Blog Resources For My Future Home

The Wits

Yellow Brick Home

Restorative chair makeover for my similar mid-century teak chairs

Making a Farmhouse table here

Door Sixteen

Plywood plank floor for temporary use. In lieu of installing expensive hardwoods before you have the money, why not try installing plywood like Door Sixteen did here.

The Wits

Gorgeous furniture inspiration (see above) through their store

The Brick House

Refinishing Vintage Wood: Instructions from the Brick House for bringing used real wood furniture back to life like my dresser/desk, rocking chair, and mid-century chairs.

Easy Way To Check For Lead Paint: Using the 3M products Lead Check Swabs, an instant lead test.

Ana White (Easy DIY furniture tutorials and plans)

Home DIY project catalog

FYI: This doesn't mean I'll be posting any more frequently than I have been but I wanted to share these resources.

My 2nd Favorite Piece of Furniture

You've already heard about the first, my $25 gift from my father. Well, here's a free bureau/dresser/desk I received from my older sister years ago, who got it at a yard sale.

Top and Bottom curved details that I love about it

It's in the same bad condition it was when I received it except now it has three vertical streaks down its front. Unfortunately, when I moved from Northern VA to Richmond, the drawers were taped so that the drawers would not fall out. The marks are what appeared when the tape (clear packing tape when it should have been masking tape) was removed. Therefore, even though I was tired of the beaten and graffiti-covered look before, I feel I really need to do something about it now.


 


Above is the secretary desk part of it with drop-down table. The desk caddy is on metal rollers and can be removed. When I had less closet space I used that area to stack my sweaters. Now it holds resume materials, printer paper, blank envelopes, my old cameras, jewelry, and some makeup.

I truly love this piece and I guess the main reason I haven't done anything to it is because I'm scared of ruining it. I know if you paint something you can always repaint it, but I have yet to do that with any other furniture I've painted. So I guess I feel I only have one shot at it. I'm thinking a dark blue-green to mix it in with my other bedroom stuff. However, before I tackle this piece I still have to finish the armoire in the living room which more people will see.

By the way, I would love to have a matching bedside table for this, so if anyone knows of one, let me know!

This Is Where I Live In My Dreams

I just fell in love and I bet you will too.

Check out this post at Desire to Inspire.

Affordable cottage in the NYT

700 square feet and bought for $95,000!!

I have to give it to The New York Times. When they catch my interest, they usually get it big time. You may have seen this first set of pictures on other blogs already because this place in the Catskills is beautiful. But what what struck me is how it truly was something I would be interested in. That price is incredible, it's almost impossible to find a house that cheap here in Richmond, though of course most people I know can't afford a weekend house, let alone a place two hours away from where they live and work during the week. However, I loved how they furnished the place with hand-me-downs, and purchases from Craigslist and to top it off also used it as the venue for their outdoor wedding! That's the way to get the most for your money!

I love the use of the green, which seems to change color subtly throughout the house. It's definitely cute and country but not too so. Check out that incredible stove, unfortunately it doesn't work though.


(Click to enlarge)

That gallery wall- designed hallway blows me away and reminds me of another that I featured on this blog before. The newspaper was supplied with a rundown of their decorating costs. Decorated for only $2,352! Other homeowners featured in the newspaper's regular features can't seem to even get a closet organized for that little amount of money.

This cottage reminded me a bit of this cottage I found in an old issue of Cottage Living, from the 80s, that I bought when I was in Fredericksburg. I love the cottage aesthetic, the airy feel, and the simplicity. The use of the darker green for the window blinds is perfect, it adds a dash of color that works as decoration 24/7 when the shades are up, whereas white curtains (the obvious choice) would add nothing to the room.

In this bedroom shot (one of my favorites!) the different shades of green with the rich yellows, the red side table, and the orange tones of the spool-turned bed really speak to me; a mix of harvest tones mixed with white gives the room a warm and cozy feel.

Painted Armoire Inspiration

Yummm...

Images: Creative Home and Victoria (2) magazine

Getting closer...

Hmmm, I do still have two pieces of furniture to paint, don't I?

Can you believe, I FINALLY picked out my green paint for the living room sewing armoire/cabinet? It will be Olympic's Grassy Meadow B67-5 courtesy of my Lowe's holiday gift card! At the same time, I will also pick up my Kindness of Stranger's blue paint mix for my bedroom dresser.

I just checked the Lowe's website thinking maybe they have a good sale on paint right now. Well, I found that they will make you an 8 ounce sample of any of their Valspar or Olympic paint colors for only $3.98. This also includes any color-matching shades that you bring in. How cheap am I that I am actually wondering whether 8 ounces could be enough for either project.?

Yeah, pretty cheap.

Eye Candy Colors

In August, Domino shared Alice Turner's New York farmhouse. Her use of color and the uncluttered room layouts make me wish my place looked more like that. The opening spread shows her amazing 10-foot long custom designed couch. Wow! This couch is not only almost as wide as my living room but the backrest of it seems at least five feet high. Talk about feeling cozy and sheltered. The fact that this huge expanse of sofa is covered in a creamy white fabric keeps the room from looking crowded. Perhaps a light-covered love seat would help out my currently chaotic living room?

Also, instead of painting her walls a definite color, Alice and her friends whitewashed the entire place, even her floors are a lived-in white. She let the colors bloom instead on furniture and accessories.

When it came to her guest bedrooms, she let it bloom on the doors. See how she draped the ceilings? It not only looks cozy but it also hides the peeling plaster she hasn't dealt with yet. Smart.

I'm a big fan of painted wood furniture and love the raspberry daybed in her entry piled with graphic pillows. Unfortunately, I noticed the story doesn't source the ones that I like the best; those printed ones on the ends with just the right amount of white background.

Color does not have to be super bold, contrasting, or chaotic. Just add some color to your rooms and see if it changes the mood of your home and perhaps, your mood too.

The Kindness of Strangers

Agnes Bourne Design
I saw these pictures from interior designer Agnes Bourne on Desire to Inspire and I was struck by the green woodgrain on the cabinets. Yum! This would be a great way to update old wood or melamine* kitchen cabinet doors.

Luckily, the cool couple behind Something's Hiding in Here just revealed their easy technique for faux woodgrain paneling to ReadyMade magazine. They used it to give their bathroom an enviable new look. Someone could use this very easy technique with a little bit of sanding and primer to make a formally blah kitchen into something cooler, especially if you take this route and do it in a "not seen in nature" color.

I discovered this couple's apartment a few years ago on Flickr. I couldn't help noticing that they had painted their wood furniture much like I have mine, even their coffee table has the same lines as my bright yellow one.


Recently, I was struck by the color of their bedroom furniture, so I inquired what it was and it seems I wasn't the only person to ask. So guess what sweet thing they did? They shared the custom paint recipe for the color on their blog. I can now take this "recipe" to Lowe's and get this exact color for my bedroom dresser. Yes, the same one that I couldn't pick a color for. I knew I wanted a blue to coordinate with the bedside table but just couldn't find the right one but I think this is it. Now I just need to get myself to the store with this formula, get it mixed up, pick up the green paint for the living room armoire...and I'm in business!

Thank you Stephen and Shauna!

*I know there are specific primers that work on melamine to make this possible but I don't know which ones.

An About-Face

For years I had planned on painting my armoire/sewing cabinet a nice solid spring green color. In fact, I've used the fact of not finding the perfect green as the excuse that it still hasn't been done. However, now I'm starting to think differently.

Why or why have I been scared to do this for so long? Scared of making a mistake? Yes, even though other DIY-ers have painted pieces over and over again in the same amount of time that my piece has been the same with only an addition of a clear poly coat. I do know that I will never feel that my apartment is 'ready for prime-time' until I get this last piece of furniture painted or otherwise "finished."

Years ago, I had decided that although the majority of the piece would be solid green I wanted some sort of design on it to make it different.

a) I had been thinking of an image taken from a greeting card to go on the boards inside the doors

b) or perhaps a design from a friend/graphic designer*/new mom to place in those same places.

Well, a month (or so) ago I saw this piece by Lucas Rise on the design*sponge blog, fell in love, and became increasingly intrigued with the thought of not just one color that would go with my living room but perhaps a myriad of different colors that would work with everything in my apartment, now and into the future?

One look and I was in love with the illustrated and painted furniture of Argentinean artist Lucas Rise.

Flower park, Circus

Nigeria

Even his site design is incredible, right?I

Potala Palace $500

After seeing his work I then came across this Pier 1 wine cabinet in person and became even more convinced that pattern was the way to go.

So the plan now is to buy the green paint that I've liked the best (no more deliberations) and paint the cabinet. Now it will at least be respectable. Then I can take some time (not too much!) to decide on the design. I am just going to start sketching more, something I don't do much of anymore. Wish me luck!

* She is currently designing a new header for this blog!

The beat of a different drummer

I have always loved the the metal lockers from the IKEA PS collection. Though they don't fit into my decor, at the moment, I always like seeing them pop up in rooms on sites like Apartment Therapy, Decor8, and Design Sponge.

I just wanted to put this out there for anyone that starts to tire of their pieces or want to buy them but not in the available colors.

On the site for RustOleum paint, they show that you can use their Painter's Touch spray paint on these exact same pieces to change the look. The paint works on wood, wicker, metal, plaster, masonry, unglazed ceramics, and comes in 42 glossy and 28 satin colors. Shown here is a gloss Seaside Green.

Are you having as hard a time finding the right RustOleum color in the right product and in the right size as I am? You can now order from their recommended online retailers, Ace Hardware Outlet and Builder Depot.

RustOleum has also come out with a new water-based spray paint called Aqua. The convenience of a spray without the clean up and apartment asphyxiation that comes with mineral spirits. Yes!

A Few of My Favorite Things

• Amber glass and red "swung" glass vases (also known as "pulled" glass)
• Beaded fruit
• Rehabbed and repainted sofa
• The over-the-top gold bureau
• The color orange

And above all, true funky decor!

Photos of Cynthia Rowley's home courtesy of marie claire magazine.

The Inkling for the Table

I am so happy that I finally finished painting that blue dining/sewing table. That project had been on my list for over a year. I kept putting it off because it would put a delay in my sewing. You know, like I didn't have my own procrastination-fueled delays. Well, it's done.

Here is the inspiration for this project.

1) This color scheme has been on my mind ever since I saw this picture on Yvestown's website:

2) Until I saw this picture on Apartment Therapy:SF as part of Emily and Damon's House Tour, I didn't know exactly where I was going to use that color scheme.

A nice simple utilitarian table in baby blue. Yum!

Then today I noticed all the other blue painted table inspiration that was in my archives. I guess I REALLY like the idea of a blue table.

• 
  

Voila!

2007: The Year-long Cure

I pulled up a post I wrote this spring during the Apartment Therapy Cure about what I wanted to accomplish then. Well, that list was barely touched in that 8 week span. However, if I turn it into a 2007 year plan, then I'm doing pretty good. So, I'm going with that option. Duh.
Goals:

• Test Himalayan Mist pale blue sample from Behr and paint bedroom
  Completed April 2007
  
• Assemble white IKEA Vika Amon/Vika Artur desk
  Completed May 2007
  
• Mount empty brightly colored picture frames from to emulate this image from Wary Meyers
  Completed July 2007
  
• Hang Inside a Black Apples' Mysterious Genevieve print
  Completed July 2007
  
• Paint and patinate (yes, I looked it up) my gold mirror using pale yellow and blue paint
  Completed March 2007
  
• Paint dining/craft table a very pale blue to contrast with the red chairs (probably use the leftover samples from Behr or extra Benjamin Moore sample pots)
  Completed October 2007

• Special order a quart of the American Accents Leafy Green paint from Lowe's or Home Depot for the armoire (**Could only find in oil base spray paint, have to find a new color.) in Benjamin Moore Clover Green in satin.
  Completed June 2021!

• Take another try at tailoring the loveseat slip cover
  Completed June 2007
  
• Make the bolster pillows for the loveseat
  Completed May 2007
  
• Mount artwork on the walls, including my heavy Swingers poster and my Leia Bell prints
  Completed May 2007 and October 2007
  
• Hang curtain dividing the kitchen from the living/dining area.
  Awaiting completion

I also want to mount a series of shelves next to the French doors in my living room. However, because I did not add them to this list they do not need to be finished this year. So hurray for that!

Slow but still making progress

Update: I had a few hold-ups but I will get there, eventually.

Getting a little closer...

I made the color a tiny bit richer for the 3rd and 4th coats. I also dropped a drawer so there has been a repair and repaint of that little section.

Still plugging along...

I'm still working on my picture wall. However, I'm now thinking of moving my mass of pictures away from the huge Swingers poster.

1) There is still so much wall space to cover and this will take better advantage of the space.
2) I think the poster was so much larger than the other pieces that it didn't seem to belong in the earlier design.

I still need to move the whole grouping over about 8 inches to straddle the shelf and there is one more large picture that will be attached on the bottom left.

Here is the dining table primed and sanded. This picture was taken a couple of hours ago so the first pale blue coat of paint is already drying. My procrastination with this project had a lot to do with not being sure of the color I wanted. My solution was pouring all of the Benjamin Moore samples into the Behr sample I had of my bedroom color and creating my own custom shade of blue.

It's exactly how I wanted it to look!

(I just checked my archives; I first started to paint this table in March! That's procrastination for ya'!)