Sprucing Up the Upstairs Hallway

My husband and I just finished painting and putting up wainscoting in our entry way and up the stairs to the second floor. Now I have always hated my second floor because it is small and has no zing or bam or personality. I just saw a bunch of doors. Doors to the 3 bedrooms, a closet door, bathroom door and the door to the attic!

Boring!!!

Wall color is Benjamin Moore's Philadelphia Cream in a satin finish.

 Now I love it when I reach the top of the stairs!! The mirror adds the illusion of a larger space...same thing is true for the circular rug. The light on the table along with some casual books for reading creates a vignette which makes the space feel warm and inviting. And I only paid $10 for the carpet at a yard sale...the rest of the items were cast-offs from my sister's home. When she saw the above "after" photos she wrote me that she wanted her stuff back!!!

Yard Sale Find...The Perfect Dressing Table

My sister called me from a yard sale and asked me if I was interested in a old 1950's vanity she had found for only $5.00. I said of course, if it doesn't make it into Grace's room I can always sell it!

So here is the vanity in its original condition. It was painted light pink and the paint job itself was a poor one. The top center part of the piece flips up however the mirror was broken and no longer attached to the piece.  But it has such a wonderful shape I fell in love with it and had to start stripping it down.

I began by sanding it down using an electric sander and a grade 60 sandpaper. Then I used a spray-on paint stripper by Klean Strip and used a small wire brushes to remove the paint in the grooves. (When using this product make sure you have on protective gloves, this stuff will burn you if it comes in contact with your skin.)

Once I started removing all the paint I found the whole piece felt cleaner and the ideas of what to do with it started to flow.

             The Finished Product!!!

In keeping with the style of the piece which to me looks very French, I decided to make it a fun and funky statement for Grace's room. All her other furniture is done in a pale and distressed shabby chic finish, so I wanted this vanity to pop in the room. I painted the top and the drawer pulls with Krylon's Metallic Silver in a Brilliant finish. Then I chose to paint the body of the piece in Krylon's Watermelon in a gloss finish. I purchased silver leafing paint at a craft store along with a small angled pain brush and simply filled in the two groves on the face of the vanity with silver.

The whole project took me about two and a half days with one really good day of drying added on before moving it up to Grace's room. The cost for this project was the initial $5 paid for the piece plus approximately what I paid for 4 cans of spray paint. (One can of the silver paint and 3 cans of watermelon paint) The spray stripper was roughly $7, the metal brushes were $3, and $10 for the leafing paint and brush. So total cost was approximately $42 give or take a few cents.
Grace loves her new vanity which can also double as a desk for her room.

This project is linked to the following parties..

DIY Showoff Before and After Party 2013

Savvy Southern Style
Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple

It's a very Cherry World

The DIY Club

Domestically Speaking

Addicted 2 Decorating
 Southern Hospitality

Common Ground

Miss Mustard Seed Funky Junk Interiors House of Grace Our DIY Diaries

The Artsy Girl Connection

Knick of Time

Debbiedoo's

Dolly's Designs ~ creative Blog Hop

And was featured over at...



New Favorite Place to Shop...ReStore

Every so often when I make a trek down to visit my sister and we will take a trip over to a place called ReStore. ReStore is a second hand shop in which all items are donated and then the proceeds from the sales are used to benefit Habitat for Humanity. I was there yesterday and found this fabulous deep seated arm chair. It was in great condition and the cost to me was only $35.00. I think my sister was a bit sorry she didn't spot it first, although I did tell her that if it didn't work in my home I would be more than happy to sell it to her for $50.00!!!

Take a look at my new chair!

Love it in my home!!!!

ReStore shopping is a nationwide chain...just click on the link and follow to find the ReStore Shopping experience near you!

Refresh your home for the New Year!!!

Now that the holidays are all over and we have begun the New Year, I have always enjoyed refreshing my living space by either rearranging my rooms and or recycling some of my art and knickknacks I have in my home. This makes the living space seem a little different and I feel like have a new room. Ideas to incorporate would include the following:

1. Swap out your curtains with another room or for ones you may have lying in the attic. Or you can just edit them out all together to give your room more natural light during the short winter days. In Sweden where daylight is at a premium, many folks will opt for no window treatments and for white or pale colors on their wall and on their furnishings.

2. Freshen up your wood trim with a nice coat of paint.

3. Rent a carpet cleaner from your local supermarket and clean out all of the dirt brought in by holiday visitors.

4. Try new arrangements for your furnishings. Pull furniture off the walls to create a nice grouping in the center of your room and anchor it with an area carpet. You can also swap furniture out of one room and replace it with something from another room. Or reposition your furniture to address a new focal spot in your room!

5. Change your bedding, possibly adding a warm blanket and then folding the blanket back over your comforter to expose your bed sheets providing a warm layering effect.

6. Switch up your picture frames or just the pictures in the frames.

7. And look for ideas in the January magazines on organizing and storage ideas.

Any or all ideas will help you create a little bit of a new image for your living space in 2011!!

Good Luck and have fun!!!