The Hubs and I were leaving our self isolation for a quick adventure a few weeks ago and it was trash day. As we pulled out of the drive, The Hubs spotted this old sewing machine cabinet. He stopped and asked if I wanted it?

Yes, you know you have a trash diving issue when everyone you know helps you dig in the trash for gems!

So we loaded this cabinet, complete with a sewing machine, spiders, a pair of grandma glasses and a stapler, and took it home for a sewing machine cabinet makeover!

At first I wasn’t sure what to do with it. And then the more I thought about it, the more excited I was to have found it. I could put it in my studio and actually leave my sewing machine out, ready for use. No more storing it in my studio closet and wagging it out every time I wanted to use it.

What a pain!

First thing I did was clean it out and relocate ( kill) the spiders and ditch the sewing machine. I asked my friend Charlene who is an antique aficionado if the sewing machine had any value.

“Yep”, she said, “as a boat anchor.”

So, we waived goodbye to the sewing machine and gave it a good cleaning with warm water. After a light sanding,  The Hubs helped me take it apart to so that I could paint it.

Don’t judge!

Normally I would cringe at painting an antique, but this one had seen better days and quite honestly, while sturdy, it wasn’t built with that great of wood to start with.

Since I was putting it in my studio, which is navy, hot pink and white, it just made sense to paint it the color of the rest of the furniture. I used General Finishes Klein Blue. It took two coats and once it was finished, I put a water based polyacrylic top coat on it.

When I went to remove that hardware, I realized that they had glued the handles on. In fact, I’m not entirely certain what the handles are made of. So I painted them blue to match the drawer.

The handles on my desk are a bright shiny gold. So I painted the detail and the handles on the sewing machine cabinet a bright gold too. I used Martha Stewart metallic gold, which is truly my favorite!

Once I was finished painting the front of the drawers, I lined each of them with a fun drawer liner. A fun drawer liner is a favorite of mine, they make me smile every time I open a drawer!

I was so excited to get it into my studio! I set it up, filled the drawers and stepped back to get a great photo and then I saw the cords.

Which are a BIG pet peeve of mine.

So, I did what any cord hating girl would do, I got out my Cordmate. If you haven’t seen this, it is a hard plastic tube with a slot in the side to stuff your cord into with a sticky back.

Genius!

Cordmate is so easy to use.

It comes in 4 ft lengths, just cut the cordmate the size you want, adhere it to the back of furniture or wall and stuff your cord into the side slot.

No more sloppy cord hanging down.

I am so happy that The Hubs talked me into bringing this cabinet home! Now I’m motivated to organize the rest of my sewing accessories. Who knew that they had so many sewing organization tools?

Until next time!

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We have a new coffee bar at the castle! I have to admit, I’m not usually one for having everything all out on display. I’m usually more is less kinda gal when it comes to functional stuff being out on the counter. But downsizing is hard. Space is at a premium. So, it only made sense to marry functionality with pretty.

It all started when The Hubs coffee maker died. Let me preface this with the fact that The Hubs is picky about his coffee. Not judging, I’m pretty picky about my morning cup of tea too. No pre-grinded, stale coffee for him. No sir, we buy beans that we grind our self. We make sure the water temperature is perfect, we like filtered water, etc. I won’t bore you with the rest, just know that he enjoys a great cup of coffee. 

When he decided to do pour over coffee, which doesn’t require a machine, I asked if we couldn’t get a pod style coffee maker. That way when we have guests, everyone gets to choose whether they would like coffee, tea or hot chocolate! It was a win for everyone. As you can see, I quickly set about organizing the pods. I knew that throwing them into a big container, or putting them on a rack would drive me crazy. This drawer organization system was the perfect solution. More on that later!

I’d been struggling with what decor to put on this buffet in breakfast room for awhile. After much thought, I knew that a cute coffee station would be perfect here. Our coffee and tea would be just steps from the kitchen and right next to the breakfast room table.

Not only is the coffee bar cute, it also has a lot of functionality. Since I drink hot tea instead of coffee, I needed to be sure that there was plenty of room for not only coffee stuff, but everything tea too.
Thankfully, there is plenty of room for both.

My cream and sugar, coffee mugs, napkins, spoons, and tea bag holder all fit nicely on – or in – the buffet with plenty of room to spare.

I have to confess that there is only one thing that I don’t like about the new coffee bar. The weird intercom system that you see to the left above the coffee maker. I have plans to say good-bye to that soon!

Best of all, I get to keep my chalkboard! At least for now.
I cannot tell you how much we are enjoying the new coffee bar at the castle. It’s the best way to start the morning!
Until next time…

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I’ve got a new table in the dining room! Well, it’s not really a new table. Because it’s old, but it is new to me. And I’m not sure if you would call this a dining room. It’s off our kitchen, so maybe it’s an eating area in the kitchen?Except it’s not in the kitchen. Are you as confused as I am? For now, I’m calling it the dining room because, well it’s where we dine.

When we moved last October I knew our former kitchen table and chairs had seen better days. So, I decided to use our formal dining room table and chairs in this area since we don’t have a formal dining room. Fast forward to the holidays and I knew that we needed to replace it sooner, rather than later as it was way to big for that space.

The plan was for The Hubs to build me one out of some old barn wood of my dads. However, The Hubs shop isn’t up and running yet. We decided to buy an older sturdy table and fix it up until The Hubs could make me a table. Shortly after Christmas I found this sad little table. She’s super sturdy, she just needed a little love.

Along with the table came these french styled cane back chairs. I loved them! They were also sturdy and I was super excited because all of the cane backs were in perfect shape!

We loaded them up, tied them down with a “spider” bungee cord thingy and headed for home. We were excited because it had been raining earlier and we were worried about the furniture getting wet. When we set out for home there was not a cloud in the sky and not a hint of wind. Perfect for transporting furniture. And then the unthinkable happened. A huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew not one, but two, chairs into the table legs. This was the result. At this point I was resigned to just upholster the backs and call it done. However, The Hubs had a different idea.

He decided to repair the cane backs. I have to say that he did a wonderful job! Now the sad little chairs with the holes in them are the belle of the ball. The cane matches perfectly, it’s nice and super tight. They look brand new!

Once The Hubs work was done, it was my turn. At first, I wanted to stain the top and paint the apron and legs of the table. However, I quickly realized that the table needed so much work that staining it wouldn’t be possible. 

Y’all have seen my blue desk, if not your can see it here. I painted it with General Finishes Milk Paint in Klien Blue. I loved how the paint glided on, had great coverage and had no brush lines. So I decided to use the same paint in Snow White.

Now here’s where it all gets crazy. I sanded, applied putty, and painted and painted and painted! This is a chair which has three coats on it. It’s streaky and still shows the original finish through it. To make matters worse, because I was starting to put so much paint on it, it was quickly becoming a hot mess. It just wasn’t working as well on these pieces as it did on my blue desk.

I finally waved the white flag and pulled out my cabinet and trim paint. This paint is from Ace Hardware and I’ve used it for my trim paint in my last house and in the new one. I figured if it were good enough for the trim, it would work on the table! I gave all six chairs and the table a couple of quick coats and called it good.

Now that all the painting was done, it was time to reupholster the chair seats. I have been going back and forth on what colors I want to use in the kitchen/dining rooms. Do I want to use black with pops of bright colors like I have in my last couple of houses? OR do I want to go with blues to match my living area? The struggle is real my friends. Since I couldn’t wait until I made up my mind to reupholster the chairs, I decided to go with a neutral. I love the look of this faux linen material and knew it would be perfect for the new chair seats.

I love how it all turned out! The size of the table and chairs is perfect for the space. The only down side? Now the rest of the room is screaming for a little face lift too. If you give a mouse a cookie…

Until next time…..

It’s Ten on the 10th! Which would normally mean that ten bloggers share awesome ideas on the 10th of the month for under $10.00. However, this month we have 13 bloggers participating. Woo Hoo! Bonus for us. Our theme is a Thrift Store find, which is totally up my alley!

I didn’t actually go thrift store shopping because, well, my garage is already full of thrift store finds.

I had this sweet little chair that was beyond repair and thought that it would make an awesome little stool!

First, we was sawed off the back of the chair and sanded it.

Next, a few coats of white paint gave it a crisp clean look!

Next, I removed the chair seat.

The existing seat was sturdy, however it had definitely seen better days!!

I cut out a few pieces of foam to fit the seat.

Then, covered the seat with batting.

This helps smooth out the foam and keep it in place.

This material is my new favorite!

I am in love with it, it makes me so happy just looking at it.

It is colorful, yet soft at the same time.

I plan on using if for some type of window treatment in my bathroom, that’s how much I love it!

This sweet little stool is the perfect size for my vanity.

I can’t wait to start on the curtains.

So, how much did this thrift store find cost?

Chair – Free

Material – $4.25 ( 1/4 of 1 yard)

Batting – free ( leftover from another project)

Foam – $4.25 ( 2 pk from Hobby Lobby using my 40% off coupon)

Spray paint – $1.10

All other items used were a stapler, staples, and l a hammer.

Total cost: $9.60

Barely under the wire!

Now I hope that you will join me in visiting my fellow bloggers and see their fantastic ideas. Also, a great big thank you to our hostess of the month, Katie from Let’s Add Sprinkles! We could not do this with out you.

French Etherealh

Homeroad 

My Heart Lives Here

At Home With Jemmah

Decor To Adore

Chasing Quaintness

County Road 407

The Apple Street Cottage

Let’s Add Sprinkles

Pandora’s Box

Bluesky at Home 

Exquisitely Unremarkable 

Until next time….

My niece and her sweet family have been renovating a house for the past six months. I’m so excited for them! I’ve also been working on a few things for Beeps room, including refreshing a glider for the nursery!

My neighbor was throwing this glider out. I knew it was a diamond in the rough. With a little love, it would be a beauty again!

It is finally warming up here in Texas. However, the cold hasn’t bothered me too much as I didn’t venture outside a lot. I was too busy painting, decorating and adding jewelry to the dresser!

By jewelry, I mean blingy drawer pulls! One of my very favorite pieces of furniture is this super cute, small dresser that I use as a nightstand in one of my guest rooms. Originally, I had added some glass knobs for jewelry. However, overtime those glass knobs haven’t held up too well!

Vanity drawers repurposed are a good thing, right? Yes, but that wasn’t always the plan.

I’ve had a vanity in my stack of furniture that I had planed on flipping for awhile now. I finally pulled the vanity out of the pile with the intent to make some minor repairs and give it a quick coat of paint. However, once I started on the repairs, I realized that the damage was so extensive that it would need to be totally rebuild. That was not in the plan!

I’m recovering the bench – again! I loved it before, but it just didn’t seem to go with anything in my house.

My hubs and I made this bench awhile back, if you missed it, you can find that post here.  Once it was finished, I put it up for sale.  I loved the material, but it never sold. Oh, well sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Today I am sharing the Before and Afters of July.

I have been so busy working outside of the castle, I haven’t had much of time to get a lot of things done.

Instead of this post being about styling the hutch, it should be about giving a mouse a cookie. You remember the book, right?  If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask you for a glass of milk.  If you give him the milk, he’s going to ask for a napkin.  It’s the never ending story.

It all started when I went to dust the kitchen hutch.  My design boredom hit me like spider monkey hyped up on Mountain Dew.

Three chairs become a bench. I hit the neighborhood garage sale recently and bought three white chairs.

The minute I saw them I thought they would make a great bench.

This is what they looked like when I bought them.  Really gross! They were already white and distressed, so I thought once the material was removed and the wood cleaned up I would be able to use the existing finish. WRONG! The wood did not clean up. Definitely needed a new paint job.

Tyler’s dresser has had many lives here at the castle…

I’ve painted this dresser so many times I’m not even sure what the dresser looked like originally anymore.  I think maybe it was white? It was a garage sale find from many years ago. It has had a funky silver faux finish, it has been brown and as you can see black.  It is a smaller dresser so it has been perfect for my son’s apartments all through college. My younger son recently moved into his own loft apartment and thought it was time for some grown up furniture, so Tyler’s dresser came back to me.

I’ve got a sweet little Turquoise Bench Refresh to share with you today.   Remember the turquoise nightstands that I painted for my sister’s new bedroom? If not, you can see those here.

She needed something in her bedroom to sit on that would  match the turquoise nightstands. And it needed to be small, as she only has a tiny spot for it.

Remember this bench? ( yep, it’s all about testing your memory today!)  I had it in my entry hall, but honestly we rarely used it, unless you count piling newspapers, purses and packages on it. So being the giving person that I am, I volunteered to give this cute little bench a tiny makeover to match my sister’s bedroom.

I loved the gold, but there’s not any gold in my sister’s bedroom. So I gave it a couple of coats of the same turquoise paint that we used on her nightstands. Once it was dry, I gave it a little bit of sanding to distress it, followed by a black wash. I love how you get the gold and brown from the past colors the bench was painted showing through.

Then a couple of coats of poly for protection.

I covered the seat in white mongolian lambs wool that I had left over from a couple of other projects. I love that fur! Not only is it cute, it is super durable. I really love the way this bench turned out.

It’s the perfect size for her room… a little girlie…. a little glam…. Perfect for my sister!

Until next time….

                    Tammy

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My favorite room in my house is one of my guest rooms. It isn’t big. It isn’t even colorful and y’all KNOW I like color. It isn’t even perfect- there are many things that probably need to be changed, but even with all of it’s imperfections, I love this room!

The Hubs made this bed for us many years ago out of a couple of old doors. It is a trundle bed, so it is the perfect size for this room. I’ve thought of putting a full or queen size bed in here, but I really do love this bed.

For many years this room had apple green walls. I still miss them, but the gray is so soothing. I’ve always liked black and white , I think it really pops off the gray walls.

I love using multiple patterns of material. I made these shams with left over material from the curtains. I’m not gonna lie, I change out the throw pillows fairly often to give the room a totally different feel and to add pops of color.

I am a nut for botanicals! This print was one of my very best garage sale finds. The shelf is from Hob Lob. It was  white , but I quickly painted it, as the white was just too blah in this room. I really like it now. I would love to find a bigger “L” for the self though!

Tucked away in the corner is a small chest of drawers used as an night stand. The bed was so big that the night stand needed to be taller also. This is perfect!  I love my sassy glam lamp too. It’s girly style isn’t my norm, but it so fits this room. Plus, the drawers provide a ton of extra storage for bedding etc.

Across from the bed is the dresser. I can’t even believe that I am sharing this side of the room. Until recently we had a smaller tv on the dresser. Our son needed a smaller tv for his RV so we traded him. After seeing this photo I seriously need to do something different with the wall behind it!

You can’t tell it, but the dresser has a tone on tone damask pattern. I like that it is subtle but adds a little bit of style to what would normally be a plain dresser.

I love using pictures of family in my decorating. This is the room my youngest son uses when he comes home, so I have photos of him with the rest of the family displayed.

I have a tv cabinet in the corner, but it doesn’t house a tv. It is full of all sorts of “stuff”, mainly photo albums and photos that I need to sort through. Trust me the irony that the tv doesn’t fit isn’t lost on me!

There are two smaller “end” walls in the room. One has a bank of windows and the other hosts the closet and doorway. There is just enough room for a cool chair. This chair is one of the first chairs I ever recovered many years ago and it is still one of my favorites! Plus, guests need a place to sit and put on shoes or read a good book.

Above the chair I have some of my youngest son’s photography prints that he has gifted me over the years. He is a very gifted photographer!

I guess the reason that this is my favorite room is that it gives me a peaceful tranquil feeling every time I am in it. And in my book that makes this room a decorating success!

Until next time….

                   Tammy

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I tend to lean toward furniture that has a lot of detail and curves. However, in the past few years I have found a few pieces that I love that are more stream lined. This painted end table is one of them.

I found this very dusty, poorly painted mid-century modern end table at a garage sale. Even though it was dusty and painted hot mess, it was very sturdy and I could visually exactly how to give it a little life. I wanted to paint it black – again – and I wanted to give it a high gloss shine.

And then I went to Hobby Lobby. Have y’all been to their knob and drawer pull section lately? Oh, my goodness! It’s the bomb. I only wanted about ten different new styles. But this Agate  drawer pull caught my eye. I loved it so much that I immediately changed my mind about how I wanted to finish the end table.

Here’s the “end” result. ( sorry I couldn’t resist!)   Navy and gold! The front feet had a brass cap on them – which you couldn’t see because of the awful paint. I polished those up and ….

Added some gold leaf to the edge of the agate drawer pull.

The drawer sides had the worst over spray ever, so I painted them gold to tie into the gold on the legs and on the agate pull to finish the end table.

I have to say that even though this table is totally different than what I had envisioned to start with, I think that the final result feels like it was always suppose to be this way. In fact I like it so much it is going to be a really tough decision to keep it or sell it.

Until next time…

                   Tammy

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I am the mother of two adult boys, so I guess you could say I have a soft spot for little boys. I love all the things that go with little boys. The toys, the mess, the pets, the hugs – I even miss the crazy science experiments that I used to find in the refrigerator freezer. ( think swamp monster action figure frozen in red and green water in a cup OR whatever bug they wanted to preserve for another day.)  I never knew what I was going to find. Crazy, I know.

When my friend Siana gave me a couple of old end tables I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, so I put them in the to do pile in the castle’s shop and went on to other projects. And then I saw an end table on Pinterest, much like those she gave me, made into a children’s play table and I knew that one of those old end tables needed to be made into a Lego table.

The tables were made of solid wood and in great shape structurally, but the finish needed to be redone. One problem was that there were leather inserts that needed help but that was way out of my experience level. So painting them was okay with me.

The Hubs is sidelined for awhile due to injury, so I asked my oldest if he would like to collaborate with me on this one.  He took the bin I wanted to put in the top and made a template of the hole he needed to cut into the top of the table.

Using the template he drew where he wanted to cut on the top of the table.

Then using a hole saw he drilled a hole in all four corners.

After drilling all four holes, he used a jig saw and cut the straight lines between the holes.

I gave it a couple of coats of Waverly chalk paint in red. Then a couple of coats of spray poly.

After that it was just a matter of dropping in the  bin on the top and attaching the Lego plate. This plate was 10″ X 10″.  I really wanted to use the 15″ X 15″ plates  however, the leather insert area is slightly raised in the middle, so that larger plate didn’t fit flush.

Here is the finished Lego table complete with Legos that I dragged out of storage. ( yeah, I’m the mom who is still storing all of the little boy toys! Some day they will come and pick them up, right?) Even with the 10″ X 10″  plate there is plenty of room to build!

The bin is perfect for Lego storage. I think that the easy access may make putting them away a breeze for little ones. Better stored here than food for the vacuum cleaner, right?

I loved working on this project, it’s fun and useful. But I really loved working on this project with my son! Brings back so many wonderful memories…even the crazy ones.

Until next time….

                         Tammy

I admit it. I own it. I pick up things from the trash occasionally. On my morning walks on trash days you might be surprised what people throw out. Now, don’t think I am actively digging in dumpsters, but a dresser by the side of the road will have me braking my car faster than you can say furniture! This past Tuesday I hit the trash to treasure jackpot!

I found this magazine rack/ table. You can’t really tell it in this pic, but it was an ugly yellow ochre color. Yikes! The one good thing it had going for it was that it was sturdy. Of all the things I have picked up on the side of the road, this one needed a trash to treasure makeover, more than any other!

In the makeover process, this piece went from a table/magazine rack to a table/ planter. It just screamed outdoor table!

First thing I did was paint it a beautiful fire truck red. The ends were open so I added chicken wire to hold all of the dirt and plants. It looks a little messy here, but I promise you won’t see the wire so much when it is finished.

Sheet moss was the perfect thing to put behind the chicken wire to help hold the dirt and plants. It also helps hide the chicken wire and let’s face it – it looks awesome too! There was a tiny crack at the bottom of the magazine rack, so it provided great drainage. No need to add more holes!

All that was left was to add the plants….

Here it is in the garden… apparently the cat  even likes it…or maybe he just likes to be in every picture that I take outside?

I think that it works much better as an outdoor table/planter than a magazine rack – well at least it does for me.  This trash to treasure was super easy, so easy I can’t wait to get started on the other finds of the day!

Until next time…

                Tammy

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Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays…

My BFF Roxanne’s sweet momma Sarah just moved here to be closer to her girls. In the move she downsized and had to get rid of some furniture….you know where this is going, right? Miss Sarah was kind enough to give me some of her extra furniture! Yay… picture me doing some serious backflips! She gifted me two tables that would make awesome night stands, in fact they would make awesome turquoise night stands!    My sister T needed some night stands  to go with her new bed. After consulting with her, she was in love with the turquoise idea and said to just go for it.

This is what the tables looked like when I got them. A little worn and missing some handles, but overall great bones.

First thing? Remove the broken drawer handles. Only, there was a big problem. The handles were attached to the drawer face and THEN the drawer face was attached to the drawer. There was absolutely NO way to remove the handles. Can you say cray cray?

My solution was to gently pry off the drawer face and remove the handles. Then re-attach them before painting.

If you think that I was excited about getting the end tables, you should have seen me when I discovered Junk Gypsy paint was sold locally! I couldn’t wait to try it out. I absolutely LOVE their colors. I chose a color called Free Spirit. A really beautiful blue turquoise color.

Junk Gypsy paint is a clay paint, so I wasn’t sure how the application would be. Honestly, the first few strokes I wasn’t really thrilled. I had already stirred it up before beginning, but went back and stirred some more. MUCH BETTER! Moral of the story? Stir, then stir some more.

When painting JG goes on like regular latex paint. JG also dries like regular paint, but the end finish is a little “chalky”. I used a gloss poly to seal it. The end result? A smooth satin finish. Which I really, really liked!

My sister chose her drawer handles and after drilling new holes ( that went all the way through the drawer face AND the drawer!) this is the end result.

My sister and I are crushing on it big time! So much so that we are going to paint her new/old bed and dresser in a complimentary color! I love it when redecorating a room all comes together!!! Girl squeal!

I loved the Junk Gypsy paint so much that I am already planning to use a few other colors on  some of  furniture in my pile waiting to be done.  I’m thinking of new colors like: Flower Child ( bright pink) or Landlocked Mermaid…( lovely light green)  or Singing the Texas Blues ( navy – my favorite color!).  I think I would use them just because they have such great names! If you need me I will be in the workshop painting away!

Until next time…..

                       Tammy

P.S. Check out The Scoop at StoneGable and Wow Us Wednesdays #233...

I shared my office with you last week in a really HUGE post. So huge that I couldn’t show you all of the tiny details in my office in one post. So today I get to share those with you! Tiny details always make the piece come together. It’s just like adding jewelry to your favorite outfit.

Here is a reminder of how my new/old tv armoire/office looks like. It was done in chalk paint, so it has a beautifully soft patina. The back plates on the doors would NOT come off without some serious damage to the doors, so I left them.

I added these modern lucite and brass pulls. If they look familiar, it’s because I used them on the chest of drawers in my wrapping closet. I really, really lurve them! I like the modern pulls against the traditional back plate – I’ve always leaned toward the eclectic.

Most of the tiny details in my office are on the inside. The most obvious being the cheetah print stenciling.

If you follow along with me, you know that I love doing something to the drawers to make a statement. On the outside face of the drawers I have hand painted crowns ( you know I love them) and numbers . The Hubs asked me if I needed the numbers so that I would know how many drawers I had. That earned him a serious eye roll!

On the inside of the drawers I lined them with this fun paper!

The doors themselves were a great opportunity for some organizational tools.

On the left side, I painted it with chalkboard paint. Love me some inspirational words of wisdom.

Since my post on Friday I went back and added a calendar below the chalkboard.

On the right side is the bulletin board, which is really clean right now. Before long I will have it filled with everything from swatches to photos of ideas or upcoming blogs.

On the upper shelf, I added baskets and attached cute chalkboard signs  so that I would know where I put what. Hey, Go ahead and judge, but I never seem to remember where I put what at first. Besides they are CUTE! I also put some of my favorite art and design reference books up there.

And one of my favorite tiny details in my office is the chandelier which was formerly a candlelier. I love it – I do. Although I am still not digging the gold and silver together on this one.  There may be some changes coming to it in the future! But for now… it’s all good.

I also had this Do What You Love print that I could never find a space for.. it’s like it was made for this spot.

Some of the tiny details that you don’t immediately see are my newly painted office supplies. I taped them all up…

and spray painted them gold! LURVE!!!!

And the finished piece….drum roll please! There are a ton of tiny details in my office. Individually they really don’t make that big of an impact, but put all together they give it that WOW factor. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Do you have a dedicated office space in your house that is a little unconventional? I would love to hear about it!

Until next time…

                       Tammy

I hate to admit it, but most of my blogging is done from my sofa in front of the TV.( My ADD prevents me from just sitting and watching a TV show – at least that’s my excuse!) If you thought that I have a stylish office that is perfectly decorated where I sit with a big cup of coffee and write, you would be so wrong. I have the office, but it is also my craft room. Nine days out of ten, I have a billion projects going on at one time. It can be one hot mess!  As I get more involved in blogging I realize that I need a dedicated space to do nothing but blog. I think I have the solution. Here’s how my tv armoire becomes an office! 

I have a ton of photos, so get yourself a drink, settle in and get comfy!

This tv armoire came with my bedroom suit. I had it for quite awhile –

and it was fine… although it looks much better in the photo than in real life! It was really beat up.

Until I found this piece. It was love a first site! Old armoire out, new armoire in!

So I had my old armoire sitting around wondering what to do with it. And then it hit me…why not make myself an office?

My office/craft room is “tiffany” blue, black and white. Over time I have been adding in gold accents, so my new “office” had to match. The first thing I did was paint all of the inside white. The outside I painted black, slightly distressed it and added a little gold accent. I will say though, that when the doors are shut, you can see the white. No bueno! So I am going to go back and paint the one inch lip on the inside of the armoire. Problem solved.

TA DA!!! Here’s the finished office!  I was a little worried about the cheetah print, but figured I could always repaint if I hated it. Thing is… I really do like it!

Hand painted crowns – ya know I gotta have those! – and numerals on the drawers. (The hubs snickered at the numerals asking me if I need the numbers to know how many drawers I had? Serious eye roll!)

The shelving above is perfect for books and baskets to hold all my knick knack paddy crap. Drawers and adjustable shelving below make for a ton of storage for me. A girl needs her storage, am I right?

After opening, I can push the doors into the cabinet or leave them out.  I figured these were the perfect spots for a few organizational tools. On the right side I painted the inset on the door with chalkboard paint. Gotta have a place to put some inspirational quotes.

On the left side, I mounted a bulletin board to hold all of my swatches, notes etc. Below the bulletin board I mounted some Command strip hooks and hung clips from them to hold my photos. I may change out the command hooks with something more decorative over time, but for now they work well.

I needed a small light in my new office, but couldn’t find what I wanted. I had this “candlelier” hanging in the guest room and inspiration hit. I made it into a hanging light! I will share that with you in a later post – just because I love you. I am gonna change a few things with it though. Usually the two tone metals wouldn’t bother me, but since there is absolutely no silver anywhere else, I will be taking it apart and painting it gold. I may paint the black cord too…. OCD much? Oh, yeah!

Now heres the part that lets this tv armoire become an office. The TV sliding stand/tray- thingy. Yup, real technical term there for ya!

Because the tray slides out, it creates a desk that is the perfect height for this stool that I repainted and recovered earlier this year. Woo Hoo!  Major room for my legs and feet.

I love how my tv armoire becomes an office for so many reason – too many to show all in one post ( so check back next Tuesday for all of the details!).  I love that I can push the desk in and close the door when I am not using it, giving me plenty of room for whatever I am working on in the rest of the room. I love that it is pretty,  I mean, who doesn’t want to work where you feel happy and at home?

This project was a ton of work. A little painting and a ton of details. But so worth it!

Until next time….

                         Tammy

P.S. Check out the Flaunt it Friday Party at Chic On a Shoestring…, Stone Gable Scoop #180 , Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays #231! I love looking at all of the awesomeness and you will too!

My good friend Susan called me and asked if I wanted some furniture that her daughter left in her garage after she got married. Of course! One of the pieces was literally “in pieces”.  It was a small bench that had a lot of potential. With a little glue, material, trim and spray paint it became a beautiful small gold bench!

The leg was detached and splintered. A little glue, sanding and clamping took care of that!

I removed the seat and started removing the material. Layer one: the gold and tan you see in the before photo above. Layer two: this red, and layer three the original white that covered the bench. The white was in perfect condition, so I decided to just leave it.  A little more cush for the tush!

Next up? Gold spray paint of course. If you haven’t figured it out, I am obsessed with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be painting anything gold I would have thought they were cray cray. I love it! I love how warm it is in a room. Not a lot of gold – just shots here and there.

I had already sanded the damaged leg area, so I cleaned the rest of the frame with some TSP, then gave it a couple of light coats of spray paint.

While this was drying I covered the seat with a black and multicolored fabric that has a few shots of gold in it to tie in the gold legs. If this fabric looks familiar – it is! I used it here. I love it so much that I have been looking for a place to use it again!

TA DA! The broken sad bench became this awesome small gold bench! It is not too big, not too small, but just right in size. It would be perfect as a vanity bench or a small piano bench.

It is also the perfect size for an entryway bench.  Sit down and take off your shoes!

I love these small pieces that can make such a difference in your decor.  If you are interested this piece will appear for sell soon in my shop.

Now I am off to finish up a really big project that I have been working on for awhile. I hope to share it with you later this week. Fingers crossed!!!!

Until next time….

                        Tammy

I know that you won’t believe me, but I don’t paint every piece of furniture that clients bring to me.  Sometimes the piece of furniture is so perfect as it is, that it would be a crime to paint it. This  mid century modern dresser was one of those pieces.

A friend and client of mine was looking for a mid century modern piece that could also serve as her TV cabinet and also provide storage.  When we found this mahogany dresser, we knew that it was the perfect piece for her Swank Lounge.

It had a few dents and scratches, but was structurally sound and very well made. Instead of striping and sanding we decided to just refinish it. I used Homer Formby’s Furniture Refinisher. It basically takes the old top coat off and leaves the original stain. Since the top coat is where the dirt lives and most scratches occur this was the perfect solution. We then gave it a few coats of Hemp Oil to finish this piece. I love using hemp oil, which is much like tongue oil, it gives the wood a smooth, worn patina rather than a shiny finish. The mahogany wood in this mid century modern dresser was so beautiful we felt like a shiny poly top coat would detract from it’s beauty.

Look at the brass detail on the legs…OMG! Serious awesomeness. The craftsmanship in this piece is unbelievable. You don’t find that in furniture today.The clients swank lounge was already gorgeous and this mid century modern dresser fits right in.  It fits perfectly under her wall mount flat screen tv.

I love my job, but on days like today – when you get to see a piece that you have worked on fit so perfectly in a clients home – well I really, really love my job!

Until next time….

                        Tammy