Painted End Table

  

Like I have mentioned, I am working on updating our family room.  Lightening it up…adding some different colors and making it feel less… brown.  Here is another example of how paint can totally transform a piece of furniture.

I’ve had this little Pottery Barn end table for 12 years!  I bought it when we were first married & I was working as an apprentice at my mom’s hair salon.  We were really tight on money so using my hard earned $49 at the PB outlet seemed like a huge, frivolous purchase. I think I have got my money’s worth by now. ;)

It is sturdy and functional, but just not cohesive with the direction I am headed style wise in this space.  By simply painting it and changing the hardware, it has taken on a whole new look…and I like it mucho better now!

    

        To achieve my desired look, I first used Martha Stewart’s Cobblestone paint and then a layer of Martha’s Flagstone, painting in a very casual manner.  I sanded the edges a little and I may even add some glaze to give even more contrast and distressing.  I bought my knobs on Ebay for $2 each & I lightly dry brushed them as well as the existing hardware with the same paint.

It’s coming together people!!  I am feeling excited about the direction I’m headed with the updates.  It already feels some much better in there!

Happy Weekend!

Quick Fix {Furry, Fuzzy Ottoman}

Do you have small little projects waiting for you, but you keep putting them off?  I don’t know why I do this, but I let a 5 min something loom over my head for 5 weeks!  Dumb.  ANYWAY…

  Our poor little ottoman has seen better days.  I bought it a few years back and it has served us well housing many different items as well as propping up tired feet.

During last few weeks it took a turn for the worse.  The fabric suddenly popped open and was in desperate need of some recovering.  I have been completely putting it off  deciding what fabric to use, but in the meantime it was a huge eyesore in our family room.  I was thinking of doing something more interesting like The Nester’s fur ottoman, but never got around to finding some fur like hers.

Well, last week I was in my Grandma’s sewing room {which is more like a mini fabric store} and I saw this faux fur.  She gladly offered it to me to try out...{because she is wonderfully awesome like that!}

 

Literally less than 5 minutes later.

It was so simple but makes such a difference.  It’s a bit shorter than The Nester’s,  but I quite like it’s new fuzzy coat and it is super soft!

I have a few more of these simple little tasks that I know will make a big difference.  If you are in the same boat, lets knock out some of these smaller projects that help our homes feel more put together, ultimately removing some clutter from our brains…are ya with me?! ;) 

Please excuse my excessive enthusiasm over such a small project, but I’ve been such a slack job lately, it feels GREAT!

Linkin up…

Lovely Little Desk

I have mentioned before that I am {slowly} working on turning our guest room into a playroom.  I’ve completed a few projects here and there so hopefully soon it will all come together.  One more project down…

I found this little desk for $5 at a thrift store and I thought with a little love it would be a perfect little homework or art station.  Beautiful, right? ;)

A little sanding, painting, wood appliqué-ing distressing, and cute {clearance} knob-afying later…  

 

Isn’t she sweet?

Almost makes me want to pull a little chair up and write a poem or short story.

 

I applied the little wood appliqué on the bottom because it was just screaming for one, plus I wanted to feminize it a bit.

*TIP-Adding appliqués like this is a great, inexpensive way to add character and customize your thrift store pieces.  Also, I stained the appliqué first to match the wood on the desk so when it was painted and sanded it would look the same color as the rest of the desk.

I used a few coats of flat white spray paint to cover.  Then I sanded the edges and added some glaze to give it more antiquing.  The precious little knobs were a steal at TJ Maxx.  (Like $3 for all of them.) LOVE.

*TIP- Unique knobs make a huge difference…check out the before with the basic wood knobs.  By simply adding some color and detail with knobs, this piece takes on instant charm with a whole new look. 

 

 

Stayed tuned for the completion of the playroom transformation…

but please don’t hold your breath;) 

*If you have any tips on how to stayed extremely focused on one room at a time…please send them my way. ;)

Linking up to… 

Centsational Girl’s All Things Paint Party Primitive and Proper Piece of Work Wednesday           
 

Have you entered my Spring Wreath Giveaway yet?!

NapaStyle {Inspired} Makeover

Photo NapaStyle.com     

I know I have talked about my trip to Napa Valley more than once.  “Ok, Krista.  We get it!  You loved Napa!”  So, here I go again… One of the fun shops we visited was NapaStyle.  It is a beautiful and unique store/deli with decor items, gifts and delicious goods.  I could have spent hours in there, tasting and browsing.  So fun!  Anyway, they have a website and catalog as well.  I love most everything in there, but these pieces caught my eye because I had a chest in need of some TLC.

I love the rustic look of them and the idea of using unconventional items for tables, like the grape crate side table above.  I know it is just a replica, but until I can find the perfect antique crate, with the original stamp on the side…in all it’s rustic charm…for a STEAL… my version will have to do. ;)  I would really love to do something like the wine storage trunk on the right, but for now it is in my maybeonedayIcoulddothis vault.  Moving on…
 
Here is the before.  My Grandma bought this for me right before I got married so he’s been around for the last 11 years or so. {I’m feeling old}  He has been abused a bit so I knew I either had to stain or paint the ol’ guy.  Here are the after shots.
        
I used a gel stain called hickory and then traced an outline with a stencil of the words I wanted on the back.  I then filled them in with a paint brush.  I love the lettering on the back!!  The new look of this trunk adds a lot of character and warmth to our family room.  It wasn’t a super timely or difficult project, but I think it makes an impact.  I am defiantly pleased with the turn out.  Plus the fact that I have wanted to do this for MONTHS and it is now completed is the best part. I am  hoping I have inspired you to gather inspiration!  Warmest Wishes!

***Just wanted to share a custom order arrangement I recently created.  I borrowed it for ‘staging’ purposes and now it’s off to it’s owner. ;)

Linking up with these fine folks…

 

Unique No Sew Chair Cover

I have been working on some items for my Esty store and some other fun spring projects that I will be sharing with your soon.  Including my $5 challenge for Living With Lindsay, which turned out way cute.  I'm excited! 

But, today I am going to share with you a super easy no sew chair cover that I did a couple years ago.  Alright, I have this thing with old chairs.  I love them.  Not sure why,  but they always call to me.  Anytime I see one in a family members garage, I always offer to take it off their hands.  $2 garage sale chair?... It's mine! Then, Mr. Husband asks "why do you love junk?".

This particular fella I believe I stole out of my Mom's garage.  She is so good to me! ;)  It was not necessarily cute nor did it have any extremely interesting detail.  I just liked it.  Oh, it even had a grodey (does anyone say that besides my mom? it means gross. lol) vinyl-ish pleather seat.  Mr. Husband LOVED this one!! ha


It sat around for a bit, until one day I saw a cute little seat redo in a BHG mag. and I thought, 'I can do that...sort of.' ;)


All I did was measure my clearance (love) fabric to the length that I wanted it to hang over the sides and the front.  Pretty much a rectangle.  Then I got out my handy liquid stitch and "hemmed" the edges all around.


Next I laid it evenly and centered across the chair and stapled it to the wood seat frame along the back of the seat.  This fabric is pretty good at hiding the staples because it is sort of quilted, but you could hide the staples underneath.

I then pulled the fabric down around the front legs in a nice pleat and poked two smallish holes through to make way for  my cute coordinating ribbon.  I took my ribbon and wrapped in around each leg then weaved through the holes and tied it in a pretty little bow.  I secured the ribbon on the back of the leg with a staple.

Now for those of you who are concerned about my reckless holes I poked in the fabric, the original instructions said to use grommets. I was just a little too impatient to wait and get them so I did what I had to do. ;)  It works wonderfully!  

I usually like to paint anything I can, but for some reason I liked this as is.  Not to say that there won't be a day it becomes victim to a brush or spray paint can.  But for now it stands.  Sorry the pics are dark and that I don't have step by step pictures, but I hope you get the general idea.

This was really soooo very easy and rewarding.  It has a very sweet unique look and always gets a compliment.  Now if I can just fix that one part so people can sit in it.  Haha j/k...kinda. ;)



Sharing over at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday!  


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