Blog stalking and a dresser re-do

Hey ladies! So if any of you read my post about the color help then you know that I got a fab dresser and was at a loss for what color to paint it. Well after stalking Miss Mustard Seed (check out her amazing blog if you haven't already...she's awesome!) I decided what I was gonna do to my dresser. She's one of the only bloggers that I've seen that does two tone furniture re-do's and she recently re-did a french provincial dresser that looks similar to mine. Well it looked so amazing that i just HAD to copy her and do the same thing. Her philosophy for white painted furniture made SO much sense and totally made me re-think my white pieces. She loves white painted stuff but on a lot of pieces she stains the top a dark stain and the contrast between the white paint and the dark stain makes my heart go pitter patter! It makes so much sense because stain is really resilient and doesn't show wear and tear as fast as white paint does. Well as much as I was adoring the idea of a turquoise dresser (and I'll get up the courage someday) I thought that I would do the two tone look instead and I just happened to have all the stuff to do it!

Now I don't know about the rest of you but when stuff is stained...for me it has to be DARK. I don't like those in between redish oak-y colors...but thats just me! Maybe its because our rental house has redish wood trim around the floor in the whole house and I want to paint it white SO bad but can't. I'm just bitter I guess!

So yesterday I got to work stripping the paint off the top of the dresser. It was so much easier than I expected it to be since the paint was only a couple layers thick and latex. I used a natural stripper that's safe for the environment and water based and it worked amazing! Who needs chemicals when the natural stuff works just as well? I put on a thick coat...let it sit for about 15 mins and then scraped it off with a metal scraper. I put on another thick coat...let it sit and scraped it off too.

Once the whole piece was bare I sanded the top starting at 60 grit and working my way up to 120. Once the top was as smooth as a baby's booty I wiped off all the dust and got to work staining. Now I'm a novice stainer...I'm not good at it because I don't do it very often. Hopefully, with this new found love of two tone furniture pieces I will get lots of practice...(I will soon be refinishing my hubby's dresser and doing the same thing on his...Yay)
Now a tip for those of you that don't stain very often and something that I just learned yesterday...duh...you MUST stir your stain very well before you begin staining. All the color settles to the bottom and you won't get very good color if you don't stir it well. Am I the only one that doesn't stir my stuff very well??? (sheepish shoulder shrug)

Ok so next I got to work applying a thin and even coat of Ebony Minwax liquid stain to the top of the dresser in the direction of the wood grain. I let it sit for about 10 mins and then wiped it off. After it was totally dry I went back over the spots that didn't look even and re applied a little more stain with a rag. I let that sit and then wiped down the whole top gently. I let it sit and cure while I painted the drawers and dresser a creamy white. I applied another coat of white today and let it dry. I then lightly distressed the piece on the edges, etc. I applied about 3 coats of Minwax wipe on poly to protect the whole piece from wear and save all my hard work. I absolutely LOVE  how this dresser turned out. The top didn't stain as evenly as I had hoped but that's ok...I like things a little imperfect! I used knobs in an oil rubbed bronze finish to unify the piece and I am SUPER excited to have this gorgeous dresser gracing my bedroom!

Here's what she looked like before I stained the top (but after I had stripped the paint off...sorry for not taking a proper before pic

And here's what she looks like now....

 Now I swore to myself that I wouldn't take a picture of this dresser until it was properly "staged" but once I finished it (and my son was in bed) I HAD to take a pic to show you all...plus my hubby isn't home to help me get it in the house. Oh and for some reason the picture on top looks like there's a weird discoloration on the top of the dresser but its just how the picture turned out with my sub par photography skills! Hope you guys like it even though I chickened out and its not turquoise! :)

I'm linking up to  
Transformation Thursday on The Shabby Chic Cottage
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed 

Embellished book wreath

Hey ladies! So i've seen this done dozens of times and commented on how much I love it and how I just HAVE to do it. Did I do it? No. I talked about doing it, I adored them...but for some reason I was intimidated. Until my lovely sister in law did it and BOY did she do a good job! See her post and her Loverly blog here. 
So I just had to try one...since I was over at her house yesterday and she was doing hers as I was gabbing away and eating her food! (us preggo's like to eat...)

I wanted a BIG one...one that could take the place of a picture on my wall....one that was unique and kinda messy....one that had style and a fun touch of something something on it.

Here it is....

I actually really love how it turned out and it only took me about 45 mins. I assaulted a book that we own that we have never read....I don't plan on ever reading it. I wanted it to be kinda jagged and not even and perfect so I ripped out the pages and ripped a different sized section off the top of each page before I rolled them up. I glued all the little cones together first and then set them in a HUGE pile...it takes a lot of those suckers to make a circle. Then I just grabbed the little cones...made sure that no weird looking writing was facing out...and glued the bottom 2 inches or so together. If you do this make sure that you keep the bottom parts of the cone at the same level as each other so it'll actually become round...thats the key! Once I had all my cones glued together and the circle complete I noticed a rather large hole in the center. I opted for more cones rather than less cones and I made them a little tighter together so that I could pack more in...which made the wreath bigger...but it also made more space in the center. I wanted to add something and I had all those little scraps that I had ripped off the tops of the pages so I thought...why not add a flower in the center??? Plus it covered all my glue lines nicely! I folded the little scraps together and glued the centers to make petals....then once it was nice and full I added little crinkly pieces sticking out in the very center to make it look cool. Phew.....
There's a reason that I don't write tutorials very often....I'm not very good at them. I hope you all could understand those directions and that it is CRAZY easy to make this wreath. After your done you'll need some sort of hanging apparatus....I chose a scrap of drop cloth that I had left over from my recent chair upholstery and I weaved it through and then cut the front piece in two and twisted the ends to make it look sorta braided. I then just tacked it to the wall with a cute upholstery tack. All in all I think this totally serves its purpose for creative artwork and I am totally gonna make more!
Here's some more pics of it on the wall....
I'm linking this post up to...  
Favorite things Friday 
Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest 
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk 
Go and check out all the DIY goodness! 

Nursery fabric book pocket

Hey everyone! I spotted this tutorial the other day on ohdeedoh and couldn't wait to make it. My son has a bookshelf in his room thats always empty because he's always pulling the books onto the floor to play with them. Its the bain of my existence seriously! We have a lot of books...some of them too big to fit on the bookshelf so I knew that this pocket was a good solution. If your interested in making this for your kids (and who wouldn't be) then just click the link above and follow her step by step tutorial. Its a great way to display colorful fabric on their wall too and I want to put another one in next to his changing table so he's got books to read while he's getting his diaper changed. This could also be a diaper organizer, or it'd be great in the bathroom for magazines (mine are currently stacked on the back of the toilet). Its so easy too...check it out!!!!

Here's the one I made...whatdoya think?

I'm linking up to Great Idea Day at Infarrantly Creative!

DIY drop cloth chair reupholstery project FINALLY FINISHED!

Hey everyone! You all probably thought I gave up on that ugly chair and gave it away for someone else to deal with...well the answer to that is no. I bet almost anyone other than me could've done better on this thing, but I did my best, learned a lot for next time, and had some fun! Even with my WAY less than perfect upholstery job the chair looks 100 times better! Ok here she is....but first lets revisit what she looked like before I gussied her up.

Before

 After

Don't look too closely at the nailhead or the trim...neither one of them is perfect but I love how it turned out and I'm excited to make a slipcover for it to stay nice! (Notice my adorable lounging toddler in pic two!)
I'm linking up with A few of my favorite things and Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest

Massive score at the thrift store!!!

Hey All! SO I went to check out a thrift store today with a friend. Its called the Volunteers of America thrift store and its right down the street from my house but somehow I've never gone in there. Weird I know! Well wow....I massively scored. I looked at the furniture...eww. I looked at the glassware...eww. I looked at the plates (always on the hunt for cool white plates) and as I was scanning the shelves I spotted a box

 

Don't adjust your glasses....You read that right. 72 piece set....its complete and only one of the plates has a tiny chip on it. Its Pfaltzgraff and I am in CRAZY love with them! So the price on the thrift store tag was 59.99 which you all know is a good price for such a big set (especially since the JCPenny tag was still on there and it said 199.99) but I knew I couldn't justify these dishes to my husband (even though we needed them) at 60 bucks. I grabbed the manager of the thrift store and asked her if she'd take 40.00 for them and because they had been on the floor for over a week without being sold she accepted my offer!!!! Thats right....40.00 for a 72 piece set of amazing vintage looking dishes that I will cherish for years! I am so excited! Oh and I also scored about 5 super old antique books, some clothes for my son, a gorgeous vintage scarf, and an AMAZING old map of the United States (45 cents!!!!!) that I'm gonna frame and hang on the wall!! I am in thrifters heaven right now. So excited about this place and plan to go there A LOT! 

I just used what I had around the house...

So what do you get when you mix a a pretty matelasse shower curtain that was left by the previous tenant, and some left over drop cloth fabric from your still not finished chair upholstery project? You get dining chair slipcovers! I've been wanting to slipcover my dining chairs with something that I could throw in the wash but was more neutral. I reupholstered my dining chairs a few years ago with a fabric that I loved at the time. Its chocolate brown with different colored polka dots on it. Its cute...but totally not my style anymore. I would just reupholster them but they are not the drop in seat or screw on seat kind...they are cushioned all the way around and the seat part doesn't come off. Big pain in my rear end to reupholster when I can just slipcover them and get a removable...machine washable...and toddler proof seat cover! Ok so here's a couple picks of them. I've only done one so far but I have the pieces cut for the rest of them...just need my back to stop hurting so I can hunch over my sewing machine like Quasi Modo for a couple hours! I haven't figured out how to attach them to the legs of the chair yet...I'm thinking straps of the drop cloth with cute black buttons. I'll take any suggestions I can get on this one!

Before

(notice the cute toddler in the background!)

                                                                        

So please let me know what you ladies think about how I can fasten these. I think I'll probably just attach them to the back where the backrest attaches to the frame so its more tailored. I was majorly inspired by this post but knew that I would never be able to recreate them so I wanted a simpler look. I await your ideas!!

Pillow's....made by me....ON A SEWING MACHINE!

Hey people! So if any of you read my Stumped by sewing post about a week ago I expressed my frustration about wanting to learn how to sew and not knowing how. Well I bought a sewing machine (Brother...from Walmart....great deal!) a couple days ago and sat down during Liam's nap today to learn how to use it. Well after spending seriously about an hour trying to thread my needle and watching the extremely helpful instructional DVD I felt fairly confident that I could sew something without impailing myself with the sewing needle. So I had this super cute black and white Ikea fabric that I wanted to cover my HIDEOUS couch pillows with. These are the "Oh so cute" pillows that "come with the couch". They are microfiber on one side and some funky looking print that I hate on the other. They've been needing to be recovered for over a year now and I just now got around to doing it. OK...without further adeu.....
Before

After

These pillows are so much fun to make! The first one that I did took me seriously about an hour. I did it about as wrong and backward as you can make something. I truly made it way harder on myself then it had to be. The second one took me about 20 mins to make and came out so much better. The ruffle is from the second one...the first one's ruffle is so messy looking that I didn't want to show that up close. lol. Regardless of how much I messed these up...I had a blast and broke my fear and apprehension with sewing!

Linking up with Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest

Just get started already!!!!

Ok so this was more of a command to myself...but I'm sure some of you can relate! How many times do we have a project that we want to do and we stall and stall and spend hours "researching" on other blogs about how other people have done it...and never just DO IT? TONS of times in my case! I have several projects that I want to complete...and I don't. I put it off until I feel like the biggest Doosh in the world for being so lazy! Granted I'm pregnant and chasing around a toddler all day so I have a small excuse...but STILL! Seriously one of my favorite projects I've ever done was like this. My armoire was staring at me day after day saying "paint me...make me shine" and I kept putting it off thinking it was gonna be SO hard and take SO long. Well it wasn't that hard...time consuming yes....hard no. And it really only took about two of my son's naps to complete and now I have it to enjoy every day! I feel so proud that I finally tackled it! When you complete a project thats been looming over your head you get this "I am woman...hear me ROAR" feeling and it totally pumps you up and gives you motivation to tackle all the other ones. Love that feeling! Ok so I'm gonna read my sewing machine manual and sew some stinking pillow covers for the UGLY pillows that came with my couch! Thats my project thats been taking me forever to start! How pathetic is that?? What about the rest of you?? Anything looming?