The One Room Challenge: Week Three: New Furniture and Art

We are into week three of the One Week Challenge!  It's fun to watch everyone's rooms coming together.  In case you missed the previous weeks, I'm transforming my three-year old daughter's room from nursery to big-girl room.  Here are links to Week One (introduction and paint color) and Week Two (upholstered headboard and striped curtains).

This week brought some brand new furniture and a furniture piece that received a makeover.  I knew an Ikea Expedit bookcase would be perfect for the room.  However, the nearest Ikea is more than four hours away.  Luckily for me, my parents were coming to visit.  Before they left Minnesota, they stopped by their local Ikea and picked up a few things for me.  My parents were so sweet to deliver these things and also to help me put them together!

Here's Mary's new bookcase.

I still need to purchase some baskets and fill the shelves.

Next, I went "shopping" out in my garage for a bedside table.  I found this cute little end table waiting for a makeover.  I've had this table for a while, but wasn't sure what to do with it because it's missing a drawer.  I just put this side against the wall in Mary's room and no one knows about the gaping hole.

This table was in near-perfect condition.  I did a very light sanding, sprayed it with my favorite Kilz primer, gave it another light sanding and a few coats of Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint in orange.  This is the best spray paint in my opinion.  It covers very well and seems to be more durable than some of the other brands.  I let the paint dry and then sprayed it with several coats of poly.

Here's how the table looks now.

As I was shopping the garage, I also found this lamp.  My husband made this in a highschool woodworking class at least thirty years ago.  I think he's happy that he got to contribute to Mary's room too!

I had already started spraying it with primer when I remembered to snap a before shot.
Some primer and white spray paint, and it looks like a new lamp!

I had a drum shade I purchased a while ago on clearance at Target and some leftover pompom trim that I hotglued onto the shade.

Here's a picture of Mary's dresser.

This was the very first piece of furniture that I painted, just over one year ago.  I didn't know about blogging back then, so I don't have any "before" pictures to share.  It has a distressed white finish and crystal knobs.  I'm not sure if I should keep it as it is or if I should change it.  What do you think???  I was thinking of painting it a bright white semi-gloss or maybe just adding a thin orange line on the detail on the drawer fronts?  Maybe some new hardware?  Maybe I won't do anything?  What are your thoughts?

In other news, I ordered a print from the Pink Pagoda and it arrived this week.  I love this pink and orange elephant!  I placed it in a Ribba frame from Ikea and spray painted the mat to match the bedside table.

This elephant is also the reason that I'm participating in the One Room Challenge.  When I ordered in on Etsy, I mentioned to the seller that I was redoing my daughter's room.   She told me about the challenge and invited me to participate.  I'm continually amazed by the connections we are able to make through the internet and blogging!

Yesterday I posted some fabrics I was considering for pillows.  Check it out here.

Be sure to check out some of the other bloggers to see how their rooms are coming together too.

Dutch.British.Love
Trapped in North Jersey
Nicole Scott Designs
Kim Macumber Interiors
Rue de Emily
The Pink Pagoda
refresheddesigns
Nana Moon Shop
Taylor Morgan Design
Insideways
My Crafty Home Life
House Four
Living Savvy
(A Lifestyle Thing)

Linked here:

A Little History Plus a Makeover

Many of you may know that my husband and I got married at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen.

The Hotel Jerome was built in the 1880's when Aspen was at the apex of the silver boom.  The hotel was the height of luxury for the time.  It featured the first electric lights west of the Mississippi River among other luxuries of the time.

Since the hotel has had a long life, it needs constant updating and repair.  So, the hotel holds a garage sale every few years to get rid of its unwanted antiques and to make room for new antiques.

I only was around for one of these legendary garage sales and I knew nothing about restoring furniture.  All I wanted was the latest and greatest from Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel.  My husband picked up an amazing, huge desk.  Picture carved spiraling columns, gargoyle heads, etc.  Hubs was in love with it.  I thought it was a monstrosity.  So, I made him sell it.

We also picked up a really pretty end table with a gorgeous marble top.  Soon after, I was sick of it and sold it.  I'm kicking myself for getting rid of these beauties!

The only things we have left from the hotel are the two chairs flanking the console table:

And this little table.  This table has sentimental value because I think it was the first piece of furniture my husband and I bought together.

This table has been languishing in the garage.  (By the way, we've cleaned the garage since these pictures were taken.  It's so much more organized and I can actually park my car in there.  Hooray!)

I stripped and stained the top and painted the bottom with a light aqua paint. 

 I think the carved detail all around the bottom is so  unique and interesting.  Too bad I decided to show you the cracked side.  Note to self: turn table around so crack faces back!

 I'm in the process of painting all of the carving gold, but it's taking FOREVER!

 I like this little spiderweb basket of gourds, but I noticed tonight that some of the gourds are starting to get moldy.  This has never happened to me before.

 Not too shabby for a 100+ year old!

Phew!  You stuck around through a major picture overload.  Thank you!


I'm linking this piece to some of these great blogs:
Today's Creative Blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Bella Before and After, Primitive and Proper, Home Stories of A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tip Junkie, Type A Decorating, http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/, The Thrifty Home, Domestically Speaking, Primp,
A Diamond in the Stuff, Restore Interiors, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Beyond the Picket Fence, Fireflies and Jellybeans,My Simple Home Life,
Addicted 2 Decorating, Just a Girl, Remodelaholic, Miss Mustard Seed, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Thrifty Decor Chick, Coastal Charm, Junker Newbie

The Cursed Table

Look at this table I found a few weeks ago at the Goodwill.

I had already taken her hardware off when I remembered to take a "before" shot.

She looks nice and cute, but don't let her looks fool you.  I think this piece of furniture was cursed.  Every time I tried to work on her, something bad happened.  I started working on her in the garage, but dog hair kept blowing all over the fresh paint.  Maybe this was a clue that it's time to sweep the garage.  So, I carried her out to the driveway to work.  It was a sweltering hot beautiful day with only one puffy white cloud in the sky.  I get back to work painting, and guess what? 

It starts to rain. 

Big fat drops. 

Where did this come from?  Grrrr.

Back to the garage.  Carrying a 100 pound table covered in wet paint is no fun.

I spray painted the table gray.  For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to remove the door.  By now, it had stopped raining, so I took the door outside to spray paint.  Everything's looking good.  But, when I go back to check on the door.  It is all bubbled...it looks like the paint literally boiled on the door.  Ugh!!!

I sanded everything down and started over.

My original thought was to paint the raised panels cream to match the top and bottom.  This proved way too difficult, so I resprayed her gray.  Touched up the cream and gray and distressed her. Maybe she distressed me.  I sprayed the hardware Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze.

Oh, and when I was screwing the door back onto its hinges, I screwed two of the nails all of the way through the door.  What!?!?!  I've never done that before, and hopefully won't do it again.

After way too many hours of hard labor, here are the after shots:

I think the shape is adorable, but I'm not sure about the distressing.  Maybe I'll paint over it?!?!?  Or, maybe I should just let the cursed piece be and move on.

Linking up to some of these great sites:
Today's Creative Blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just a Housewife, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Bella Before and After, Primitive and Proper, Home Stories of A to Z, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tip Junkie, Type A Decorating, http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/, The Thrifty Home, Domestically Speaking, Primp,
A Diamond in the Stuff, Restore Interiors, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Beyond the Picket Fence, Fireflies and Jellybeans,My Simple Home Life,
Addicted 2 Decorating, Just a Girl, Remodelaholic, Miss Mustard Seed, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Thrifty Decor Chick, Coastal Charm, Junker Newbie

Before and After Minus the Before

My latest project was kind of a quicky. I bought these end tables on Craig's List. They were an ugly dark brown and reeked of smoke. They were so ugly, I primed them without taking any before pics. Kilz primer is a wonder...once coated in Kilz, the smoke smell disappeared. Hooray!!

After priming, I sprayed them with several coats of Ivory paint. Then, I sanded and added a glaze. I don't usually antique and glaze, but I thought it worked well on these pieces.

For my local friends, these are for sale. $25 each or $45 for the set. FREE local delivery.

If you want to see what real expertly antiqued pieces look like, check out these blogs:

European Paint Finishes

Source: europaintfinishes.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

and

Miss Mustard Seed

Source: missmustardseed.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Maybe someday I'll be able to paint and refinish like that!