Easy kitchen face-lift

Thanks to a weekend of sweat equity, the kitchen in our Montana cabin is about 80% complete.  Oh - what a difference a few coats of primer, paint, and shiny new hardware make. 

"Before"

"After"

I used a chemical de-glosser on the cabinets, which eliminated the need to sand, before putting on two coats of primer and two coats of glossy paint (Martha Stewart's paint in bright white).  A coat of primer and a coat of semi-gloss paint (MS painter's chalk) on the accent wall in the kitchen took it from a multi-hued red to a nice, neutral white.

 

The kitchen still needs a little work (e.g. dishwasher needs to be installed, light fixture changed out, filler cabinets put in next to the stove) - but it looks TONS better than it did before.

Revamped dining room table: Raindrops on Roses

Check out my sister's adventures in revamping her dining room table on her blog: Raindrops on Roses

A reupholstered chair seat using Waverly's Sun n Shade fabric in

Parterre Indigo (tip: indoor/outdoor fabric is super easy to clean)

Feeling blue (painted laminate nightstand)

"Before"

The white laminate nightstand pictured above was another one of my Value Village finds - and cost me a whopping $9.99 + tax.

At first glance it didn't look too shabby - but a closer look revealed stains, warped spots, and ingrained dirt.  Also - I didn't get the oversized knob.  I'm sure its supposed to be whimsical/child like, but...

After cleaning and sanding a couple rough spots on the top, I primed the nightstand with Zinsser Cover Stain.  I let the primer dry, then lightly sanded to remove brush strokes and drips before applying two coats of RustOleum American Accents paint in wild flower blue.  Note: Its important to prime laminate before painting, otherwise your paint will eventually bubble.  On a positive note - you don't need to sand before priming.

A crystal knob, purchased at Anthropologie on sale for $2.95, added a lovely finishing touch.

"After"

It'll look perfect in one of the guest rooms in our Montana cabin (between two twin beds).  Purchasing a similar night stand brand-new could have cost me as much as $145.00.

 

Gray, gold, and white bedroom

As I mentioned in a previous post (here), the hubby and I bought a vacation home - which means I now have 4 bedrooms to decorate (among other things).

I'm planning to paint one of the bedrooms gray - and a recent Ross purchase (photo below) inspired me to go with a gray, gold, and white theme (inspiration board/details above).

I don't want to spend a ton of money decorating a place that's not our primary residence - so I've been scouring our storage space, thrift, and discount stores for items.  My goal is to keep the decorating budget for this room below $200.00 (I must admit the art ate up 25% the budget, but I couldn't resist).

Other gray & gold inspiration (via Pinterest)

apartment therapy

the glamourai

Painted thrift store nightstand

"Before"

(my cat is so nosy!)

I found the lovely (yet warped/scratched/scruffy) nightstand, pictured above, on a thrifting adventure with my partner in crafting, Leigh.

While it looked like a hot mess - I thought it had potential (solid wood, woohoo!) - so I ponied up $9.99 + tax and took it home.

For my maiden painting voyage I used: Zinsser spray primer (oil-based - needed a primer since it was so damaged), Rust-oleum spray paint in heirloom white (1.5 cans), Minwax water-based poly-acrylic, a mask, a medium grain sanding sponge, and a drop cloth.  I relied heavily on the tutorial here and the FAQ's here - both via Centsational Girl.

"Work in Progress"

If I had a time machine I would do the following differently:  I'd use a brush on primer, which goes on thicker, on the top of the night-stand for durability and to hide blemishes, and I would do a better job sanding my primer drips (it took me a while to perfect my spray paint technique).

I'm going to sew a little runner for the top of the nightstand using the material I bought to re-upholster the chair in a post below.

"After"

A couple notes:  I didn't sand all the original finish off, I only sanded enough to rough up the surface of the nightstand and remove any lacquer/debris.  The mask is definitely a MUST when you're sanding and painting (wood particles/fumes).  If I ever paint anything bigger than a nightstand I'm definitely using traditional paint.  The fumes are KILLER (and bad for the environment, I feel a little guilty, but re-using furniture instead of buying new furniture must get me some carbon credits, right?). Finally, re-painting furniture doesn't take a huge time commitment.  My total "active" time on this project was probably an hour.