Dresser Redo-Harlequin Pattern

I've been a busy bee. I took a little hiatus last week to recharge and now I am back and ready to play.

In 2003, I inherited this piece of furniture from my dear Auntie, mom's aunt.

It was originally painted blue. When I brought it to our home I did a quick, messy spray paint job on it and put it in my husband's closet for his dresser. There it sat for a couple of years until we moved into the home we are in now.

We did not need the dresser so it sat lonely in the garage looking sad and tired. And homely.
Until I realized that we did in fact need the dresser and the dresser needed me. I knew we would use it in a spare bedroom and  if there are a couple things you know about me, you know how I love me some harlequin painted furniture.

The first step was to remove the knobs and prime the dresser.

Next I painted it BEHR Cottage White and let it dry overnight.

I knew that I wanted a big harlequin design so I took dimensions and then went to this handy dandy harlequin/argyle calculator to figure out the measurements.

Instead of using a pencil to mark your lines, use chalk. Chalk is easy to paint over and you won't be able to see it once it's painted.

{I didn't take a picture of the dresser during this stage but I marked it just like I had marked the table.}

This dresser was much easier to paint since I was doing a large design and I only had to paint it one color. For the black I used BEHR Black Suede.

Once it dried I took my trusty Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze that my fellow Texas girls at Shanty2Chic recommend.I love this stuff. I just rub it on and rub it right off. It gives it that nice aged look.

I bought the crown knobs at Hobby Lobby when they were half off. I needed more color in them so I just dry brushed them with my craft paint.

 

Today's Creative Blog

Reinvented- Trash to Treasure Tuesday

Domestically Speaking Paint Party on Wednesday

May I have your attention...we have a winner!

Congratulations Amy at The Lemon Cottage!!

Yeah Amy!!!

Go by and congratulate Amy today! She will be receiving this beautiful baking dish from CSN!

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Thank you CSN for hosting my giveaway and THANK YOU so much for entering the giveaway! Thank you for coming and playing!

Power of Paint-Before and After of Master Bath

Paint is my friend. I believe in the power of paint. I embrace the changes and happiness it can bring.

When we bought this house in December 2008, the painted walls we inherited did not make me happy. At all.

BBD and I have always been the ones to paint the rooms in the homes we have owned. As you already know, in December of 2008, I was still suffering from the pain that comes with 2 broken vertebrate, I could not walk well, I was suffering from what I would later learn was Multiple Sclerosis, we had a 9 month old baby and my husband had just received a promotion, which meant a lot of traveling.

Having said all of this, we knew painting ourselves was not an option. But hello… I had to have it painted before we moved in. I knew if we didn’t paint BEFORE…it would be a long time before I would get my walls painted.

This is how serious I take my paint: We closed on our house December 5 which was a Friday. The painters were here bright and early Saturday morning. By the time the movers came on Monday morning to bring us our treasures, the only rooms the painters lacked painting were the game room, dining room and office.

{For cost purposes, we did not paint the 2 guest bedrooms,2 spare bathrooms or Monkey’s room. I will also add that I got an amazing deal because of all the business I had referred to our painter prior to this home being painted. He was a great guy to work with and we believed in him. I had used him to paint my 18' entrance at my old house and when I worked for the decorators we would share his name with clients.}

The before pictures below are from the website that listed our home. We actually didn’t have time to take good before pictures.  

Before:White ceilings, gray walls 

After: SW Camelback walls and ceiling

Before: Gray walls, white ceilings    

The closed door by the towels leads to our bedroom.

 

Can you see the difference in what paint can do for a room? Whether the colors I chose work for you or not, you can definitely see the difference in not only how the color changed the room but also the accessories.
The size of the mirror and the cabinets also stand out with paint contrast as well as the accessories. The counter height is 36” and the top of the mirror frame to the bottom of the frame is 62”.

While I love and appreciate all styles of decorating, I tend to decorate with warm colors.

My next project in this room will be to stain the mirror frame to make it look like a piece of furniture.

I will be linking up at:

Domestically Speaking

Blue Cricket Design


We are that family

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! The contest ends TONIGHT AT 10:00 p.m.

How I do birthdays: Themes

I love celebrating ANYTHING…but especially somebody’s birthday. It’s the one day that they get to have by themselves and it’s their special day.

My parents always made our birthdays a big, huge deal. In fact, somehow we were able to milk the whole month, not just the one day.

A somewhat common conversation among my sisters might sound like this:

{sister} It’s my birthday, I get to go first.

{me} No it’s not. Your birthday isn’t for 20 days!

{sister} Uh, hello! It’s ____{insert month}.

I’m a big fan of giving and celebrating birthdays with a theme. This actually started because Mrs. M and I were always the daughters/sisters to be in town when our family had a birthday to celebrate. Instead of buying a gift together like we had been, we just kind of started giving gifts that went together.

One year we decided Mom needed some stuff for her kitchen so we got pot holders, pans, and a set of dishes.

This was the first year Mrs. M was married on her birthday, it was her 29th birthday and it is on New Year’s Eve. I wanted to do something special for her. I also wanted to give her gifts that she could use, enjoy and not be off her wedding registry.

As I posted earlier, I made the Cookie Monster Cupcakes.

I loved the cupcakes long before they were ever made. I also knew that Mrs. M would because she is a baker and loves cupcakes!

Cupcakes would be the perfect theme and I knew just what to get her. I am a big fan of Etsy and I knew exactly what I wanted to get her. When I saw this apron, I knew it was perfect!

Isn’t it beautiful?!?! I found this at Bambino Amore:

Mrs. M is a classy, sophisticated and simple lady so I knew the black and white damask with the red would be perfect!

I also knew from being a follower at The TomKat Studio that Kim loves the Wilton 4 Tiered Dessert Tower. If it works for Kim then it will be good enough for Mrs. M.

 

I purchased the tower at Hobby Lobby. While I was there I found the perfect wrapping paper!

  

Don’t you just love this Royal paper? This would be so cute framed or decoupaged!
 
Can you guess which box the apron was in? It was just too perfect not to use for this! This paper would be great in a project too. Hmmm…I am getting inspired as I write about it!

Happy Birthday Mrs. M! I hope you enjoyed it! Now get in the kitchen and make some cupcakes!!

As you can see, it was so much fun planning her birthday with a cupcake theme.

Try it the next time you are giving presents to somebody! My Monkey is turning 2 years old in March. Stay tuned to see the theme of his party! It will be adorable and fun!

Office Makeover

Everybody needs a place in the house where they can retreat to. A place where they can work, relax or hide. In our house, my husband likes to retreat to “his office” as he calls it. This is also the place where I like to go, because of the computer.
When we bought this house in December 2008, the office was used as a graphic design studio for the lady of the house. It served it’s purpose for them.
I wish that I had a before picture of what the room looked like before I painted.
Just imagine white walls. And white ceilings. This room faces the front of the house. I love the crown molding and the plantation shutters. The French doors are also a nice feature.The room  was almost perfect. We however, needed storage. Lots of storage. I’m a reader. My husband needed closed storage where he could hide all of his files and binders for work.
And now presenting…THE OFFICEOne of my long-time friends’ brother made these for us. I came up with a design and he made magic happen. I seriously just told him what I wanted to look like, he measured and then some time later…the cabinets were installed!
The cabinets are not pink- the light just made it look funky. The workspace top is 11.5’ long and it is one piece. The cabinets were two boxes and then the shelves sat on top. It was a happy day when these were installed…
This is my collection of Alex C. McIntosh aka, Acee Blue Eagle art. Acee Blue Eagle was my great grandmother’s first cousin. The photographs are of him. One is is drawing and the second is him in his ceremonial attire. The glasses have his art on them. There is a set of Famous Oklahoma Indians and a set of Famous American Indians. The glasses were given at Knox Gas stations for every ten gallons of gas you purchased.This is my husband’s collection. They are McCormick decanters from the early-mid 1970’s. He collects the collegiate ones and as you can see he only has Rice, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, University of Texas and Southern Methodist University.

We are so happy to have it finished…finally! We do need to get some more accessories, chairs etc. for this room but for right now we are happy having a place for our books and a place to display our collections!
I will be linking up with Susan at BNOTP today!

Don’t forget to sign up for my giveaway!

My first giveaway!

I. Am. So. Excited!
CSN Stores is sponsoring my first giveaway!!!
If you have not been to CSN you HAVE to check it out.  They have everything from a mailbox, to pet supplies, to home décor, please take a look!

They have over a million products on this site. Maybe even a gazillion.

Seriously, the store that has everything.

And now, without further adieu, this is what I've selected for you!

Isn't this beautiful?

This is a Certified International Firenze Ivory Oval Baker designed by Pamela Gladding.

This is a durable 4 Qt. stoneware that is microwave AND dishwasher safe. It is also oven to table safe!

I am giving you 2 entries to win:

1st   Leave a comment.

2nd   Blog about this contest on your blog and link back to this post. When you do that just come back and leave a comment telling me about it.

That's it! Good luck!

This contest will end next Wedneday, January 20 at 10:00p.m.

B.Designs inspired Silhouette box

You know I am a sucker for 2 things. {Well, okay there is a list much longer than 2.}

I love me some Ballard and silhouettes. So imagine my surprise when I saw this...

Ballard Designs Silhouette Boxes

What's a girl to do? Make it herself of course!I already had a silhouette ready to go!

Around here, we have to do things FAST. So as soon as Monkey went down for his nap, I was all over it. I had the perfect box and I was ready to go.

1.This is that cardboard box just like the 20 I know you have stashed away somewhere.

2. I had to go to my source for all things antique and beautiful. And free. Graphics Fairy of course! I printed 5 of these out on card-stock.

Old French Handwriting from Graphics Fairy

3. I took out my trusty and crusty Elmer's Glue and started decoupaging! There is no picture of this because when I use glue I have it all the way up to my elbows and nobody was here to take the picture. Yes, I used a foam paint brush to paint the glue on the back of the paper and then coated the paper and the box after I placed it. And yes, even with a brush it is a ridiculous mess.

This is when I also I decoupaged the silhouette of Monkey.

4. I used black ribbon that I already head and glued it on the sides of the lid using fabric glue.

 I will say that the hardest part of this project was taking the picture of my son! Once I had a picture that would work, I used Photoshop to create the silhouette. I am a beginner for sure in this program but I did find that the pen tool was the best option for creating the silhouette.

This silhouette can be achieved a multitude of ways without Photoshop.

The Graphics Fairy also has silhouettes on her blog if you wanted to use traditional images and save the time of wrestling with your kids to take a photo. 

I'm linking up at Kimba's Today and  Graphics Fairy on Monday for Brag Monday!