For those of you who have been following along for a few years you know that Beep is my niece’s little girl. I can’t believe that she recently turned three! For her gift, my sisters and I decided to do an Ikea Duktig children’s kitchen makeover.

Full disclosure, it comes in an average size box that weighs a hundred pounds.

Slight exaggeration, but I suggest taking someone with muscles to help you carry it home.

Also, just so you know, it takes hours to put together!

NOT an exaggeration.

This is how it looks straight from the store.

Cute, but it can be so much better!

Step 1:

The first thing I did was decide how I was going to give it a tiny facelift.

Step 2:

Then I separated all of the many parts that needed to be painted.

All of the hardware was painted gold.

The countertop received a few good coats of white spray paint.

Step 3:

Once it was dry, I painted gray veins that resembled marble.

Step 4:

When all of the painting was done, I spent two evenings painstakingly putting it together.

Anybody who has ever put together anything from Ikea can relate.

It was already looking much better!

Step 5:

After putting it together, I realized that I could have painted more pieces white.

Just to give it a little more pizzaz.

To go with the kitchen I had made an apron, chefs hat, and oven mitt.

I decided to use the scrap material and mod podge it to the back of the cubbies.

The material gave the kitchen some much needed color!

However, it still needed something.

A backsplash!

Step 6:

The hubs cut out a thin board that fit the entire upper back half of the kitchen.

My first thought was how cute it would be to put peel and stick tiles on it.

After pricing the peel and stick tiles I realized two things.

1. It was pricey for our budget.
2. The scale of the tile was all wrong.

Instead, I went to plan B and painted the wooden board dark gray.

Then cut out heavy white poster board pieces to look like subway tile, then glued them to the board.

Once they were dried, I painted over the entire board with a clear gloss sealer which gave it the look of tile!

Step 7:

Now that the kitchen was all put together, it was time to add the jewelry!

This painted wooden knob was a perfect “hook” for Beep’s apron and chef hat.

A painted small 4 x 6 frame with vinyl kitchen art made the cutest little kitchen sign.

This next addition just may be my favorite!

Two coats of chalk board paint and a cut vinyl sticker made the perfect menu board.

The hubs made a chalk tray that rests on the countertop at the bottom of the sign.

A girls gotta have a place to put her chalk and eraser!

We also added a tiny little hook to the lower left side to hold Beep’s oven mitts.

Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of either.

I was so excited to be done that apparently I lost my mind…

While we were at Ikea we also picked up the utensil set and the pots and pans.

I think both of which were under $10.00.

They are so well made and stinking’ cute too!

I can honestly say that I love our Ikea Duktig children’s kitchen makeover.

Better yet, so did Beep!

Until next time…

You, my friends, should be so proud of me! Before painting the buffet I actually thought to take a before picture!

Back about 100 years or so ago when I was a faux finish painter, I found this dresser on the side of the road. It was my first piece to ever make over. The Hubs added four legs from a an old bench that my BFF and I dug out of a trash pile to the bottom and TA DAAAA!

The buffet was born.

Oh, the decor styles this buffet has seen. It was painted white with lots of antiquing and gold accents through my Old World phase. Then, it was painted solid white during my less is more after the opulence of the Old World phase. When it became part of my office decor it was painted the black that you see in this picture.

Today, with the changing out of all things white and neutral in my dining room, I knew that once again my buffet needed a little face lift. There were just too many pieces of different colored furniture for me!

I painted the buffet the same blue as the chairs and table. If you missed how I did that, then you can see the how to here.

No recap of the painting because ain’t nobody wanna see that two times in a row!

This isn’t one of those “Oh, my goodness! I can’t believe it’s the same piece of furniture!” before and afters. It’s a really subtle one. In fact, I asked The Hubs how he liked it and he hesitated in his answer. Finally he said, “Well, it’s not that big of a difference.”

And he’s right.

My main goal was to make it seamlessly become more compatible with the rest of the room.

So, I guess, mission accomplished!

In this picture, if you look closely,  you can see just how many times it’s been painted. If it were a better piece of furniture I would have stripped it down before painting.

Honestly, I’m kind of afraid to go too far down as it might remove more than I bargained for. I also decided to keep the hardware.

I’m eventually going to replace it, but I’m waiting until I find something I love!

I swore I wasn’t going to add any gold to the buffet this time. Well, I was wrong. I only added the tiniest bit of Rub’nBuff. Due to adding some gold pieces in the rest of the room, it just seemed appropriate. Besides, if I hate it, I can always paint over it!

Sorry the pictures are a little dark. Of course the day I had scheduled to take pictures it’s been raining all day! I’m officially calling this side of the room done.

For now.

I still have a few things that I want to do in the future. Like get rid of that intercom system. But, that’s another day!

Finished or not, I’m enjoying the change from black to blue. It ties in with the rest of the room and looks like it’s always been that way. After years of painting just about everything I’m still amazed at the power of a little paint. Now to finished up the rest of the dining room.

I can’t wait to share what’s coming up next with you!

Until next time…

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To wax or not to wax, that is the question. I’ve been a professional painter of faux finishes, murals, furniture and much more for over 20 years. I love painting because it allows me to use my creative side and I am so lucky that I get to do it for a living! However, along with the creative side I like that there are general rules to painting.

I know that I’m going to clean and prep whatever surface that I’m painting every time.

Oil paints and water paints don’t mix.

You see where I’m going here?

One thing that I’ve struggled with over the past few years is wax.

Wax is fairly easy to use and is a great way to finish furniture.

However, look closely at the photo above and you’ll see what I don’t like about wax.

It easily scratches and scuffs.

I KNOW that I can buff this out, but am I going to do that every time there is a scratch.

No.

If left alone over time wax gets really hard and durable. My China cabinet was one of the first things I ever used chalk paint and wax on and it’s still as beautiful today as it was years ago.

But it doesn’t get the same day to day wear and tear as my end table.

I lived with this sad end table for awhile before I said enough was enough.

Time for a do over.

Step 1: Repaint.

The beautiful thing about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is that you can paint right over the wax.

So I did.

One good coat was all it needed!

Step 2:

Normally, at this point I would have put a nice poly coat on top and called it good.

But I wanted a little less shine and a lot more of an old patina look for this piece.

Miss Mustard Seed Hemp Oil to the rescue!

Just apply according to directions, which is basically wipe it on, and let dry 24 hours.

Super easy!

This is what my table looks like now…. no more scratches!

Here’s a reminder of the before and after!

MAJOR difference!

This isn’t the first time I’ve used Hemp oil, but it is the first time I’ve used it on a surface that gets a ton of use.

I will keep you informed!

So here’s the recap:

I’m thinking if it is a piece of furniture that gets average to little use I will be using wax as a finish.

However, if it is a work horse it’s a no for me!

Until next time….

I’m so happy to tell you that we have a new table in the kitchen. Well, it might be better to say that we have a new / old table .

If you follow along you know that I made our old kitchen table into a coffee table. If you missed it, you can see that transformation here. Which left me searching for a new table for the kitchen.

A few months ago I purchased this table from a friend for a client. Unfortunately, the table wouldn’t fit the space in my clients room.

So the table sat in my garage until I could figure out what to do with it, much to The Hubs dismay!

When I started looking for a new one, this table immediately came to mind.

I loved the details of the table, it’s shape and the fact that it could be a small round table to seat 4 or could be expanded multiple times to seat up to 8 or 10 people.

After a thorough cleaning, it was time to paint.

I honestly thought about painting it a bright happy color, but that would have meant changing up the kitchen. Not willing to do that!

So, I went back to my old standard, Annie Sloan’s Graphite with a dark wax.

I applied two coats, then a coat of dark wax to seal it.

So how did it turn out? I think it turned out fabulous!

I even love the oval shape, which kind of surprised me! The smaller, round shape was a few inches smaller in diameter than our old one and it felt too tiny.

This feels just about perfect!

I honestly couldn’t be happier with our new table in the kitchen and The Hubs is happy to have it out of the garage too!

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Hey friends! How have you been on this wonderful sunny week? It’s been so beautiful outside that I haven’t wanted to be inside painting. However, duty calls and I’ve been fortunate enough to be painting some of my favorite things. In this case, I’ve been painting a children’s table!

Remember this table I painted for Ella a few months ago? Well, a few years ago I painted Ella’s sister, Everly, a similar table.

Over time, Everly’s table has become a little worn and used.

Also, the colors of her room had changed and the table and chairs didn’t match anymore.

It was time for a little face lift!

Everly’s Mimi saw this toy chest I painted before Christmas and wondered if we couldn’t paint something similar for her table and chair.

Mimi loved the bright white base with all of the super happy colors.

These were also the colors we used in this table and chair set that I painted for my sweet niece, Beep!

So that’s exactly what we did!

We started with a white base and added lots of pinks, purples, greens, yellow and black.

We followed that up with lots of polk a dots and flowers with vines!

Both of the chairs have the same colors with similar designs. I’m with Mimi, to me these are such happy colors!

Apparently, Everly thought so too, as her Mimi say’s that she loves her new painted children’s table!

Which is the true test of whether or not this table was a success.

Painting a children’s table makes me very happy!

Until next time……

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If I’m totally honest, I love painting children’s rooms and furniture more than anything else. Which means that I love my job during the holiday season, as I get to paint a lot of things children related. This year I got to paint a super fun toy chest and and Ella’s table and chairs.

I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had painting both pieces!

Queen Lally asked if I would paint a table for her granddaughter, Ella.

Of course, I wasn’t passing up the opportunity to paint something fun!

This set is from Doug and Melissa.

It started out a plain light wood that was primed and painted white!

Once it was white, the decorating and fun painting began.

Her only requirement was that I use the colors turquoise and purple.

After a few quick sketches we came up with this design.

A monogram, which is my favorite, polk a dots, flowers and squiggles all came together for a super fun design.

I think that Ella’s table and chairs turned out pretty darn cute!

Merry Christmas Ella!

Until next time….

Tammy

Anybody who’s had children has probably heard “I want a pony for Christmas!”. My great niece, Beep, is in love with ponies. In fact, her Grandparents on her Dad’s side bought her a pony recently. She’s crazy about horses.

So when a neighbor of mine was moving and had this horse themed table and chairs for sale I couldn’t resist. ( I thought  I had taken a picture of the before, but no. My bad.)  This table is the quintessential DIY project. The base, or horse part, was originally a cigar ashtray.

A few weeks ago, I shared that I replaced the quilt on my bed. Which led to me buying a new dust ruffle. Unfortunately, the dust ruffle was a little too short. So, I bought a new bed.  At this point, I am sure that you know where I’m going. Now, none of the furniture matches. Which leads me to painting the nightstands!

Now before you think that I’ve totally lost my mind by buying a new bed to fit the dust ruffle, you should know that I have been thinking of replacing my bedroom set since I moved into my house 12 years ago. In fact, I bought a new set when we first moved in, however it didn’t fit into the hallway going into my bedroom!

This is the story of Grandma Shirley’s piano. The story of how it came to be is actually pretty funny considering that  I don’t even play the piano, however almost all the women in my husbands family do!

I purchased this piano from a local school that was having a garage sale.  When I purchased it I had another piano sitting in my house and had just sold one that was in my study. So why buy another one? That’s a good question!

I’m not sure if you know it or not, but I started this blog to promote my furniture restore business four years ago. Over time the blog has morphed into more of a life style blog. However, there are still days /weeks where I’m swamped with furniture makeovers. That’s this week. Today I’m sharing a trash to treasure vanity makeover.

A friend texted me asking if I  had seen this vanity in the trash down the street. Nope, I had not. So I hopped into the car and went to do a little dumpster diving. This is what I found!

I’ve got a magic table before and after to share with you today! 

Why is it a magic table? Because if you pull on it’s legs, it changes sizes.  It took me forever to figure it out. I even called my neighbor who gave it to me to ask how it worked. I kind of felt like I need to take an advanced math class to figure it  out!

This is the story of a little turquoise table that is really beautiful. However, it certainly didn’t start out that way!

Awhile back, a friend of mine gave me this cute little table. It really needed a makeover in a big way!

I started redecorating the guest room a year ago. Just about the time I think I’m done  I’ll see something  else that I want to change or add. Another project! Changing the hardware in the guest room was my latest project.

Oh, who am I kidding? I am constantly painting, changing, or updating something. My son recently called and asked what I was doing. I told him I was painting the kitchen hutch to match the new kitchen walls. His response? “Of course you are!”

I’m back with the never ending kitchen facelift. So far we’ve replaced all but one appliance, painted the walls and the kitchen hutch. Once that was done, it was clear that there were a few more things that needed attention.  Like updating the chalkboard and small cabinet that sit next to the back door.

This isn’t the best picture, but you can see what the chalkboard and small cabinet looked like before. The chalkboard always seemed a lot little too gold. I never could decide what to do with it that would look good against the yellow walls.  I loved the the small cabinet, and really had no plans to change it.  Then I painted the kitchen a dusty blue green and everything had to change.

I shared with you yesterday what I should be doing but wasn’t.  I should have been painting the kitchen hutch white instead of playing hooky in the back yard.

This is what my kitchen hutch looked like up until a few days ago. I loved  everything about it. I loved the color, the mismatched pulls, and the size. Then I painted the walls. My beautiful hutch no longer matched anything. Unfortunately, it was time to paint it.

My sister has had the unfinished vanity in her room for about nine months now.

Nine months ago, I left her with an old sewing cabinet and a can of Annie Sloane paint. She assured me that she was going to get the painting done A.S.A.P.! Fast forward nine months and like a lot of us, she got busy and the vanity remained unfinished.

The Before and After of a white nightstand!

My sister had a nightstand given to her. Of course, she gave it to me! It’s very sturdy and has great bones. At first glance the finish looks great, but on closer inspection the top had seen better days. There was only one thing to do – paint it!

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.

Children’s Chairs Before and After

Our community had our neighborhood garage sale last weekend. I didn’t have my self together enough to participate and sell all of my nick nick paddy crap that seems to just appear out of thin air around here, but I did have fun doing a little shopping! Even the Hubs decided to tag along.

Remember I told you that I scored big at garage sales lately? Well today I’m going to show you one of my finds. A vintage child’s school desk!

I already shared with you a cute wicker table that I found at a school garage sale, if you missed it you can read about it here. Well, I also bought these awesome tiny children’s school desks at the same sale.

I hit the jackpot lately with garage sale finds. One of which was the cutest wicker outdoor table that I know my sister’s bungalow needs!

My sweet friend Laura called me about a garage sale that her school was having and  I couldn’t get off of the phone fast enough to get down there. The school’s last garage sale  was very, very good to me!

I found many cool things including this wicker outdoor table. The minute I saw it I knew my sister needed it!

We recently decided to give the office a makeover. One thing that had to go was a 50 gallon fish tank that sat on a sofa table that we have had forever. The fish tank went to a good home, but the sofa table stayed and got a face lift!

This is what the sofa table looked like before. Really, really dark.  It’s new home was in the living room where all of the furniture that is wood is dark. I have been slowly trying to lighten that room up. New sofa, accent chair, flower arrangement and crazy stool – all lighter. My trim is white so it just made sense to go white with the table!

Warning: This photo shoot was crazy! It was either too rainy for good photos or it was too bright! And my crazy dog and cat decided they wanted to be photographed as well. If it wasn’t one, it was the other. By the third time I tried, I was so over it. Done. Stick a fork in me. sigh…

 This is what my sofa table looked like after a few coats of white with a tiny bit of distressing. I felt like it was too white. It disappeared into the white blinds and wood work. And looked like a neon sign at midnight against the stained concrete. Not good. It needed to be a tiny bit darker. Annie Sloan dark wax to the rescue!

As you can see, it went from old world to a little bit french. I love it. It’s lighter and brighter without being a blinding white.

The dark wax let all of the detail show up with out being overwhelming.

I love all of the details. You just couldn’t see that when it was all white.

The sofa table before and after turned out exactly like I envisioned it.  Quite frankly it was easier to paint it than it was to take photos of it

Of course, it’s not totally finished. I am looking for an old crate to go under the table instead of a basket, I just haven’t found the perfect one yet.  And you know that the decor on top will change like a revolving door at Neimans!

Until next time….

                     Tammy

You can find me at these fabulous parties:

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Share Your Style 

Flaunt It Friday 

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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I’ve got the cutest before and after changing table to share with you! Two days after Christmas a friend in my neighborhood called me to tell me there was a huge mirror in her neighbors trash, did I want to come and get it?

So I hopped in my car and raced to the back of the neighborhood. I picked the mirror and was headed home when I saw this changing table on the side of the road. At first glance the drawer was in pieces. The plan was  to just  remove the drawer and paint the changing table.

However, once I looked at it, I realized that all it needed was a few screws tightened and a little glue and this changing table was super sturdy.

My first thought was to make it into a bar cart. As I was loading it with all of the bar nick nack paddy crap I  knew it was way to big for a bar cart. Dang! What to do with it now?

Then I was talking to my sweet niece who is expecting in April. They were moving into a new house, moving their three year old into a big boy room and using the existing nursery bedding and furniture for the new baby. This neat dresser was what they had been using as a changing table, only problem was that it was a little too low. ( Sorry about the picture quality. She sent these from her phone to mine. Not exactly Kodak moment photography! lol!) I knew that she really needed my trash to treasure changing table.

My nieces style is traditional with a warm forty’s color scheme and some antiques thrown into the mix. Above, you can see some of the bedding and the rug. We decided that the orange in the rug would be the perfect color for the changing table. I KNOW! I am not an orange kind of gal, but this room just screams for it.

A few coats of paint…

A little sanding to make it look a little worn and old, followed by a satin top coat…

And this is the finished piece!

I had a few extra knobs from Anthropologie, so I added one to the drawer.

I love colored glass! I love fun drawer knobs! Plus, this green knob will perfectly match the green changing pad that is already in the nursery. I’m still on the fence about it though. My first thought was to add a white milk glass knob. What’s a girl to do? I’m going to let the mom- to- be decide.

Not bad for a few days work. I can’t wait to get it into the nursery and see how it looks. This before and after changing table will hopefully be a sweet addition to the nursery!

Until next time…

                    Tammy

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You can find me at these fabulous parties:

Making Broken Beautiful No. 26

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