this morning i had the pleasure of waking up bright and early to these two hooligans...
what a beautiful little family i have haha since i had the whole day ahead of me i decided that i was going to be as productive as i possibly could. if you read my blog regularly, you know that i have been talking about painting the door in my kitchen for a few months now - all talk and no action. well, i decided that today was the day to follow through with this little plan of mine.
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| jesse taping the window casing |
although i was a professional painter for an entire summer while i was in university (har har har) jesse still felt the need to tape the casing surrounding the windows so that i ended up with a "clean edge" - having a contractor as a husband tends to take little do-it-yourself weekend projects to a new level...
no, he didn't bother to change into painting clothes. there was absolutely no getting him out of his onsie. if you are wondering where this gem of an outfit came from, let me fill you in. my mom had bought this for my dad or brother and neither of them wanted it (hmm, i wonder why?) so she gave it to jesse since she knew he "loves long underwear". obviously, she was right - jesse is a fan. after jesse was done with the painters tape he sanded down the door for me so that i didn't have to tsp. i hate tsping. after he was done, i wiped down the dust and started to give the door its first coat.
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| first coat |
we actually colour matched the paint to the curtains in the eating area - the whole purpose of painting the door was to bring the blue from the curtains into the kitchen and onto the far wall by the stove, evening everything out. the colour turned out amazing and i am very, very happy with the new pop of colour in the kitchen!
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| finished product |
after i was done the door i realized that not only did i have a ton of extra paint but i had a ton of extra time left in my day. why not paint the guest bedroom night side tables and chest of drawers too? honestly, i had been wanting to tackle the guest bedroom for months. i bought these really amazing retro side tables a few months ago with my mom from the interfaith furniture store (my favourite) and have been too busy to refinish them until now. jesse thought i lost my mind when i first brought them home; since they were melamine he was positive i wouldn't be able to refinish them but i was determined. i just sanded down all the melamine, gave them a few good coats of paint and now they look amazing!
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| original, dated tables |
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| painted |
after i was done the side tables i decided that i was going to tackle the chest of drawers. this chest has been sitting in our upstairs living room being used as a front entrance table since we first moved in nearly a year ago. this chest of drawers was in jesse's bedroom when he still lived at his parents - apparently, it was one of the first pieces of furniture that val bought when she moved to calgary so it was in definite need of a makeover!
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| the "before" |
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| originally, val had painted the top, so i had to sad the entire thing down |
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| vandalism! it took me forever to sand that out... |
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| the first coat |
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| of course emi had to get right on in there. |
i am the most excited about this chest of drawers. it is possibly my favourite piece that i have refinished to date. i think what makes it so special are the beautiful, hand painted knobs i splurged on from one of my favourite (and incredibly over priced) stores,
anthropologie.
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| the original hardware |
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| the new knobs! |
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| the finished product! |
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once everything was sanded, painted, dried and all the hardware was put back on i moved it all back into the guestroom. i actually have found this room fairly hard to decorate since it is so huge. it would be easier if we had an unlimited budget and were able to buy a ton of oversized furniture but, alas, we don't and i have had to work with limited resources! i will say that i am very proud of the fact that this entire make over cost us less than 50 dollars! while i did pay 10 dollars each for the side tables, the chest and rocking chair were free. we spent about 35 dollars on paint and 15 dollars on the knobs. the bed, bedding, and curtains came from my old room in my parents house and i collected all the little decorative knickknacks over time. finally, i am pleased with how it looks. take a look at the before and after of this room:
blast from the past - right when we moved in, before we even painted, yikes!
our previous guest room - very bare...
and now, the new and improved guest room - ta da!
words cannot express how happy i am with this room. i am actually going to move all my workout clothes, bathing suits and comfortable, lounge clothes into the chest of drawers in here. i also have a lot more room for my accessories like scarves, necklaces and purses! originally, i bought that flower hook set for our room but jesse hated it and said it was too "girly
