Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time out
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Fluke of a Deal
I nearly forgot to share with you the great deal Mr. Mel and I stumbled on while on an errand in town on Boxing Day. 2 chairs for the living room! Regular price was $329 each. I picked both of them of the less than $170 - including tax!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Coffee Table Pickle
Yay for me, I scored a great deal on this coffee table off a local online classified ad.
Option 1: A distressed harlequin pattern (in grey and cream) on the top, with a cream base. Something like this:
Option 2: Stained top and black distressed base. Kinda like this:
Option 3: Cream or white base with a decoupaged top (I am leaning towards using something like old maps). Something close to this from Funky Junk Interiors:
Option 4: Colour! Maybe along the lines of this table:
Now I need some input on how to refinish it. I have some ideas, some inside and some *outside* the box! Let me know what you think on the clicky poll on the right of my blog. Here are my options:
Option 1: A distressed harlequin pattern (in grey and cream) on the top, with a cream base. Something like this: 
Option 2: Stained top and black distressed base. Kinda like this:
Option 3: Cream or white base with a decoupaged top (I am leaning towards using something like old maps). Something close to this from Funky Junk Interiors:
Option 4: Colour! Maybe along the lines of this table:Saturday, January 2, 2010
Grandma would be proud
When I was in the 8th grade, my grandmother passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. Nice opening line, right? I promise, this tale has a happy ending. After she passed, she left her bedroom dressers, circa 1890, to my parents. My parents didn't have much use for them but, because they held a sentimental value, couldn't part with them.
The dressers spent about 6 months in storage, until my parents said it would be ok for me to use them in my bedroom (which I was redoing at the ripe old age of 13). The dressers were in rough shape, and needed some tlc. I got some advice from a local furniture restoration company, bought all the supplies I'd need, and set to work. I spent all that summer stripping, repairing, staining and waxing them until they looked like new. They even had their original iron and brass locks...complete with a skeleton key! Wicked cool character!
When I moved out, the dressers stayed behind. There was always periodic talk about me coming to pick them up, but I never did. Over the years, the pair was split up: my sister took the chest of drawers, and the dresser went to my parent's spare room and then to their basement. When we moved into our new house, I just knew that I was finally going to be able to make use of them again, my much loved (and now well worn) dressers that held such a connection to my grandmother.
I decided that it was time to breath some youth and funk into these relics. They have a wonderful shape and proportions, all they needed was some pizzaz! Originally, I was drawn to the idea of attaching mirrors to the drawer fronts and dresser sides.
When I looked into having mirrors cute to size, however, the cost was more than I wanted to spend. I decided to stick with the idea, but to change it up a bit after seeing a couple of great dresser make-overs at Casa Sugar and one from Shecars. I even found a few inspirations at some online stores!
Here is how I rescued and reused the dresser...now in our master bedroom:
I started by removing all the hardware from the dresser and gave the dresser a quick sanding with my handy dandy palm sander (I used a sanding block to get in the little crevaces). I then gave it a good wipe with a tack cloth to make sure there was no dust on the surfaces. Next I gave it a coat of primer. I let this dry overnight (note my fatty cat Jones checking out my handywork).
The next morning, I painted the dresser and drawer fronts with 2 coats of black paint, CIL's Black Mica, in a satin finish and let it dry for 8 hours.
Now the fun part. I painted the dresser drawer fronts with Benjamin Moore Metallix Copper. I did 3 coats, I wanted to be sure to get enough coverage as the paint is a bit transluscent. The Metallix paint ended up being a bit fussy. If I use it on a large piece like this again, I may consider spraying it on, instead of brushing or rolling it.
Once everything had a chance to dry, I attached the new hardware and shazam...love it!
Here is the breakdown of costs for this project:
$0 for the dresser
$0 primer (leftovers from our condo renovations)
$5 for metallic paint
$15 for black paint
$3 for sponge roller refills
$2 for sponge brushes
$40 for new drawer pulls
Total Cost = $ 65
The dressers spent about 6 months in storage, until my parents said it would be ok for me to use them in my bedroom (which I was redoing at the ripe old age of 13). The dressers were in rough shape, and needed some tlc. I got some advice from a local furniture restoration company, bought all the supplies I'd need, and set to work. I spent all that summer stripping, repairing, staining and waxing them until they looked like new. They even had their original iron and brass locks...complete with a skeleton key! Wicked cool character!
When I moved out, the dressers stayed behind. There was always periodic talk about me coming to pick them up, but I never did. Over the years, the pair was split up: my sister took the chest of drawers, and the dresser went to my parent's spare room and then to their basement. When we moved into our new house, I just knew that I was finally going to be able to make use of them again, my much loved (and now well worn) dressers that held such a connection to my grandmother.
I decided that it was time to breath some youth and funk into these relics. They have a wonderful shape and proportions, all they needed was some pizzaz! Originally, I was drawn to the idea of attaching mirrors to the drawer fronts and dresser sides.
When I looked into having mirrors cute to size, however, the cost was more than I wanted to spend. I decided to stick with the idea, but to change it up a bit after seeing a couple of great dresser make-overs at Casa Sugar and one from Shecars. I even found a few inspirations at some online stores!
Here is how I rescued and reused the dresser...now in our master bedroom:
I started by removing all the hardware from the dresser and gave the dresser a quick sanding with my handy dandy palm sander (I used a sanding block to get in the little crevaces). I then gave it a good wipe with a tack cloth to make sure there was no dust on the surfaces. Next I gave it a coat of primer. I let this dry overnight (note my fatty cat Jones checking out my handywork).
The next morning, I painted the dresser and drawer fronts with 2 coats of black paint, CIL's Black Mica, in a satin finish and let it dry for 8 hours.
Now the fun part. I painted the dresser drawer fronts with Benjamin Moore Metallix Copper. I did 3 coats, I wanted to be sure to get enough coverage as the paint is a bit transluscent. The Metallix paint ended up being a bit fussy. If I use it on a large piece like this again, I may consider spraying it on, instead of brushing or rolling it.
Once everything had a chance to dry, I attached the new hardware and shazam...love it!
Here is the breakdown of costs for this project:
$0 for the dresser
$0 primer (leftovers from our condo renovations)
$5 for metallic paint
$15 for black paint
$3 for sponge roller refills
$2 for sponge brushes
$40 for new drawer pulls
Total Cost = $ 65
Friday, January 1, 2010
Coming up short
I should have known this was going to happen. After sewing every curtain and cushion in my previous home, I swore up and down that I wouldn't do a single sewing project at the new house. I spoke too soon. A curtain mis-calc on my part, has resulted in drapes 10" too short for my windows! Duh!
I needed to make this fix as basic as possible. I made a quick trip to the fabric store and found a great co-ordinating fabric and simply sewed it to the bottom of each curtain panel. Mr. Mel requested that they puddle at the bottom (a look I am not particularily fond of). He asks for so little, how could I refuse his request?
Here they are before:
Ta da...Mr.Mel is so thrilled to have these up. He thinks our house now looks "warm". That's a good thing, right?
$32 for fabric
$2 for thread
Total Cost = $314
I needed to make this fix as basic as possible. I made a quick trip to the fabric store and found a great co-ordinating fabric and simply sewed it to the bottom of each curtain panel. Mr. Mel requested that they puddle at the bottom (a look I am not particularily fond of). He asks for so little, how could I refuse his request?
Here they are before:
Ta da...Mr.Mel is so thrilled to have these up. He thinks our house now looks "warm". That's a good thing, right?
Here is the breakdown of costs for this project:
$280 for 8 curtains panels$32 for fabric
$2 for thread
Total Cost = $314
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)