Antique dresser make over

So my first order of business once I decided to decorate my home was to pick a room. I picked the office. The hubby is a mover and we acquire furniture on a regular basis. There was an antique dresser/armoire that he acquired during a move. I didn't like it. I usually have an eye for furniture and I can envision a piece before it't done. With this particular piece I had no inspiration what so ever. I thought it was ugly, and yes it was made of real wood, but it still felt weak and the hardware were the original wood knobs. I wanted to donate or sell it but the hubby saw potential so we opted to keep it. I agreed to redo it and put it in my office.

This was the original piece in my garage. I didn't take a picture of it earlier and I wish I had. This photo was taken once we had started on the drawers already. But the original finish was that ugly dark brown you see. It also had thick areas of clear varnish that were all over it from someone who attempted to refinish it at one point. It was disgusting. 

If you saw my office/craft room make over you know I was going for a glam look with black and gold accessories and pale pink walls. Therefore since I had no emotional attachment to the piece what so ever, I decided to go bold and do a high gloss black paint. I considered spray painting it, but as I was shopping I decided to take a chance on the Rustoleum high gloss black enamel. 

Working with this paint is like working with tar. It applied more easily with a foam brush than a typical paint brush. It applies best in thin coats, sort of like stain. If you apply it too thick it may drip or cause an uneven pool of paint. Treat it like stain applying with one foam brush and wiping off excess with an extra one. It also takes a few days to cure. It will be dry by the morning for sure, but since the paint is sort of thick and gooey, it really needs to dry hard before enamel is safe to put objects on with out making dents. 

Enough of that this was the end product without the hardware.

It looks even better in person! It shows some of the wood grain like a stain would but it's really high gloss and smooth. 

The original hardware were old wooden knobs. I spray painted them gold to match the office but they just didn't look right. So I opted for silver knobs that had just a hint of gold tone to them and I think it looks stunning!

It looked good, too good for my office. And since I had practically no bedroom furniture I decided to use it. I had a rinky dink little black dresser that I was using temporarily. It was already painted black but had stains from makeup and markers had made it ugly. So I wiped it down and gave it a coat of the Rustoleum enamel I had left over. It actually worked out for the best since the small dresser was just the right size for my small office. 

Doesn't it look nice and shiny? 

Leave comments and tell me what you think :D 

Feel free to ask me any questions about the refinishing process. 

Office/Craft room make over

So my first order of business once I decided to decorate my home was to pick a room. I chose my office . My office was builder beige and did not inspire creativity in anyway.

I had this idea that I wanted a pale pink office with white furniture in favor of a shabby chic style. However my budget did not allow for that. The hubby had acquired a desk that was more of a modern style with walnut stained legs and a black glass top that was a great size and in rather good condition. In my attempt not to be spoiled and selfish, I chose to work with what I had. Since the desk top was black, I had no choice but work with it in my color scheme. Black is probably my favorite color so this didn't bother me one bit. After much pinning on pinterest and gathering ideas I decided on pale pink, black and gold. I took inspiration from photos like this

So I made a plan to put my desk in the center of the room facing entry door. I wanted a cabinet of some sort to the right to keep my printer and office supplies in and I wanted at least one large shelf behind the desk on the wall to make a statement. I had an idea for a collage of wall art as well, but I had no definite plans. I really played this one by ear. In addition to my office, I wanted excellent organization in the office/craft room closet. I have many hobbies and DIY projects that I take on regularly and I wanted to have a closet to organize and easily access all of my stuff. 

So I made the trip to Lowes and picked a paint color for the walls, grabbed a few bottles of gold spray paint, brackets and a board for my shelf and some paint to refinish an antique armoire in my garage that was hideous (more on this later). 

My office/craft room redo took a full 7 days of working on it every day after work and the weekends. Additionally the hubby was home to do some work as well during this time period. My house is brand new and is builder beige everywhere. Here is a before picture of the office, it doesn't show the entire space, but you get the idea. 

The original pink color I chose was pretty on the swatch but not on my wall and I didn't use primer like an idiot, and it made the shade of pink worse. The pink looked like bubble gum. So I eventually chose a lighter shade and covered it up. 

 I used treasured satin doll from Color Place, a Walmart brand. 

On top of the former color, which was pink ribbon from Valspar, it came out like this. 

Please don't judge the mess, we were painting

Then we made a shelf out of a large board from the hardware store and some brackets from walmart that I spray painted gold. I also sprayed a ton of accessories gold. 

This industrial paper shredder was an ugly army gray and looked like it belonged to WWII. People could never even guess what it was it was so ugly. 

Before

AFTER!

spray painted the feet gold

brackets are now gold :D

I got to do some shopping too. I have this gift... when I pass by a thrift store I get this sense of when something I need is in there. Every time I am looking for something specific, I walk in and walk out with exactly what I am looking for. IT'S CRAZY I KNOW! but true none the less. I got that feeling when I walked in for a lamp and walked out with these:

this one I don't have a before but look at the after :D

I LOVE IT!

Ok, granted, the shelf could use some decorating, and yes the gold frame on the wall still has the fake photo from the store, but I am still super proud. After 7 straight days of painting, shopping and organizing, it was finally done. I am most pleased with my the way my spray painted accessories came out, like the hole punch and the clip boards on the wall. I tired a few different spray paints but the Rustoleum was by far the best gold spray paint. 

My craft room/office closet didn't come out bad either. 

The office was less work, I just added an extra shelf and a peg board to the inside wall and it's working out great. Leave comments, let me know what you think :D

I bought a house!

Hello DIY friends, I am so excited to journal/blog about this stuff. After years of hard work I finally own my own home. I have always been into DIY projects, but many opportunities were missed due to living without a garage or DIY space for some time. I now have a home with a garage and I can't seem to stop myself. I am starting this blog to journal the memories and share tips, tricks and errors I find along the way. Here is a pic of my new home a few weeks post closing :D

First I have to say that when I moved into my home, I had been living in a not so great neighborhood in a small house in the city for about 4 years. Although I love city living, space comes at a premium and I had no garage with on street parking. Needless to say, even when I came across a great piece of furniture that could be saved I had to turn my head because I had no where to store it, much less paint or restore it. When I finally moved into my new home I actually ended up having very little furniture (which is unlike me) and I put nothing on the walls and refused to decorate. It was like college all over again, with my mattress set on the floor and minimalistic everything. I was enjoying the space and the fact that I didn't have clutter. I had gone from a 1930's house that was 2 BR and 1 bath and only 900 sqft to a brand new 4 BR 2 1/2 bath at just over 2000 sqft. It was almost a culture shock. But once the shock wore off and the empty builder beige walls started to annoy me, the decorating bug bit me again. I work full time and I am in school perusing another degree so I decided to start with my office.  My office is where the DIY adventures for this blog begin. I hope anyone reading this enjoy's my post. Feel free to message me with any questions you have about any projects I post.
Thanks and Happy Blogging :D
Sarah