Furniture-O-Rama

I'm going to be cramming a lot into this post, so get ready for some picture overload.  By the way, hi! It's me...Jennifer.  Remember?  If you don't, non taken... 

One of the up sides of not blogging for a while is your project pipeline backs WAY up!  I have a nice backlog of posts now. One of my goals was to clear out the garage and  I managed to put a nice dent in our storehouse of furniture.  And let me just say,  Brian is so happy!  It looks like he may actually get to park in the garage this winter...dreams DO come true!

First up is this cute little vanity/desk that I keep in my closet for storage.

Before:

 

The wood on this desk was extremely orange. It doesn't show bad in this picture but I never liked the stain.  I was already in the process when I remembered to get a picture.

After:

This is a couple of layers of paint.  First coat was too light blue, second coat was too green, so I mixed the two, added a little black and got what I wanted.

You can see the layers of color in this pic.  I actually kept the original knobs; that was a new one for me.

Ahhh...solid wood top (without the orange tint).

So, here it is in my closet, along with my tub-o-purses and pile of clothes that need to be Dryel'd. I have an older home with skinny closets...gotta be creative with storage.

Another project that I scratched off my list was this chest..

Before:

Cute little Goodwill find.  Love the casters but the stickers across the top?..not so much

After:

This went home with my sister.  She is as bad a furniture collector as I am..in fact, me, my mom & sister (and it looks like my nieces now, too) are constantly changing furniture out & moving it around.

I painted it a light gray & white and changed out the knobs. 

Another was this simple but very cute dresser..

I don't have a before picture.  I hate it when I forget to take the pictures!  It's already delivered and full of stuff, I'm sure.

And one more thing..

I've been working on our den for a while now.  We've been doing things here and there, a little at a time. Well, I finally refinished my built-in desktop.  I decided to decoupage it in old book pages and I couldn't be happier with it.  My only regret is waiting so long to do it.  We're adding the crown molding in the next couple of days and I'm finally going to show the whole thing finished.  It's amazing what beadboard, old books, paint & some glue can do!!

I'm linking to: All Things Furniture at Perfectly Imperfect,  TDC's Before & After Party


For a while I have wondered how to sign off on these posts.  In an effort to be faithful to my true self, I'm going to tell you like I tell my friends and family all the time...

Smell ya later,

Valet for the Pink Room & Recent Finds

My mom totally surprised me the other day and brought over something I grew up looking at:

My dad used this valet daily. Change, wallet, keys on top...this was also where he kept his belts.  The belts that I had to choose from when I royally messed up.  Yep, I was spanked as a kid  - my brother & sister were spanked too.  I know people freak out about it now, but I believe it was a necessary tool in my parents arsenal when it came to me & my brother.  My sister, not so much - she was usually framed and I'm still apologizing for some of my stunts.  But I digress....he also kept his shoe polish kit underneath.  Of course, it looked a whole lot different then.  Mom put a lot of work into this & totally refurbished it for me. She had to take it apart to slipcover the back and seat & painted it.  She did a great job - I love you, Mom!

  I love that it offers a hanger, tray & a seat!!  Of course, I have my stuff all over it but it's there if you really wanted to use it.

 

This got bumped out of the corner and it's now floating under the window.  I'll have to find a new place for it..good luck with that!

Here are a couple of recent finds:

I picked up these at Habitat for Humanity.  I like using old serving vessels for my jewelry. 

I've got to share this...a birthday card my sister gave me a few years ago that still makes me laugh..

TTFN,

It's all in the details...

I haven't been posting much lately because I'm in my busy season at work.  We report quarterly financials for publicly held companies *yawn*.  So while no BIG projects have been finished, I have managed to knock out some little things that I think are really bringing my Pink Room together.

Here is a LP record cabinet that I have had for 20+ years.  I got tired of looking at it the other day and decided to do something with it. I'm going to store my scrapbook paper in this cabinet. 

I don't have a before but it was a dark red...very, very plain.

I know sheet music is played (nyuck, nyuck), but I love the graphics of these covers.  I deco'd the top & sides.

I really like this vintage paper with the red flower.

I love you too!

After all of that work of painting, sanding, decoupaging...it's going to sit in this corner with stuff on the top. So it won't be seen that much but I'll know it's there.

I also decoupaged this light switch..thank you Cassie from Primitive & Proper for the inspiration. And I lined the drawers to the blue dresser with pretty paper that I can't show because the drawers are already full of linens.

One more thing before I go...

This is my son and his buddy enjoying a summer pasttime..the ice cream truck. This ice cream truck is a little different. She comes flying through our neighborhood, taking corners on two wheels playing Christmas songs or Memories from Cats. She must have picked up her music at the flea market.

Have a great weekend!

I'm linking to SNS at Funky Junk Interiors & Metamorphosis Monday at BNOTP..cool projects galore!

I've started the snowball now....

Since finishing the dresser I've started painting the room it's in white. I don't like to move stuff all around, so my painting technique is just one wall at a time.

I've painted the wall and baseboards of one wall and will move onto the next in just a little while.  I don't normally use a drop cloth either...that usually doesn't work in my favor. 

It looks a little plain for now, but when the beadboard & crown molding are up I think it will be more interesting & give this little room a pop.

 My mom framed this for me and gave it to me when I was going through a really rough time in my life.  I repainted the frame for this room.  I love what it says:

Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, 

dive deep, and swim far, 

so you shall come back with self-respect, 

with new power, 

with an advanced experience, 

that shall explain and overlook the old.

                                                                       Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks for coming by...I have to get to work now (the one that pays the bills).

Dresser for the Pink Room!

I've been working on getting my Pink Room in order...by the time all is said & done it will be a white room, but I think it's still going to be colorful & interesting.. The PR is basically my closet & dressing room, but there is a twin bed in there, too.  My nieces love it, so it's just my girly-girl space.

This dresser along with a wardrobe were picked up for FREE! Here's the post about that. I started to sand it and realized it was mahogany. It turned out to have a very nice top, but just too much paint to remove and the veneer was chippy in some places.  So I decided to take advantage of the fact it was white already. 


Before:

Aack!!!  

I don't know what kind of white paint was used, but it had a weird texture to it that looked great after I went to town on it with Mr. Orbital Sander.

After:

 Hello, beautiful!  

 I used 2 different knobs on the drawers & painted them light blue.

 

The top was sanded down & waxed.  I can't believe what people throw away!

The wood detail is pretty.  Nice curves & engraving.

 Did I mention the casters?

I'm going to start prep work for painting the PR next and I'm still taming my backyard.  On a totally different subject, let me first say that I'm not a big Twihard or anything, but I did see the movie Eclipse this week.  The whole series is like a car wreck and I can't look away.  It was better than New Moon but that's not really saying much.  Cheesy movies like that are one of my guilty pleasures...what's yours?

I'm linking to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday,  Chic on a Shoestring Decorating's Flaunt it Friday , SNS at Funky Junk Interiors and Metamorphosis Monday at BNOTP

Cloche-ish & the Pink Room!

Hello, hello!
I'm just going to jump right in here today! I've seen many a cheese dome turned into a cloche and I just love the look. I came across a couple of cheese domes myself and decided to give it a shot.

I picked up this one for $2 and the candlestick for $1 at HFH. I pried the candleholder metal thing out of the candlestick and used Titebond wood glue to put them together

I wanted to still be able to use the cloche for food. So I lightly sanded the top and taped it up before painting.

I didn't get pictures of each step. I used satin black spray paint and gave it 2 good coats. No leaks under the tape - good!

I used olive oil to condition the wood and give it a rich sheen.

And there you have it! I'm betting how long it takes my 8 yr old to knock it over and break the glass...I'll just enjoy it while I can!

Here's another little something I knocked out yesterday. This was a plain white shade and I wrapped some ribbon around it and used tape to hold it in place. I think it looks really cute now and it took about 5 min. I love little changes with a pop!

This is in what I call the Pink Room...it's essentially a guest room but I've turned it into my giant closet/changing room. It's all of my girlie-girl stuff.

I LOVE this room..I'm in the process of changing it up and am using this sheet music and butterfly print as inspiration for a new look. I have plans to beadboard the ceiling..Brian is not looking forward to this one. Bless his heart.

Have a good day & come by again soon!