Newest dresser

So, a little while back I promised that I would show you what I have been up to. Here's some pictures! I found an AWESOME wood dresser at a garage sale for a whopping total of $10! Yup.... $10. Even cheaper than the Salvation Army. So, here's the work I've done on it. I also have been working on my chalk board. So, here are some pics of the dresser:

This dresser is done, so I will get some new pics and post them in the near future. If you're interested in buying it, I will be selling it..... so let me know!

My Office

So, I posted quite a bit ago about my office. Here is a history of this room.


This first picture is what the room looked like when we moved in. Not too bad, just a little plain.


So, I thought a red paint would liven it up. Which it did. Maybe a little too much!


This is what the room looked like first. It was going to be the "office" and I had just started arranging things.


We had someone come live in that room for a few months, and when I finally re-claimed it, I wanted to update it before it became the office again.


So, fresh coat of paint helped a lot! In the next pictures, you will see what the room looks like now. Certainly it is not done, but we're further on the way!


This is where I have been doing some crafts. I borrowed the sewing machine from my mother-in-law and have figured out how to use it!


This picture is the bookcase. Things are not quite organized right yet, but its a great storage area for me!


Finally, this is how the red dresser looks in the room. Doesn't it just pop? Do you notice the bulletin board above it? Eventually that will be hanging on the wall, but baby steps....

Dresser Part 2

I have now been working on the dresser for a few days. It has been stripped of the paint and sanded as best as I can. The next thing I do is to paint it a dark brown color. The top of the dresser is a laminate, not wood, so painting it was a little difficult. Anyways, here are some pictures of what I've been doing. This picture is a drawer. It has been sanded and is ready for painting. It is a beautiful wood!

Along with doing the dresser, I also painted the handles. They were an ugly gold color (from the 70s), and with some metallic spray paint, I drastically changed their look.

It took a few days of sanding and scraping to get the dresser to where I wanted it to be. Finally, I was able to paint the first coat. I chose Behr Spiceberry. It is a dark chocolatey brown.

If you notice, I didn't paint the whole dresser that brown color. There are still a few spots where the original wood shows through. That is because I want to distress it and have the wood show through in some spots and the brown show through in others.

When I was done painting the brown, I covered the top (remember - laminate!) in a thing called Weathered Crackle Glaze. I got it at Lowe's, but I believe that have it at Home Depot, too. You can see the glaze on the picture. It is shiny colored, compated to the dull brown. I did not cover the entire dresser in the glaze. I didn't want the whole thing to be crackled, just in certain spots. After the stuff dried, I began painting the top coat. I chose Behr Awning Red. It is an awesome, bright red color.

When I paint over it with the red, you can see the brown from underneath. See how the brown is showing through? That is thanks to the crackle glaze. Coming soon is the big reveal!

Picture Frames

Above is the final project of something I've been working on this summer. I really enjoy the Shabby Chic style, but its super expensive! So, I decided to try to figure out how to make a frame. Its actually very easy. It starts with a frame like the one below. I got this at Goodwill for $3.99. A little pricey, but much cheaper (and more fun!) than buying the one of these at a store.


I took the frame apart, cleaned the glass, and got rid of the picture in the frame. I started by painting the wood frame a brown color. It wasn't quite as dark as I had hoped, so I did a topcoat with a black. The finished product was a black-brown color.



I then melted a candle. You can use any cheap candle, but it does need to have white wax. I took the melted wax and dripped it over the picture frame. I spread it with my fingers and a napkin. It was quite thick.


I then painted two coats of white paint over the wax. As you can see, it is still rough-looking.



The last thing I did was take some sandpaper to smooth it out. The wax makes it very easy to sand. The black-brown color shows through quite nicely. I found a quote that I liked, printed it up and put it in the frame.



This project was super easy, and I have to say I love the frame! You can try different color top-coats - a light yellow, blue, or pink would look lovely in this style. I'm not very attached to the quote I put in the frame, I am going to be looking for something else to go inside this picture frame. Any ideas?