Take the Plunge?



Distressed Pine Dresser - Grey Patina

 

Danish Industrial - Salvage Wood Coffee Table

  

Grey Washed Wood

  

Living Room/Coffee Table Current





Lots of Crevices and Bad Knobs

 

Coffee Rings Everywhere - Thanks Daughter!

I have been contemplating this coffee table project for months. It involves taking the plunge which might literally have me also taking a dive....off a bridge, into some icy waters where I would be saved from stripping/sanding. 

The good: 

• solidly constructed
• giant and utilitarian
• drawers to hold games, knick knacks
• perfect size for our living room
• we own it

The bad and the ugly:

• the color
• the knobs
• the coffee rings

The inspiration:

I have been obsessed with the grey washed patinas seen in recent months in catalogs (restoration, room and board) and shown in above photographs.  This is a classic wash that can looked weathered yet clean. Light but not white.

The problem:

Stripping and sanding. Need I say more. Once I start, I have to finish. There are details, crevices and mouldings all over this piece. It won't be easy.

Shall I take the plunge?  Any thoughts on this distressed grey washed patina?

White Denim is Always In



2 Ugly & Armless Club Chairs



After White Denim SlipCover Treatment

Yes, this is bad. The frequency of my posts have matched the frequency of the appearance of sunshine in the NW.  It's been a brutal start to spring with more on its way. Yikes!

Slipcovering is a great rainy day project. I actually wish it took me longer than it does to finish slipcovering chairs because the rain is still here.  Anyway, my husband and I came across these "cute in and ugly way" chairs at an antique auction. They were roughly $60 for the pair.  I invested another $60 in white cotton denim and piping.  I love the way the crisp white denim looks. These 2 smaller chairs replaced the larger similar one:

Now in Upstairs Guest Room

Can you spot the partridges in the after photos?

 I am now itching to recover my large sofa now too.  The California gal in me is ready for a  summer beach look to compete with the gray rain outside.

What do you think? And also, thanks for visiting even though I haven't posted in so long!

Mini Guest Room

Mini Guest Room

Notice "Lola Van Gogh" by Grammy Brookes

Office Area in Mini Guest Room

White Faux Leather Chair - $130 at Marshalls



White Faux Leather Chair - $249 ZGallerie

The Mini Guest Room (twin bed only):  good for teenage sleep overs, nights when your husband is coughing too much, and for Zoe, the cat, to lounge in the sunny window.  We do have another regular guest room downstairs that can be used while son is away at college. 

A little background on this room that used to be my daughters':  picture 500 tiny tack and nail holes everywhere, tape, stickers and nail polish on the windows and window sills as well as dinged and damaged baseboards.  (There are no before pictures because it was too hideous).  She has since moved to her brothers old room, which is now undergoing similar treatment.  For the new mini guest room, my husband and I cleared out, patched, repainted and installed new trim.

We used the twin bed we already had although it would be more practical to have a full.  On the opposite side of this long, narrow room is the computer desk/chair.  I have tried to keep this room very clean, streamlined and simple, in furniture and color choices.

What do you think? Any thoughts on the "accent" wall. (Not my favorite but I had the paint).

A Box For Everything and Everything Has a Box

After - Clean & ClutterFree

5.95 Ikea Caddy (found in Kitchen Dept)

Our Friend, Spraypaint



Before- Messy Command Central (don't look too closely)

High Gloss Caddy

Love!

You know the saying: "a place for everything and everything has its' place", I have adapted it for boxes. I can always find a use for boxes / storage containers, anywhere and everywhere.

Before I go on, let me just acknowledge the elephant in the room. Did you notice that I started with the after?  Yes, once uploaded, I did realize that the "before" photo prominently displays a box of tampons. Generic ones nonetheless!  And yes, I am too lazy to recreate the "before" mess and photograph sans feminine hygiene products, for this I apologize.

Moving on. We all have a little command central in our kitchens.  I like to keep mine to a min. but the area quickly self detonates during busy weeks. During one of my many blog crawls, I saw this project. I feel bad that I didn't note the blog/creative genius down.  This is pretty much a complete copy of said forgotten bloggers project. (If I find the post, I promise to give credit).

Details on this very easy project:

• Ikea Caddy - 5.95, found in kitchen dept.
• Drill hole for phone charger to thread through
• Spray paint entire caddy with paint/gloss of choice. I wasn't sure about this goldenrod color but it's growing on me.
• For added touch, modge podge decorative paper on the bottom. Personally, I think this is key to the finished product.
• Once dry, reorganize, reevaluate command central and voila! Excellent caddy for just a few items.

Hope you enjoy this inspiration. Thanks!

Horses!



Thrift Store Horses Before



 

After Some High Gloss White Spray

I love seeing before/afters from others who were inspired by a project. My awesome friend, Karen, jumped on the High Gloss Spray Paint project within days of my post. Queen of thrift store scavenging, Karen has a knack for finding the coolest things. I love these horse book ends and in white paint! they look fabulous. Note the excellent vintage red books, perfect for a bookshelf, credenza or side table.

Just for comparison, this White Horse Bust from Z Gallerie is $199.00:



I think that Karen spent under $10 total for her white horses!

If you've found a great object or two and glossed it up with spray paint, please send my way. I'd love to see the results.

High Gloss



Ceramic Elephant Before




After



Krylon High Gloss Paint (I used white)

Wendy recently turned me on to a great blog:  Three Men and a Lady.  Check it out! And in particular, tour her home. Are you drawn to the high gloss painted knick knacks tucked away here and there? Now, I am not much for knick knacks. Streamlined, clean and simple is my usual arrangement. But every now and then, a shelf, a stack of books or the coffee table, need some new life. Vignettes can be updated, changed or rearranged. 

A can of high gloss white spray paint (or color of choice), a couple of thrift store finds, and you are ready to go.  I found this awfully awesome ceramic elephant for $2. Doesn't it look great in white?

Just a couple of major tips:

• Clean and dry your items thoroughly
• Wait until it is at least 50 degrees out, cold paint and / or cold items do not take paint well
• A cardboard box is the perfect work station for spray painting
• Invest the $2.50 in the snap on handle that makes the job easier

I'll soon post before / afters of the 2 brass quail that I found. They are awaiting another coat or two and it's too cold today.

Hope you enjoy and have a great day!

Address Front and Center

I've always thought that a little front door re-do is one of the easiest ways to highlight your home. After a previous post on this subject, a friend asked me to help her with her front door/entry.

Before:

After:

Her house numbers were hidden most months of the year by a beautiful maple. The front door is the front and center focal point of her porch. Thus we ordered vinyl lettering from Etsy shop:  Allie000 . Best $10 transformation I have seen.

 

Also, the door mat was so small considering the space on the porch. Most of the area is covered by an overhang so it made sense so purchase an all weather rug from Frontgate.com that filled the area. 

One thing we considered while looking for an outdoor rug was how it would look with the existing flooring inside the home.  I love how this rug feels like an extension of the tiles inside the home.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to let me know if you have any questions. I had taken a ton of step by step photos detailing the application of the vinyl numbers. Unfortunately, something terrible happened in the uploading process and all of my images disappeared! Yes, they are gone!

Chalkboard Before/After

$30 Restaurant Chalkboard from 2ndUse

                         $12.98 Tintable Chalkboard Paint Home Depot      

                         

6 Coats of Paint

Random Notes

For months, I had my eye on a large restaurant chalkboard catalogued in 2nd Uses' online inventory.   I finally made it to their warehouse and finding it in stock. A bit of negotiating and cramming into my car and my new purchase was home with me.

This project couldn't be easier, especially considering the varieties of chalkboard paint available today. There are many colors you can select with the tintable chalkboard paint. I went with a dark charcoal gray. I ended up painting 6 coats to ensure coverage.  For optimal outcome, allow 24 hours between coats.

I delayed posting about this chalkboard project because I envisioned having a beautiful drawing or some great inspiring quote on the board before photographing. And here you have it... a Mom list left by college boy, a note from our neighbor, cross country meet score and my attempts at an inspiring quote along with a stick figure drawing. This dining room chalkboard will never be perfectly "coiffed" but it will always perfectly depict life at home.

Display Hard Earned Effort

With active cross country and track athletes like these:

We were bound to amass a lot of these:

Using an existing frame that had a thin shelf insert:



 A piece of foam core board cut to size:

Ironed on white cotton twill using steam seaming:



 Cut down a few black headed straight pins:

Trimmed off ribbons, played with arrangement of medals, tacked down with pins, voila!:



A look at the framed medals hung:

As I looked at the pile of medals on closet hooks, in boxes, etc.  I was inspired by the my dad's Naval career medals and the professional display case he has them in.  This was a great hour long project.  Now our college student has his medals framed instead of hanging all over his closet.

Same House, Different Quick Fix

 Bookshelf before:

Bookshelf After:

Before I even saw the fireplace at my friend's home, I saw the gorgeous wall to wall bank of built in bookshelves  with storage below. Let me paint the picture of this cozy family room: comfy couches, soft carpet, huge gabled window to the outside that frames a beautiful maple, large fireplace, piano, books, games and throw blankets. I can imagine how much quality family time this room enjoys, it's the perfect setting.

To start, the bookshelf was great, filled with photos, memorabilia, books and book collections.  I loved the large black and white photos covering the backboard.  Said friend and I started tinkering (well, mostly me with her wondering why I continually get sidetracked), and realized that there was just a lot of stuff on the shelves.  The first thing you see when you walk in the room are the shelves, and while it was family friendly and family filled, there was too much.

I suggested that she limit the palette of the pottery pieces on the shelves, rearrange the books and streamline the memorabilia. She did this all in one day all on her own and I think it looks fantastic!  The pottery, photos and memorabilia she left on the shelves stand out and have more space for viewing and touching.  The books look so organized in an effortless manner.

Other tips:

• arrange books in order of height
• bring book spines close to the edge
• give items space

Take a look at your bookshelves or display shelves, do you need a friendly opinion on how they might be improved? Better yet, send me a picture and we can blog about it!