Before and After: Extreme Furniture Makeover

I can remember back to being a teenager and begging my parents to let me decorate my room and stencil a border on the wall.  After much discussion they did and my best friend Ally and I spent some portion of our summer on it.  Although that is not my only memory of wanting to decorate my space, it does stick out in my mind.  Today I love to match my jewelry to an outfit, my purse to my shoes and of course decorate my home.  Even my office away from home has some version of subtle décor.  But recently I have found that I love to makeover furniture.  The year after college I lived in an apartment with another best friend, B, and I remember begging her to allow me to paint an unfinished cabinet red in our all white carpet apartment.  After much discussion I bought drop cloths and painted the furniture.  That cabinet has since been passed along to one of my friends, who loves it as much as I did. 

So it was only natural that when we re-organized the house and all the furniture in the living room was dark colored that I decided to paint my desk.  It was a super fun project, watching it transform from dark and dingy to light and fun.  Now sitting at my desk I smile looking at all the hard work I put in to make it a personalized piece of furniture.   

                                                          BEFORE

                                                                     AFTER

Next I wanted a cabinet for the kitchen to store pantry items in, but my goal recently has been to spend less, so I looked online for good buys.  I found 2 base cabinets and one hutch at a house about 1 hour away.  So, we packed up the car and headed down to the beach to get my find.  For less than a new fancy cell phone, I had 3 pieces of dark furniture.  I came home and immediately sanded them and started painting.  After painting them I added new hardware, decorative paper in the back and shelf paper inside.  Now it is a perfect complement in my kitchen and it cost very little. 

                                                            AFTER

Stay tuned for my next project to come- making over the other base cabinet, which will hold china in the dining room. 

Read more...

Before and After: Extreme Furniture Makeover

I can remember back to being a teenager and begging my parents to let me decorate my room and stencil a border on the wall.  After much discussion they did and my best friend Ally and I spent some portion of our summer on it.  Although that is not my only memory of wanting to decorate my space, it does stick out in my mind.  Today I love to match my jewelry to an outfit, my purse to my shoes and of course decorate my home.  Even my office away from home has some version of subtle décor.  But recently I have found that I love to makeover furniture.  The year after college I lived in an apartment with another best friend, B, and I remember begging her to allow me to paint an unfinished cabinet red in our all white carpet apartment.  After much discussion I bought drop cloths and painted the furniture.  That cabinet has since been passed along to one of my friends, who loves it as much as I did. 

So it was only natural that when we re-organized the house and all the furniture in the living room was dark colored that I decided to paint my desk.  It was a super fun project, watching it transform from dark and dingy to light and fun.  Now sitting at my desk I smile looking at all the hard work I put in to make it a personalized piece of furniture.   

                                                          BEFORE

                                                                     AFTER

Next I wanted a cabinet for the kitchen to store pantry items in, but my goal recently has been to spend less, so I looked online for good buys.  I found 2 base cabinets and one hutch at a house about 1 hour away.  So, we packed up the car and headed down to the beach to get my find.  For less than a new fancy cell phone, I had 3 pieces of dark furniture.  I came home and immediately sanded them and started painting.  After painting them I added new hardware, decorative paper in the back and shelf paper inside.  Now it is a perfect complement in my kitchen and it cost very little. 

                                                            AFTER

Stay tuned for my next project to come- making over the other base cabinet, which will hold china in the dining room. 

Read more...