DIY Ombre Dresser

My, my.  It seems like all poor Trey does every weekend is pick things up I find on craigslist and paint them.  I know he is sick of it, but luckily we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as painting projects go.

When I was deciding how to layout the twins nursery, I wanted the cribs to be placed perpendicular to the wall to create some interest in the room (so it wasn't just a wall of cribs).  In order to separate the two crib spaces, I was scouring CL for a tall but narrow dresser that could fit in between the two.

I came across this antique white dresser, and even though it was more than I wanted to pay, the dimensions and shape were perfect for what I was looking for.  So, I once again sent Trey out to get it and gave him instructions on how I wanted it painted.  

I love the ombre dresser look for kids room and thought this would be a fun thing to try.  I selected a color strip from a Benjamin Moore paint deck and got the tiny sample sizes of each color to paint on each of the 5 drawers.  

For some (annoying) reason, sample sizes only come in flat or eggshell finishes, so we opted for the eggshell and then had to add a coat of satin poly on top.
There were quite a few blemishes on the actual piece that needed sanding/patching before painting (and we primed the entire piece too), but once everything was complete it now looks like this!  

In addition to our changing table, I know this extra storage is really going to come in handy!  I love how bright and cheerful it is :)  

Note: In case you can't read the swatch above, colors used are BM "clear skies", "old pickup blue", "seaside blue", "blue lagoon" and "venezuelan sea".  The rest of the piece was just painted plain white that we found in the garage!

Vintage Campaign Dresser

Y'all.  I am really excited about my latest Craigslist find....a vintage campaign dresser!  

(In my excited state I forgot to take a real before photo, but here is the image from the post...screen shot from my iphone)

I have ALWAYS wanted one of these.  I'm sure many of you have seen the numerous re-do's on pinterest.

When I saw the ad posted, I immediately replied as quickly as I could type, but was disappointed when the response was that a couple people were interested in the "set" before me.  The "set" being the dresser and a matching twin headboard (I had just inquired about the dresser).  

I don't need another twin headboard, but I figure I'm having three boys so eventually I'll be able to use it one day (after an upholstery makeover of course...another future project).

Anyways, the person selling had his number on the return email so I called him and said I would take the set, didn't need to see them first, and could pick up right away.  I wanted that dresser!

Trey went and picked it up for me that afternoon and he worked on it over the course of one week.  Unfortunately, the wood grain of the piece was a little too visible, so my dreams of a lacquered finish weren't going to work (the glossier the paint, the more imperfections show up!)  

Also, another disappointment was the hardware was not brass, instead it was a galvanized metal (bleh).  Although I prefer real brass, I figured we could spray paint the hardware to get the effect.

To make things a little on the tough side, the L-brackets were not screwed in and we didn't want to damage them by trying to remove, so Trey had to spray paint the hardware while on the dresser after taping it off.  

The drawer hardware was easier because it could be unscrewed.  The primer we used was  Rustoleum's metal primer to ensure the paint would stick with heavy, everyday use.  Then, we used Design Master's Gold Medal spray paint on top.

 

Then, Trey primed the rest of the dresser with a brush (I didn't want to risk getting drips if we spray painted.)

And for the color we debated between Benjamin Moore's Narragansett Green and Polo Blue.  Trey really wanted the deep navy polo and I was leaning towards the Narragansett.  

Guess who won?

(In case you can't tell, it was me) :)

I'm thrilled with how this turned out.  I especially love how the color of the dresser changes depending on the time of day.  When I was originally looking on CL for a dresser, it was for Ward's room (so I could move his changing table into the nursery). But I love the campaign so much I decided to move it into our bedroom, and Ward inherited our old wooden dresser.  If I can ever get to styling the dresser/mirror/lamp vignette I will include photos later :)

Now on to wrapping up the nursery...I have lots to share on it later!

The Unintentional Project- Craigslist Dining Chairs

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you are doing something that you shouldn't be?  And you know it?  But you don't care?  That's me.

Since we are expecting twins, I should be checking things off my list such as organizing the house, purging old baby things to make room for new, working on a nursery.  You know, normal stuff that pregnant people do.

Well, this is totally off base.  I found this great dining chair set on craigslist a few weeks ago and had to get it.  I drove over an hour to go pick up the chairs (but could only fit 6 in my car) and then had Trey drive back over the weekend and pick up the remaining chairs and table.  The problem?  

I already own dining chairs and a dining table. 

In my defense, I've never been too keen on my current chairs.  They, too, were a CL find.  I bought them for a great price and even had them reupholstered until I could afford something more my style one day.  I had been eyeing these chairs, but probably wouldn't bother buying them for another million years.

So, when I found these Widdicomb chairs for a steal I HAD TO HAVE THEM!  They may not look like much now, but I have big plans for these lovely ladies.

When I first saw the post on CL- I immediately remembered this image that reminded me of the chair style:

Via Alice Lane Home, Photo by Ashlee Raubach

Of course the chairs above are more elegant, fully upholstered, and painted (what looks like) metallic frames with nailhead trim.  I wouldn't go this route, but I like the idea that if one day I want to upholster the back I can change things up.
As for now, I love the cane backing and want to keep it, but am definitely thinking of painting the frames lighter and leaving the cane natural....possibly like in these examples (These are pretty traditional, so wouldn't go that far, but love the natural cane):

Via Hello Lovely Decor

Via Mustard Seed Interiors

I originally thought I would just sell the table and keep the chairs.  But I really love the table too, it has such delicate lines I don't know if I want to sell it yet.  For now, it's living in my garage until I can figure that out....hence the beautiful photos.

Who knows how long this project will actually take (since Trey will be the one painting and waxing, haha).  And it's really not a priority.....But I'll keep you posted when (and if) we ever finish!

PS- I have 8 upholstered chairs for sale now if anyone would like to take them off my hands ;)

Update: Chairs have been sold!  Did I mention I love CL?  Now I need to get started on the nursery...

Garage Sale Retro Dresser Makeover

Wow.  It's been Halloween since my last post.  Yeaaah...sorry about that.  But I have an excuse....

Actually, two excuses....

Actually, three excuses if you count my toddler too (this list could go on and on so I'll just stop there) :)
So the big news is we are expecting identical twin boys!  We have a long road ahead, but I am finally starting to feel like myself again and therefore can finally share this dresser project I did a couple months ago.  (Note: Once I found out we were expecting, Trey actually did most of the work...painting, polishing, sanding, etc.)  I just directed :)

I had been looking for a tall dresser for our bedroom for a long time when I stumbled upon this piece at a garage sale...(excuse the iphone photo!)

It's a little retro, which I thought could be a fun touch in our muted bedroom.  I loved the warmth of the wood, but it wasn't in the best shape.

I initially thought I would just sand off the top finish layer and re-stain but this gave me a lot more trouble than I had hoped.  We started sanding and discovered that veneers don't really sand down...hmmmm.  Then we started sanding EVERYTHING which was a huge mistake.

At first, it was looking slightly better, but the hardwood turned out to be yellow pine and it was SOOO yellow.  Here is a shot of the doors-  on the right the door is sanded and on the left is when I started adding the stain.  As you can see, the wood veneer is still showing the hardware mark and the frame was waaaay too yellowish for my taste.

YUCK.

I felt like I wanted to scrap the project at that point.  BUT THEN, I found this image on Pinterest....and it gave me some new inspiration on what to do.  

Via Cup Half Full

I loved the idea of insetting leather into the doors/drawers and painting the frame a slightly darker tone.  Because the hardware was real brass, I thought these light colors would really help the hardware stand out.  

So, I went a new direction and had Trey paint the frame Annie Sloan "Old Ochre" and bought some cream textured vinyl for the doors. I was looking for faux ostrich leather like in the photo, but again, was SO over this project at this point I just went with what they had at the fabric store.  Because I knew I would never be able to get the edges of the vinyl cut perfectly (and didn't want the edges to turn up over time), I found the smallest trim moulding I could find at Home Depot and had Trey cut the pieces for me using his miter saw to frame the door and drawers.  This trim pieces covered the edges making the drawer and doors look clean and tailored.  The moulding was attached at the edges using a brad nailer, and filled the holes with wood putty and then touched up with paint.


For the  hardware, I had my Dad cut off the backplates (which I thought looked dated) and Trey spent some time polishing with Brasso.

Instructions on the bottle say not to let it sit on the brass, but the tarnish was so intense we disregarded this and put all the pieces into a plastic bag with the Brasso and let is sit for a while before trying to polish...seemed to help.  I didn't want it to be shiny, there is still a bit of patina on it which I think looks great.

Sorry I don't have more progress shots, after the wood finish stripping fiasco, I was so tired of this I just wanted to get it out of my garage!  

But here is the piece all finished- I absolutely love how it turned out!   

And for fun here's a side by side before & after:

Ahhh...so much better.  I don't know how much time I'll be having over the next few months to do anymore big projects, but do know I have a new nursery (and big boy room) to plan!  Hopefully it won't be another 4 months before I post on that! :)

DIY Kitchen Table Refresh

Our dining table was an awesome find....in my parents basement.  They have had this oak table since they were first married and I knew it would be the perfect size for our small breakfast nook.  My mom painted the table black a few years back, but I wanted to strip off the paint to expose the wood.  Here is the before, please excuse the terrible iphone picture...I really need to remember to take better "before" photos!

I really was hoping I could achieve a worn wood look like this table from Restoration Hardware.

Enter paint stripper.

I have used this a handful of times before.  Just follow the directions on the back, slather it on and scrape off as much gunk as possible.  It helps to use a wire brush to get into the hard to reach spaces.  Also, make sure you wear thick rubber gloves!!  Some of the paint can be more stubborn and is really difficult to remove, here is a progress shot.  (Notice how orange the original oak color was...would have gone perfectly with my original garage chair find!)

Once the majority of the paint had been removed, I broke out the sander to buff the remaining paint off any hard to reach areas.  

I didn't bother to get every single bit of paint off (you can see it shows in the darker areas, but I figured when the stain was on it would give the table more depth). Even though I liked the rough unfinished look that was unfolding, I wanted the end result to be more of a gray color.  For the stain, I chose this Varathane Weathered Gray.  

I tested it out on a piece of wood we had in the garage, and it was too dark at first.  I messed around with combining some white paint and diluting the solution with water so it was a very thin gray-wash like consistency.  Once I had the desired color I wanted, just brushed it on, wiped the excess off with a rag, and let it dry.  After everything was set, I painted on 3 coats of poly (and didn't even bother to sand between coats).

 

In the end, my concoction of stain & paint worked out pretty well.  I wanted that aged wood look that would still be sealed and strong enough to handle a typical toddler mess! The best part is, since the table was free and I already had most of the materials in our garage the total cost for this table was for one can of stain!  Here is the table with the newly painted & stained chairs.

Now I just need to get some art for that back wall..... Have a great Tuesday :)

DIY Garage Sale Chairs Update

One of the many differences between our house now vs. our bungalow is the amount of rooms we have.  One example is the kitchen, we now have a spot for a kitchen table as well as a formal dining room.  Since we only had the one dining table previously, I needed to find something for our breakfast nook.

Luckily, one day my MIL called me because she came across some {cheap!} garage sale chairs down the street.  I got the 4 chairs and they threw in a matching long rectangular table for $35.  These are not my dream dining chairs by any means, but will work just fine until I can find exactly what I want to use one day.

I don't have a photo of the entire set, but here is the chair in all it's 1990's glory:

I unscrewed the seats and sanded off the finish until it was raw with a circular sander. Then added a coat of dark walnut stain & a couple coats of polyurethane.  

For the frame, I simply painted over it with some semi-gloss Ben Moore color Fieldstone, which is a grayish hue with slight green undertones.  The back of the chair was a beast to paint with a brush, I have a tendency to be an impatient painter (which usually leads to drip marks). Next time I would like to use a spray gun on something like this.  Jenny from Little Green Notebook has a great tutorial here that I want to try.

Here is the finished product...much better!  This was SO easy and I think it really updates the chairs into this decade. :)

And here is the side by side comparison:

Tomorrow I'll post about the kitchen table fix.  Have a good one!