Been doing some painting...

I got around to painting the dresser and rusty red walls in my kitchen area. The walls were painted dolphin gray in eggshell by behr and the dresser was painted ivory mist in semi-gloss by behr. Both are paint and primer-in-one.

Here's the only before shot I have because one of our computers had to be restored and I lost the good before shots, sorry!:

Notice how tarnished the drawer pulls are. I bought the dresser on craigslist. Whoever owned this dresser before put a lifetime of cigarette resin on it. It was bad. 

And here it is after two coats of paint! I ran out of paint so I'll eventually get around to that third coat. I soaked the drawer pulls in bowl of white vinegar and then scrubbed them with a toothbrush. It was amazingly easy. 

The gray walls create a nice contrast and you can really see the detail in the clock now. 

A view into the study/office. Not sure if I should keep those yellow walls or not.

Master Bedroom....again.

Hey there! I added a tv armoire to my bedroom plus accessories:

I painted the armoire a beigey white, which was originally a dark stain wood look, and painted the tv tray turned-accent-table a creamy white. 

These boxes also got a fresh new look. They had wine bottles and wine glasses on them and I painted them white and used a homemade stencil in a chevron pattern. I think it really brings out the brass details. By the way, I'm loving this pattern right now (along with most of blog land)! Every time I see this pattern being used, whether it's on a pillow or a rug, I WANT it. LOL

Here's how everything looks on this side of the bedroom now:

It's coming along, one project at a time, and very little money spent. Next I'll be adding a sitting chair and accessories by the window. 

Suzy :0)

Ikea Malm dresser hack

Long time, no post! I finally ordered the pull rings I found at www.bellacor.com. I'm very proud of myself. I have NEVER used a power drill before and it was pretty intimidating. I was sure that I would, somehow, mess it up. After careful measuring TWICE, I marked a dot where the holes would be and drilled right in. It was so effortless! This may seem lame to experienced handy people, but when you don't know how a tool is going to feel or react when you push the button, it's kind of intimidating.

I changed out the knobs on the hemnes dresser to compliment the pull rings on the nightstands. Thanks again to Emily A. Clark for this great Ikea hack! 

Speaking of Ikea hacks, I found some other great examples of what can be done to Ikea furniture. 

Here's a great one from Jason @ retrograde: 

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Look at how Morgan @ ikeahackers.net transformed this Edland dresser. 

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Wow, this is gorgeous! Nancy @ MarcusDesign did a fabulous job of making these Rast dresssers look like Dorothy Draper Chests. I could see this working with the Malm too. 

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I really want to try my hand at all of these. Just one of many, many things I have planned. *Sigh*

:0) Suzy

Update on My Master Bedroom

I've been busy re-tweaking my master bedroom and adding new furniture. Plus a new mattress set that we desperately needed. Our new bed is sooo comfortable!

 I got some incredible inspiration from Emily A, Clark. She used two ikea malm dressers, in her latest client project, and added pull rings to the drawers to dress them up. Absolutely beautiful and affordable! I headed to ikea and bought two malm dressers and the eight drawer hemnes dresser for under $500. I still need to buy pull rings and this is what I'm thinking of getting:

They are very similar, and may be the exact same ones she used.  You can find these at www.bellacor.com for $4.03/each. I love the poster bed she used and it looks very similar to the one I've been admiring from Zocalo Furniture's Madison Collection. 

It retails around $900-1,000 for a King. NOT in my price range. But, I found a similar poster bed at half the cost! 

I could easily paint it black-brown to match my other furniture. This is definitely on my list of future purchases! 

The beautiful, sleek beveled mirror used above the dresser looks just like this Z Gallerie mirror. 

But, at $270, I just can't stomach paying that much for a mirror. So I'll be on the look out for something similar at half the cost. For now, I like the current mirror I'm using. It used to have a rubbed silver/black finish and I spray painted it "heirloom white" by Rustoleum. More to come...

:0) Suzy

DIY Sunburst Mirror From The Nester

I found the most awesome DIY Sunburst Mirror tutorial from The Nester! Hers is, of course, perfect in every way (and taken with a better camera than mine! Hopefully soon I will have a nicer one. I've been using my iphone4 for all of my photos). Can you believe this was made with poster board glued onto a small mirror?! Genius! Here's my version:

Also, ignore the faux finish walls. I plan to paint those too. Along with almost every room in my house! *Sigh*

My Boys Room

I thought I would share some pics of my son's room. It's not completely done. (Are any of my rooms ever done?!) I started by asking my son what his favorite color is right now. He's really into green so I started by creating a color scheme around that. I found a great green pillow by DwellStudio at Target and that became my inspiration for the direction I took the room.

While browsing around, I found the "quilt" at the end of the bed in the clearance section for $10. I loved the pattern on it and thought it would be a great way to add some texture. Guess what? It's not a quilt at all! It's a rug!!! When I picked it up I realized this, but it was as soft and thick as a blanket. And, when it's spread out, it fits the bed nicely and keeps him extra warm on cold nights. :0)

 I handmade the airplane art. It was a VERY simple project. I bought a piece of canvas, some black craft paint in a flat finish, a white paint pen, and some red scrap booking paper. I gave the canvas a couple of coats of black paint with a cheap sponge brush. Then, while that was drying, I looked online and found instructions on how to fold paper airplanes. Then I arranged them on the canvas and drew my contrails with the white paint pen. Finally, I hot-glued the airplanes in place. It took me 20-30 min. The star, above the bed, was moved from the living area and spray painted in a nickel finish. 

My son loves natural science. He's a bug lover and dinosaur enthusiast. I decided to showcase his hobbies and create a frame collage. I cut out images from some of his books and made sure to choose the ones that did not have wording so he could still enjoy reading them. These were all "extra" images in the books anyways. Forgive me for not having perfectly level frames! I think to correct this problem, I'm going to use masking tape to fix them to the wall. I have a feeling all the jumping and banging that goes on in here is the cause of them always looking crooked. Here's a few close ups:

Now, at this point, you might be thinking, "There's not really much green going on here. It's more blue than anything!" ;0) I plan on painting the room a tan/khaki color with one wall in green. Oh, and I'm still debating on painting the bed rails white, black or grey. Not sure yet. 

As for the other side of  the room: 

I found this dresser on craigslist and painted it navy and bought new pulls for the drawers. The two pin boards are nothing more than pieces of canvas with fabric stapled to them. 

The aquarium houses a Pink Toe tarantula. (I told you he loves creepy crawlies) Santa gave him that for Christmas. Surprisingly, it has done wonders to ease my phobia of spiders. I know, right?! 

I found this cute lamp for $20 and this frame on clearance for $1.24! at Target. I still haven't put a picture in it yet. This little metal basket I found buried in my teen daughter's closet. I thought it might look cool to hold my son's rock and fossil collection. Later on, I'd like to display some them in a shadow box. 

That's it for now, another to-be-continued. I hope to have several rooms painted by summer. So, stay tuned! :0P

Progress On Butterfly Bedroom

I've made a little progress on my youngest daughter's bedroom. I bought an all-white shabby chic comforter and a polka dot pillow from Target and got a green picture frame on clearance for $5. I love the design! I framed a vintage picture of Little Bo Peep from an old nursery rhyme book.

I haven't quite made up my mind on a paint color. I was thinking a soft lavender. Got any ideas?