Robin's Egg Blue Painted Desk

This morning, I noticed that Kate from Centsational Girl girl asked for suggestions for the perfect robin's egg blue.  I think I have it though I did not discover it on my own; my sister-in-law who is a designer/principal at Katheryn Robertson Ltd. enlightened me to the correct color.  She recommended Benjamin Moore 745 Blue Rapids for this old desk that I painted about 2 years ago.  I hadn't yet started this blog, so I don't have pictures or remember what I did, but I'm pretty sure that I: removed hardware, lightly sanded, cleaned the desk then painted two coats of this color.  After the paint was dry, I used sandpaper to distress the corners.  I still haven't updated the hardware!

Though I took multiple pictures on various settings, I'm still not sure the pictures capture the color as it appears in person:

Thanks for reading!
Carson

Painting an Antique Dresser for the Nursery (and Mirror)

The latest project to have taken over our house is work on the nursery.  (I'm expecting #2--a girl!--in August.) 

The dresser came from my husband's grandparents' house.  It is the perfect size and height to work as a changing table/dresser.  I decided to paint it white.  (Pregnant friends: please do not purchase a "changing table" for your child.  Simply buy a dresser new or used and attach a changing pad to the top.  It will look better and is probably better made than the changing tables marketed by the baby/pregnancy industry!)

PAINTING THE DRESSER
First, remove all the drawers and hardware.  Then, I lighted sanded the dresser and used a Swifer wipe to clean the surface followed by baby wipes.  Let dry.

Once it was dry, I applied the first coat of paint.  It took four coats of semi-gloss white "trim"  paint (from Benjamin Moore) to cover the dresser.   Fortunately, I already had several cans of leftover trim paint, so I didn't need to purchase it. Note: This dresser already had a slick or sealed surface, which is why I did not prime it.  If you are painting unfinished wood or a piece that isn't very "slick", be sure to prime.)

I spent several days painting the dresser without the drawers then did the drawers separately at a later date though using the same process.  Remember to remove the hardware (pulls) from the dresser before painting.

Hint:  It is always better to do more light coats than fewer heavy coats.  The coats will dry more quickly and the paint will be less likely to run.  Always, check your work after you apply a coat and use your brush to wipe away and smooth-out any runs or drips.

After I finished painting my dresser, I noticed that the inside of the drawers were in bad shape.  I cleaned them out and put one light coat of paint (same as the wall color in the nursery Benjamin Moore OC-136  "Celery Salt.")  I will likely line the drawers with scented drawer liners as well.  During my last pregnancy, I purchased these at Crabtree and Evelyn.

As a final step, I replaced the wooden knobs with Lucite knobs from Lowe's.  These affordable pulls ($6.92) were featured in the most recent issue of House Beautiful "101 Things From the Hardware Store" (thanks for the reminder Kim!).

I am very pleased with the end result!

The mirror above the dresser is a bit of a DIY project albeit very simple.  I purchased the mirror from HomeGoods, and it was rather beat-up.  I decided to paint the geometric border green.  All it took was two coats of acrylic craft paint and voila!

Thanks to my friends and family, I have many hand-me-down and new baby girl clothes that have filled the dresser!
xo-
Carson

Spray Painting a Side Table

Once again I'm posting about a piece of furniture that we received from my husband's grandparents' home: a small side table.  There is not much to write.

I took this table and spray painted it gloss white.  I used spray paint primer then many, many light coats of gloss white.  (Be sure to remember to flip over the table to get the back of the legs and a few coats underneath.)  As a final step, I finished the table by spraying it with a protective enamel coat.

Before:

After:

Remember, these days you can spray paint just about anything.  If something has "good lines", it has potential to be reinvented with spray paint!

Happy Spray Painting!

Carson

Reupholstering the Green Chair

 
I love this chair.  My parents bought it when they were first married; I remember it always being in their house. Recently, I asked if I could have it because I thought it would look good in our den.  It had been living in a back bedroom, so they were okay parting with it. I really do like it just as it is...HOWEVER, I wanted a new DIY project, and there is some staining on the cushion....so I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at reupholstering.  Don't get me wrong; I was completely intimidated by this project, but was inspired by my favorite blogger, Kate, otherwise known as Centsational Girl: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/


This past weekend Kate changed this chair, from this:

To this:

Here's How I Reupholstered My Green Chair:

DECONSTRUCTION

• First, you will need to deconstruct the chair.  You should probably allow 1-2 hours for this step.  I flipped over my chair and found black cloth covering the bottom, which was stapled to the chair.   

• I pulled off the black and removed a handful of the staples.  *Important:  I took pictures of each step and wrote down a description of each step in order to help me put the chair back together!  After removing the black fabric, I gained a real understanding of how the chair was constructed.  I found found four screws (one at each corner.)  Once I removed these, the chair "cover" popped out.  

• Then I ripped off the cording all over the chair which was attached with glue followed by the fabric.  The fabric was a bit more difficult to remove.  I used a flat-head screwdriver and pliers to remove as many staples as possible.  This took a good bit of time--boy was my arm sore afterward!

I

• I collected the buttons as well as everything I pulled off of the chair and put it all in a safe place, so that I could use some of it again as a template to cut my fabric.

• My chair had another section of fabric in the front of the chair, which I removed as well.
  

=
 I'm afraid that I did a poor job of documenting from this point forward, but I'll do my best to tell you the details.

RECONSTRUCTION

1.  First, I spray painted the chair in high-gloss black.  I like to use Krylon spray paint.  As I like to remind my readers, you will get the best result with multiple light layers.  Do not spray too closely and do not spray too much or you will create a mess.  You do not need to sand if you are using spray paint.  Instead vacuum and wipe-down the piece with a swifer dry cloth.

2. Meanwhile, I began working on the piping or cording.  This became the most tedious and time-consuming step and almost made me quit in despair!  My chair had double cording on the front and back.  I spent countless hours churning out the cording, which I ended up doing incorrectly.  Apparently in the upholstery world, the double piping is called "double welt cording," and there is a very specific way to do it.  Fortunately, I had Censational Girl's tutorial, which was a major help. (http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2010/12/simple-sew-double-welt-cord/) I will say that if you are not a competent seamstress, this is probably not the best project to try until you get some sewing experience under your belt.

3.  After I finished the double welt cording, I began the cording for the cushion, which I decided to do in black.  Fortunately, I had both the green and black fabric on hand, so I didn't purchase either.  I did end up buying about 20 yards of cording because I made so many mistakes.   For a basic cording tutorial, also see Centsational Girl's, "The King's Chair."  She does a much better job explaining!
 During this step, the pieces of fabric that I had ripped from the old chair came in handy to show me how to construct the cushions and how long to make my cording.  I used the foam from the chair cushion to draw a pattern for the top and bottom of my cushion.  I will not go into how to sew a cushion; I'm afraid you'll have to search the internet for advice!

4. Once my cushion and double welt cording were made, it was time to re-assemble the chair.  This part was the easiest and most fun. Cutting pieces of fabric for the upholstery is not like measuring and cutting for something like a cushion; it needn't be exact.  I used the fabric that I had pulled from the front, back and bottom front of the chair to cut out fabric pieces in similar size.  It doesn't need to be exact because you will not being sewing these pieces together but rather, stapling them to the chair.  Your double welt cord will cover the staples.

5. Covering the buttons:  I did a terrible job with this.  I know you can purchase a kit that enables you to cover button, but I took a short-cut--and it shows if you get close enough to the chair--and used my existing buttons.  I put hot glue, from my glue gun, all over them and wrapped my black fabric around the buttons gluing it on the back.  The buttons have a funky shape.  I'll do better next time!

6.  Staple your fabric to the chair.  I had to do the front of my chair first because I had tufting.  As with re-covering dining chairs, I like to make a staple at the top, then a staple at the bottom in order to secure the fabric, then go from there.  The thing to remember is that you don't want the fabric too tight or too loose, so be mindful of this when stapling.  I did make small button holes on the fabric that went on the front of the chair as my buttons we attached to metal that was to be pushed through the fabric; this worked well.


7.  After completing the front, I started on the back.  Again, stapling the top, then bottom and going from there.

8.  Tip:  Try to get your staples flush with the chair.  If the staples are sticking up too much, you can either use a hammer to knock them flush or you can use pliers to pull them out.  I removed many a staple with my pliers during this project.

9. Tip:  After stapling the fabric, I found that I was either going to need to trim the excess fabric or turn it over and staple it down.  When I tried to trim it with scissors, the spray paint ended up being scraped from the chair, so I found it better to fold over excess fabric and staple it.  You will be covering it will double welt cord.
10.   Once all the fabric was securely staples, I used my glue gun to attach the double welt cord to the chair.  This is fun, but glue in small sections moving slowly.  After putting the glue on the chair, I would run my index finger along the seam between the cords pushing it down into the chair.  In my excitement, I forgot to take pictures!

11.  Voila the finished project!  I can't believe I survived my most difficult DIY to date!

 Before:

After:

xo-
Carson

Painting a Buffet

I love painting furniture!  We received this large buffet from my husband's grandparents' house.  We moved the black buffet that was in the entry hall to our bedroom (it fits perfectly) and decided to put the new (antique) buffet in the entry hall.  It is a lovely piece and is calling for a few coats of high-gloss black.

Here is the before:

Here is what I did:

• Removed all the hardware.
• Moved the furniture outside on top of a tarp.
• Lightly sanded the entire piece.  I don't put a lot of time or effort into this step.  Just a quick, light sand.

• Use a Swifer dust cloth to remove the dust that resulted from sanding.  Then, thoroughly wet a cloth, wring it out, then wipe down the entire piece.  Let it dry.
• Once dry you can begin painting!  As with spray painting, I find it better to do multiple, light layers.

Buffet after one light coat:

• Now, there are different looks you can achieve.  I painted a buffet with high gloss black earlier this year and put only ONE coat of high-gloss black on it.  The wood shone through a bit and it gave it a nice aged look.  With the buffet that I'm painting today, I'm going for a different look: glossy and modern.  So, I will paint multiple light coats and will not have any of the wood shine through.  Another thing you can do if you would like an antique look is to sand the corners and edges of the drawers and certain lines on the piece in order to highlight these ares.  See examples below:

Buffet that is in our bedroom with one coat of paint.  Note that where the light is hitting it, you can see the wood.

(Below) Our new, antique buffet painted in two coats of gloss black:

• As for the hardware:  I like the hardware that came with this new antique buffet; however, the hardware is dark as will be the buffet, so I was afraid that it wouldn't stand out.  I purchased Rub n' Buff in Antique Gold and rubbed it on the existing hardware.  Voila!  Good as new:

 

PAINTING TIPS:

• Paint multiple, light coats.
• Paint from the top down moving in sections that way you can catch any paint that runs.  Periodically look back over the section you just painted to see if any paint is running and correct it before it dries.