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.
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 love to visit model homes. Near my sister in law’s house they have 7 model homes open for touring. It was a muddy, stormy Sunday afternoon so she and I headed out to walk through the homes. This builder’s homes are well built and are part of a 55+ neighborhood. Today you get to see the first two.
I have never seen this designer/ builder’s work, and I really enjoyed getting to see their ideas. They had the most creative ceilings I have ever seen. My favorite home happened to be the first home we visited.
The very first room was… Navy and coral with a rustic, modern vibe. I can honestly say it was the only room I could see myself in, but I did take away some ideas.
We didn’t plan on going so excuse the iPhone photos.
House One
I loved this house.
The front bedroom was so cool. I really liked the china cabinet and the matching crib springs. The stripes wet navy, burlap, and a cream color. The art was stenciled canvas.
Loved the coral tailored cloth on the night stands.
Here is the rest of the house:
The master was a little too fussy for me. The side tables were way too full and the picture above the bed was too much. The mosaic tile panels are throughout all the homes.
I had to ask myself if that design in the shower would get old?
I loved the zinc topped hammerd table.
I liked the wood squares on the laundry wall.
I loved the wood flooring!
House Two
This house was totally not my style but still fun to look at and even in this house there were elements I really liked. I called this the mirror house.
Imagine dusting all those mirror frames.
A wall of mirrors in a 55+ guest bedroom?
I really liked this piece.
Loved the formal dining table.
I like the light fixture but two breakfast tables?
The backsplash was fun.
Oh my, the master was sensory overload. Tile and beam ceiling, tile insets on the wall, mirror edged headboard…
I am getting ready to show you my fabric painted teal chair with lime green legs as soon as I finish one more little item for the chair, but I realized That out of context the chair would look a little Dr. Seuss-ish. You still may think it does when you see it but it will fit in this room.
Just before I started blogging we did this furniture fore the Lovebirds. They were getting ready to set up house and we wanted them to have some fun furniture. We bought the furniture from an estate sale. The furniture had a great story. The children, who were holding the estate sale had all pitched in to buy the furniture for their parent’s 25th anniversary. I don’t understand why they did not want to keep it but for $150.00 we got a great set. I do not have any pictures of the before but we are babysitting the dresser and armoire while the lovebirds are living in far away lands.
Right now the bedroom is a mix of our stuff and theirs. The walls are painted Behr Ice Cube and the dresser is painted Behr Rapids. My son loves wood as much as my daughter in law loves painted furniture. We compromised by painting the dresser base but leaving all horizontal surfaces wood.
The painting says Always Kiss Me Goodnight in case it is bugging you. I painted it for them as part of their wedding gift. In their home they have grey bedding with dark purple accents. Our bedroom is yellow, teal, turquoise, and lime green. Crazy huh?
I love this mirror. It is so pretty and well proportioned.
We painted the furniture and glazed it with a dark glaze.
The hardware on the set is so ornate.
My son’s belongings are in this upright chest.
The horizontal part of the armoire at the middle being left stained breaks up the armoire.
I love the top. The herringbone painting usually lives above the bed, but it looks good here, too.
We learned a lot about painting furniture when we painted this set. I am happy with how it has held up after two years and three moves. Before the kids get back we have a few touch ups, but not many.
The teal chair will sit in front of the giant windows.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you take a minute to pray for my kids who are far away from home. It has been a long few months already.
Last October when we visited Salado, Texas, we spotted an Estate sale in a city near Salado. Now there are “Estate” sales and then there are real deal estate sales. This was the latter. A spinster elementary principal, who retired from education in 1967 had owned the home and it’s contents. It was bitter-sweet to look though her sweet little home. I loved the French Provincial side tables, even though they were very yellowed and the solid marble tops were dingy. We picked the tables up for $30.00 per pair because it was late Saturday and everything was being marked half price. I also got some great vintage posters that I will be using in my office when I get around to framing them. My guess is that the original owner bought these side tables about the time she retired. They sat in the same location for a long time. One of the tables was rough on the side from exposure to the sun coming from the living room window. I cannot believe that I never took pictures of them but I cannot find any of the photos. Here they are without the tops on ready for paint.
Sun damage from sitting by a window for 45 years.
The side tables are now living in the guest room, so the Behr Sea Salt with Black Suede glaze on top was the ticket to make the side tables match the French Provincial furniture already in the room. They were pretty easy to make beautiful again. My Hubby sprayed the furniture then I glazed them using Behr Faux effects.
So glad my Hubby can spray furniture
The glazing went on really quickly.
The marble has veins of coral and lavender running through it.
I think that they look like they are smiling because of the hardware on the drawers.
A good cleaning of the marble with stone cleaner brightened the tops. The tops are HEAVY. My guess is that they are at least 15 lbs. each. I am not sure how long I am keeping the French Provincial furniture but I really like them and they are a nice addition to the bedroom furniture.
Thank you friends for taking the time to look at our work.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
If things go as they have been for the last week, by the time I wake up tomorrow I will have had 50,000 page views on my little teeny tiny minnow of a blog. I will also be celebrating two years of blogging. There are blogs out there that get 50,000 page views a day and it has taken me two years. I never said I was fast. first and foremost, I want to say thank you, friends, for reading, thank you for commenting, and thank you for causing me to improve what I produce. I still have no idea what I am doing most of the time. By that I mean my husband and I are making it up as we go on our projects, and sometimes failing miserably. I am about the most technology challenged blogger out there. There have been many times when I did something on the blog but had no idea what I did, how to fix it, or if it was good, how to repeat that good thing. Between the time I started this blog and now both our children have married, my husband and I changed jobs, we sold a home, went a while “between homes”, bought a home and moved to a new city, my son and daughter in law have moved in part-time, I started a new blog called My Burb Home, and I have taken up photography as a hobby. Not bad for two folks in their 50’s.
This next year we plan to travel to two places on our bucket list, work on both our weekend home and our suburban home, build a raised garden, put in a fire pit,and continue to work on found furniture. Life is good for this weekend loving couple.
I wanted to share with you some projects from the last two years. As I looked back, there were others that could have or should have made the cut but I plan on rewriting several of them now that I don’t stink like when I started. Not many of you were around when I first logged in, set up an account and started rambling so some of the projects below may be new to you. Just click on the hyperlink and it will take you to the original blog. I hope you enjoy.
10. French provincial furniture makeover. I love that we were able to take a couple of homely particle board pieces of furniture and make them beautiful. I am seriously considering selling this set because I want to redo the room like now I recently saw on a home tour but I love the color combination and how much I learned on this project.
9. Western Dresser. We found a homely little Goodwill dresser and made it something fun for the lake house guest room we call the bunk room.
8. Table and Banquette seating out of reclaimed wood. Wow! This is one of my oldest posts and my dinky little camera did not do this beauty any justice. I will be re-photographing this set. This was a collaboration between Hubby and me to come up with a solution to a tiny space using reclaimed siding from our house. It is one of the most functional spaces in our home now.
7. Farmhouse Table. I love the look of a rustic table but man, they are expensive. Our $90.00 solution to this problem turned out to be one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It moved with us and was where we gathered for our first Thanksgiving meal in the new home.
6. Wedding Chalkboard. I did tell you my kids got married, right? I was fortunate enough that both my daughter and daughter in law wanted me to make personal items for their wedding. I loved that they wanted things that I worked on as a part of their special day. The link above is one of those items, an ornate frame my daughter in law, Sweet Amanda, found at a resale shop that I redid for the wedding and added a chalkboard. I chose this one because it was the first wedding project. I love all four of my precious kids.
5. Map Chair. Another piece of furniture that needs to be re-photographed. This little chair would be easy to recreate for a friend moving to a new city or a college student who needs to remember where home is. I seem to have a thing for chairs.
4. Painted Suitcases. I have made a total of seven of these painted suitcases now The link is to four of them I did at one time. I love finding cheap old hard sided suitcases, priming, painting, distressing, glazing then adding a chalkboard to one side. It makes a great entry into a home when guests are coming over or to announce an event. If I ever started a business, I would sell these because I enjoy mine so much.
3. Junk Fairy End Table. The last three are easy. They are my favorite, favorite projects. They speak to my love of color, family and friends. The junk fairy ( AKA The Social Planner) dropped off this homely table while we were gone one day. I did not need it, so posted a photo of it on Facebook and offered to redo it for a friend. Robin snagged it. I am happy that she chose green as the color for the table. I really like how the stained top turned out. I enjoyed it so much that I painted a table in my own home close to the same colors.
2. Beverage Station. I am now working on number three of these babies. What a great re-purpose project for an old stainless sink and a sewing machine cabinet. I love the look and they make entertaining in a back yard or porch more inviting. My favorite blue color, Behr sailboat blue, got used here. My long-suffering husband gets major credit for the stainless sink idea here.
1. Mudroom Bench. When we moved this year I literally looked for homes that my mudroom bench would fit in. It is by far my most favorite project to date. I look forward to the day that someone sends me a photo of their version of the project. http://theweekendcountrygirl.com/2013/01/28/toilet-paper-roll-art/; A found dresser, waiting for heavy trash pickup, and a resale shop mirror turned into this beauty.
I hope you enjoyed my little walk down memory lane. Thank you for taking the time to look back on my last two years. Thank you for allowing me to share what we do.
Have you missed me? I will bet not, but I have missed having finished projects to write about. We finally have a minute to breathe and start dressing the house. It is nice to not be opening boxes. Most of my house is almost put together, but none of it is done. F.r.u.s.t.r.a.t.i.o.n. The first room that I feel like is almost there is our green and coral guest room. It didn’t hurt that the walls were already painted a pleasant color I could work with. After one week of hard work we have it almost finished…I think…for now anyway. The smallest guest room is finished except for some way to display my milk glass and something interesting to go over the bed. I am still thinking about those projects, but something will come to me. Any ideas? I also have a coral accent piece in mind, eventually.
The links below will take you to the projects that were added to this bedroom.
I did not love the mirror that came with the set with the dresser in this room, so I used a few of my vintage mirrors over the dresser along with a frame from my gray bedroom there. I like the look!
The bedding was my grandmother’s and so were the milk glass lamps on the night stands. I love that they have found a home in this peaceful room.
The rocker was my dad’s great grandmother’s. It needs to be re-caned, but I love that she sat in this chair so many years that she wore the cane out on one side, We bought the quilt years ago and I am always happy to find a place for the flower basket pattern.
The coral accents on the milk glass lamp, pillow and table legs add to the green, black and white theme.
The flowers were from Baby Boy’s wedding to Sweet Amanda and the Follow Your Heart sign was a Goodwill find for .99.
I love the chalkboard above the black rail. It is fun to be able to change the quote when the mood strikes.
The clock has bounced around my offices, our house and the garage but I thought it looked good painted in the room. The watercolor in the vintage frame I painted circa 1988. My parents had it in their room for a while.
All in all the room was put together for under $200. Not too shabby for a totally new color scheme and furniture.
The dresser and headboard were purchased for $80.00 and painted for $15.00. The mirror went home with my friend Shahana. She has the perfect spot for it.
The curtains were inexpensive black panels from Walmart and the white shears were on clearance at Anna’s. They have a nice little embroidered swirl on the fabric. The whole window was dressed for $30.00.
I have had a few friends lately ask me to look at a piece of furniture before they updated it. All of them thought that they had solid wood furniture and did not want to ruin it. As I looked at the pieces I have had to be the one to break the news to them that although it was beautiful, it was not made of solid wood boards. Most of the furniture I look at these days is partially solid wood, and partially wood veneer. Even brands of furniture that are associated with quality furniture probably have some pieces that are not solid wood. Veneered furniture has been around for a loooong time. A thin layer of pretty solid hardwood is glued to a piece of plywood or particle board. Because the surface is a hardwood solid, it can be sanded, stained, varnished and look amazing. You just must be careful not to sand off too much wood. Not knowing the true make up of a piece of furniture can cause you to ruin it when you decide to repurpose the piece. If it is veneer, you need to check to see that the veneer is on securely. If it has peeled off in places and you are going to paint it, no big deal. Sand it, fill the area with wood filler and then once it is dry sand again. if there is particle board involved, it has to be sealed anywhere that the particle board will come in contact with something wet. ( FYI- paint is a liquid.) I recommend a primer applied lightly in coats over these areas. Get a really thick primer like Zinzer bonding primer or Glidden Gripper. Both of those product state that they also seal.
Here is my tip on how to tell what the makeup of your furniture is:
Look at it where it was not varnished or stained. Under the piece, the back inside the drawer space. You will get a better idea in those places.
Pick it up. If a piece is unbelievably heavy for its’ size, it is 99% sure not to be solid wood. All that glue and pressed wood is heavier than a solid wood piece would normally be. Solid wood furniture is generally not super heavy for its size.
Check the edges if there is a veneer ( thin skin of solid wood over something else) the place you can most easily tell is on a sharp edge.
A piece not being solid wood never scared me off, but knowing what something is made of does affect how I re-do it. Even Ikea furniture can be painted, but it takes the right materials and you cannot sand through the plastic-ee coating or the particle board insides will puff when they get wet.
Even antique furniture my not be solid wood. About 20 years ago we bought a church pew from an antique store. It was pretty oak wood but needed some work. We decided to have it stripped so that we could re-stain it. We found out the hard way that it was really plywood with an oak veneer on top. When we got it stripped professionally, the glue holding veneer on also dissolved and we have a few places on it even today that has a wrinkled look. Lesson learned.
This really old, pretty serpentine dresser that is going to be my kitchen island is an example of veneered wood.
The mirror frame is solid wood. I am still thinking about what to do with that part. Any suggestions for me?
The drawers are solid wood.
The dresser cabinet is another story. The top is veneer in fact the reason I got this piece for a song is because the previous owner put screws in the top trying to keep the veneer down at the back of the piece. The side panels are veneer. Look at it. basically the way that veneer is created is that they shave a log in a circle so that they create a continuous piece of hardwood that is way wider than the actual log would have been. (Think unrolling a cinnamon roll.) That means that the grain looks funny when you actually study it. The legs are solid wood. If I were going to refinish this piece I would have to be careful with the side panels and would have to replace the veneer on the top. I am going to paint the body, leave the drawers stained wood, and put a butcher block top on it that follows the serpentine shape.
These French Provincial side tables are veneer over particle board. It was no big deal because they were going to be painted, but I did have to make sure that we kept the inside area dry. I only use Gripper primer on particle board furniture. Get the grey tinted variety if the color you are painting is dark.
There are times when I have been pleasantly surprised too. This table ended up being solid wood. I was shocked. We bought it for $20.00 and it is getting cut in half, length-wise for a sofa table in my new family room. I did not know it was solid wood until it was flipped over to take home. I am sanding the top down and staining it now that I know!
The post on Craig’s List said that it was a solid wood bedroom set, the price was $80.00 and based on the photo that was posted above, she was for sale at but not sold in a garage sale before being posted on CL. Of course I was skeptical, but, the dresser, was the right shape and size, the mirror looked ok, the headboard would work for a while and I wanted to at least look it all over. We drove across Houston to see about the furniture where my suspicions were confirmed. There was a dresser, headboard and mirror waiting for us to take home. Not solid wood and a really bad faux burled walnut finish on the furniture, but the shape of the dresser was great and I thought I could work with it.
The finish had been compromised on the top of the dresser and there were a few spots where it had gotten wet and was a little swollen. A little research on the internet led me to Glidden Gripper primer.
Anything that says it works on glass tells me it will hold to the laminated finish on particle board surfaces. I sanded the top down where the top was swollen and sealed those spots by applying wood filler then sanding again. The dresser, headboard and mirror got two coats of primer, then the furniture was painted. It was great to find out that the drawers had a separate top piece.
The white spot was a gouge in the top that I filled with wood filler then gave it a first coat of primer.
It is odd to me that the only solid wood part of the drawers were the sides and the top panel.
The two parts meant that two separate colors would be easy to do, and I LOVE easy. I chose two colors on one paint chip card for the dresser. Almost all the dresser was painted with Behr Ocean Pearl. The only parts painted a different color were the top and drawer front panels. I love ocean pearl! it is a soft gray with a brownish undertone. The separate top piece of the dresser was painted the lightest color on the paint chip card, Sea Salt. So that the dresser fits into the green bedroom with a black chair rail I painted the top of the dresser Behr Black Suede. (The lady bugs and flowers are stickers, so only the green paint and rail will be in the room.)
( This will be our guest room soon!)
I was thrilled with the combination. It will be very restful in a guest room. After I got it all painted, I used Bona Floor Finish in satin finish on the top of the dresser. It is a hard surface that will be easy to clean and hopefully will not chip off easily. Even though I selected satin finish, be warned that it is still pretty shiny! I painted the mirror and headboard the oyster pearl color and accented the ornate decoration on both with sea salt before glazing them. I coated the rest of the dresser along the mirror and headboard with water based clear poly because I was worried that the floor finish would yellow on the grayish dresser paint. The hardware was brass plated and coming off in places.
A couple of coats of flat black spray paint that works on metal made the hardware fit in perfectly with the dresser.
I used a charcoal colored glaze on the dresser to give the piece some age.
I love how it turned out. It is going to look great in our new house guest room.
A super big thank you to my Hubby for dragging the dresser outside in 90 degree heat so I could get some good photos. The Garagemahal is gross right now!
That sweet girl loves herself some purple.
