Little Updates

I managed to fit in a few small updates to the bedroom this 

weekend in between yard work and more yard work.

First, I painted my plain white lamp shades dark teal and I'm really liking the effect.

I felt like this side of the room needed some dark, saturated colors 

so I whipped out some acrylic paint I had stashed away and painted it on with a foam brush.

My next little bedroom update is I finally hung some art above the dresser.

I found a set of vintage metal wall frames while thrifting and used one of the free print outs I posted about last week to fill them.

 

So there's my little update.

Teal lamp shades...

Horse art...

And a sleepy cat.

He's not really an update, just more of a lazy blob.

Bedroom Update

This past weekend I was able to pick up a few things for our bedroom.

Granted, a lot of these things are on a trial basis because I have a disease called "Indecisive."

Here's the before:

 And here's my attempt at adding some color.

It all started with our new bed blanket.

For the past few months my husband has been telling me he wants one of those thick wool blankets that were mass produced for the army back in the day.

I knew our chances of finding one while thrifting were slim and to be honest, I don't think I would've wanted a used 70 year old blanket.

Luckily, we were able to pick up a recreated version from Faribault Woolen Mill Co.

With our new blanket to work around I added a few throw pillows from West Elm as well as their Ikat-Stripe organic pillow cases. ((LOVE them)) 

I also picked up this red one that I like to call my grandma pillow.

It's a little outside my usual aesthetic but I liked that it had a bit of whimsy to it.

We'll see if I end up keeping it.

Next on the list are lamps and art to go above the side tables.

I'm considering wall sconces if I'm able to find the right ones.

Goodbye Green

I took initiative this past weekend and FINALLY painted the master bedroom.

When my husband and I moved in over 3 years ago, I gave him the option of picking out our bedroom color.

As much as I love him, he has since never been allowed to pick out any other colors.

The reason being, he chose hunter green. Ew.

Here is an old picture in its previous state.

I should also mention our room is considered and "attic room" therefor making different arrangements almost impossible and scarce closet space.

Here's another angle of the room.

(I think this picture was taken right after we moved in)

I haven't even bothered to try and update this room over the years.

The awful color and lack of storage has made this room my biggest design dilemma yet and I kind of left it neglected.

Well not anymore!

Thanks to some help from my wonderful mother-in-law, the master bedroom has been painted!

When it came to color choices, I wanted pretty much the opposite of hunter green so I went with off white.

This room doesn't get a whole lot of light so anything that would make it brighter definitely would be an improvement.

Here's a view from the opposite side of the room.

I can name about 12 things in the photo that I hate.

And yes, the shelf to the right is filled with the extensive shoe collection belonging to my husband.

He is a shoe addict.

It's pretty much a blank canvas so I can't wait to start decorating.

I spy cute kitty ears.

I swear Millie is a sleep-aholic.

She sleeps in this spot about 85% of the day.

See the look she's giving?

That's her subtle way of saying, 'you move me and I'll tear up the curtains'.

Needless to say, I left her untouched.

Campaign Dresser: Before & After

My coveted campaign dresser is finally done!

Thank the Lord because this thing was wearing me out between all the wrong paint choices and never having enough time to work on it.

Here is the before shot of my campaign dresser I scored off Craigslist:

I figured I'd use a pretty basic tutorial to refinish it. Nothing over the top and fancy.

First step was to remove the brass hardware and give the whole thing a good sanding.

I used a 120 grit paper for the first sanding to get all the scratches and dents smoothed out. After that, I would sand in between each prime & paint layer with  400 grit.

Next step was to prime.

I used Zinsser Fast Prime 2.

I chose the water-base over oil-base because of the easy clean up and low odor.

It went on really well with great coverage.

You can get this primer tinted in a few options so since I was painting the dresser a dark blue, I had the primer tinted to the darkest color possible. 

I used a roller brush for the front of the drawers and top and sides but this little foam brush worked perfect for the small trim on the front.

I only needed to do 1 coat of primer because of the great coverage. But before I painted I made sure to sand lightly with my 400 grit paper to smooth out any imperfections.

I had mentioned earlier that I painted my first layer the wrong color. I was going for more of a dark navy blue but when the paint dried, it had too much of a grey undertone. I should also mention I purchased my paint in a flat finish. I knew I was going to be using a semi-gloss sealer in the end so there was no need to buy paint with any gloss to it. This paint color is called Chanson Bleu.

So I tried again with a new paint color this time. It's called Blue Navy from Pittsburgh Paint.

 I gave the dresser another sanding and then added 2 more layers of the new paint color. (Sanding in between layers of course)

The last step was to apply the polyurethane.

Here's what I used:

I chose a semi-gloss because I didn't want the dresser to have too much shine to it.

And again, water base because of the easy clean up and low odor.

It also has a drying time of only 3 hours so I was able to apply 2 coats in one evening.

And here is my new campaign dresser:

To be honest, I was going for more of a dark navy and it kind of turned into a dark royal blue.

Maybe one day when I'm ambitious enough I will redo it but for now I'm happy with the finished product.

One step closer to getting this room done!