Dresser Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Little Lucy’s Dresser

April 16, 2016April 16, 2016 Karen

I am such a lucky mother in law. I must have done something right with my own kids because they both made great choices of partners to share their lives with. My son, Baby Boy and his wife, Sweet Amanda are expecting their first child. More importantly, they are expecting our first grand baby, on both sides of the family, and first great grand baby on both as well. We are beyond excited.

Sweet Amanda asked me if we would find her a crib and dresser as our gift for the baby. I was so happy to be a part of the process. After sharing Pinterest ideas with her and checking out what she seemed to gravitate toward, it became clear that she was looking for an eclectic mix of furnishing and color.

She seemed to keep going back to this dresser, from Project Nursery.

The title of this post is June’s Purple, Teal and Mauve Striped Nursery.

I knew I needed to start looking for a long dresser and I was lucky enough to find this beauty at an estate sale for $40.00.

It was in a little rough shape after being loved by another little girl but the piece was solid wood and fit the bill for what we were on the lookout for.

The only real problem was the formica top. I researched and found out that Kilz makes a super sticky primer called Kilz Adhesion Bonding Primer. Our Home Depot doesn’t carry it, but they did order it for me.

It got primed then painted a beautiful purple called I Heart Potion

The hardware knobs got replaced with these crystal knobs, because, well a girl needs a little sparkle. The original handles were painted with Rustoleum gold spay paint.

It was a push to get the dresser done in time for the baby shower, but we made it. I cannot believe we will be meeting the sweet girl in less than a month.

We are just a bit excited.

Thank you for following along on our journey. We love hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, Blogging, Dresser, French Provincial, Painted Furniture, The City House

The Purple Nursery Dresser Project

February 12, 2016 Karen

If you are new to my blog, welcome. I am thrilled to have you join us. You might not know a lot about me, but my son, Baby Boy, and his wife, Sweet Amanda, are expecting our first grandchild May 1. We are so very excited to be grandparents.

Our kids asked us if we would mind furnishing the nursery as our gift to them. We were thrilled.

The first order of business was a crib. We found an awesome crib online sort of like this one:

It was very gently used and will be painted gray. It will be so cute for our coming baby girl.

The next order of business was to find a dresser for the sweet baby girl. I know that my daughter in law has a soft spot for French provincial dressers (you can see their bedroom furniture here) so when I spotted this beauty for $40.00 at an estate sale I was thrilled. It is going to serve as a diaper changing station and dresser in the nursery after it has a little love.

After both of us looking online, a lot, I could tell that Sweet Amanda was leaning toward a purple dresser. I was not in the least bit surprised when she started leaning toward purple. Her college home had an eggplant purple kitchen, her efficiency apartment after graduation was painted what my son called Barney purple, her dining room wall was covered in frames that were shades of purple.

That sweet girl loves herself some purple.

There are lots of examples of beautiful purple dressers out there. Sweet Amanda is weighing her options carefully before giving me the “go ahead” on colors to make sure it goes with her bedding.

Project Nursery

By Stephanie Lynn

All Things G & D

Probably My favorite is the brightest purple dresser from Project Nursery below, but I will be happy to do whatever the mother to be wants.

Because the dresser has a formica top, I am going to be trying out a new primer on this project that is supposed to stick to plastic surfaces better. Kilz Adhesion. I had to have it shipped to the house because our local stores don’ t carry it. I will let you know how it works. This weekend the project is to get the dresser cleaned, repaired, hardware removed and the dings fixed so we are ready for primer and paint once the Kilz arrives and we have the color nailed down. It is going to be stunning. When I was a teenager, my parents let me redecorate my bedroom and I ended up with a purple bed, purple headboard, lime green bedding and curtains having a brightly painted dresser is not so unusual in my world. Of course I have done my part to make sure that a few more dressers got a coat of paint along the way, too.

Having a grandsweetheart on the way is exciting. Having a daughter in law who lets me participate in the decorating is awesome.

I am blessed.

I love hearing from you,

Karen

Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Dresser, new home, rustic, San Jacinto county, using bright colors, vintage style

Finding My Inspiration Home

May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 Karen

Do you ever know what you want something to look like but you just can’t explain it to anyone? That is how I am about our soon to be- “needs a name”- house right now. I want the house to have a farmhouse look but with color throughout. A rustic modern farmhouse. Mr. Math hates this word but I want the rooms to be 80% composed of neutrals with “pops” of color infused in every room. I am afraid that some folk in my life are afraid that the house is going to look like a bag of jelly beans. That is not what I mean when I say I want there to be color and light.

Right now all the colorful stuff that is going to be spread around the 2000 square foot house and outdoor kitchen ( which is going to be a bright and cheery kiwi and turquoise) is mushed together in one room with nothing neutral. I can understand the concern when I show my friends this space. If the entire house looked like the storage bedroom does right now I would have to keep a basket of sunglasses by the front door for those brave enough to enter.

I did find some websites that have the style I am going for in our farm house. The first house is over the top but I love #7 which is talking about small doses of color infused I love the white walls, wood ceiling, and bright colors.

Country Living

This home in Hooked on Houses is much more the look we are going for. It is bright and playful but still an adult home. I love the look of this hallway and the bedroom in this house is beautiful. I love how the homeowner has infused color in an overall vintage and neutral home.

Hooked on Houses

Here are some of the wild colors that will be finding a home in our home.

These quilts, which were all made by my grandmothers or great grandmothers are going to be in a quilt cabinet- as soon as I find, or more likely- make one something like the one pictured below.

I will have to come up with something for the door because I don’t have any windows that size. I love that my grandmothers loved color as much as I do. The quilts are definitely vivid.

source: ashleysprimatives.com

The cow print is going to be hung on a reclaimed wood “gate” made from my husband’s family barn and some hardware off their smoke house door. The gate with the picture are going to hang/lean on our fireplace mantle.

The dresser is going to be our media center.

I may be changing out the red on the bottom drawer and knob but I wont know what needs to be done until I see it in the room. We shall see.

Our bedroom will be light with an aqua headboard, coral lamps, white, mismatched, vintage night stands. There will be milk glass vases, my vintage window , and will have wood elements through a pine bedroom dresser and chest of drawers. I am going to love that room.

I have the bed painted Aqua. I am looking for bedding now.

The chicken was painted by a friend and will be hanging in my kitchen. It is so cute. I love that she painted it for me.

It is so much fun dreaming of our soon to be home. I am excited that in two months we should be moving in.

Tick, tick tick. Waiting is hard.

Building a Home, cedar lumber, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dining Table, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, new home, reclaimed wood, The bedroom, the guest room, the office

Weekend Home Tour Part 2

April 21, 2015 Karen

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend home tour. The entry way was dramatic.

House 3

I really liked the ceiling in the dining or office area.

A black and white kitchen.

Mirrored side tables.

The house was fun to look at.

House 4

Much more my style.

Cedar timber ceiling.

Copper colored tile entry.

Master bedroom ceiling

I thought this wall/ headboard/ ceiling treatment was interesting. It

I like the rustic touches in this home.

I am such a fan of the herringbone brick ceiling.

I love this wall, clock, and storage.

I hope you enjoyed my visit to the model homes.

I would encourage you to visit homes near you when you get a chance. They really get the creative juices going.

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Karen

Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Dining Table, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, moving, new home

My Moving In To Do List

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 Karen

It looks like we will moving into what I believe will be our home we will happily (weekend for now) house, so I am making my list of must do or must find items. Feel free to join in if you have suggestions.

We aren’t even going to start on the outside this summer. It has to work inside first.
I don’t have any interior photos of our soon to be home yet. I am going to get some soon. The house is a traditional ranch home built in the 1980’s. The two car garage at the end of the house has been taken in and makes for a long continuous room. The fireplace is on a side wall in what would have been the middle of the original family room space.

We included a lot of our lake house furniture in the sale of the house so I have some work to do.

Master Bedroom: We have the essentials. We have a bed, night stands, dresser and chest. We need a headboard and I wouldn’t cry if I got the dresser and chest refinished before moving in. I plan on staining the tops and drawer fronts darker and paint the body of the pieces creamy white with glaze. We have our sewing machine base side tables but my sweet door headboard is not coming with us. I am not going to make major changes to the master because an addition to the master is on our short list, but it is not an immediate project . Any ideas for the headboard?

Family Room: We have a couch, two recliners (don’t judge me, I have to make the husband happy and a recliner is high on the list along with a ceiling fan), the funky dresser that is going to serve as our media center and a television. That is all we have, really. We need everything else. No tables, no shelving, I am not even sure what we need in this space. We will be re configuring the galley kitchen that runs parallel to the family room as one of our first projects so right now it is hard for me to even imagine what the space is going to look like. We are just going to have to see what we can find or build to make this room comfortable until we get the remodel done.

Dining Space: We sold everything in our current dining room. Hutch and buffet, chairs, table are all gone. I have a table hanging out in the Garagemahal that has these super chunky legs. I was given these amazing chairs and have the parts for a bench so that part is done. I need to figure out a rustic “China” cabinet. Do you have any suggestions? Please send photos!

We have two bedrooms that have absolutely nothing to go in them. I am thinking seriously about a Murphy type bed for one room and turning that room into an office/ study/ reading space. I want a set of French doors in that room for light. We will be taking out a window and adding the doors as we can afford it. If we are going to live there in the winter months I will need a well lit room to escape to. A bed that only comes out for company will be perfect. I have no idea about the third bedroom.

I like the one above minus the bench that seems very complicated. Relax Shack

This one seems easy and there is even a video.

The master, den, and dining will be about all we get done because there is one project I did not mention is that every, and I do mean every single room has cream colored carpet. Bathrooms, kitchen, family room carpet must go even if we move in with concrete floors it will be better than dealing with carpet. We hope to get tile down in the bathrooms before we move in.

Guess who will be busy for the foreseeable future? Feel free to help out on our upcoming projects. We welcome free labor.😄

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog and connecting with me.

Blessings,

Karen

burlap, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, the suburban home

Master Bedroom Pinning

January 24, 2015January 25, 2015 Karen

Well, I had time on my hands in my day this week while out on school visits. Not enough time to go back to the office but too much time to be idle.

Two thoughts kept running through my brain.
1. I want to change the look of our master bedroom.

2. If we get the land we are looking at buying, the exterior of the house must change.

If you follow me on Pinterest (kasmithson) then you can probably see what I am thinking about working on because I start pinning like crazy when I am collecting ideas. This week I started a new board for the master bedroom and one for the front of the plain Jane ranch house with an undersized front porch that we are hoping to buy. (Crazy, I know but we love the land, the location, and the outbuildings. The house will be a project for years to come.)

Since we don’t have our lake house sold or the other place purchased yet, I decided to focus on the master bedroom at our Burb house.

I am totally blaming this upcoming redo on Joanna Gaines and HGTV. I love the look the homes she decorates. The rooms are restful, stylish, and have a sense of history. Our home is a newish, tract home that is long on space but short on character.

Here are a few shots of our master bedroom today.

It isn’t awful, but we really need to have a king sized bed, and the room is lacking in character. When our son and daughter in law come back from overseas and collect their furniture, the master bedroom furniture will move into our guest room.

Here is my wish list for our bedroom update:

A “Shiplap” wall.

( I did not know I loved this so much until HGTV’s Fixer Upper)

The House of Smith has a great tutorial for getting it up here.Planked Wall

A reclaimed wood headboard.

I want the bed to look just like this one from The Accent Piece

Faux built in cabinetry.

I like something like this for This Old House only I want the window seats under our two windows and drawers instead of cabinet doors in the center section.

I want a tripod lamp.

I already have the parts for one like this: Dwelling Cents Tripod Lamp

What stays:

The triple mirror and the crystal lamps will be a part of the design. The lamps will be going on the side tables and the triple mirror on the side wall.

The coolest chair ever. It was rescued by my mom and dad. When it was delivered to me it was in pieces. I love this 1940’s low-slung chair . It is so comfortable.

The side tables. They are a pair that I made over a while back. They used to be part of an entertainment center.

The bench. It will get recovered.

The curtains, although they will need to be raised to the ceiling so that they are raised enough that they fit with the benches that will go under each window. I really like those lined burlap curtains.

That means the headboard- which I love- goes, and the oak furniture will head to storage until the kids come home to get their furniture then move to the guest room.

The biggest project will be figuring out the built in wall unit. I want it to look like a built in wall unit but really be a piece that will come apart and move with us. It will need to go from one side of the room to the other with a drawers, closed storage and drawers. I am looking at ReStores and at Hotel furniture sellers for base cabinets.

I have a feeling we will get on this as soon as the lake house is on the market.

Thanks for reading my blog. I love hearing from all of you.

Blessings,

Karen

Curbside rescue, Dresser, Repurposed Furniture, Roadside Rescue

Roadside Repurposed Dresser

January 24, 2015January 24, 2015 Karen

We found this beauty sitting on the side of the road outside a rental house. There wasn’t much I loved about the piece except that it had some great French Provincial hardware hiding under layers of paint but I just couldn’t leave it sitting on the curb waiting for heavy trash pick up.

We stopped and got the dresser along with this piece I am still thinking about what to do with it but I am thinking gray and creamy white.

After a month of the ugly lavender dresser sitting in our garage I decided that this was the weekend to get busy and do something with the piece. Because the piece was not real wood and had some areas that the fake wood had gotten wet and was swollen, I knew it would need a lot of sealing. First it all got primed with Zinzer primer then I made my own version of chalk paint for the second coat out of a grayish, greenish OOPS paint sitting in the garage that I thought would work for the piece. Here is a trick if you like the look and feel of latex paint with poly on top for durability but like the way that chalk paint will cover nasty surfaces, use one coat of chalk paint then sand lightly, then paint over it with the latex paint.

After painting the whole piece I could see it still needed additional help.
I decided to take the dresser in a whole different direction.

I took off the French Provincial hardware and added cedar fencing we picked up when our neighbors changed out their fence. One board covered the front of each dresser drawer, one to cover the bottom part and three to cover the top. Only one board needed to be cut down narrower on the table saw. After the boards were nailed on, I gave them a good sanding to bring out the color of the wood.

The hardware I decided to use out of my hoard was some shiny brass hardware that had been given to me by a neighbor. A coat of Rustoelum Flat spray paint designed for metal was just the ticket to getting the look I wanted. My math-minded husband figured out where the pulls needed to go on the dresser and drilled the holes so that they would line up vertically.

Here he is in all his glory. No one would guess that this dresser was a cheap, feminine, not wood dresser headed for a landfill.

It is going to be a gift for a hard-working friend.

What do you think about the finished $2.00 project?

I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Behr Paint with Primer, Blogging, collecting, DIY Furniture, DIY Projects, Dresser, mantle, new home, resale finds, Rustic Christmas

100 Thousand Thanks

December 16, 2014December 16, 2014 Karen

Ever since I started blogging, I have stopped 25 thousand page views to look over what happened since we started. I just hit 100,000 page views. I had not been paying much attention to the stats so this one was a bit of a surprise. It used to take a long time to reach 25 thousand page views. I mean a really long time. This time took 5 months. I was worried that in the last five months I wouldn’t have much to show you guys. It felt to me like we were sort of stuck and not getting a lot done. The kids moved out of the country, the garage is full of unfinished projects, school got started, life happened.

When I actually looked back over the last five months , I was pleasantly surprised. We got a little more done than I remembered.

My favorites from the last five months are below. If you click on the link below each picture it will take you to that actual blog, complete with DIY and pictures.

Our biggest project was updating our suburban bathroom and figuring out how to get that restoration hardware weathered wood look on a dresser. Board and batten, cool shelf, zinc finished towel rack and chandelier made to look like wood beads.

Bathroom Makeover

Chandelier

The next big thing was creating a fun office at work that included a reclaimed wood wall, suitcase wall and a giant marquee letter.

Suitcase Wall

We made one of my favorite benches from a queen sized bed.

Bench

We finally got started on our pile of cedar and are making headway with projects there. My favorite so far is a cedar barn door.

Cedar Barn Door

I repurposed a 1980’s dresser hutch top to look go with our green buffet table. I now have a place to display my milk glass that makes sense.

Hutch

I worked off and on for a while on a funky dresser that is now 99% complete. I love the look of this piece that is going to be an entertainment center.

Funky Dresser

I tried my hand at painting fabric.

Painted Fabric Chair

and finally…

I enjoyed making a rustic Christmas mantle.

Rustic Deer Head

Not too bad for a “slow” few months. Being a weekend country girl is a great life. I am blessed to have the opportunities that I have.

Thank you all so much for joining my husband and me on this empty-nest, third quarter adventure. Repurposing furniture and blogging has helped me to stay active and has enlarged my circle of friends.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog and travel with us on this adventure. We have a lot in store and look forward to the future.

I love to hear from you,

Blessings,

Karen

Curbside rescue, Dresser, home decorating, Roadside Rescue, Rubbish Rescue, Thrifting

Burn Pile Barn Door

October 26, 2014October 28, 2014 Karen

Today I am going to show you the amazing barn door I made from wood that was destined for the burn pile.

I have an odd obsession with things saved from the trash.

I own (or it owns me depending who you talk to) a rescue dog.

I cheer every year when this rose blooms because Mr. Math mowed over it twice trying to get rid of it before giving up and leaving it alone.

I have saved several pieces of furniture from the trash or the burn pile. They are some of my favorite projects.

Burn Pile Vanity

Roadside Credenza

Mudroom Bench

My dad, the original junker in our family, had some cedar cut on his property on “halves “. Basically that means he got half of the wood and the person who cut it into lumber got half for payment. Some of the cedar had imperfections that went into the cull pile. It was wormy , or bowed or split.

Cedar Windfall

My dad saved that wood for me. He knew I would want it. My dad knows me well, I did. There was a lot more wood than I expected , and it has been consuming almost a third of the Garagemahal for almost a year drying. I wasn’t sure what this wood would become but I knew that one day I would find a home for it.

I found a home for some when The Social Planner’s son bought a FEMA trailer that he and his dad are gutting and turning into a cool home for this single guy who works on yachts in a very expensive bayside community.

You might check out what people are doing with these trailers online. They were filled with formaldehyde when they were built for families after the hurricane decimated New Orleans and were dumped by the government as soon as possible. You can pick one up for a couple of thousand dollars now but they need all the junk on the inside removed.

The look he is going for is rustic industrial. I can’t wait to get some shots of the inside. Right now the kitchen is done but everything else is under construction.

We made the door quickly out of some of the cedar.

First we sorted out the wood and put it out on the floor to look at and move around then cut them all to length.

Next we clamped the wood and added a board at the top, bottom and across diagonally to make a Z.

Here it is finished. The door has five coats of polyurethane on all the door and seven inside the crevices.

It is going to look amazing in the trailer along with this piece that is going to be a counter once it is coated with bar coating.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate hearing from you.

Blessings,

Karen

Blogging, Dresser, mudroom, Painted Furniture, phot editing, Photography, Repurposed Furniture, The City House

The Fear of Being a One-Hit Wonder

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 Karen

Okay, here is a quiz. What is Carl Douglas famous for?

How about The Knack?

Do you know what Rednex is famous for?

I will bet you know their work.

Do you remember “Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting. It was fast as lightning”? Kung Foo Fighting was Sung by Mr. Carl Douglas

How about My Sharona? The Knack knocked that one out.

Rednex is famous for a song that is played at least once a night at almost every Texas bar… Cotton Eyed Joe.

After that these bands/singers either broke up, stopped singing, or just never produced another hit. I guess it really ages me that I do remember all of them, and they were pre-music video era.

I jokingly say I am a one hit wonder, too. You see, my mudroom bench is without a doubt the single most viewed and pinned post I have ever done. All the rest of my posts combined would be about half what the other posts have been viewed. I think of the mudroom bench as my one hit wonder. Don’t get me wrong, I love that bench. It is the first thing I use when I walk into the house every day and my last stop on the way out the door. But, I like other pieces I have done just as much. They just didn’t get noticed like that one did.

I think it was the lighting in the photo I took. We are after all visual folk.

I wonder if it would have been as popular if this was what I put out for the world to see?

Here are a few of my other projects that I think get looked over. It may have been when they were posted, how they were photographed, or maybe I really am a one hit wonder who just got lucky the one time.

My Western Dresser for the lake house Bunk room. It makes me smile when I walk in the room, still.

The yellow and gray bedroom. It all started with a table I picked up on the side of the road and a son moving out. In case you are wondering, yes I stenciled the wall. I still love the look. I miss that room the most of all the rooms at the city house.

The green buffet table. This was a thrift store dining table turned into a more narrow buffet with a reclaimed wood top. I love this table. Baby boy says it is his favorite piece in our house. It is about to get an addition. I am adding a hutch to the top for my milkglass that is about 80% complete.

Our farmhouse table. It has at least ten, 1-0 coats of poly on top and I am crazy about this table. It started out life as a white tile and golden oak table and cedar siding from our lake house. I am about to change the color of the legs so that it plays nice with the buffet and hutch.

Finally, the second most popular post is the beverage station. I have now made three of these with numbers four, five and six in the Garagemahal waiting for their turn. I have made a green, bright blue and navy blue. Soon a burnt orange, a green and a cream colored one will be done.

I love showing you all what I do and I really do value your input. Thanks for taking time out of your busy days to see what we are up to in the country. I hope your day is wonderful.

Blessings,

Karen