My Master Bedroom

I tend to first decorate and work on the main level rooms since that is where we spend most of our waking hours.  The kids rooms get decorated next as they develop interests.  The Master Bedroom seems to always be the last one done.  Mine wasn't too bad to begin with.  It just never quite seemed "right" to me.  The last few months I've been slowly making some changes, acquiring some linens, artwork, and objects and sewing up a storm.  While it's not 100% done yet, I felt I could finally post some pictures.  Get ready for a bunch!

For instructions on how I made the sunburst mirror (yes, it's made of a LOT of wood shims,) follow the instructions found at this blog

I found the Peri Duvet cover at TJ Maxx and made the greek key pillows.  The light tan matelasse coverlet was found at a garage sale for all of $6!  I love the lighter look for summer and come winter, I can reverse the duvet and coverlet for more warmth.

Instead of buying the matching nightstands that went with our bedroom set, I decided to hold out for something different that wouldn't  make the room so "matchy-matchy."  As luck would have it, one year we won a furniture drawing!  We selected two of these chests to serve as our nightstands.  We loved the formal "old-world" look of them and the storage they offered us.

As you face the bed, this wide dresser is just to the left of the bed.  I loved the square mirror it came with!  We hung a fun print of Florence my husband and I found while traveling there.  I found the perfect frame (with mat) at Michaels when they were having a 50% off + addtional 25% off sale of their frames!  Score!!

This wall is to the right of the bed.  I took the sepia pictures and the large picture on the dresser. I played with them a bit more with "picnik" and then framed them. It's fun to be surrounded by reminders of some of the countries we've been blessed to be able to visit.

This is the wall directly across from the bed.  We have a large shelf above the two doors (into the room and into the master bath.)  This wall has been really hard for me to decorate.  I finally like how the shelf looks and am still playing around with the wall art and that underdecorated bookshelf.  That chair has alot of history to it, so I'd like to keep it.  I reupholsted it a few years ago, but may still redo it again in something brighter when I find just the right fabric. Amazingly, it only took about 3yds of fabric and didn't take me that long to do.

The oil painting of Kyoto was found at a yard sale, the pen and ink of Italy above the bookshelf, and the long panorama print of Venice up high were all found at garage sales, yet all had meaning to us since we'd traveled to those countries.  I love using items that aren't just pretty, but inspire and comfort us, especially in a personal space like a bedroom.

It's hard to capture how lovely this fabric is that I found at fabric.com.  It has a lovely cream color with a classic trellis pattern.  I lined them and they give a neutral, but full look to the windows.  I'm saving up to replace the ugly IKEA blinds (totally the wrong wood color and outside mounted-ughhh.)

There are always going to be some tweaks to make here and there in the future.  If I found a nice rug cheaply I'd love that or a bench for the foot of the bed.  I LOVE to replace the ceiling fan with a chandelier but that is never going to happen (we HAVE to have that fan to survive the humidity here!)

Want to see some other fun Master Bedrooms done by other DIY-ers?  I'm linking up to Roomspiration and you can go there to see others.

One Can of Chalk Paint Equals...

I thought I'd better show you what one awesome can of Annie Sloan Chalk paint can do.  I just finished three pieces of furniture and I still have about an inch of paint left for a smaller project! Even though the $37 price tag may seem shocking at first, the fact that you don't have to paint a primer coat and it's thickness makes it really stretch how much it can cover!

First up is a gorgeous buffet that was from Marshall Field's here in Chicago probably 60 years ago. While solid, it's finish was pretty beat up and that lovely orangey finish. The best part was the price- $20! Yippeee. I sanded off the top with a course of sanders (belt to orbital to mouse.)  Then I purposefully beat up the top with the edge of the belt sander, a hammer, some nails and such.  I wanted a worn, reclaimed wood look. I've discovered that it's pretty important to use pre-stain wood conditioner to get an even finish (see the difference a poor sanding job and no pre-stain affects the finish on the last item in this post!)  I stained it with 2 coats of "Jacobean" Minwax stain.  I also did two coats of polycrylic in satin finish.

For the base of the buffet, I used the "Old White" Chalk paint bought online from Shades of Amber.  I applied two coats straight onto the cabinet (no sanding, no priming!)  I then applied one light coat of clear wax and let it dry about half an hour.  Then I used my mouse sander to rough up the edges and high points.  Then I applied a second coat of wax and when dry, buffed it up to a nice sheen.

I absolutely loved the hardware it came with, so I just freshened it up with some "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

The whole family forbids me from selling this one, so this is a keeper (we keep our favorite games in here, along with some of my fabric.)

The next piece was a fun oval table I found at a garage sale. It also had the orangey finish and made the whole piece seem very heavy.  I did basically the same process (minus the roughing up the top part) as the buffet.

 The table even came with a piece of glass already cut to the shape of the top!  All that hard work will be protected.  I did change out the handles of the drawer to something more current.

 The whole piece seems lighter, the details of the curvy base are shown off better with a little edge-sanding and the handles dress it down a bit.  It's a really fun piece, but alas, I'm selling it.

The last piece was a very nice, solid wood table I found that needed a bit of love.  Unlike the other two pieces, this was that black, 70's finish. Yuck! I did the same treatment as the others (I do all three at once and assembly-line work on them.  It really saves on the prep and clean-up of brushes.)  On this table, though, I felt the top needed something to make it special and break up that expanse.  I found a graphic of a compass rose online that I liked, blew it up to the right size and traced the design using carbon paper.  I used my handy, dandy paint pen and a ruler and transferred the design to the table.  I let it dry thoroughly and then sprayed it with spray polycrylic before I brushed on two coats of polycrylic.  I love it!  It's a fun addition that's subtle enough to keep it from feeling "too decorated."  Hopefully a nautical-loving person or someone who just wants something unique will buy it soon.

See what one can of chalk paint can do?  Impressive.  The finish is just so fun.

While I had the stain out, I also restained this little shelf I had, that was just waiting around to be refinished.  I thought it'd make a great little shoe shelf for an entryway.  It even had a beautiful inlay across the front that I didn't want covered up by paint. 

Not my best sanding job, but it's still cute. With the arrival of fall I'm madly finishing up all the projects in my garage so we can get our cars back in before the cold hits.  I'm almost done with a gorgeous china cabinet in a lovely blue chalk paint.  I'll be posting about that one soon!!

This week I'm Linking up to:

Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party

Furniture Feature Friday

Frugal Friday

Frugalicious Friday

Numbered Rustic Dresser

Here was another fun, yet easy project.  I found this dresser for free, sitting with someone's trash.  I quickly examined it and the whole thing was sound and the drawers even had dove-tail joints.  Yippeee!  I knew right away what I was going to do to it.  I'd seen lots of Anthropologie knock-offs around blogland and saw that the dresser's shape would be perfect for this style.

           Mine- Free + elbow grease                                              Anthropologie's- $900!

Once again, in my excitement I forgot the true before picture.  I had just applied the paint stripper when I remembered to take a photo.  So just imagine this ugly brown color plus about 5 large stickers:

Yup, not too pretty.  I used one coat of citri-solve paint stripper and then 3 rounds of hand sanders (from a belt sander to a hand orbital to a final of a mouse sander.)    Then I applied two coats of Minwax Early American stain.  I printed out the numbers I wanted to use and traced them onto the drawers with carbon paper again.  This time, I just used a black sharpie marker instead of a paint pen and it worked great.  I put a few coats of poly on.  For the finishing touch, I mod-podged some decorative paper in the drawers.  It was some fun vintage postcard paper I already had.  I love how it turned out!

Turned out cute, huh?  I think I've figured out that I really like these furniture makeovers.  They really don't take alot of work, but oh, the results!!!



Search Craigslist Faster!!!

I've been using this awesome way of searching craigslist for a while now and realized that I hadn't shared it on here.  If you use craigslist to find used items and hate how long it can take to weed through all the garbage listed on there, have I got a way to help!

It's a bookmarklet called Craigseasy.  What it does is let you search craigslist in just pictures.  Then you can quickly scan down the list and see what is good and find what you want SOOO much faster.  I used to spend 30 mins to an hour opening and closing listings looking for what I wanted.  Now the same search will only take me under 5 mins!

Here's what you do.  Go to Craigseasy. Follow the easy instructions to download the bookmarklet.

It takes less than a minute to do this.  You add craigseasy to your favorites up in your tool bar.  Then, go to craigslist like usual.  Put in your search parameters, like "couch", click "furniture by owner", and click the "has image" box (be sure to do this step!)  Then hit "search."  You'll see your usual search list in text.  Now, for the magic... Go up to "Favorites" and click on your new "craigseasy" button.  In a few seconds, up will come you search for "couches" but in pictures!

Now you can just scroll down the search results and see what's out there.  If something looks interesting and you want to read more details about it, just click on it's title and the listing details will come up.

I can't tell you how much time this has saved me and enabled me to get some great deals off craigslist by only spending a few minutes a day.  Go! Get this Bookmarklet now!

My First Chalk Paint Project

Have you ever been so excited about how a project is turning out that you show it off before it's even all the way done?  No?  Well, I am going to.  I have been DYING to try out the amazing chalk paint all summer.  My wonderful friend, Amber, of Shades of Amber (click on this link to order), has recently become Colorado's only stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  She was kind enough to send me a quart for me to try.

 I heard all the rave reviews about this last winter and have been wanting to try it ever since.  It may seem a bit expensive at $36.95 a quart- but believe me, it's worth it.  It's a beautiful, thick, creamy texture and spreads beautifully.  The best part is that you don't have to prime, sand or strip down your furniture.  Yup, that's right, just spread the gorgeous paint right on. 

So, here's my guinea pig project. A nice, round coffee table I found cheap on craigslist.

 See that nice glossy, stained finish?  Well, it didn't last long with chalk paint.  In the past I would have had to sand it down a bunch, wipe it down, apply a couple of coats of primer and then get around to painting.  With chalk paint, it's all instant gratification (definitely my type of project.)  I used both a nice purdy-brand brush and a foam roller to apply three coats of paint.  You only need to wait about an hour between coats (see, it IS instant gratification at it's best!)

This is what she looked like with just one coat of "cream" chalk paint:

I was impressed at how thick the paint was, making very few drips or paint brush marks.  It dries very fast, though, so go light, rather than thick as you apply it.  After the three coats, I let it dry overnight.

When dry, you are left with a nice smooth, but matte surface. Here's where the fun begins.  Because of it's chalk nature, it sands away beautifully.  I sanded all the edges to give it a nice aged patina.

It does leave quite a mess of chalk dust when you sand, so do it outside (not inside, on carpet, like I did!)

  I knew right away what I wanted to do to make this table special.  Like the tables I did in my last post here, I found an old french label from The Graphics Fairy (an awesome copyright-free website of clipart) and blew it up at Kinkos.

So here is what it looks like so far.  I still need to use a couple coats of wax to seal in the paint and lettering.  The wax will harden and protect as well as give the piece a sheen (when I finish with the wax, I'll add a post script on with a picture.)

 I love how it looks now!  I'm still not sure it's the right scale for the room, but I'd sure have a hard time parting with it.  It was such a fun, quick project (probably a total of only 2 1/2 hours of work!)

So, are you sold on chalk paint yet?  Well look at all the amazing colors it comes in (and yes, you can layer or mix colors.)

Shades of Amber  (click on link to order) offers a beautiful color deck that you can buy so that you can see what you're getting before you mortgage the farm or cat or whatever to buy the paint!  Brilliant, huh?  What's even better is that they've covered one side in clear wax and the other side in the brown wax so you can really see how it changes/accentuates the color! Amber sent me a deck and it really is beautifully done.

I also recommend visiting Amber's blog to see projects done with chalk paint.  She even hosts a fun link party on Mondays so you can get further inspiration and ideas of what can be done with chalk paint. I'll be linking up my table on Monday, Amber!!!

I would also recommend visiting Miss Mustard Seed's blog posts about chalk paint and her video tutorials on wax if you're feeling a little nervous about trying this.

I still have 3/4 of a can left after painting this table, so I plan on painting a secretary desk that's in my daughter's room next!  I can't wait!!  So what are you going to try Chalk Paint on?

This week I'm linking to:

Furniture Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Addicts (not so) Anonymous party
Show and Tell Saturday
DIY Project Parade
Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Party