Painting the Night Stands Yellow

This weekend I finally tackled the two end tables that will go into the guest bedroom. One of them was a roadside find. The other I bought in a resale shop for $15.00. I am so excited about this project! I am on a self-imposed limited budget so the fifteen dollars total spent on the night stands combined makes me smile. They are going to look fun and be a little funky in the room. I bought some yellow paint in the oops bin at Home Depot. On the can it was a bright yellow, inside it was more of a greenish yellow. I tried to convince myself that the paint would work. It was cheap, good quality paint and went on the tables like no body's business.

When Hubby got home after I painted them with two coats, he said that they looked like pickle yellow. Not sure what that means but it would not work in the room.

 The original yellow color.

Sad days.  I had to go back for more paint.

Because I had already painted everything with the good paint I convinced myself that cheap paint would work just fine.  I did not take my own advice- NEVER USE CHEAP PAINT.  When you use cheap paint on furniture you end up painting everything twice where one coat would work in the better paint and it runs because it is so thin.  I started painting the tables Friday night and it took me two hours to paint them the first time.  I literally had to sit there and clean up drips for an hour after I painted but I am nothing if not hard headed so I marshaled on.  The second coat the next morning didn't look as bad but I still had the runny paint issue.  The color was Behr Chickadee.  I pinky swear that from this day forward I will use Behr Premium Plus with primer in the paint or Olympic paint and primer in one on any painted furniture.

Sunday afternoon I glazed them.

The pictures above are before I wiped the table down.

I love making my own glaze.  I actually used the wall color in the glaze.  1 cup of untinted glaze to 1/4 cup paint.   The pieces had lots of grooves and nicks so there was a lot of glaze detail.  They turned out great.

I love how this was headed for the trash and is now a star in the bedroom.  I am going to store extra blankets inside for my guests.

The Guest Room Redo

The mudroom bench is really coming to an end.  I painted final touch-ups this evening.  I need a new project.  It really is therapy for me.  Ever since I found that sad end table in the trash I have been thinking about redoing my newly married son's room.  It will now be a guest room.  The problem with the room was that I could not come up with a color scheme that I liked.  Friends suggested colors for the end table but I just could not settle on anything that I loved.   I wanted the room to be classic with a modern twist and still use my 70's furniture finds.  Inspiration came from The Hills blog.

I am good to go now.  The room is going to be gray and yellow toned.   I have set a budget for myself of $100.00 to redo the room.  I already have a great gray comforter I purchased online for $17.00.  It has literally been sitting in my bedroom for over a month because I bought it for the lovebirds thinking they needed it.  They found another gray comforter that they purchased so I planned on returning mine.  I just couldn't do it because the one I had was such a great deal and I thought in the back of my mind it might find a home.  Now I am glad I saved it.
Here is what the room looks like today. 

I already have a double bed and an upholstered headboard made from a hollow door.
It is pretty forgettable.

There is a dresser in the room that will move to the other guest room.  The treasures will have to find a new home.    

 The side table is outdoor furniture and the lamp was a clearance find. 

There are some photos I took in Hawaii on one wall and this art piece from my old office. I love the photos and will find a home for them.  The artwork is fine, just not very exciting. There is an oak desk in the room that has to stay, but it will work fine as is.

Here is the plan:

• Reupholster the headboard and reconfigure the room.
• Paint the dumpster end table into something fabulous.
• Find a great lamp.
• Re do the armoire- (I recently got an armoire back that was my unnamed son's when he was little. With a little fluffing up it is going to be amazing.)
• Find some great curtains. 
• Add art.  This is going to be my favorite part.  I got online and looked for yellow and gray inspiration. I found:

circles

more circles

 

birds

more birds

 

You will definitely see my version of something above in the room.

 

I also have on hand:

 A resale shop frame that I painted the blue color from Sweet Amanda's bedroom.  $2.00

 A large mirror that I bought last weekend at a garage sale.  $2.00



I need sheets, pillows, dust ruffle, fabric, curtains, and paint.

Tally so far:
comforter- $17.00
frame and mirror- $4.00

I think I should get it all done for under the $79.00 left. 
I think that this will be a great place to put my milk glass too.  I guess I am really going to find out if Hubby reads my blog.  He is at parent's night tonight and has no idea that I have gone off on another tangent. 

Making a Tufted Cushion for the Mudroom Bench

We are making progress on the Mudroom Bench.  No more showing it to you until it is installed!  I had planned on using an outdoor cushion that I bought on clearance but Hubby did not like how it fit the bench and honestly I wanted something a little more swanky.  We have both put in a lot of work on this project and it will be the first thing that people see when they come into our home.  I am making pillows for the bench too that you will see this week.  We have completed the cushion to go on the bench.  I learned a ton on this project.  Hubby and I have upholstered many things over the years, but I had not ever tried anything tufted.  My inspiration came from Daily Do It Yourself .  I did not know how to cover buttons with fabric but Hubby had some experience (his sisters both sew) so we got started.  I bought this button making kit at Hobby Lobby.  I love those 40% off coupons.

The kit would would only make three buttons, but you can buy refill buttons for $1.99.  Not bad.  I bought 12 buttons all together.  The kit provides a template to draw circles on the fabric.

I got all 12 drawn out on a tiny scrap of fabric.  It does not take much to do the buttons.

Place the fabric in the form provided, back side up.

Then put the rounded part of the button into the mold.

Like magic the fabric curls in when you press down on the rounded button part.

Put the part of the button that has the ring on it into the mold next. The kit comes with a blue pressing tool.  Press until you feel a click. 

Ta Dah!

It got tricky after this part.  Hubby had already cut a piece of scrap 1/2 inch plywood cut to size.  We looked at several websites about tufted pillows.  His next statement filled me with fear.  "This will be easy, all we need is a tape measure, ruler, calculator and a pencil."  A calculator?  Hubby is a math teacher so I immediately passed the chore of marking where the buttons went off to him. 

He drilled a hole where each button should go then we placed the board across two chair backs.  This allowed me to work on top and bottom at the same time. We layered foam on top of the board that was also cut to size and then the fabric.  I even ironed!  I used an upholstery needle and heavy weight thread to go through the hole in the wood, the foam and the fabric.  I then put the button on the thread then back down through everything.  Finding the hole in the wood was a pain at first but I got better.  I did not tie the buttons at this point.  I left the thread hanging.

Once all 12 were in we carefully flipped everything over on the floor, buttons down.  Hubby stood on the board while I pulled the thread tight.  He screwed a small screw in by each button for me to tie off.  I then stapled the thread to make sure it stayed secure.  Next I used my trusty electric staple gun to staple the fabric down around the edges. 

It turned out great.

Look at how straight the buttons are down the cushion.  Great job done by the mathematician.

The cushion is now ready for the bench.  The cost was not too bad, but way more than my $7.00 cushion I originally planned to use.  The fabric was a linen remnent that I only paid $3.00 for.  The buttons cost $5.00.  The big expense was the foam.  $20.00, even with a coupon.
It is going to look great on the bench.

The Mudroom Bench is Coming Together

Tuesday night we made progress on the Mudroom bench. The paint color was picked out; Behr Marina Isle.

I am such a fan of the Behr paint with primer in it. The paint dries so smooth it looks great after one coat and professional after two.
We got home from Home Depot and I got started right away. It was 8:00 p.m. and getting dark, but I just couldn't wait to get it done.  I got a coat of paint on the whole bench before the mosquitoes drained my entire blood supply. I am absolutely the messiest painter in all of Texas. I managed to step in wet paint, get it on my hands, and even got some in my hair.   I could blame all the mess on the impending darkness, but I have been known to make just as much mess at noon.

When I woke up Wednesday morning I had to run out to the garage to check out the color once it dried.  I love it.  It is really a soft teal color. It will look great on my khaki colored walls.  The cushion will be burlap colored fabric and I am making two coffee sack pillows to add to the bench. 

The bench is going to look great. I am so happy with the color. It is amazing to me how the paint color unifies the piece and makes it look less like a patchwork and more like a piece of fine furniture.

Hubby got the mirror disassembled so that I could get it painted. The mirror now looks like it belongs on the piece.  Wednesday night was all about Hubby routing the edges of the back and me painting the top part. 

I know you are getting tired of seeing how slow we work.  This is real life.  We work hard, we only have an hour or so each evening to get this finished.  The next time you see the mudroom bench it will be the assembly and installation.  We really are almost there.

Move in Weekend for the Craft Corner

Yippee!  My craft corner is finally dry, in place and ready for service.  I am so happy.  It has been a frustrating trip to get to this point.  If you have been reading my blog you have read my excitement at finding the perfect desk... making a big mess... then finally getting it put together.

This weekend I got to move into the desk.  I carried all my stuff out of the house.  It took two bags.

This is inside one of the bags.  Hubby was embarrassed that I would show you my junk, but it is what it is.  I have not had a place to work for a while.  When I wanted to be creative, I had to get everything out, put it on the kitchen table them put it up before we could use the table. It sure took away the joy.

This was one of my cheapo finds.

 

Originally, this was an oak desk organizer I bought for 25 cents at Livingston Trade Days.

 

Hubby added a piece of scrap wood to the center.

 

 

 

    It fit bottles of craft paint perfectly.  I painted it my duck egg blue color and it is now ready to use.

 



Along the chair rail Hubby drilled holes for cup hooks.  My brushes didn't have holes so Hubby had to drill a hole in each of them.  Below the big brushes is one of Hubby's genius moments.  I was looking for something to keep my art brushes in. I have tried a lot of things.  Most recently I had a Pringles can with holes punched in the lid, but the smaller brushes fell through.  I really thought Hubby would have to build me something but he found this old pipe holder at a resale shop.  It is perfect.  50 cents and it even has a place for a jar to fill with water that I can drop used brushes into. I wonder what that spot was for orginally?   I love it.  He loves it because there was no building, fixing, painting or adjusting for him.  I literally brought it home and put it in place.

The drawers are organized.

 The blackboard above the craft table has changed from this...

to this.  Enough said.