Refinished Kitchen Island

If you’re a DIYer, and you’re anything like me, then you have some unfinished projects around your house. I have about a gazillion. Well, this awesome fall weather we’re having has inspired me to finish up some of these projects. First on the list? Painting and staining this island. 

It used to house our coffee machines before I added the industrial shelving unit. Once I did that I decided to use this piece as an island. And I’m still working on painting that refrigerator. (Remember all those unfinished projects I was talking about?)

This little makeover was pretty simple. I used some white paint and sandpaper for the base. Birchwood white by Valspar for the first coat  and bright white mystery paint from my basement for the second coat. By the way, this was a free sample of paint. Always check your decorating magazines for a coupon from Lowe’s. Eight ounces of free paint? Yes please.  

For the top I used a DIY vinegar stain followed by a Minwax stain in Dark Walnut. You can read more about the vinegar stain here. It creates a great ashy finish. 

Then I added some simple bun feet using straight top plates.

Before

After

No Island

Island

I always thought our kitchen was too small for an island but it actually makes it so much more functional because it gives us more counter space to work with. It’s a small change but it makes a big difference. So that’s one thing I can cross off the list! What’s on your list of unfinished projects?

Linking up at some great linky parties this week. Liz Marie Blog / DIY Showoff / Rain on a Tin Roof / The Shabby Nest  / Suburbs Mama / Domestically Speaking / Start at Home

Coastal Eclectic Bedroom Chair

It’s so hard to leave the beach. If you follow me on Instagram then you know we just spent a week at the beach doing absolutely nothing. And it was awesome. This was my view pretty much everyday. 

 

It’s kinda hard to get back into the groove of reality but at the same time it’s really good to be home. Anyway, we did a little thrifting while we were there. I love thrift shops in beach towns, they always have the best stuff. While I didn’t bring anything home with me I did remember that I never really shared the makeover of the chair I bought last year at the beach.

 Yep, LAST year. And it was only 20 bucks.I bought it not knowing exactly where I wanted to use it but I knew at some point it would be perfect somewhere. How’s that for vague? This is what it looked like when I bought it. 

It was a little dirty and a lot blah. It was in great shape though and it’s really comfy.Once I gave our bedroom a little makeover I knew  exactly what to do with the chair.I started by spray painting it white but I knew it needed something else. So I broke out my favorite Purdy brand paint brush to paint the wicker.

I painted it with this  Martha Stewart Specialty paint in Vintage Gold. This is absolutely one of my favorite gold paints. It has the best shimmery gold finish. 

Then I recovered the cushion in this greek key fabric. I found it on the remnant table at Hancock Fabrics. I geeked out a little bit right there in the store when I found it. It’s pretty rare to find something this fab so cheap. They sell remnants for around $5.00-$6.00 per yard.  I got about four yards so you’ll be seeing this fabric again.

Then I went back and forth with these two pillows.

I decided I like the grey one best. I love the mix of the patterns in the neutral tones and I especially love it against the shimmery metallic paint.

So it only took a year but it did finally get a makeover. Sometimes that’s how long it takes to get something right. It took me the longest to decide what to call this chair but I think it’s kinda coastal and kinda eclectic. So there ya go. You may have noticed I started painting the bedroom. No more Bittersweet Chocolate!  I can’t wait to get it finished so I can show you how much better it looks. And cross it off my list….

This is where you will find me linking up this week. Liz Marie Blog / The Shabby Nest / Suburbs Mama / Rain on a Tin Roof / The Blissful Bee / The DIY Dreamer

Bedroom Makeover: A Much Needed Change

Hey y’all! Hope you’re all having a great week. Mine has been a little rough. We had to say goodbye to our sweet little Lola. She was our furry baby and it was devastating to have to let her go. But I won’t dwell on that. I just want to say that we are so thankful to have been blessed with her in our lives and we SO appreciate all the kind words and prayers from everyone.

Anyway, I had been planning to give our bedroom a much needed freshening up and after what happened this week it seemed like the perfect time to just get in there and get it done. It was a GREAT distraction. There are still a few more things I want to do, like paint a white wall, add some artwork, and add a new light fixture and some accessories. But I did get a lot done and now it feels fresh and crisp. Exactly what we needed. 

Check out these before pictures.

This is what I’ve done so far. 

• Painted the bamboo chair in white and gold. Covered the seat cushion in a grey/white greek key fabric. 
• Reupholstered the headboard in a bright white fabric and added a nailhead trim. I used a table cloth from Target. 
• Replaced the wooden storage bench with an upholstered ottoman. 
• Pulled the white duvet cover from the guest room and kept the Nate Berkus indigo pillow shams. (If you’ve been following for a while then you know I was determined to use some of that indigo blue bedding). 
• Added one of my DIY Gold Painted Pillows along with some other new and old toss pillows. 
• Added a new rug from Garden Ridge. 
• Hung a set of mirrors above the bed. I found those at Target. I was trying to create the illusion of a taller headboard. 

I totally believe that if you make your home a happier place you’ll be a happier person. That was pretty much the goal this week, to make our home a happy place to be.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a beautiful weekend!

Linking up to some fab linky parties this week.

Liz Marie Blog

If It’s Not Baroque

The Shabby Nest

Suburbs Mama

DIY Showoff

Rain on a Tin Roof

Homecoming

The Blissful Bee

A Stylish Interior

A Day In the Life

You may or may not know that I work in a furniture store.  Yes, I’m a furniture sales person. Well, my official title is “Design Consultant”. I sell beautiful new furniture and I often get to help people decorate their homes. So, I blog about DIY decor and refinishing old pieces of furniture but I also sell new furniture. Maybe that seems like a weird conflict of interest but the truth is I just love furniture and decorating of all kinds and price ranges.

I grew up with a father that refinished furniture for a living. He is pretty amazing. BUT, it wasn’t until I started working in the furniture industry that I really began to learn about decorating and began to develop my own personal style. I had already been following DIY/decor blogs for a few years and thought about how much fun it would be to have a blog of my own.  So when I began working in the furniture industry, and really started to develop an interest in the field, blogging just seemed like a good fit. 

I know that many DIY/home decor bloggers have at one time or another worked in the furniture industry so they pretty much know what it’s like. But for those that haven’t I thought it might be fun to share a Day-in-the-Life of what it’s like to work in a furniture store. 

Before I get into all this let me tell you about the place I work. It’s called EF Brannon Furniture. It’s family owned and operated. The people I work for are AWESOME,  the furniture we sell is high quality, and I work with some very talented people. I have learned A LOT here. Ok, here goes.

9:30 AM  First Things First 

My work day starts at 9:30 am. Of course I have to start my day with coffee. Now I don’t usually get Starbucks but I happened to have a gift card and it was a Monday so I needed a little extra “Go Juice”.

Monday mornings are when I check the status of all my orders. This means making sure everything is on schedule and that all the fabric numbers and item numbers are correct. While I’m doing that a customer calls and requests that I fax a quote she needs. As I make my way to the office I spy a bolt of fabric that I had been waiting on for a customer. Then I do a little happy dance. The fabric had been back-ordered and I expected it to take a little longer. (Those of you that have done this type of work know the relief I’m feeling right now). Call said customer to give her the good news.

11:00 AM Help my First Customer of the Day

This customer was shopping for a white slip-covered sofa and dining furniture with a coastal look. We can do that. He wanted to accent the pieces with bright greens and blues so we picked out some pieces and pulled some fabrics. I love this kind of look by the way.

 

1:00 PM In Home Consultation

Earlier in the day I had received a call from a customer that needed a little help decorating. She recently moved into a new home and wants a look inspired by a particular issue of Traditional Home Magazine. Unfortunately, she had lost her copy and couldn’t find another one anywhere. Of course I had every issue of Traditional Home at work EXCEPT the one she needed. Of course. Luckily I found it in my stash at home and got it to her the next day.

In the meantime, we meet at her home. An “In Home Consultation” basically consists of measuring the space and discussing things like, what type of look they want, colors that inspire them, and how they want the room to function. We want it to look great AND be functional. So we choose some possible paint colors for the space and talk about fabric colors and patterns. After we finish up I get back to the store and get to work.

After sketching out a VERY rough draft for the floor plan I pull some fabrics. A lot of times we bounce ideas off each other in the design center. That’s Mary on the right, a co-worker and an awesome decorator. 

So I pull together two possible options.

Next I choose some tables and other accent pieces.

So now that I have a plan I just need to put it all together to present to my customer, which I will do before we meet up again.

4:00 PM Coffee Break

So 4:00 rolls around and it is definitely time for a coffee break. You know I still have that gift card and luckily for me Starbucks is just across the street. So I have some coffee, check my e-mail and try to organize the mess that is my paperwork.

5:00 PM Greet a New Customer

I greet another customer who is  looking for a sofa and a chair. She loves grey and is going for a dressy look. We look at a few things and she decides on this pretty combo. She will have to come back though, to let her husband pick out a recliner. I know what you’re thinking, “a recliner with that”? Don’t worry, it can be done. We carry a lot of different styles of recliners and I know we have one to work with this. You know what Tim Gunn would say. Make it work. 

So there you have it.  While there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes that is basically a Day-in-the-Life of a furniture salesperson. Or at least, a day in MY life. Some days are crazy, some days are a little more quiet, and really anything can happen. I guess that’s one of the things I love about my job. Everyday involves different people with different requests, so it never gets boring.

Hope you enjoyed this little summary of my day! Have you ever worked in a furniture store? What was it like for you?  

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

DIY Gold Painted Pillows

I have a quick project to share with you today. It’s really easy and can be done in an afternoon. 

If you have some pillows you want to jazz up then this is for you. Martha Stewart Metallic Paint. Every time I went to Home Depot I would eyeball this paint. I don’t know what took me so long but I finally bought some.

There are about a hundred things I wanted to use this paint on but I decided to start with these plain toss pillows I made a while ago. They were nothing special. I had simply sewn together some old fabric swatches I had lying around. They are so much better now.

This is what I started with.

Yeah they are FAR from perfect but keep in mind sewing is “not mah thang”.

I taped off the first pillow so that I would end up with two bold stripes through the center of the pillow. I measured about 3 1/2″ between the strips of tape.

Once I started painting I quickly realized it would work much better with a paint brush.

The fabric is textured so it was easier to get the paint to stick in all the grooves with a brush.

A couple of things I learned about painting fabric. 

• Paint on top of and away from the tape. Not toward it. It felt like the paint would easily slide under the tape.
• Don’t put a lot of paint on the brush but saturate the fabric really well so you only have to apply one coat.

For the second pillow I wanted a diagonal pattern so I placed the tape in diagonal strips about 3″ apart.

This is how they turned out.

This was so easy. Seriously, it only took a couple of hours including dry time. I LOVE this paint. Thanks Martha! I can’t wait to try it on some other things. Until now, painting something gold required spray painting which meant if it was raining I could forget it. Oh, and it’s kind of hard to tell in the photos but it has a GORGEOUS metallic sheen and it isn’t as deep of a gold that you get from most spray paints. LOVE!

I’m still playing around with where I want to keep the pillows but for now they look pretty good in the living room. Oh, and I now have new inspiration to refinish our dining chairs. Maybe I can get to that soon….

So have you ever painted fabric? Share!!

This is where I’ll be linking up this week. Come check it out!

Liz Marie Blog

Suburbs Mama

DIY Showoff

Give Me the Goods Monday @ Rain On a Tin Roof

If It’s Not Baroque

The Blissful Bee

Home Coming

 

Southeastern Salvage

Just wanted to share a little about a place I love to go. It’s called Southeastern Salvage. They carry a mix of building materials, furniture, and accessories. Oh, and they have free popcorn.

 Even if I don’t buy  anything I always leave a happier person. You won’t find them in every city but if there is one near you, and you haven’t been, you need to check it out. You don’t get a lot of info on the website about what is actually in the store and that’s because the inventory changes a lot. So here is a SMALL sampling of the awesome things they have in stock right now, at the Chattanooga location.

LOVING these Moroccan lanterns and decorative driftwood balls.

I’ll take anything tufted or with nail trim.

Don’t even get me started on the Union Jack. I never get tired of seeing that in design.

Whitewash? Yes please!

I feel like I NEED this leather sofa in my life but it would take up our ENTIRE living room.

Cute pillows for $8.00! I mean, come on! How awesome is this stuff? The prices on most things are pretty good, especially the accessories.

I bought this for $3.00.

I probably would have spent more time looking around (and getting better pictures) but I had to get this little bear to the vet.

So go check it out and if you do let me know what kind of great goodies you find.

I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

Here I go changing my mind again. I just CAN’T decide what I’m doing about our bedroom.

I was going for something like this.

decor pad

So I painted the room Bittersweet Chocolate.

But then I found this bedding.

Nate Berkus

I fell in love with it and was thinking I wanted to mix it with some pretty yellows but that just wouldn’t work with the Bittersweet Chocolate.

Plus I’m still not over my obsession with coral-y pinks. So I put this together on Olioboard.

I love this paint color called Storm but I really don’t want to paint again. I know, I’m all over the place. So my dilemma: Do I work with the Bittersweet Chocolate or paint the room? Again.

Coastal Inspirations

So we are back from a week at the beach but I still have beach livin’ on my mind. The sounds, the scents, the colors, oh how I love all that beachy goodness. Everything about being at the beach is so inspiring. I used to dream of living in a home that was straight out of Coastal Living.

Well my taste has changed a little since then but I still LOVE all things coastal. So I brought back a few things that would add a little coastal charm to our home.

Seashells! (of course)

One morning as I was walking I found a couple of these awesome shells. Are these capiz shells? (If anyone knows please comment below). And why have I never noticed these before? I thought if I could find enough of these they would look really cool in some sort of glass dish or jar in the dining room. Still haven’t finished the dining room but that’s another story.

Next, I found these!

The colors and shapes of these have a great coastal feel and they are perfect for collecting small things like jewelry, keys, and makeup brushes. The best part is that they were only $1.00 each! I found them at this cute little thrift store near the beach. They had SO MANY things I loved and lots of great furniture, such as …

THIS!

I found this little chair sitting outside the thrift store just waiting for me. I’m a sucker for anything wicker, cane, or bamboo. Hello gorgeous! The chair and cushion are both in great shape and it’s actually really comfortable it just needs some paint and new fabric. I can’t wait to get started on this I just have to decide what I want to do with it..so many possibilities!!

So, after a week of relaxation, great food, and much needed time spent with my little family I’m feeling thankful, inspired,  and ready to tackle some projects.

So long summer…..

$8.99 Side Table

So I found this great little table at a local thrift store and for $8.99 I couldn’t pass it up.  I knew I would either use it as a nightstand or in the living room. Well since we didn’t HAVE an end table in the living room I thought that would be a better option.  Here it is!

It had a standard oak finish, was pretty damaged on the top, and OH MAN it smelled like smoke. So I gave it a good cleaning and used my power sander to sand it down.  After I sanded it I gave it two coats of homemade chalk paint in Dark Kettle Black by Olympic paint. Then I applied a coat of Minwax polyurethane since I wanted it to have a shiny finish.

Once it was dry I spray painted the drawer pulls white using two coats of Valspar white gloss spray paint. I wanted to give it a little bit of a modern look.

Loving my little $8.99 side table!! What do you think?