room makeover - furniture refurb

The painting is finished! On to the next and what feels like the 110th part of my project to turn our guest room into a little boy room was to  refurbish 2 dressers. These dressers have been around since my husband was a kid and he had them in his room. When he moved out, they moved with him and into our first apartment, our first house and now our son's room. If wood could talk.....

Dresser with white primer

Anyway, rather than buy new furniture I wanted to update these pieces because frankly, there was nothing wrong with them except the color and hardware.Spray paint is the way to go. I tried other paint and it is just not good. You can see the brush marks and it takes many more coats. Here is a tip though. I decided to spray paint inside - bad idea. Apart from possibly developing "the black lung" (Zoolander) it is such a mess. I covered everything near the direct spray but it created a mist that went everywhere. Luckily it's easy to clean up the 'dust' with just a vacuum or damp cloth but needless to say when I began the second piece of furniture I hauled it out to the garage.

Even with the mask I had paint up my nose - ick.

On the first piece I used a primer. It took longer but I think in hindsight it has a better gloss look because of the primer base so I would say it is worth the time to do that. The second piece is in navy blue so I didn't use a primer and the finish is slightly lacking. Still, it's good enough and I'll share that picture soon.

I had some crackling which made me crackle I can tell you. It wasn't cold or too hot when I was spraying so it may have been a substance under the paint that caused the issue. However, when I didn't use primer I didn't have any crackling. Not sure what that means....

Sun is shining very brightly! Almost makes my dresser look angelic. 

The hardware if from Home Depot. I was kind of limited because the old hardware was 64mm wide and the selection was not great. Still I think it worked out nicely.

So far I'm about halfway through the list of things to do in this room. Just finished the trim today and wallpapering starts this weekend - gulp. 

I shared this story at some awesome link parties - check them out. 

patio furniture redo

When I took our patio furniture out earlier this summer I realized the cushions were very faded and really needed a makeover. I selected fabric to compliment our table umbrella. I bought the fabric at Joann's and it was on sale at the time so it cost about $60 for 5 yards of fabric.

For the seat cushions I simply enclosed the entire old seat cushions in fabric and I machine sewed the closure. The fabric can be spot cleaned with a sponge so I didn't see the need for a cushion that was removable for washing. For the pillows I cut open the old pillows and filled the new ones with the stuffing. I ran a bit low on fabric at the end so I had to improvise. I made a panel cushion using two of the fabrics and I made a long roll pillow using a leftover section of fabric.

I am really happy with the results and I can't wait to get out there and enjoy it - now that the sun is finally shining again!