drawer pulls.  We thought one simple knob would be better.

Then, I got to work!  I knew I would be using ASCP but was a bit undecided between Pure White and Old White.  Ultimately, I really think Old White was what she was looking for.  The room was going to be decked out in Pottery Barn pastels of pink, green and purple, so the off-white look makes it more vintage-y.  Is that a word?

The first think I did was measure the back and go straight to Lowe's.  For those of you who don't know this, you can get any kind of wood cut to your measurements at the store, they do it right there for you.  The backing wasn't heavy solid wood, but just a thinner particle board, so an easy $10 fix:

I also filled the holes from the drawer pulls in the side table.  Some simple wood filler does the trick.  Fill in, let dry, sand down, done.  After 2 coats of paint on each piece, some heavy distressing, some waxing, another trip to Lowe's to get shelf hanging thingy's (thats a technical term) they were done.  Well, almost.  My friend ordered the knobs from Pottery Barn to match the curtain rods she had ordered so I had to wait for them for the final pics. 

I would have been over the moon as a little girl to have a set like this:

Some close ups:

Although it's not a matching set, it doesn't have to be, does it?  They look GREAT together, dontcha think?  Of course, I can't just do the outside of an armoire, can I?  Check out the FAB inside, no hole, shelves installed, painted a great soft green color:

I really hope they like them and the bedroom turns out perfect!

Emma's new room...AGAIN!

For real this time!  The whole project is done.  (Well, not really, but pretty much!)  If any of you remember, I posted here about a minor room redo during some transitioning.  Well, the transition is over, me and my sister worked like crazy today, so besides needing some new curtains, Emma's room switch is complete.  Disclaimer:  I am NOT a bad mom!  I switched my girl's rooms because Santina is never here and Emma would get much more benefit from the bigger room.  OK, I can move on...

Of course, no before pics.  Duh on me.  But, if you can imagine a bedroom that has basically been neglected for 4 years.  My daughter hasn't even come home for the summer for the past 2 years while away at college, although she has come for visits, never more than 4 or so nights at a time.  I'd just bust in every once in a while with a vacuum, maybe wash the sheets, but her room has basically been ignored.  There has been crap laying all over while she packs stuff, ignores stuff and just moves on.  Her room basically looked like a high schooler lived there.  I'm not even going to get into how dirty it was once I moved the furniture around and out of the room, because I don't want to embarass her, but more importantly, myself.  Besides that, the walls were NEON LIME GREEN.  I'm capitolizing for emphasis because that's kind of what it felt like when you saw the walls.  BAM, in your face. 

So, I cleaned and cleaned yesterday.  Moved out all of the furniture, even borrowed my in-laws steam cleaner for the rugs.  I took everything off the walls.  I spackled until I could no longer spackle.  Then, I went to Lowe's to pick out paint samples.  For anyone who is about to paint a room, I strongly recommend getting a few samples.  Come home and paint spots of your sample colors around the room before making a decision.  I ended up with a color that I never thought I wanted, but couldn't be more perfect.  I got 4 different shades of pink and purple and as I was waiting quickly grabbed a very light green,really, to only make my husband happy.  Turns out, the green I picked (Spring Reflection by Valspar) has to be about the prettiest color I've ever seen for a room.  You can tell there is color on the walls, but it's neutral enough to be able to add all the girly pinks, purples, greens and blues with wall hangings.

Here are some different views.  First, standing in the room looking towards her bed:

How about the owl canvas above her bed?  B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, huh?  So freakin' cute.  Me and my sister spotted it a few weeks ago at Target.  She begged me to buy if for Emma.  I didn't because I didn't have the extra money, but secretly knew that she wouldn't be able to stand the thought of that pretty picture at Target without giving it to Emma!  Oh, and the kid is pretty cute too, huh?

Here is a few shots looking into the room from her door:

The purple/pink flower canvas?  Also from my sister.  Also from Target.  Same story!  But, the crazy thing I'm most excited about is the closet.  I'm weird but organization really turns me on!  Emma's closet before was sooooo tiny and stuffed full of all kinds of crap from when she was a baby, bags of clothes a good friend had given me but wouldn't fit Emma until next year, bags of clothes that were too small for her, etc...etc...I made my Goodwill bags, stored bigger clothes in the basement and moved her bookshelf into her closet as a shoe rack and toy holder. 

The hanging pink rack is going to be used for outfits of the week.  If any of you have girls, you may know the craziness that comes with getting dressed in the morning.  So, we are going to pick out Monday-Friday outfits and lay them in each section.  Then, we are sticking to it, no arguing about what she is going to wear.  As for the weekends, she can wear whatever she wants, like the nightgown and tights she sported today.  Here's another view closer to the closet that I think shows off the Spring Reflection nicely plus shows off the cute pics she's had in her room since she was born.  I just couldn't leave them out!

And, one last pic just because Emma is so darn cute!

I also want to remind everyone that this room reno was done on a budget.  A serious budget.  I paid a total of $35 for the armoire, side table and bed frame.  I repainted them myself and added glassy knobs, which were about $40.  I got the bedding on sale at Kohl's for $34, which included bedskirt, quilt, sham, flat and fitted sheet and pillowcase.  The pictures, well 2 of them were free, you know, from my sister.  And, the rest was stuff I already had for her.  It can be done people!  Just ask me!

I made a MESS!

I've had a very sick little girl on my hands going on 6 days now.  Boo.  The only day I went to work this week was Tuesday because my husband was able to take off.  Thankfully, she is on the mend, but had a very nasty stomach bug and almost ended up in the hospital.  The bad part, of course, is I hate seeing my baby sick, but also cleaning up all of the "mess" has been horrible.  However, the one silver lining (if you can call it that!) was that she took crazy long naps.  So, instead of sitting around on my b-u-t-t, I tackled some projects.

I got these end/side tables a while ago, like beginning of summer I think.  These are the last of a load I picked up from a really nice lady having a yard sale.  I originally stopped because she had an antique vanity right on her driveway, but the more I talked to her, she showed me more furniture she wanted to unload in her garage.  I wasn't even looking for a yard sale, it was a Friday and I was on my lunch hour heading home to pick something up.  She wanted $50 for the vanity, which really was a steal, but I just wasn't mentally prepared to spend any money.  For those who know me, I'm anything but a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of gal.  After some negotiating, I ended up getting an armoire, 2 side tables, plus the vanity for the same price.  I was totally Sanford & Son driving back to work that day with the pick up truck strapped down with furniture!  But, I couldn't unload it myself, right?  Those 2 tables sat and sat in my storage room.  They were that real clunky wood from back in the 70's with huge gaudy gold pulls.  I ended up painting these in steps.  I took off the pulls and cleaned one day, then about a week or so later, I put the first coat of ASCP Granite on them.  Then, they sat for a few weeks before the second coat.  Then, they sat for a few more weeks before thinking about waxing them...you get the idea, right? 

I experimented with the color.  I had a bunch of ASCP Granite left, but again, not too crazy about the dark gray.  So, after talking with the stockist at my local ASCP outlet, I bought the dark wax to try and give the tables a matte black look.  Voila, it worked!  My husband says he still sees some gray, but that's OK, they turned out pretty.

As for the mess I made?  I SWEAR I had before pics, I know I did, I know I did.  Alas, I can't find them anywhere.  My photo folders are all jacked up now and need to be reorganized.

Here is the finished product:

Not too shabby, huh?