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,

How to age over night..and an armoire...

Intrigued on how to feel like you are 80 years old in the blink of an eye? Well, I won't leave you hanging in suspense...throw your back out. That'll do it! You can go from being an optimistic, active "go-getter" to being a flat out mess (not even a hot mess) unable to sit, stand or lay down without feeling like there's a hot axe in your back put there by the devil himself. That has been me off and on for the past week.

After carefully retracing my steps, I believe I figured out where I went wrong. It has something to do with this thing...

and thinking that I can move mountains (and monster furniture) by myself just because I own one. 

I am on the mend now and I've learned my lesson.  I've said this over and again, but I have to give Brian props for being the best husband.  I know, without a doubt, that he'll be there to wipe the drool off my chin when we're old and he won't even think I'm gross. *sigh*

Enough about my shenanigans, I finished the armoire that I mentioned in this post . 

Before:

 
Here it is newly painted and at home in the den.

I used some leftover chalk paint I had.  Since it dries out kinda fast, I  didn't want to waste any of that precious gold.  I used the ceiling paint color (a light gray) to add some details.

Ceramic knobs from Hobby Lobby.

This piece was simple but it also had a few very pretty little details.

 It tiered up on the top and I took advantage of all of those lines.

I don't rush trying to put together a vignette.  I kinda let it evolve; they just seem to turn out better for me that way.  The picture on the left was given to me by my Mom from her trip to Spain, she also gave me that fabulous old typewriter. It's the sentimental stuff I love most of all. I drew the flowers on the right myself.  

Here's a little closer look.  I drew this at work one day.  I doodle a lot and I guess it pays off sometimes.  Instant art!  Guess what my inspiration was?  My mousepad...it's a souvenir that my brother gave me with beautiful flowers on it.  I think I've stared at that mousepad for so long those flowers are burned in my psyche (I work some long hours at times).

Lastly, I added more of my accent color with old books. 

One more thing, I want to thank Stephanie Lynn at Under The Table & Dreaming for featuring my armoire!  She graciously hosts a fabulous linky party every Sunday.

Ok, well, since my glass of wine isn't going to drink itself on this rainy Friday night, I'm going to take off now. I hope you all enjoy the weekend and thank you so much for coming by. 

Hugs to you - 

 
I'm linking to: Funky Junk's SNS,  Miss Mustard Seed's FFF

Desk For An End Table

Two posts in two days...I know it's a shocker!

In my long journey to turn my dumpy den into a fabulous family room, I have moved around quite a bit of furniture.  I'm really big on storage...I need it - have to have it.  One recent change that has really helped was the addition of this desk between the chair & sofa.

(As you can tell by the trash bags, I run a professional operation here.)  It had been by the front door but when I added the armoire, I had to move it.  It looked good just like this but I thought it would be too dark in the den and wanted to lighten it up a bit.

I saw this on the Sundance website and fell in love with their whole line painted like it:

I like how it's painted but still plenty of the beautiful wood is showing

With that as inspiration, I did this:

I used latex paint that I already had.  Dover White & Ashley Gray (at 50% strength).  I drybrushed then sanded. 

I like how the paint really brings out the details like the planked sides.

I left the hardware alone.

The end result reminded me of chalk paint.  This was really old wood so it took the paint really well.

There's a lot of wood showing on the top.  Very lightly dry brushed.

It's so hard for me to get a good lighting shot in this den. I'm going to have to figure something out.

Maybe I'll take a page from Doo's book and use a bedspread and pot lid.

I'm linking to these parties: Type A's Anything Goes Party,  Met Monday @ BNOTP

Thanks for coming by!

Reworked it til I LOVED it!!

Part of the upside of not posting is that your projects pile up and there's plenty to talk about!  Before I get into the furniture part let me just tell you that  I have one hour to color my hair, dress and be ready to walk out the door.  We're going to my sister's in AL where we are celebrating my brother-in-law's retirement from the Army.  So, of course after spotty blogging for over a month, I feel the need to get this post up under a time crunch.  I should put my color on THEN do this...brb.  Now I'm sitting here looking like I have a massive head wound with my wet burgundy colored head. Lovely.

So in this post I talked about the armoire..and how I was going to use it and how I painted this design on it.  Like some other projects I've done, I didn't like this and the more I looked at it the more I wanted to change it.  I mean if you don't LOVE it then why have it?  SO, I got out my ever faithful Mod Podge and my favorite postcards and sheet music covers and went.to.town!

Now I'm like this:

Stick a fork in it..I'm done!

Here's the new look. It's very graphic and perfect for this room.

It reminds of an old suitcase with stickers all over it.

Here's a little breakdown..

 These are the little Dutch postcards I picked up at an estate sale last year.  I still have plenty left and I will appreciate them a lot more now that I will see them every time I come in or go out the front door.  

 I've said this before, using chalk paint is a messy business if you can't do it outside but it distresses beautifully.

 I love all the different fonts, colors and pictures!  

Little pink house on Shady Lane.

Time to wash this crud outta my hair, so I gotta go but let me show you two more things really quick.

This is the new accent color for the den. I totally changed my mind from the blue. It didn't give enough of a punch.  I covered a lampshade and made pillows with it. I'll show you guys that when I get back.

The other thing...

I bought this off Craigslist a couple of weeks ago.  It's repainted and in place with stuff crammed in it already.  I'll show that too when I get back.

Hugs to y'all and have a good weekend!


Linking to these parties: Type A's Anything Goes Party,  SNS @ Funky Junk,  Under The Table And Dreaming,

Let me dust this thing off....

Haven't touched my blog in weeks! I feel out of touch for real this time...haven't done much computer wise outside of work in a while.  I tell ya what I have done though...I've seen a lot of movies, read a book, spent a lot of time with my peeps, ruined a slipcover, sewed a lot of pillows, covered a lampshade, acquired another cat, started 530am workouts again and I painted this....

Here's the before to this big old girl. I used chalk paint in Old White & sealed it with Fiddes & Sons clear wax.  The sanding part was messy but it's a smooth as silk finish and it's so easy to get an authentic distressed look with chalk paint.  It was super expensive though - $89 for 2 quarts (with shipping)!  I will say that not having to prime or prep at all was worth it! 

 

I found this design on the internet from the Paperchase Folk Tree collection and loved it.  It has a Scandinavian feel to me which is what I wanted for this piece. 

I posted this and then messed with it some more..I think I'm finished now, so here's the after, after: 

 I used my overhead to keep scale and acrylic paint, then sanded and added a stain to dull the colors a bit.  I wanted it to look worn & faded.

 I outlined the flower tree so it would stand out.  I like how it looks a little haphazard & folksy.

The extra storage is AWESOME!

I love this part - little bird hooks for our keys!

I love all the muddled colors

Still can't believe I got this armoire for $40.

Pretty details.

Here's a back view.  We have an open floor plan and this helps separate the front door from the living/dining rooms.  So you can hide if someone comes to the door and you're not decent (and by you, I mean me)!

Now on to my newest little wanderer...

This one just showed up last week.  Scraggly little guy with an eye infection, ear mites, hungry...all kinds of beat up...will you just look at that poor little face.  I think he was working me.

 So we fed him, loved on him, took him to the vet, got him neutered & named him Scooter.

 I tried to make him an inside only kitty but I can't tame his wild heart.  He's happiest skipping around the yard.

He follows me to the mailbox every day.

Here he is after dinner...big old tummy and ready to nap!

So there ya go...more furniture & another kitty!  Another bit of good news, we're now sponsoring a little boy from the Philippines.  His name is Fritz and he's 9 (the same age as my son). I'll share more info on the program as I learn it myself.  I got started here.  We're really excited to get to know this little boy. 

Now that I finally posted something I hope someone is still around to read it!! 

Hugs to you - until next time,