Thursday, April 25, 2013

Rory's Big Girl Room Makeover

A Pink & Yellow bedroom for my little princess ;)


Eli was only 6 months old when we found out we were expecting Rory.  Talk about a shock happy surprise ;)  Eli was obviously still calling the nursery home...we hadn't had a reason to evict him from his green walls and jungle animal bedding crib.  That was about to change, notice served little man...time to move out!!

We moved Eli to his new room a few months before Rory's arrival. I got lucky and found bedding I loved that was pink and green, which meant I didn't have to paint the nursery walls to convert the gender for our little lady!

Those of you that know me might find it strange that I didn't want to paint... Truth be told, I had just painted the kitchen, entryway, Eli's new room and was starting on the living room (which I finished the week I went into labor) so I had hit my limit for pregnant painting (plus, I'll save pregnancy brain's impact on my color selection process for a humorous post later).

Back to our big-girl bedroom story... Here are the pics I have of nursery after the conversion for Rory's arrival...



Shortly after Rory's 2nd Birthday, we were looking at switching her to a big girl bed.  Our kids are both so tall that we bypassed the toddler bed business and went straight to twin beds for each of them.  I had 2 items that inspired the direction that I took with Rory's room.  The first is this vintage painting that I found on a garage sale.  I just loved all the colors in it. 


The other is this vintage chenille quilt coverlet.  It's insanely pretty.  Pictures don't do it justice.


I had found a vintage chenille quilt, very similar to this one, on ebay.  Sadly, I was out-bid at the last minute.  Grrr! Being the crazy that I am, I contacted the seller and convinced her that I NEEDED another one, so she had another produced in about 10 days and sold it to me.  Yep, I get a little crazy, once I get my mind set on something. 


Rory's favorite color is pink.  Pink anything and everything.
However, I was not about to paint her walls pink.  NO WAY!
Her second favorite color is yellow...and not only can this momma handle yellow, but I had a vision of using yellow to tie the different elements I had found all together.  AND, just in case her love affair with pink is short lived, I'm not over committed to a room that, "looks like it's been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol."


Though I knew I wanted to try a stripe, I wasn't sold on how many stripes I'd be able to stomach.  I didn't want to over-power the room.  However, once I had one wall striped, I knew it added an awesome level of detail, and kept the overall tone of the room young and fun....a few hundred hours later and all four walls were done (striping = tedious, but SO worth it)


The mini-dollhouse bookcase was a moving-sale score.  Just a quick paint update to refresh the color before it took it's place in it's 2nd home.


Leave it to craiglist to inspire a big-girl bed makeover too.  My hubby was a little terrified when the dated, brass headboard showed up in the driveway.  A couple cans of Rust-Oleum, Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint, and a can of spray-on polyurethane made quick work of my headboard transformation.  I love the detail of a metal headboard.  It serves as a strong anchor to a very soft, feminine little girl's room...and the color contrasts nicely with the light colors of the room's palette.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Teal Spindle Side Table



I found this gem at a garage sale.  It was beat up, wobbly, and had an awful faux paint job.  Ick!
Here are the before pictures...


 It also had a very dated stamped pattern on the sides.  Even if the pattern could be salvaged (yeah, really not an option for me) one side was missing.....


So... I pulled it all apart and started over.


I pulled the sides off and cut new ones that didn't have a yucky pattern on them (welcome to 2013 Mr. Table) I glued in the new sides and tightened everything back up so it wasn't wobbly.  I primed all the pieces with a dark brown primer, so when I distressed with sandpaper, the brown would show through.  Then I painted them teal. 

  I distressed (150 grit sand paper) and then sanded smooth (220 grit sandpaper) the finish so that it could be waxed.  I used Annie Sloan Clear Wax. 
 

 It is a really pretty shade of teal, but still a little bright for my taste, so I decided to add a little dark wax. I added dark wax to the grooves and corners to give it more of an aged look and it toned down the teal, just enough. 


All Finished!




 
 A little of the brown and red paint peeked through where I distressed it more than planned.  I was trying to avoid this by using the brown primer, but I ended up liking how it looked and distressed it so more red showed through.

A delightful accident.