Before and After Favorites

Monday, November 28, 2011

Kaitlyns nightstand

 I have a minute, so I thought I'd post this nightstand before I forget. ;) I keep saying I'm not going to buy small pieces of furniture, but when I saw this nightstand I fell in love with the hardware. FLOWER hardware!! It had to be mine and it had to be pink. When Courtney saw it, she loved it too. I was so happy when she said she wanted it in pink.. This nightstand was meant to be hot pink. I didn't take a before pic, bad me! It was just blah brown.
 Normally I would antique it, but I've seen Kaitlyn's room and none of the furniture is antiqued, so I wanted it to go with the rest.
 However, I HAD to rough up the hardware, just a little.
 Seriously, cutest hardware EVER! This is PERFECT for a little girls room.
I hope Kaitlyn loves her new pink nightstand. ;)

Courtney's Red Dresser

 Before. I have been dying to paint this dresser! It has been raining and raining here, so what did I do? Sanded in the rain, it wasn't that bad. It was kind of fun. I like the rain though. Then I got the first coat of paint on. The next day was Thanksgiving and I woke up with a numb arm and a pinched nerve in my neck. GRR. I was literally out of commission for 4 days. It's getting better, SLOWLY. Blah! Dang neck! Anyway, here it is! I hope my friend Courtney LOVES it. I painted it specifically for her. I want it to be perfect. Courtney has a HEART OF GOLD. She has 5 kids, and she's so tender and sweet with them and makes it look effortless.
 After! I really wanted to decorate it and make it look pretty before I posted after pics. But with a neck on the fritz and a husband on a busy rotation, this is what you get. ;)
 I love the two toned look and the rubbed bronze handles just complete it. I wanted this dresser to have a little more masculine feel. Originally I wanted to paint it a brighter red, but Courtney's hubby was a little iffy on that, ha ha. I was also going to glaze it, but I love the white poking through and didn't want to take away from that.
 Love the white with the wood.

 I'll have to have Courtney send pics of this in her room all decorated! I finished a hot pink nightstand for her daughter today. I'll post pics of that tomorrow. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

What I've been up to...

I have 5 pieces of furniture in my garage just waiting to be painted. However, it's been raining a lot, and I don't know about you but I don't like to sand in the rain. Waiting and watching for a bit of sunshine to start painting again. Until then, I've been working on getting my house ORGANIZED. This is a HUGE undertaking for me. When my husband and I lived in a 900 square foot apartment with our son, I was so organized, because I HAD to be. After that, we bought a 2200 square foot house and we filled it up and became less organized, now we're renting a 2300 square foot house and I do NOT want to get less organized. So, I'm on a crazy quest! If you have great organizing ideas, send them my way!! Here's a few of the projects I've been up to...
 Whenever someone goes upstairs to use the bathroom, Jake and I both cringe and apologize profusely for the mess, ie. the kids bath toys. I just couldn't figure out what to put these toys in. Don't ask me why, is it really THAT hard? I hope no guys missed the toilet and peed on the toys. LOL
 Solution, a $1 basket at the Dollar Store. DUH Tonya. Sigh...
 This has been a LIFE SAVER. I waste so much time searching for papers, and we have MOUNDS of papers. So I grabbed an expanding file folder, labeled each section and in the papers we need to keep went. I bet I'll save 10 hours a year looking for papers bc of this thing. And now you can see the counter next to the sink. Haleluia!
 Under the sink. It explains itself...
 I bought 2 $1 buckets from the Dollar Store and in went the similar cleaners. This isn't beautiful, but does under the kitchen sink ever look beautiful? At least I can find stuff now!
 The other day I made up a list for Costco, the next day I was in a hurry to go and couldn't find my dang list anywhere! And of course, ended up forgetting things that I needed (and yet somehow still spent $200, oh Costco I love you and hate you!) Now, I know where my list is. I bought a stack of little notepads at the Dollar Store, stuck magnets on the back and there they are.. One for Costco, one for the Grocery Store.
 My laundry room, and yes it's laundry day, so the washer is running. Before you couldn't even see the tops of my washer and dryer. So embarassing! I cleaned up the whole room, organized it and now it's a functioning laundry room. Yay!
 There's counter space... Who knew???
 I got Emery's room completely organized. I started with her armoire. Her shoes are now organized according to size and season. No more digging through baskets trying to find which shoes fit her and which don't. THere's a basket for her hair things, a tight basket, a diaper cover basket, and a basket full of jammies she hasn't grown into. (the drawers are full).
 Her dolls now have a home in a large basket.
 The rest of her toys are in a large basket from Target.
The nightstand is now full of diapers and wipes.
Next up Lukes room, and as always, I'm STILL working on the Bonus Room. Believe it or not, it actually got worse. Progress, progress.. Until painting returns yay for organizing! Share your best/favorite tips with me!!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Peek at what's next..

 I am drooling over all the detail yumminess on this dresser. When I die, I'm going to request a casket just like this. Okay, that is oober creepy. Forget that I said that. ha ha
I picked up some BEAUTIFUL dressers today. A tall dresser, long dresser, nightstand and mirror. I'm so excited to finish these! Here's a peek until I'm done. Please be patient with me! ha ha I have a LOT to do, like always. ;)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Skinny Jeans!

 I have MAD LOVE for skinny jeans! When I was in Utah last, I searched for a light pair of skinny jeans. I have a few pair of darks and a few pair of blacks, but I can never find light ones! Today on pinterest I was thrilled when I found the solution. Here's a super simple tutorial of how to turn your flares into skinny jeans.
1-Turn jeans inside out, lay flared jeans on bottom, skinny on top, line up the crotch.
 2-I lined up the inner seam of the jeans
 3-Pin up to the knee where the skinny jeans are.
 4- Sew, if you can sew a straight line, you can do this.
 5-Right above the knee meet up with the original seam.
 6- Cut off the excess. You're done! I sewed 5 pairs of jeans in 45 minutes! And I can barely sew. ha ha I'm so glad I held onto all of my expensive pairs of flares. So happy to have new skinny jeans!
Tada!! Ok, so this blog is for painting, but sometimes I'll post things I absolutely love, like food. ;)

Our Master Bedroom & a Dresser

 Remember this before pic? This is the (Ugh, I just looked up and my daughter was coloring on a dresser with marker, this is a daily occurence BLAH!) Anyway, this is the sister dresser to the one in our Family Room.
 AFTER! I wanted it to have a much softer feel and to coordinate with my bedroom, so I decided to paint the hardware white and antique it also. It gives it a much softer feel, don't you think?
 I am a smitten kitten with this hardware. Seriously, I could go on and on about it.
 I even love these little guys. I'm so happy with how it turned out.
 I was telling a friend last night 80% of painting furniture is choosing the right colors for what you're wanting. I spend a LOT of time thinking about colors before I'll even touch something.
 So pretty... PS nothing I do is perfect, but it's perfect for me. If you don't like it, I'm okay with it, because I love it.
 I've been trying to add more tans and browns into my room. I'm really drawn to neutrals lately, and wanted a more neutral feeling room with hints of color.
 I found these candleholders at Goodwill for $10 (for all three!) I don't post prices of furniture on here, but I'm happy to post accessories. Anyway, they were an ugly cherry colored brown, so white they went..
 I slapped this sign together, literally. I barely even painted it and sanded it. I needed more texture in the room so I decided to add burlap.
 I love this picture frame. I just lined it with burlap too.
 I am obsessed with flowers, candles, picture frames and mirrors. It's very apparent in my bedroom.
 I love all the tall trees in our yard.
 This nightstand is part of the original bedroom set I bought.
 These candleholders were also from Goodwill ($6 for both) candles from the dollar store, sweet. Oh they were brassy gold, but not in a pretty way.
 I love my bed, big and soft. The bedding is from Kohls, the tan ruffle pillow from TJ Maxx, the white furry one from Kohls.
 This nightstand is the one piece I didn't sell. I decided it would be perfect in my room. Glad I kept it. The Jewelry box is from Goodwill ($4) it was an ugly cherry color. I need to remove the hardware on the nightstand and paint it white.
 I wanted a rustic shappy chic feel. Does this even exist? I don't know. But that's what i was aiming for, kind of. :)

 I love this picture of Christ and of the Sacred Grove. I bought these from Seagull Book. They're the first things I look at in the morning and the last things before I go to bed..
 This dresser was also part of the main set. The kids and I love watching a movie in my bed before we go to sleep.
 The revised gallery wall. This is the second one I've done in here. Sigh.. I hope it's the last. I love family pictures! I can't wait to get more in the Spring.
 This little mirror is my favorite find from Goodwill, ($4) it was originally silver, I love it!
 This mirror is also from Goodwill, it was a pain in the ars to paint, ha ha. It was gold leaf, no joke. Not real gold leaf, but still, such a pain. I loved the detail though and had to have it in my room.
There's my room! What do you think?

 I almost forgot! Remember the ugly green Wal-Mart special curtains I had before? I was asking my friend Jeni what to do with them and she said "floor length curtains". I'm so glad I listened! I found these brown curtains at TJ Maxx, they look SOOO much better. I love Emery's short length curtains in her room, but floor length add SO Much to mine! I had a cute black curtain rod, so I p ainted it white and the curtain holders..