Painting a Dresser

I finally completely finished painting the $12 dresser I scored at Goodwill a while back.

I am really bad lately about starting projects, almost finishing them, and then ignoring them with only one step or so to go.

But, this one is done now and that's all that counts in my book.

It's been a while since I showed the dresser on here, so here is a before picture to refresh your memory.

That color wood really isn't my style and even though it looks pretty good in this picture, it was pretty beat up in some spots.

I thought I would write down the quick and dirty version of what I did since (A) I didn't take pictures and (B) I want to be able to remember how I did it.

1. Take the drawers out and remove the hardware.
2. Wipe everything down.
3. Fill in the holes with wood putty. I used the cheap stuff and it worked just fine.
4. Apply liquid sander and let dry.
5. Prime. I used Kilz original oil based primer. Let dry as directed.
6. Paint. I used Rustoleum's Heirloom White in satin. I used a foam roller. Let dry.
7. Apply second coat.
8. Spray paint hardware oil rubbed bronze.

and finally, the step that stumped me for about 2 weeks

9. Reassemble hardware and drawers and move it back into the house!

I know that it would probably be a good idea to put on a protective coat, but that dresser really never gets used since it is in the guest room, so I made the executive decision to skip it.

So here's what she looks like now after a little TLC...

Much better :)

Linking up with House of Grace, Home Stories A to Z

perfectlyimperfect

Let there be light

As we have been decorating our master bedroom, I have been on the lookout for a chandelier for the space. In my head, I had imagined a chandelier like these in my inspiration pictures from Pinterest.

Source: None via Kim on Pinterest

Source: blog.urbangrace.com via Kim on Pinterest

 

Source: weheartit.com via Kim on Pinterest

As much as I would love to be able to go to an antique store and buy a crystal chandelier, that just isn't in the cards for us right now so I was thrilled when I found this one for $50 (!!!) at Home Depot online.

It was originally $99.97 It was marked down to $77.00 and I was sold. When I went to check out, I noticed the price in the cart was actually $49.99. I was so excited!

It came in a million pieces, but that's what you get for $50. Jacob put it together Saturday morning before I was even awake, but he says it was time consuming but not hard.

 

I may be obsessed. Just one more. Promise.

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Nightstand Transfomation

I have been busy working on some things around the house, but I wanted to stop in and share one of my projects that went (surprisingly!) without a hitch.

Since we are just starting out, we have a lot of hand me down furniture. I can count on one hand the number of furniture pieces that we actually bought new, so one of my goals this summer was to make all the hand me downs "go" with our house and our style.

One of the most beat up pieces of furniture that we have is a piece that Jacob used to use as a tv stand in college. It is now being used as a nightstand in our guest room (I think it's original purpose in life).

I have been dying to paint it for over a year and I got around to doing it this week.

So here is what the nightstand looked like before

It didn't match a single thing in our house and was in need of a little TLC.

I had most of the supplies in my garage since I had been planning on doing this for some time, but I believe I got everything at our local Lowes and/or Menards. For rags, I cut up one of J's nasty undershirts. (shhh! don't tell him)

I choose to paint the furniture in our guest room Rustoleum's Heirloom White and I really like how it turned out.

It was really easy and went much faster than I had anticipated.

I started off by wiping the nightstand down to make sure it was free from dirt and dust. I then took the shelf out and took off the hardware. Next I applied liquid sander and let it sit for the recommended 10-15 minutes. I choose to do liquid sander because A. it has worked for me in the past B. it's faster and C. it's much less labor intensive.

Next, came the primer. I went with the spray primer because it goes so much faster. While it dried, I went inside and watched something on my DVR. I'm sure it was housewives from somewhere or some other quality programing. Apparently whatever it was, was so thought provoking that I left my camera inside because this is the last in progress shot.

After the primer dried it was finally time to get some paint on this puppy. I know there is a small roller in the supplies picture, but I ended up using a brush to paint on 2 coats of heirloom white.

I also spray painted the knob on the drawer oil rubbed bronze.

After the paint fully dried I used a wipe on polyurethane to finish up. I let it dry for 24 hours before I brought the nightstand back in the house.

So without further ado, here's what the nightstand looks like now.

I know I should probably re-paint that lamp now.

Another item for the to-do list.

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(Un)Extreme Bedroom Makeover in Progress

I decided it was time to actually try to decorate our bedroom after a year of living in a room full of hand me downs from our college apartments. I never really loved our bedroom but I lived with it because I had no idea what I wanted. I just shut the door and ignored it. But then one day while wasting my afternoon away on Pinterest, I found exactly what I was looking for.


This.

 It is no secret that I love neutrals. I  have always wanted white bedding and tried it once, but did it all wrong. This time I was determined to do it right and to get that clean, open, airy, hotel feel. Using these pictures as inspiration I was determined to achieve a similar look and feel for very little money in a much smaller room. So the brainstorming and shopping commenced.

I knew the first thing we needed was a new mattress set. Our bed was given to me used by my grandparents, oh about 10 years ago. Now, my grandma is a rule follower. She didn't put the decorative pillows on her bed for the first time in her life this year and it was a HUGE deal. I am sure she bought a new mattress and gave hers to me at the recommended 7 years so I am guesstimating that the mattress was 17 years old. We got our new mattress over Memorial Day during the sales and even bought the floor model because we are just that cheap thrify. That night I got the best.night.of.sleep.ever. I didn't realize how bad our mattress actually was until we got the new one. Needless to say, I am in love (and much better rested).

Now came the fun part...decorating. I decided to keep the paint color and use some things I already had on hand to, in the words of Tim Gunn, make it work. I used a pair of lamps I found a while back at a thrift store. They were so ugly when I bought them for around $4 a piece but nothing a can of white spray paint couldn't fix. The side tables were given me by my aunt a long time ago and the  white curtains were given to me by, again my grandma. Have you noticed a trend? My grandma spoils us. Anyway, back to the room. Here it is...

I am really loving it so far! I wish I had a better camera because these pictures just don't do it justice. There is still some work to be, but I love the changes. The next change I want to do is add a chandelier. And did I mention, we made that headboard? More on that later.

For now let's remember how far this room has come. From this...

 to this...

Much better.