While the Husband's Away...

My very lucky husband, Kenny

got to head for Austin, Texas last week

to attend the Inaugural Circuit of The Americas 

He was gone for a week, which left me time to tackle some projects

in our own home...much like the cobbler's children with no shoes

our house always comes last

With no one to talk me out of it, 

I jumped right in..

First, I painted the walls a pale grey

the color is called "Abalone"

from Ben Moore

See that giant mirror? The perspective is odd in this photo,

but it's over 5ft long, solid wood, and weighs a TON!

I avoided painting it because there are about 200 tiny staples

holding the three mirrors in place

I didn't love the gold finish against the new wall color,

so I just dove in...

Mack and I spent two hours with Exacto blades, razor blades, and our finger nails 

scratching off all the paint from the glass

(see all those beautiful carved wood details that flow out onto the glass?

Yeah, totally NOT fun trying to get all around those!)

I typically don't paint things white...

but in this  case, it works really well

It's soft and elegant 

I love that it makes a statement, but doesn't hog all the attention

The couch slipcovers stayed the same, as did all the pillows...

 Around the corner, at the front door

we have a closet whose door mysteriously vanished

(ok, *maybe* I tossed it because it was hideous!)

This curtain is actually a shower curtain

It was too short, so I added a gorgeous bit of antique lace

(salvaged from a nightgown!)

I used a tension rod, which meant I needed a pocket

instead of the hook holes you normally find on a shower curtain

I quickly stitched a length of canvas along the top, creating a pocked for the rod

works perfect and looks adorable!

We had a very plain cedar chest under our bay window...

I dragged this gorgeous French cedar chest home from the studio

and painted it Paris Grey with lots of dark wax

the raised details are painted in Pure White

This might be my favorite new piece...

it's definitely Kenny's favorite!

I purchased this fabulous chair at the Salvation Army

it's new (I've seen them at HomeGoods)

but I didn't have to do a thing to it!

I grabbed that table from the studio, too...

you can see it here

Once I finished all of this, I noticed our buffet-turned-entertainment center

looked so DARK...especially with the giant flat screen on top!

The TV is actually going to be wall-mounted, but that is beyond my skill!

(Kenny mounted a flat screen in our bedroom and it's awesome!)

So I stuck some cardboard under the feet, and started painting before I changed my mind!

In the "before" pic, you'll notice some drawer faces are missing...

we removed the body of the drawers, and mounted the drawer faces

with hinges that allow them to fold down so we can store electronics inside

 I wanted a chippy, milk paint type finish

but only brought chalk paint home from the studio...

plus, I did not want the mess of milk paint in my living room...

so I tinkered around and ended up with THIS!

Can you believe that's chalk paint??

Totally looks like chippy, distressed milk paint to me!

The room was looking a little too feminine, so I wanted a rustic,

very old looking piece here...
I couldn't be happier with the end result!

(disregard lack of staging and cardboard STILL under the feet!)

I accomplished all these projects primarily on my own,

in about three days time...

so stop procrastinating, and tackle the things you want to change in your home! 

What have YOU been dying to change but just keep putting off??

Before and After and After

I have a rule...

NEVER, EVER REPAINT...

by that I mean once it's done...

We often start, rethink, adjust along the way...

but once it's done and photographed,

leave it alone...

SOMEONE will LOVE it.

 

 

This desk was driving me nuts, however!

It was fine...pretty, soft color

nice distressing...

but I DID NOT LOVE IT

so, I repainted it...

well, funny story about that, you see...

This was painted w milk paint

and sealed with burnishing paste...

"You better strip that" said Kenny...

"yeah, right, as-if" said I...

and I commenced to painting over the milk paint

with more milk paint

"It will only take me an hour" I proclaimed!

 

To anyone that wants to figure out how to force milk paint to crackle and chip?

I might have found your solution...

just paint over burnishing paste!

 

It was crackley, chippy awesomenesss...

Unfortunately, I did not want a bunch of crackle and chipping...

(isn't the way it always goes?)

 

so I had to sand the ENTIRE desk back down to bare wood!

(and it did NOT take me "only an hour!")

 

One day, maybe I'll listen...

but probably not

Two days later, and TA DA...

 

 (I know, coolest hardware EVER, right?)

 

It's simple and elegant now...

and so is the chair, which lived in my house for 10 years

this was painted gloss black enamel so I milk painted right over it

and I love how wherever it's chippy, you see gloss black

for a cool tone-on-tone effect

 

And don't you LOVE these paper flowers from Home Goods?

 

So I broke my own rule about NOT repainting,

but I think this desk went from OK to STUNNER

I'm sure plenty of folks will tell me they preferred the "before"

and that's OK, because I LOVE THE AFTER!

Task Master

I didn't get to paint AT ALL last week...

so today, I made up for lost time!

Kenny's been knee deep in a custom order

with a dresser that basically needed rebuilt

from the inside out, 

so I've been in charge of all new goodies...

hard to do when you aren't available to paint!

I planned on painting a desk

but it needed some work...

"find something else to do for a few hours"

was Kenny's reply...

"it will take that long for the glue to dry"

so he went to work fixing the desk for me,

and I went to work perusing our warehouse

for projects I could complete in one day

(no dining sets or armoires today!)

Project #1

 As you can tell, I REALLY LOVE

my French Stencil from Royal Design Studio Stencils

 I also really love Craqueleur

 

Project #2 was the mirror...sorry, no close-ups!

Project #3

I used the same custom-mixed chalk paint color 

on this table, 

but no dark wax...

I really love the silver against the Sable Grey!

Hoping to get a new dresser posted by the weekend...

fingers crossed!

Mademoiselle Dresser

We've scored a slew of French Provincial dressers lately...

seems like it's feast or famine, and they typically sell so quickly...

we snatch them up whenever we see a great one

We're incredibly particular with our pieces...

they must be solid wood, preferably circa 1960 or earlier

with stand-out details that make them special

This dresser certainly met the criteria!

So heavy...solid wood cut nice and thick!

It's made by Dixie, circa 1950's...

before Dixie started using 

laminate and particle board

Check out the details...

Kenny spent lots of time

making sure each and every drawer

(there are NINE!)

looked like new...

We've been having a bit of a love affair with brighter, richer colors lately....

but for this piece, we went back to our "roots" so-to-speak

my first loves, Paris Grey and Old White

From Annie Sloan, of course!

Love this dresser?

It's for sale in our Etsy Shop