Flow Blue and White Vintage Dresser Makeover

Happy Friday before Christmas!  This month has been packed full with activities and has flown by... which is why it's taken forever to share this latest makeover with you: my Flow Blue and White Vintage Dresser!

This dresser belonged to my great uncle, so it has loads of sentimental value... and while I wanted to breathe new life into into, I didn't want to take away all of its patina, its signs that it was well-loved.

When my sister dropped this off in my garage, it was a little worse for the wear.  The top had several peeling layers of varnish, the wood veneer was warped and dry... it was in need of some love.

I gave it a good cleaning, lightly sanded the peeling varnish, lightly glued the warped veneer, and stripped and sanded the wood top.

After staining with a dark walnut stain, I loved the sheen of the natural wood so I didn't do my usual polyurethane coating and instead added a few layers of Miss Mustard Seed's furniture wax, then buffed away.  It's so smooth I can't help but run my fingers across it when I walk by.

You want to touch it, right?  Mmmmm.  The wood frame around the mirror was in good shape and the color was close to the stained top, so I cleaned the frame and waxed it and it was perfect.

Since the original knob was missing a partner, I replaced it with this great pair of vintage-looking knobs that I found at Hobby Lobby.  While not a perfect match with the original drawer handles, they coordinate nicely and fit it well with the period of the piece.

It's a little difficult to see here, but this is the area where the veneer was warped and cracking.  I wanted to keep the veneer but didn't want to risk catching something on it and damaging it more, so I did a little bit of gluing and clamping to do a minor repair.

Now let's get to the best part... that color!  I used Flow Blue Milk Paint from Miss Mustard Seed with the bonding agent (so it wouldn't chip) on the body of the dresser, and Annie Sloan Old White on the drawers and mirror frame.  This was my first experience using MMS milk paint and it was... different.  I was nervous about mixing the portions correctly but I did two batches and the color matched, so I guess it was okay.  The paint was thinner than I'm used to (with chalk or latex paint) but the color was perfect so I didn't mess with it.  I ended up doing two coats and then waxing with MMS furniture wax, which I love.  The consistency is like buttah and it doesn't have a terrible smell.

I'm not a huge fan of the really distressed pieces, so I lightly sanded along the edges where natural wear would occur.  I sanded after waxing this time and I like the result much better than when I sand prior to waxing - lesson learned for future pieces, although with this makeover, I've officially emptied my garage of works-in-progress.  I KNOW.  Whatever shall I do now?!

I've moved this dresser into my master bedroom and am slowly building a gallery wall around it.  I'm new to the whole gallery wall thing so it's taking me a while to commit... remember, this is the master bedroom makeover that's been two years in the making so it's all about taking things slow around here.  Ha!

Here's hoping you have a Merry Christmas - may you be filled with the joy of Christ Jesus this season!

Mid-Century Modern Peacock Blue Desk

Hey, hey there friends!  Happy Thanksgiving week to you!  I’ve got a short work week in store so I’m looking forward to spending time with my kiddos and getting my holiday bake on… #bringonthepie.  But first, how about a furniture makeover reveal?  Here’s my Mid-Century Modern desk, redone in a gorgeous peacock blue.

This makeover has been a long time in the making.  I bought this desk off of a local mom’s garage sale page a looong time ago and between the repairs it required and finding time to actually work on it, it took quite a while to finish.  Here’s the desk when I first bought it (for 40 bucks!):

Although it appeared to be in great condition, one of the drawer bottoms had a hole in it and the back panel had an even bigger hole in it.  Whoever owned this in the past was not very gentle with it.  There were numerous dings to the top and sides, but I just decided to embrace those as part of the piece’s history and after moving this desk, I have no doubt why it’s dinged up – this thing is seriously heavy.  No joke. 

After a good cleaning, I painted this with bonding primer and two coats of Martha Stewart’s Plumage Blue, a gorgeous peacock blue color.

The hardware was one of the reasons I loved this piece – it was a little tarnished, so I cleaned it and added some Rub-n-Buff in Antique Gold.  I love that stuff: remember this Golden Mirror Makeover?

I love fun details on furniture, so I lined the drawers with a gorgeous blue and green ikat fabric I found at Hobby Lobby.  Simply cut the fabric to size and use Mod Podge to adhere to interior of drawer.

I used the same fabric in an additional, unexpected place.  Remember the back panel hole I told you about?  I was concerned that removing the panel would damage the surrounding veneer, so instead I covered it, using a foam mat board, the ikat fabric, and some ribbon trim.

One last peek -

I am loving our new-to-us desk, which moonlights as a craft table.  It’s the most recent addition to our ever-evolving office makeover; I still want to add drapes and replace our existing TV cabinet with an IKEA Hemnes unit, among other small touches.  It’s neverending, isn’t it?

Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving week!

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White and Brass Dresser Makeover

Happy Good Friday everyone!  I promised I’d show you more of my daughter’s dresser makeover last week when I revealed her Golden Mirror Makeover, so here it is:

This dresser came from my mother-in-law’s aunt; she was having an estate sale and my MIL sent me a picture of the dresser and asked if I wanted it.  It was a Bassett piece in great condition for only $50, so I said yes!

I decided to not do chalk paint this time around because I knew I wanted to paint this dresser white and although I love chalk paint, the pure white color is not my favorite.  Instead, I primed and painted with Martha Stewart’s Picket Fence White color-matched in Glidden Paint. 

Although my daughter originally wanted some fun, colored knobs, she decided she liked the original brass ones so we kept them.  The brass goes well with her golden mirror and with some other gold/brass accents in her room.

This room is slowly coming along, little by little.  One of these days I’ll give you a full reveal, but for now here’s just a peek as you walk into her room: pink feather boa wreath on the door, newly painted white and brass dresser, and all of the accessories that a little girl must have.  She’s a princess…

Hope you have a great Good Friday!  I’ll be heading to work while the rest of my fam enjoys the day off… boo!

Golden Mirror Makeover

Hey, hey, hey friends!  Happy Friday to you… I’m taking a break from Friday Faves today to share a fun golden mirror makeover that I recently completed for my baby girl’s bedroom.

 

This mirror has been sitting in my garage for longer than I care to admit, but just so my readers are well informed… it was a companion to my French Linen Dresser and Duck Egg Chevron Side Table.  It started out like this:

It was brown and drab and covered with dust and cobwebs – ick.  After a good cleaning, I rubbed on a golden finish with AMACO Rub 'n Buff Wax Metallic Finish, Antique Gold, 0.5-Fluid Ounce using my forefinger.  That’s it.  Seriously.  I buffed it in well as I applied to save the extra step of a separate buffing.

This mirror had a bracket to mount to a dresser, so I removed it and added some U-brackets and picture hanging wire (with Mr. home.made.’s help) so it could be freely hung on the wall.  This bad boy is heavy, so I hung it with a 50 pound capacity picture hanger.

It looks gorgeous in my daughter’s room, especially over her newly made over dresser (I’ll talk more about that next week!).  She has a lot of color going on in her room despite the white walls so the gold provided a perfect neutral accessory to all of it.

The end result is just what I was going for and I love that it didn’t cost me anything since the mirror was part of the dresser package deal (for $75) and I had the Rub n Buff on hand.  Best of all, there’s a little girl who’s quite happy with her new wall accessory.

That smile makes all my crazy ideas worthwhile.

Have you ever made over something with Rub n Buff?  I’d love to hear about it!

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Transforming an old Armoire into a Computer Workstation

When we decided to sell our custom home to make the move to a neighborhood, we left behind an office with fabulous built-ins.  This home technically had space for an office as well, but since we decided to use that room as a multi-purpose room, that left us without a dedicated space for our computer and files.  We did, however, still have our old TV armoire and since it hadn’t sold yet on Craigslist, we decided to give it a new purpose:

When we began working on this, it was your average, everyday armoire from a big name furniture store… with a huge hole cut out in back for the pre-flat screen era!  Mr. home.made. removed the original backing and replaced it with plywood.  Originally the backing was painted turquoise, but I changed my mind and “wall-papered” it with some weathered wood paper from Hobby Lobby that I found in the teacher section.  Adhesive vinyl chalkboard paper was added to the interior of each door for inspirational quotes and notes and drawings.

My handy hubby built and stained the upper shelving that we use as a charging station for our devices and he built a sliding shelf for the laptop.

It’s now a place for me to blog and for my kiddos to play computer games, all within the safe viewing distance of us, which was one of our goals for a centralized computer station.  With the addition of some cute office accessories from Target, it’s also a place for me to pay bills and file mail.  The lower cabinets are used to house our printer and as an area to file away paperwork.  It truly has become a workhorse!

I have another post planned on changes in our living room, but here’s a little peek to show you how the workstation fits into the layout.  When we have people over and don’t want the office area on display (meaning when it’s a mess of papers…), we simply close the doors and shut it away.  I’m still toying with the idea of painting this beast so there’s not such an abundance of wood tones, but the hubby is resistant so I’m holding out for now… 

This little makeover has really served our family well and turned out to be a lucky Craigslist failure.  Have you repurposed an old piece of furniture by giving it an entirely new function? 

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Grain Sack Striped Barstools

Hey, hey friends!  Happy Monday!  The Texas weather has been completely bonkers as of late, with eighty degree temps one day and thirty degree temps the next… thanks a lot Polar Vortex.  I was able to take advantage of the warmer weather to get some projects completed, one of which I’m sharing today: my Grain Sack Striped Barstools.

I bought these barstools for our previous home about five years ago – time, moving, and my kiddos had slowly taken their toll on them.  The funny thing is, I originally took these out to my garage just to tighten the bolts on the seats which loosen from time to time.  Then I got a wild hair… and the rest, I guess, is history.  Here’s the before:

They look pretty good in this pic, but trust me about the scuffs and scratches.  If you’re wondering, these were purchased from WalMart, and they’ve held up okay for the price.

After tightening the bolts and cleaning them, I painted them with two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence.  I loved the color, but felt like there needed to be something extra… Inspired by my French Grain Sack Dresser, I decided to add some stripes in ASCP Old White and I love the end result.

I distressed these lightly with some 220-grit sandpaper, in anticipation that some natural distressing would occur anyway once these were in use.  I applied ASCP wax to the entire stool, including a thick coat of wax on the seat to help protect it from the little bums around here.

The center stripe was made using one-inch painter’s tape.  The outer stripes I just sorta eyeballed and added another piece of tape to make a thin stripe.  This part took less than ten minutes.

I’m quite happy with this little makeover – because my Aqua and White Hutch is painted in the same colors, these coordinate nicely and bring a fun dose of color to my dining area.

I do think I need one more stool to fill the space better, so I’ll be ordering another soon and getting to work to make it match.  Slowly but surely, this little kitchen/dining area of mine is coming together.  The big project still remains… repainting the cabinets.  *groan*  Anyone up for a painting party?

Hope you’re having a great Monday!

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A New Bookcase and Reading Corner

 

Hey, hey friends!  It’s been a while since I’ve blogged (I’ll get to that later…) but I’m back and so excited to share this new little reading corner in my living room.

Since rearranging the layout of our living room, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this corner area.  I had thought of doing a reading nook but just couldn’t visualize how I wanted it to look.  Enter this guest room from Melissa at the Inspired Room.  As soon as I saw her bookcases, I knew it would work for my corner!  I plan to have a piano on this wall eventually so I went with just one bookcase for now.

I followed Melissa’s lead and purchased the Threshold Carson bookcase from Target.  When we were stuck at home a few weeks ago during the Icepocalypse, I got to work putting it together.  It was a fairly simple assembly minus all of the teensy screws that hold in the back panel.  There were no pre-drilled holes for those so it was quite the chore.

Once it was assembled, I got to work loading up the shelves.  I had two boxes in my garage from our move (three years ago, don’t judge) full of books and photos so I finally gave them a home.  My girls had fun looking through their baby books (which – OMG I just realized they must’ve decided to peruse again because look at that bottom shelf – ha!) and I was overjoyed to finally have emptied those boxes!

I moved the slipcovered chair from my bedroom to this corner for now.  I like it there but it’s not very comfy so I may replace it eventually with a chair with a little more cushion to it.  I found the adorable sign at Hobby Lobby for half-off – it’s the perfect sentiment in my favorite color so I had to have it.

Here’s one final look at my new favorite space – I can’t wait to put it to good use!

Now… just a little update on what’s been going on around here.  A few weeks ago, I came home after work to a neighborhood filled with police and fire trucks and cars lining the street because a terrible accident had just occurred.  A little boy was struck and killed by a truck while he was riding his scooter.  We’ve all been a little numb since, just trying to process this tragedy.  As with anything like this, you take a good hard look at your priorities in life… and that meant spending more time with my girls rather than behind a computer or working on a project.

Refocusing on priorities has also led to other things, namely a job change that will allow me to stop commuting and be closer to my family. It will allow me to work and develop relationships in the community where I live. While it has been an emotional last week as I made this decision, it is one that I have no doubt was all part of God’s perfect timing.

He is good.  All the time.

And I am ever so thankful.

Hope you’re having a great start to your week!

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Turquoise Desk Makeover for Little Girl

My youngest daughter has longed for a desk in her room ever since I did the Green Desk Makeover for her older sister.  Many months and Craigslist searches later, I was finally able to find a desk that fit my daughter and her room perfectly.  A little bit of elbow grease and some Annie Sloan Provence chalk paint later… and we have a turquoise desk for my litte girl.

This desk was listed on Craigslist but was actually housed in a multi-vendor antique mall, buried under all sorts of other vintage treasures.  It’s a Bassett desk from the 1960s and was in great condition, save for some damage to the desktop and some scratches.

I’ll admit it… this desk had me at spindle legs.

Seriously, aren’t they incredible?

After sanding the top and cleaning it well, I painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Provence, a gorgeous turquoise blue color that I have used on multiple projects in my home.  My youngest really likes to help mama with projects, especially painting, so I gave her a brush and her own tray of paint and let her go to town.  Chalk paint is very forgiving because you can sand it, so it was the perfect medium for my little’s brush strokes – any imperfections were simply sanded away before the top coat.

The hardware is all original to the piece and was in perfect condition as well.  I liked the contrast of the bronze and blue so I just gave it all a good cleaning before I reinstalled it. 

The spindle legs are still my favorite feature – it’s unusual to find a piece such a traditional piece with this type of leg.  (Please excuse the focus on these photos… my eight year old Canon rebel is starting to act up on me.)

Here’s another view of the turquoise desk in its entirety.  Tell me those legs aren’t incredible!  Pair it with a pink chevron wall and I’m smitten ;).

The desk actually has a coordinating hutch (see below) that goes on top but it felt a little too serious (especially with the eagle medallion) so I haven’t yet painted it.  I do like the additional storage it offers so maybe one day I’ll add it, but for now I’m happy with the desk as is.

My youngest is very excited for this new homework space in her room.  We’re still working on adding little desk accessories, but she’s already enjoying it for reading, writing, drawing and creating.  I imagine it will see lots of this activity in the years to come.

If you have any questions about the turquoise desk makeover, let me know and I’ll be happy to answer your questions!

Have you tried chalk paint yet?  Would you be brave enough to let your child help you with it?  I’d love to hear your experience!

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Mission Style End Table Makeover

Happy Monday everyone!!  We had a busy weekend around here, filled with trick-or-treating, soccer, birthday parties, and a karate tournament.  I’m pooped!  In between all the madness fun, I was able to finish up a little project I’ve been working on for a while: making over this Mission Style end table gifted to me from my sister.

When she gave me this table, it was in good condition except for a little wear on the varnish.

I knew I wanted to stain the top, so I sanded it down and after applying MinWax Wood conditioner I stained it with one coat of MinWax dark walnut.  A coat of poly protects it from future wear and tear.

I painted this with Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue, and rather than distress it, I used my smooth chalk paint technique and then applied wax.  I used Miss Mustard Seed’s wax on this piece cause I’ve been dying to try it… It is very different from Annie Sloan wax.  It’s much softer and smells wonderful – it did take off a little more paint color with it, but since it wasn’t formulated to work with this paint I wasn’t surprised.

I love the contrast between the matte blue and the soft sheen of the dark walnut top.

If you remember my post about searching for a living room sofa, I’m giving you a peek here of my final choice.  I’m not quite ready for the full room reveal yet (still a few more projects to finish up), but here’s a little glimpse at the room redo.

This little table has found its new home on “my end” of the sofa, with a good book or magazine and a hot cup of coffee always nearby.  I sorta love it.  Huge thanks to my sister for sending this gem my way!

Did you guys get any projects finished this weekend or were you running around crazy like we were? Have you used MMS furniture wax?  What did you think of it?

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