Midcentury modern dresser makeover

Hi friends, I'm so so excited about this furniture makeover today and I know that mid-century modern furniture isn't everyone's cup of tea but I have been searching for an opportunity to get my hands on an affordable dresser that I could redo and KEEP.

I shared on Instagram the dresser and nightstand that I found on Craigslist and here they are again and it is the original listing's photo:

They were listed at $100 but the hubby talked them down to $70. YAY! I knew he could do it!

You can't see it in the photo but they weren't in the best shape. Not bad but they needed work. The veneer was chipping in several places and there were scratches and dents everywhere.

I know the wood tone is beautiful but I'm not a professional wood worker and you can't tell by the photos but it needed work. You also know me and I was itching to paint it.

I received a big compressor and paint guns for Christmas from my hubby and I was waiting for the weather to get warm so I could finally try it out in the garage. I hadn't even opened the compressor box since Christmas.

Here is my Instagram photo of the guns:

I patched the scratches, dents and chips. Lightly sanded the dresser. Wiped it with TSP and taped it where I wanted to paint it. Then I started with the owner's manual. God I swear they make this difficult.

And when I finally got to the compressor part I noticed that the owner's manual and screws where missing. I also couldn't hook up the paint gun hose to the compressor. So back I went to Lowes where I got my items. When I tried to hook everything up, my neighbor showed me that the compressor had previously been used and when he opened the pressure/air on the bottom, a huge amount of rusty water came out. GREAT isn't it? I was so upset. I should have opened the box right at Christmas. This is so frustrating and I have no clue what to do.

Anyways, I tried spraying with my smaller compressor which didn't work out so well, so I went back to the good old regular paint method. I started with Kilz spray primer (I don't think I will ever use anything else) and then I ended up hand rolling the rest with my favorite white semi-gloss Rustoleum enamel.

I wanted to Rub 'N Buff the hardware since not all of it was brass but cheap metal but that didn't work out so well either. So I spray painted the small knobs and painted the rest in a bright pink neon. Yeah baby!!! I did and I love it. With a simple small change I can change that detail if I want to. I was thinking of adding coral, emerald, mint or turquoise but then decided the neon.

Enough talking, right? You want to see it!
Here it is:

So what do you think. Do you like it?
I'm in love with it.

I still have the matching bedside table which my son wants to keep in his room, so I will be painting it soon too. He likes this one and wants something similar but obviously not with pink.

I wish you all a great weekend and "Happy Mother's Day". Talk to you on Monday!

(Youleeya)

Sharing at:

Ombre striped wall? Or not?

I was really shocked to see the controversy that my last post created. I really didn't expect that at all.

It never crossed my mind that there would actually be people that thought that my reply was "over the top" and "nasty". Really? My reply was nasty? Maybe it's because some people don't get my humor? I thought it was somewhat funny. I was feeling the love and support though from you all and I'm really grateful to that. I really appreciate all you guys who read along.

Anyways, speaking of my humor I thought I'd quickly share another blog with you that makes me laugh and I'm sure it's not everyones cup of tea again. I certainly love this chick's blog and she makes me laugh so hard that my husband usually comes and checks on me when I'm reading her blog because he is wondering why I'm laughing so hard.

The awesome chick is Anna from "My Life and Kids". I swear she failed her profession as a stand up comedian. Her blog has nothing to do with design and DIY projects. She just writes about her life, husband, kids and mother. Me and most of my friends can totally relate to her. Her blog is one of those blogs that I want to read in the evening with a glass of wine, not in the morning with a cup of coffee. Reading her blog feels like a night out with one of your best friends. I guess that's why her blog is so successful.

Be warned though...the people that take her too serious will not think she is funny!
Go ahead, browse her blog! If you do let me know what your favorite post is in the comments or on my facebook page...I got a couple of my own :)

Getting back to DIY stuff, I don't know if you guys noticed my striped hallway walls, but I have been itching to paint them.

I'm talking about the wall on the right side.

Ombre stripes or not?

I still like the different stripes but you know when you have lived with something for a long time and you are just ready for a change? Well, I'm at that point and since my husbands job decision has been at a stand still, I just can't wait anymore. I really want to paint a wall. I'm not thinking about doing anything crazy or outrageous, I was just thinking about painting ombre stripes. Bottom dark going to lighter up top.
Or a geometric pattern, but that would take longer again and I have a lot of patterns already in the area rugs.

image via diyinspired

And I don't have to spend money because I got the paint already. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK CHANGE IT (if so to what) OR LEAVE IT?

Next week is going to be a special week ;) so stop back and have a great weekend.

Tschüß

Vintage 1965 Thomasville Chairs

How was your weekend? Mine was spent at wrestling again. Saturday and Sunday!
The kids were excited that it was finally the first of December and they could start opening their advent calendars. When my son was a toddler I actually had a homemade calendar with 24 individually wrapped presents. Now that my kids are older and in the Lego craze, all they want is a Lego calendar. Star Wars for Noa and Lego Friends for Lilly.
The only thing that bothers me about the calendars is that it makes them get up earlier to open their next door, haha! But they are special memories and I cherish them.

Today I want to share a project with you. A while ago I purchased these two 1965 vintage Thomasville chairs.

I really like the curves in their shape and of course my first instinct was to paint them white once again with a turquoise damask fabric but then I saw this fun, multi-colored striped fabric and remembered my favorite orange color that I had left in the garage. And voila this is what I came up with after the usual sanding, cleaning and priming.

The upholstering was a little tricky, because I had to keep the stripes perfectly straight.

I love them I think they are fun. Aren't they? I can picture them in a kids room, at a small bistro table in a kitchen or maybe in an all white or plain office where they'd stand out.
They will be available in my Etsy store soon. I think I want to take some more nice photos first.

LOVE this fabric, don't you?

Talk to on Wednesday,

linking up to:

Primitive and Propper
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Moron of the week award!

What a weekend! Seriously!
After my son's soccer game on Saturday I headed to an auction. If you are one of my facebook friends then you have seen my post about this brass dresser that I wanted so badly.

The auction was at an old mansion and there was so much cool stuff.

I'm still angry about the outcome though. I was outbid again by the same guy that outbid me last time when I was upset about two matching baker dressers that I wanted to use as nightstands for our bedroom! Those furniture dealers that come to the auctions and just buy anything and everything with an outrageous budget just bug me. And now I'm more mad at myself for not continuing to bid on that gold dresser. I actually left right after he outbid me. There were a couple of other cool things there but I saw the same guy checking out all the stuff that I wanted and just left.

I googled brass dresser and came across these cool pieces and am convinced now that I needed that dresser, haha. I want, I want, I want...darn it! I don't know where that brass obsessions is coming from? I thought I hated brass! It's somehow sneaking itself back into my home. It started with the gold chevron lamp shades, then the gold on my coffee table...Where is this going?

image via 1stdibs

Brass & Bronze Mirror by Mastercraft  (image via 1stdibs)

image via 1dbibs

image via cococozy

After reading the post on cococozy about this type of dresser I could punch myself for not bidding more. What's wrong with me? The back of the dresser also said "made in Spain"! The cococozy dresser cost $4400! What are your thoughts on the dresser? Ugly or pretty?

Saturday evening I was talked into going out with the neighbor ladies. What a bad and horrible idea. There is a reason I usually stay home. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was sick all day yesterday. A perfectly beautiful day completely wasted by my own stupidity. That said, I have to tell you that I'm not finished with the project that I wanted to share with you. Hopefully I'll be done with it on Wednesday.

I win the moron of the week award for this weekend.

So check back on Wednesday to see if I'm done with the project, ok?
Guten Tag.

DIY room-divider

Hi everybody! I can't believe that my mom's visit is almost half over already. We've been shopping and helping out at school. It sure is nice to have her around, but as for projects, I haven't been getting anything done.

And that's why I decided to finally write a post about my living room room-divider today that I built several years ago, pre-blogging times! A lot of people have asked me about it. I wanted one because my staircase, aka the black hole, is next to my sofa and it's just not cozy at all sitting next to a black hole.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about. This is the room divider:

After measuring and deciding what size I wanted per panel, I bought some 2x2s at the lumber yard and cut them to size. Each panel is 21 1/4" x 75 1/4" and I wanted 3 panels.

The middle short pieces are 18 1/4" and the side pieces are 75 1/4"

I used screws to put the pieces together from the sides and you can use some angles for the inside of the panel frames to keep it all together. Don't ever forget to pre-drill when you use screws or your wood will split.

I used the screws from the side and the angles (not on the drawing) in the inside of the frame.

Please forgive me for my childish and unprofessional drawings, but that's all I got! No photos to document the DIY process, sorry!

I covered the frames with quilt batting, which I  stapled to the sides.Then I covered the panels with Ikea Stockholm Blad curtains that I had.

Everything was stapled with a hand stapler. Seriously, I should have invested in a power stapler for this project. My hands had blisters!

I have been searching and searching for another fabric for the other side of the divider but NOTHING! I really don't know who the buyer is for our local Joann's fabric but let me say this out loud: the person stinks! Most people are already sick of the Chevron overload everywhere and this stupid store still carries zero, NULL, nada, no chevron. That's how horrible our local fabric store is. It's sad!!! There, I said it and I hope somebody is listening.
But even on my NYC fabric search trip I found nothing. Maybe I should just paint my own again. Or I've been thinking about making my own on spoonflower.com...oh, do I love this website. There are so many possibilities.   (Since this post, I have found a solution for the other side: OMBRE, click here to see the other side of the divider)

I finished off the edges of the panels where I stapled the fabric with a thick brown satin ribbon (like this one) from the craft store which can be attached with fabric glue or iron on seam tape. Mine isn't attached yet because I'm still hoping for that other side to finally get some pretty fabric. And I used simple hinges from the hardware store to connect all three panels together.

You can see the ribbon under the hinges.

I'm really happy with it and I get asked all the time where I bought it.

Has anybody come across some pretty fabrics that would look nice on my room divider?
Well, let me know!

I wish you all a great weekend! Talk to you on Monday und guten Tag!

Where is my armchair?

I really want a new armchair for our living room. The pretty one that you can see in my house tour photos is too uncomfortable. I want one that is so comfortable, that you don't want to get up. A snuggly, cozy and beautiful chair.

I first wanted to purchase a cheap one from Craigslist and then try myself at reupholstering it but my cats are making me rethink this option. My old male (slightly retarded and territorial) cat is not trust- worthy. If he won't like the smell, he will pee on it. Since I don't know who owned the chair before me and what kind of pets they had, I have to scrap that idea and buy a brand new chair. (And NO, I won't get rid of my cats, I love them and they are our family members)

So I have been looking around at TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Overstock, Home Decorators, Ikea and some local furniture places.

Here are some chairs that I like:

Overstock Sussex Classic Dark-Gray Linen Club Chair for $389.09
(What's with the 9 cents?)

My mom said that the above Overstock chair looked like an antique potty chair. I guess what makes it look a little off are the legs. They don't really match and some classic legs would look much better. The back looks a little too straight as well.

West Elm Victor Chair for $799

Home Decorators Collins Wing Back Chair for $499

Ikea Strandmon Chair for $279

Home Decorators Gordon Tufted Chair for $589

Home Decorators Moore Wing Back Chair for $549
Doesn't look too comfortable!

On my way to the Philly Airport on Monday to pick up my mom, I had to stop at Ikea... I have a really, really hard time passing that place without stopping. And? And? Guess what? I was so excited to see that they had the Strandmon for sale. FINALLY! They don't even have it on their website yet. I had to get it. Even though I had to risk stuffing my car to the max with suitcases, the chair and some other cool Ikea stuff.  For me that eliminates the shipping nonsense and not being able to sit in a chair and see if it's comfortable and if the grey wouldn't match, I could return it. The price is great too!

So here is my new armchair!
I LOVE IT! I might still change it up a bit but it's the perfect shade of grey. (You know I love my shades of grey ;) Haha!

Click here to see my DIY painted curtains.

Maybe change the legs up a bit???

Me likey likey? You likey too?

Talk to you on Friday!