Before and After Mid Century Dresser

A few months back, I picked up this dresser from a yard sale in my neighborhood. It was pretty banged up but was sturdy and had nice, clean lines. We already have a mid-century chest in our bedroom with a very similar feel.

Here's where I started: 

Yikes, this top was beyond salvaging: 

Primer + spray paint and new pulls really helped this little piece out:

Hickory Hardware pulls in brushed nickel ordered from Home Depot (free shipping, yay)!

The total cost of this upcycle was about $70 bucks

• $30 dresser
• $35 pulls
• $5 spray paint

I'm happy with it although it's nothing special. I am going to find some cute drawer liner and move (my underthings and tshirts) right in!

More DIY Drapes

after success with my no-sew panels in the dining room, I decided to attack some panels for the master bedroom. This time, I decided to line them for extra heft and light-blocking capability. 

The lining wasn't difficult but I wasn't terribly precise in my measurements so a few of the panels have slightly shorter linings than ideal. Luckily no one will see my mistake!

More rings and drapery hook action:  

Bam! Lined drapes!  I just used some $5.99 stuff from JoAnn purchased with a 50% off coupon.

My fabric - quatrefoil in a creamy yellowy color.  It is NOT upholstery or drapery weight, however, so it's a little thin. Had I not lined these, they would be pretty transparent. 

Guest Bed

Sneak peek of the guest bedroom. It's getting there - still needs some tweaks. My re-purposed drapes that used to hang in the living room are too long so I must hem them. I want something to go over the bed and I'd love to find an awesome smallish dresser. Oh, and lampshades! And possibly a rug. So maybe I'm not as finished as I'd like.

But it's a long way from where we started:

More is Not Enough

My name is Chelsea, and I have a problem with gallery walls. I want them all over the house. Apparently, this is a common thread between Jake and I since he has the man cave covered in show posters. Two walls of the bedroom are in progress/good enough. Above is my white-framed wall, the adjacent one is beige-toned art.

I feel bad because I see other bloggers meticulously planning gallery walls out, taping paper up before sinking a single nail. I prefer to let mine flow organically and add a new piece whenever I stumble across it. But that's they way I roll, design-wise. No mood boards, no swatches. Just throw it against the wall (sometimes literally) and see what works.

Trim

I wanted to give our bedroom a more "finished" look so I decided crown molding would be a good addition. Wood molding was going to be a PIA to deal with so I sought out some more DIY options. SoSimple sells affordable, high-density foam moldings over the interwebs.

Here's a before shot of the room. The paint is a super light pink so it's hard to get a shot that shows the contrast of the trim.

And after...

It looks ok in these shots but we really didn't do the best job of installing it. The house has popcorn ceilings througout (gross) and the trim doesn't lay totally flush on the ceiling so it was hard to line up all the pieces. We also made a couple of small errors in measuring so we have a few seams that are larger than they should be. I am going to get some white wood filler and paint and hopefully the seams won't be as visible.

Hung

I decided to move some stuff around in the house and ended up filling one of the master bedroom walls with items with no other home at the moment. I need one more small thing to hang right above the chair and I'm calling it good.

Best part, this was all stuff I had already, so cost = nada!

Never Pay Retail

Found one of these Petrie chairs on Craigslist...hopefully it's still available, it would be perfect for the master BR corner here:

I'm looking for a cane chair or two for the master bedroom. One of my favorite eBay sellers, tsandcompany, has these two for sale right now. They are cheap and I'm tired of scouring thrift stores...I might make my first eBay furniture purchase. I'm a little skeered of the shipping costs but I hear Greyhound is pretty affordable for bulky items.

Feeling Accomplished

Finally finished the master bedroom paint job. It was a dingy cream color when we moved in, then I made a big mistake and painted two walls a gorgeous peacock blue. I loved the color but it was just too much for a bedroom. So after a billion + coats of primer + paint, we now have a soft, soft pink bedroom. Color is Lowe's Martha Stewart Milk Glass.

I made the headboard, upholstered with a curtain panel from the Martha Stewart (again) line from Kmart. The window panels are the same material. Hey, I find something I like and a run with it!

There's so much more to do and I am on the hunt for art and a couple of petite armchairs, but at least the basics are finally in place.

Ugh. My peacock blue walls are causing me some major distress. I can't decide what to else to do with them! Our bedroom furniture is dark wood and our floors are oak. I had a brown/white duvet but it felt too heavy. I threw on a heavily patterned floral duvet from Pottery Barn, but that was too much, too. I can't seem to put my thumb on what I am going for.

Repaint? Did I screw up? Drama!

Lair

via sfgirlbybay ( i think)

That's what I call a bed. I wish I had some upholstery skillz as mad as these! Oh yeah, and the creativity to pick that print.

I'm attempting a simple DIY upholstered headboard shortly but it's going to be pretty basic. There are plenty of make your own headboard tutorials out there on the internets and I think I have found one that I can follow. I just need some foam and a piece of plywood and we're off to the races.

Idea alert!

image

I spied this on the Better Homes & Gardens website. I'm thinking of adding a bench at the foot of the guest bedroom. I like the way they used two step-tables as a bench and added a cushion. Clever! I have two of these tables that I could try this with straight away. Mine won't look nearly as cute but it might be worth a shot. I'll report back with results ASAP.

Bedroom sneak peek

Here's the peacock blue wall in my bedroom. It's very rich so I did two walls and I will do the other 2 in anaccent color - I'm thinking a nice warm beige. I love the combo of my yellow velvet chair and the blue wall.

The color is "Pacific Palisades" from Benjamin Moore.

Peacock

I slapped this color on my bedroom wall today. Yeah, I'm crazy.