Guest Bedroom

Our guest bedroom had to have a quick overhaul after we invited my sister to come live with us. We had planned on this room being our next project anyway, this just sped things up a bit. With that said, we had nothing in that room except for junk. While my husband went away two weekends ago, I got down to the nitty gritty and tackled that room. I got rid of so much junk, and then some stuff to take to his parent's yard sale they will be having. I made way for new furniture to come in. All of which we were gifted or already had. How wonderful is that?

The room is not quite complete, but I will show you a few things just to give you an idea.

First I painted the room a lovely shade of light gray. Paula, from two ellie, graciously came over one night (with her adorable children in tow) to help me choose just the right shade. (thank you Paula, you saved me from many more headaches!)

We were gifted this headboard and mattress with white sheets from our dear friend Hannah.



This side table was in our bedroom, and quite the eye sore. All it needed was a fresh coat of white paint. The hardware was already black, but I gave them a fresh coat as well. Looks great now!




This t.v. had to stay for a little while, so I had to incorporate it into the room. I decided to treat it as a table and put a skirt on it to cover up the ugliness. I couldn't use a staple gun, so I used fabric tape. The fabric I had was just a bit dark for the color scheme I was going for, so I flipped it over and used the backside. This idea came my way from LindsB at Everything LEB, who suggested this to me a while back.





I haven't finished the bottom so it is a bit sloppy looking. And yes, I attempted a pleat down the middle. You can also see the gray of the walls we painted. Just compare the walls from the headboard picture to the ones above and you'll see the difference.

We recently got a black dresser for her room and some black shelves. There is still quite a bit to be done and I will post pictures as we complete it!

All these projects can really wear a girl down, but they are oh so rewarding!

DIY: Dresser

Finally! I am finished with the dresser. Well, I have been and just forgot to snap some photos. I really love how it turned out. Being that this was my first piece to re-invent, I have learned some lessons about painting furniture. And I also learned that I am not as much of a perfectionist as I thought I would be with it.

Remember the before pictures:

And after:





(The black frames on top of the dresser will be going into the guest bedroom)

I am happy that I went with lighter knobs and pulls. We are going to be painting the room a dark gray-brown soon, and these just help the dresser to stand out a bit more. I'm glad this is over though, and I look forward to taking my "lessons learned" and starting on another piece of furniture.

hardware

I finally bought knobs for our DIY dresser. I know, I know. I move at a snail's pace when it comes to these makeovers. I have some sort of DIY ADD. I started on the dresser, and then finished the guest bathroom. Then back to the dresser, then back to the bathroom. This probably relates to many other areas of my life, but for now, we'll deal with the dresser. Ok, so I bought two knobs for the doors. Now, I just need four pulls for the drawers.

Here they are, and I love them.

{via Anthropologie}

I love how feminine they are, since the dresser has such straight lines. Once I find those perfect pulls, the dresser will be ready for show-n-tell. Thank you for being patient dear ones.

I also need to show the guest bathroom off. Of course, there are a few pieces I want to get before it's complete, but that will probably be the story of the whole apartment.. so I'll show rooms unfinished from now on. Just promise not to judge too badly =)

the dresser

Ok, here are two pictures of the dresser (which was originally a china cabinet) we just bought. My husband put it in our bedroom last night, just to see how it looks, and we both are 100% satisfied with our purchase! Refer back to this post to see the dresser that is my inspiration, but not in our budget, if we want to finish the rest of our bedroom out.

I am quite smitten, and proud. Not too shabby, eh? The lines are exactly what I was looking for. It has a good 6 inches on the west elm dresser, but with the size of our bedroom, it is a much needed 6 inches. Our plan is to paint, or stain it a dark chocolate brown and get some fancy shmancy door knobs and pulls from anthropologie. We're going to take the dark brown curtains from our living room and put in the bedroom. We have a street light just outside both of our windows that lets a lot of light in, so light and airy is not the feel we are going for. As we finish the bedroom I will post pictures!

Have a lovely Tuesday! Tonight I will be shopping and packing for our trip to the beach. We leave Thursday morning, rain or shine!

a home in the making...

I'm very happy to report I DID get that piece of furniture I posted about on Friday! I forgot to snap a picture, though. I promise I will soon! It will take a couple of weeks before I can really get my hands on it to vamp it up. In the meantime, I've been making a few purchases for our apartment.
The first being this rug from Urban Outfitters for our kitchen. I needed something this big to cover the ugly tile that is standard with most apartments, and it works well with our color scheme.



I also- finally- decided on the fabric I wanted to frame as mentioned in this previous post. It's from Amy Butler's Nigella collection: a great mixture of classic feminine with a modern design. I'm particularly excited about getting our bedroom together, as it is the only room in the apartment I'm being frilly with. And that's not because of my husband, but more because we both like very clean and frilly-less design. So, I'm branching out ladies!



And these pillows for our living room from Etsy shop Maries Cosey Cushions for whopping $20!



I've noticed I have a thing for grey and have somehow incorporated the color into almost every room in our apartment. I'm now on the hunt for grey curtains for our living room to match that grey in the pillows. Any suggestions (at a reasonable price of course) ??

diy project found

Oh my gaaaa, I am excited. I have been scouring local flea markets, thrift stores and other (cheap) furniture stores over the past 3 months looking for the perfect dresser to go in our bedroom. I wanted it to be a DIY project because I love the challenge and so I could stretch our budget for other pieces. First let me show you the dresser that I had originally fell in love with.

{via West Elm for a whopping 800 buckaroos}

I do not have a picture of the piece I am *hopefully buying as soon as I get off of work, but I will snap one tonight. I found it at our local Salvation Army Store. It's actually a china cabinet and hutch set for $200. We have no need for the hutch, so we will either talk down the price, or pay the $200 and donate the hutch right back to them. I am more than thrilled my friends. It is the same height and look as the dresser with a few changes here and there. I am wanting to paint it a grey/brown color and get some anthropologie knobs to gussy it up a bit. Just a couple of pictures for reference.


So, that is my project for the next few weekends. Any tips or tutorials that will help me is gladly appreciated.

*I say hopefully only because someone else may have their pretty little eyes on this piece as well. So, cross your fingers and send little thoughts and prayers my way in hopes that no one is =)

trying to complete the bedroom..

I would love to have a headboard similar to this...in more of a brown/cream color scheme.

And ideas from you lovely design bloggers on how I could achieve this look? On a friendly budget!?

{photo via Livingetc.}