A little Update

Back in July 2010, I posted this bedroom update, added a bit of color to the master bedroom.  I have been wanting to add some patterned curtains, a new comforter (with a better fit) and some new wall art.

To start I ordered this fabric for the curtains

from fabric.com

and a houndstooth for the new comforter, they are out-of-stock on the houndstooth.  The picture is from my order history, so a bit small and blurry.

A week before Christmas, I made the new curtains and put the comforter top together.  The curtains were hung and the comforter sent to the longarm quilter for some quilting.  The quilt came back at the same time I found some bright canvas art from Pier One.  I went in for another piece in their flyer and came out with 3 canvases.  I loved the bright colors of the canvas, which match several quilts I have made of late.

Here is the bedroom, which is very hard to photograph on a sunny day, this is the best picture, just one crooked sham.

another view

then the sitting area

curtain close-up

I am thrilled with the updates, changed the room quite and I didn't have to repaint!

Numbers Table

Erin wanted a small table for her classroom, something for papers/homework.  A good friend found a child's table for $10 and had her husband go back to the antique store to buy it.  Thanks, Tricia!

Erin asked me to paint it a bright blue (it was red top with white legs) and that is all she wanted.  Well, I couldn't stop at paint only.  After seeing this sign from Tater Tots and Jello's weekend wrap up party, I had my inspiration.  Out came my Silhouette machine and Erin's favorite color, orange for the vinyl.  Here is her new table, perfect for a math teacher.

I used every bit of the orange vinyl, I was lucky to get all the numbers I needed!

Cabinet Before and After

It all started with this $10 cabinet (shelf) piece of furniture:

Meredith wanted a piece of furniture with shelves to show off the quilts she made.  This was perfect and the price was even better plus the piece was nice and solid.

She picked out some paint to go with her room.  You can see the whole redo here.
The cabinet after with 4 different knobs, Meredith liked the eclectic feel of the knobs (Hobby Lobby) to go with all the different fabrics of the quilts.

Really shows off her quilts and she has another shelf for more

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Miss Mustard Seed's Friday Furniture feature

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Tatertots and Jellos

Kitchen Redo - Painted Cabinets

Look at what a difference paint can make

Here are the befores for the kitchen, nice oak cabinets but after tweny years they were starting to show alot of wear.  Also, after installing the laminate floor, it was way too much wood on wood look for me.  Last year we installed a home office area at the opposite end of the sink.  Take a look at that post to see how it looks.  Fast  forward a year and in February I painted the bathroom vanity and it turned out so incredible.  Hubby said bathroom looks so good, you want to paint the kitchen cabinets?  He didn't have to say that twice!  So here are the before pictures:

like the bucket in the middle of the floor

To prepare the cabinets, I sanded them, applied Liquid sandpaper (deglosser), then three coats of Behr Plus paint (the one with primer) in satin enamel finish and the color was Antique White.  To finish it off I applied 3 coats of wipe-on poly.  I talked to a friend in town who paints and sells furniture, she recommended I do this and the paint would not chip. 

Here is the after pictures



The afternoon was overcast for the pictures  but still with the painted cabinets my kitchen is so much brighter.  In fact, our lighting is on a dimmer and we have to dim the lights a bit in the evenings.  Wonderful problem to have!  I am so happy, well more like thrilled and overjoyed with the transformation.  The power of paint, amazing what a gallon will do.  I have less than $100 in supplies for my cabinets and two weeks of painting time.

Future plans are to eventually replace the appliances in stainless steel.  The old dishwasher died in November, so we replaced it with stainless steel. 



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Updated June 30, 2011 to share on CSI Kitchen Makeover challenge

Before and After Vanity

I did some painting in the bathroom the last couple of weeks.  The cabinets were golden oak finish, about 20 years old and after 4 girls in this bathroom, showing some wear.

The bathroom is painted red and the new cabinet colors make the red look so much better.

Cabinet before

Vanity before

cabinet after

Vanity after

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Meredith's Bedroom Makeover

I started this project on August 16th and finally finished this past Sunday but let me tell you it was so worth it.

Here are the befores (put on your sunglasses and ignore the mess)

The South end

Chest of drawers before

 Scrapbook area before:

North end before;

Meredith found this mirror at a local shop, painted by a  local artist and knew she wanted it in her room.

If you are familiar with the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, then you know one thing leads to another!
We started with paint, Ground Coffe from True Value for the walls, then white for the trim and ceiling.  The walls are beadboard, we installed that years ago when this room was intended for a playroom only and I didn't want to deal with sheetrock dust all throughout the house.  My contractor and I settled on this for a good solution.  Who knew it would be so "in" right now!   My older two played Barbies here for hours and you could close the door and not worry about the mess.  With four girls, we eventually needed this room for another bedroom.

I went to a flea market with Paige at the end of August and found these two prizes for $17 total

Here are the afters for them

Then a new quilt for the bed, curtains, lamp, artwork, slipcover for scrapbooking shelves the room was starting to look better.  I really wanted to paint the furniture but hubby isn't one for painted furniture and this furniture was my grandfather and grandmother's, so antique.  After buying Altar'd Painted Furniture Ebook, I really thought I could paint this furniture and be very successful.  The bed and nightstand were in the worse shape so I told hubby I would start with them and see how it went.  Well, he was super-impressed and said, do the rest it looks fantastic.  This is what took the longest time, sand first, liquid sandpaper, three coats of paint, glazing, and finally three coats of poly.  Needless to say five pieces of furniture were labor intensive but so worth it.

I will let you see:

 Meredith made the canvas with the Silhouette machine, lamp is from Target.  She saw a bedroom in a makeover magazine that had two contrasting colors and she wanted the yellow to be bright.  I looks fantastic.

Dresser after, pulls from Hobby Lobby.  This room is difficult to arrange, our home is a story-and-half, so the side walls are short.

 Curtains, bench fabric, pillows are all from Moda's Botany fabric line.  I used the jelly roll in the quilt, the colors perfect for the mirror and the wall color. 

 Hubby's winter job is intalling laminate flooring and getting rid of the awful berber carpet!

Nightstand

 Bedroom including scrapbook area, her room is big 12 x 24 so there is another room for crafting.  As you can tell, she has been making cards.

 Hard to get a good picture with the south window.

 New storage for the 12 x 12 paper, purchased at Sam's club.  I need to figure out how to recover the office chair.

 Full view of South end

 Side angle

We are all so pleased with Meredith's room.  The deal was I work on the room, she makes her bed every morning and works hard to keep her room neat and tidy.  Happy to report she is doing just that.

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