Craig's List Dresser

Here is the finished dresser I bought on Craig's List using Craigs Pro. It's going in my daughter Cami's room.

It started out like this.

It took me about a day to complete the project.

It was missing a piece of molding.  Instead of trying to find matching molding, I just took the small piece off the other side, filled with wood filler and sanded smooth.

I didn't need to sand  the rest of the piece. 

I just gave it a good cleaning with TSP.  It cleans and de-glosses the existing finish.

Prime

I choose to spray paint the dresser.

I added green to the molding on the drawers.

I taped off the drawers with my favorite painter's tape Frog Tape.

Almost done.

I ended up using different pulls and knobs then the originals. 

I had leftovers from my kitchen cabinet painting project.

Here it is in Cami's room placed where her old armoire used to be.  That's why the mirror is so high.  It's leftover from the armoire.  Her room is getting ready for a major makeover as part of her turning 11 Birthday present. 
You don't have to ask me twice to re-do a room!
 Cami wants something a little more sophisticated (she describes her current room as babyish), in turquoise blue, with an almost teenager horse theme?

I'm on it.

The dresser is just the beginning.

I think Cami is going to love going this direction? 

Bright, bold color, no plaid, nothing babyish about this look for a horse loving girl. 

Ralph does it right.

What do you think?

I'll show you how the rest of her room progresses in later posts.

Thanks for checking it out.

Craigs List Pro. I'm Addicted!

My husband got me an iPhone for our 16 anniversary this past April.  My old phone wouldn't charge anymore and I was due for an upgrade.  You might think this is a strange anniversary present, but it's what I wanted and needed.  We went together and picked it up one Sunday afternoon.  I'm not very "techy" and so far I only have four Apps.  I first heard about this App. on Thrifty Decor Chick and I'm addicted!  It's called Craigs Pro.  

 

It's faster and easier to do searches on my iPhone using this App than it is using my computer. I've already bought two pieces of furniture using my phone.  I like it because you can view items on a photo wall and browse the pictures quickly.

I'm redoing my daughter Cami's room as part of her 11th Birthday present.  she needed a new dresser and I found this one.  The previous owner was asking $125, but she sold it to me for $75.  Solid wood with dove tail construction.  This is the "before" picture.  Me like!  I'll show you the after pictures in a later post.

I sold this armoire on Craig's List to make room for the new dresser.  We've had it since Casey was a baby.  It's perfect for little girl clothes, but not a 5'5" 11 year old.

I put these Container Store shelves inside for baby clothes.  I will miss this armoire, but it's going to a good home, a young family with a 2 year old little girl and another baby girl on the way. 

I found this Bamboo chair and ottoman for Cami's room for $30 this past week. 

The "after" turned out so good I'm trying to talk Cami out of it.  I like it right here in my family room, but it's for Cami.

This is the before. 

I know, scary fabric from the 80's, but look past the dated fabric and check out the great lines of this chair. 

I'll show you the "after" in a later post.

Do you shop and sell on Craig's List?  Or do prefer another source for great deals?

Thanks for checking it out.

New Pillows

The ottomans are done.

The couch is done.

On to the pillows.

I fell in love with this jute welting. It's usually used on the underside of upholstered furniture to tie it together. I saw it used as pillow trim at We-Are-Fabrics in Solana Beach while on my fabric search. At $2 a yard it's in my budget too.

I found my pillow fabric at We-Are-Fabrics too. I explained in my last blog on the ottoman transformation about my hunt for fabric. I only needed a yard of each coordinating fabric to make the pillows. I bought pillows from Home Goods that I really liked, but they weren't right for the couch. They were made from French grain sacks, very nice, but I ended up returning them and making these instead.



My couch is gray, but my floor tile and granite counter top have a lot of beige and brown tones it it. I'm not changing the granite or the tile in this room. My fabric needs to link the new gray and the old beige together.

I liked this rustic animal print with the jute. I made two of these pillows.

I used pillow inserts from existing pillows that needed updating.

This fabric was $23 a yard, but since it was the end of the roll, the girl helping me gave me almost two yards for the price of one. I had enough trim and fabric left over to make a runner too.



This is a new lamp I picked up at Marshal's while on my pillow hunt. Not sure if I'm keeping it yet? The lamp shade is burlap, which I love and have used in my decor for years. The cross was my Great Aunt's. She was a nun and wore it with her traditional nun habit. I love the cross, still debating about the lamp?



I made two pillows with a yellow and lavender fabric that I also purchased at We-Are-Fabric. At $34 a yard it was a splurge. I justified it because I only needed a yard and it links the couch, ottoman, and zebra fabric together. I went to every fabric store in San Diego looking for fabric. Short of special ordering it, this was the best choice I found for the price. I used the leftover couch fabric velvet to make the welting and pillow inserts from old pillows.


Here they are all together.


Roscoe thinks the pillows are for her.

She had a hard day at the groomers and is ready for a nap.



I still need to slipcover the two brown chairs, but I need a break from sewing.


Can you see the paint swatches on the wall to the right behind the couch?

On to paint. The kids go back to school tomorrow so I will have more time.

UPDATE:  The lamp didn't stay, to see the new glass lamps I made go here.

Ottoman Transformation

When I recently slip covered my couch I knew I was going to have to re-do many other things in my family room. Here is the couch. I had a little bit of a hard time finding coordinating fabric I liked with the couch. The couch fabric is gray. What I have learned about gray is that gray has one of three undertones, purple, green, or blue. I learned this from a great blog called Colour Me Happy. To read more about gray click here.

My couch has a purple undertone. I looks great with purple, lavender, and yellow. I went to just about every fabric store in San Diego looking for coordinating fabric and struck out. I searched all the sale back rooms and remnant tables. I looked on line, but I struck out there too. Most of the fabric I found was either the wrong shade with the couch gray, or it was too girly, too old fashioned, too modern, too boring, or not practical for our lifestyle. I found what I liked, but getting it for a price I was willing to pay is the real trick. I did find some beautiful yellow and purple Ikat fabric at We-Are-Fabrics, but it was special order and ran about $53 to $100 a yard, with a two yard minimum. Not in my budget, especially when the dog might barf on it.

I found a durable inexpensive alternative at Home Goods, not an Ikat, but it looks great with the couch. I used it to tackle my next project, the dated brown ottomans. I purchased two of these ottomans, a matching couch, and two chairs from a designer sample sale about 7 years ago. They were dirt cheap and I needed furniture. We lived in this house for three years without living room furniture. I split the set up and used the two chairs and the ottomans in my family room. The couch is in the living room. I was never ecstatic about everything matching, but the furniture was well made, dog and kid proof, and cheap. All the pieces have held up very well.


The pieces have held up so well I haven't been motivated to update them.

Here is my first attempt at recovering the ottoman. Originally I just covered right over the old fabric. The new fabric is a reversible bedspread. Washable, durable, and fits in my limited budget. One side is a gray, tan, and yellow scrolly flower print and the other side is a geometric gray. I thought the scrolly side would hide dirt better, so I made the top slip cover cushion with that side of the bedspread.

I washed it in hot water and dried it on the hottest dryer setting to shrink it before I made the ottoman covers.


Not sure you can tell in these pictures?
I really didn't like how the wood looked next to the new fabric, so I started over.



On the second attempt I removed the old fabric. It had to be done because I was going to paint the wood.


Down to the foam.



On projects like these, I try to use leftover paint whenever possible. I unscrewed the bun feet from the bottom of the ottoman and painted the wood with two coats of dark gray paint. I mixed the paint using some black (leftover from the armour) and some white self priming paint I already had. I adding a touch of burnt umber Universal Tint to warm up the color

I made a glaze with the original gray color by adding more white and a little more burnt umber tint. Then I dry brushed the glaze over the gray to give the wood a more aged look. The blue drop cloth is distorting the gray color. It looks more blue in these pictures then it really is.

Nice buns!

Two coats of dark gray and one coat of dry brushed glaze.

I sanded the edges and polished the wood with some brown shoe polish to darken the exposed wood edges. I staple gunned the fabric on and added trim and nail heads. These nail heads are leftovers from my other projects like the pumpkins and the wall treatment in the bathroom and rotunda.

I added Velcro to the top and bottom of the cushion for easy cleaning. The top cushion is a slip cover that can be easily removed and thrown into the wash.

One project down, more to go.

I like it much better with the painted wood.

Next project...coordinating pillows.