Now it’s my lovely serene and calm office / guest bedroom. No pictures of the office side because photos of the back of monitors and cords make me break out into hives – plus that side of the room is minus many decorations as of right now.

I was inspired by this photo

And this was the result – with my own flare added – you may recognize that chair from my post on things you should buy on CraigsList so I won’t – well I did anyway – dammit!

They are now sleek, pretty and contemporary.

1. Clean the cabinets with a deglosser/sander – Klean Strip is a great brand, you can only find it at Home Depot.

2. Let the deglosser dry, only takes about an hour.

3. Apply a latex primer – or all purpose primer with a good quality brush – the site recommended 2 1/2″ but if you have any kind of raised decorative face to your doors you may want to use a 2″ – Purdy are awesome brushes and worth every cent!!

Have then tint the primer dark – very necessary.

4. Let the primer dry overnight. Then apply your OIL based paint with a Purdy 2″ brush that is made for all paints or oil based paint.

Paint with the grain of the wood.

You should only need a quart of paint. I painted this vanity and used less than 1/4 of the can!

Soak your brushes in a can of brush cleaner, since it’s oil based this is the only way you’re getting them clean. Rinse with cold water.

Good luck

Tips provided by Addicted2Decorating.com

To get a room the way I want it takes a lot of scouring Craigslist, vintage stores, online stores, sales, estate sales and consignment sales. Out of all of these sources I have advice and opinions on each which I’ll formulate on another day.

But here are some images that show you what inspires me, from wall color to furniture to bedding to art work. Of course there are a lot of cool things out there that I love and you can see those here – but these are all images that actually will be reflected in my home one way or another.

above photo courtesy of bradybunchremodel.com

Sources include:

ApartmentTherapy.com
BradyBunchRemodel.com – great for mid century modern lovers
Etsy art
Dwell Studios

-floor
-paint
-kitchen cabinets
-ceilings
-etc

When I found my house I fell in love with the layout, utilization of space, potential and location within the neighborhood. All the practical not fun stuff ya know?

Because let’s be honest, you CAN CHANGE FLOORS AND PAINT, not so easy to change a floor plan or where a house is in the area. I have to remind my clients of this kind of stuff all the time. It’s like finding the man of your dreams and he’s wearing a Cosby sweater – loose the sweater, done deal!

So as predicted I found and had my house under contract in less than a week, only looked at houses for  a week. Negotiated it in a day and closed a week early – yeah my lender rocks by the way – local loan officers all the way!!

A lot of things needed to change about the house – but getting a great deal on the home means I can now afford to change all the 1980′s horror features like…

popcorn ceilings and country baby blue paint

ugly bathrooms

saloon doors

retina burning and cave dwelling bedrooms

but check out this kitchen and yard!

yeah, you know some before and after pics are coming, cause I’m a sucker for that kinda stuff.

Now we have the internet and photo programs – they make story boarding fun. There are even online storyboards you can create, but it’s usually using their products and that’s not quite as fun to me – or creative.

So in purchasing this new home I find the gypsy in me has gotten rid of most of her furniture. I have some art work and bedroom furniture, that’s it. I have been wanting to update my bedroom for years but I don’t want to let go of my grandparents 1930 iron bed – so now that’s going in the guest bedroom, see how that worked out?

So here are the two story boards I have that are actually completed, I’m having a hard time with my living room one. Possibly because I still haven’t decided on the couch and that is, after all, the focal point.

The bedroom has loads of space for art work which I love!

1. Watercolor on Etsy that now I can’t find – sigh

2. Watercolor of Peacock by Mai Autumn – at http://maiautumn.typepad.com

3. and 4. Prints (original done in pen, pencil and marker) by Yellena James http://www.etsy.com/shop/yellena?ref=pr_shop

5. Bed from World Market

6. Curtains from Ikea

7. Duvet by Urban Outfitters

The dining room is by far the most complete room thus far as I actually have all of the items shown except the curtains. The focal point will be the painting so I may do a rug that will bring out some of those colors.

The darkest wall color will be behind the painting on the center wall. This room gets loads of natural light so I know the dark colors will be fine.

1. Curtains from Ikea

2. Chairs (2) from West Elm

3. Painting is one I own – salvaged from an office building so it wouldn’t end up in trash.

4. Dining table and bench from West Elm via Craig’s List

5. Chandelier from Lowe’s. Note these are gorgeous and the photo doesn’t do it justice. The material is Onyx and it has flecks of color in it, I think it will be perfect with the paining. I also got a new entry light that compliments this.

So imagine my giddiness when Apartment Therapy dropped this little article in my lap today. So this is how the next project is going to go – lazy cheap restoration attempt take one – stay tuned.

For full article go here http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/how-to/how-to-quickly-and-easily-spruce-up-wood-furniture-154404

So here’s how this project got started. I decided I wanted a vanity. I found a great buy at the Round Rock Antique Mall. It’s gorgeous and not too fru fru, in my opinion. But no chair. So the hunt was once again afoot.

Found a cute little chair at the Austin Antique Mall but it had a horrible upholstery on it and was painted a jello pudding shade of brown, to put it nicely. I already had the supplies purchased and in effect for another project, so I thought what the hell, add it to the list. Unfortunately, once I started stripping this paint I found about 4 layers underneath. I should have known better but I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was on a high from the first successful project…or the fumes.

I must interject that I finally succumbed to the strongest paint remover I could find, out of sheer desperation. However, that came at a price. My flesh. The stuff was so strong that if a tiny speck hit my skin it felt like acid eating through my flesh – not exaggerating. You know that feeling of one fire ant, then a hundred fire ants. Same feeling – times 10. I don’t recommend it – it’s the one that takes paint off in 10 minutes. Don’t get it, you’ve been warned.

THIS project quickly became known as “that damn chair”. The damn chair I loathed!!!! I finally got it down to the bare wood – minus a few spots that I just couldn’t get or just lost interest. And the staining began. It’s an ok job, lots of spots where it gunked up etc. But it serves it’s purpose.

Honestly I didn’t love it – until – the most gorgeous fabric on earth graced us with her presence. That damn chair has miraculously become the chair I love.

I love this fabric so much I want to wrap my house in it, or maybe just re upholster a couple of chairs with it.

Honestly, it just needed a little love which included:

1. Sanding – note a power sander is a must when you are restoring furniture. The only time I use chemical stripper is when its been painted (which I just finished with on another project). But you’ll never live through hand sanding when something has been through hell and back.
– Sanding Tip – start with medium texture paper for stripping, then finish up with fine textured paper. Skip the coarse unless you are trying to smooth out some pretty brutal gashes in the furniture.

2. Pre treat the wood before staining. I like Minwax’ wood conditioner. It’s very easy and makes a big difference.

3. I use the stain without polyurethane. Mainly because you have better color options. You’re pretty limited with the polyurethane stains. This particular piece of furniture was stained with dark walnut, which I love and will use it again.

4. Finish off with polyurethane. I like satin over any of the glossy. But that’s just a personal preference. Use at least two coats with high traffic areas of the furniture. Like the tops of desks, tables etc.

The knobs came from World Market. They have a great selection of very artistic different types that don’t cost a fortune. Especially if you print coupons from their website. All in all this was a pretty simple job and turned out far better than I thought it would. The final cost was under $100 which included the materials and the furniture itself, a great deal in my opinion.

Keep in mind when you are restoring furniture it will never look perfect. So enjoy the bumps and scratches, the dents and imperfections. And painting is not restoring, though I’m  not opposed to painting furniture, it’s a whole different process.

Next… a chair I’m working on. It has turned into the BANE of my existence. It has not been a good find and I curse the 4 coats of paint on the damn thing and the people that did it….but that’s for another post.

I love plants – and succulents are easy to take care of – look fantastic and come in endless shapes, sizes and colors. Good options for low maintenance decorating. A small succulent is usually around $3, then a little planter pot is about $3-6. The cutest planters usually don’t have drain wholes in the bottom – so here’s a tip – add rocks or a little gadget called “garden genius” which is a pot filler. That way the water doesn’t settle at the bottom.

The brown pot? Yeah I got really excited – ooo look at this vintage planter I found in the tool shed. Or a citronella candle made to look vintage – sigh.

I love this idea – it reminds me of Texas architect Brad Kittel’s Tiny Texas Houses. In fact I’d venture to say Brad’s been doing this far longer than this guy – but oh well Yahoo didn’t come to Texas.

But notice these are MEN designing these houses – I seriously doubt many women would buy into this. Don’t believe me? Go to an airport, see how men pack versus women. One backback vs two suitcases and two carry on’s and that’s only because “they” won’t let us bring three carry on’s on board.
Anyway, usually when I’m at home I resign myself to one space. Kind of like a dog in its kennel. Yes I just compared myself to a dog, stop before you get to the B word why don’t ya. After dinner and a bath I tend to just hang out in my room. I don’t know why, it’s my happy spot. It’s comfy and everything I need is right there. So the idea of living in a tiny house actually really appeals to me.

I’m fairly certain I could do it. It’s large spaces that cause us to accumalate more crap right? I need a chair to fill that space, and a painting to fill that whole…I need some candles for that bare shelf and on and on and on. Next thing you know you are loaded down with a bunch of “stuff” you don’t need.
It baffles me how many friends and clients will shop houses based on how much stuff they have. Not location or quality of home first, but space – they need loads of space.

The more I think on this the more I like it, the wheels are spinning.