New Workspace

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am between projects right now but I wanted to give you a look into my workspace. I don't know about you, but I love seeing how people do things in their home or have things set up. My favorite thing is when people have their windows open at night with the lights on and I can see how they decorate their home. I tell my husband to slow down so I can spy. I'm not the only one that does this...right? RIGHT?

Last Spring I took over the garage with my furniture... and paint... and junk.
St. Louis is cold in the winter and there is no way I am scraping snow and ice off my car in the winter so I set up shop in the basement. (I will try very hard to stay positive in this post)!

My Previous Workspace

I went from fresh air, great ventilation, the warm sun, no limit on how much noise I could make with power tools

to this.....

THE BASEMENT...my new workspace

DUN..DUN..DUUUUNNNNN! (that's scary basement music)

I am learning to love my new workspace. I am from Texas, the land of no basements. This is foreign to me.

Besides have you seen American Horror Story....basements are creepy!

I mentioned being limited to the amount of noise I can make....see the baby monitor on the table?

My daughter's room is right above my space so I can't be too loud. I usually work during nap time and bed time....so, yeah I miss the garage.

My husband is so good to me. He has let me take over his workspace and his tools.

He even put a storage cabinet down there for me.

I got a little sidetracked in the beginning of this post but this is what I want to show you!

My stuff, how I store it, what all I use....my windows are open and the light is on so drive by slowly.

I swear it is organized! The top shelf looks a little cluttered due to the angle but I swear it's organized.

As you can see I have TONS of paint. I think I only paid full price for one gallon and it was for my daughter's play room.

I always check the "oops" section at the hardware store and I make trips to the ReStore when I can. I feel like I am starting to hoard paint but you can never have enough paint.

When I started doing this I learned a lot by stalking blogs and getting different ideas from other people.I saw one lady use cans to place her furniture on so she could paint the feet without getting her brush dirty. I stole her idea except I sometimes add foil because I have so much paint on top of the cans that it gets in the way of my brush.

There are other ways too.

I saw this on Pinterest (via Apartment Therapy). They used a nail in the base of the leg.

I'm too lazy to hammer nails all the time but it's a great idea. Plus I'm not sure how this would work on large pieces of furniture.

So any questions or tips from your workspace? I would love to hear them.



Green with Envy

I have to say I am pretty pleased with how this dresser turned out! I love the color and I have started to adore the heavy distressing. If you want to see the before click { here }



AFTER

So much better than the before!

A view from the top

I stripped this dresser, painted with a white chalk paint (so there would be white showing once I distressed), and then painted it with a homemade chalk recipe.

I used 1 cup of paint and 1 Tbsp of unsanded grout.
I doubled the amounts and added water when it became too clumpy. My paint was still a little clumpy but it worked fine.There is no exact science and it turned out great. I have read that chalk paint will dry out within a day or two. (I keep mine in a sealed container and it is still use able after three weeks and counting).

To get this color I mixed a dark sage color with a white satin paint I had. Again, there is no exact science. I mixed the colors until I was pleased with the end result.

Then I painted, and distressed with a sander. I am too impatient and I wish I would have taken my time and used a different grit sandpaper. In my opinion, 220 grit is best to use with chalk paint and it actually saves time when sanding. I took a timeout and became as patient as I can and started sanding with the 220 paper....what a difference!!!

I put on one coat of wax, added the hardware and called it a day. 

I asked you guys what color knobs and the consensus was white but I really wanted to use the black.

Since I was torn I decided a trip to Hobby Lobby would help me decide! Surprise, surprise it did help!

I found these pulls and they actually had enough for the dresser....is it just me or does HL never have enough knobs?

Here is one more look at this gorgeous dresser. I can't stop looking at it!





Linking up to these parties

Savvy Southern Style

The Shabby Nest

Alchemy Fine Living

From My Front Porch to Yours - Treasure Hunt Thursdays

Sneak Peek

I have been working on this beast of a dresser for almost a month now. The holidays and life have gotten in the way but I finally found some time to work on it last night.

This dresser was so unloved before I snagged it. The previous owner painted the dresser black, added black knobs, didn't fill the original holes (look close you will see what I'm talking about), and also painted the sides of the drawers. What were these people thinking?

BEFORE

Under the black there was blue and under the blue there was white...sigh.

I don't want to give away too much plus this post is just a sneak peek!

I painted the dresser green and I distressed it more than I usually do.
Do you think it's too much?

The dresser came with black glass knobs.  I like the the black but I can't decide what looks better.

The black pulls or the white pulls?

Let's take a vote shall we? I would love to hear YOUR opinion!!!

Stay tuned for the final product. This piece will also be FOR SALE!

My Version of an Ombre Dresser

My sister-in-law was looking for a little dresser to put in her son's room. We found this one on Craigslist and I told her I would paint it for her...seeing how I like to paint things and all!

BEFORE

This dresser is great for a little boy. It's a dresser that can be used for years to come.

I have seen a few Ombre dressers in blog land and I wanted to try my hand at it.

First of all, I'm my worst critic and I always point out all of my mistakes (even to clients). So in keeping with my true self, here we go!

The more I look at the dresser the more I see a tall Lego. Do you see it?

The first and second drawer are very close in color and I mixed the knobs up and didn't notice until I was editing the pictures. (Easy fix though).

After taking the photos (which was kinda rushed) I noticed that the last 2 drawers might possibly be switched (another easy fix).

I'm sure there are other flaws but the dresser will serve its purpose and that's all that matters.

AFTER



I lined all the drawers with some left over microfiber material I had. 

I used paint I had and mixed the colors until I made graduated shades. If I ever do another piece of furniture like this I will probably pick a color swatch and buy each individual color in sample sizes. I made the mistake of not mixing enough of one color (for touch-ups) and trying to duplicate the color and failing horribly only to start all over. Lesson learned!

There was no distressing on this dresser which was kind of hard for me. Distressing is a great way to hide my mistakes but the in-laws aren't really into the distressed stuff ...yet (*wink *wink, Carrie).

I do love this dresser though and it's going to quite a special little guy if I do say so!


What do you think of the Ombre trend?


Linking up to:

Delicate Construction
Treasure Hunt Thursdays