Destructo's "Garage" Bedroom Pt. 1: The Dresser

(This is part one, of my three part post on Destructo's bedroom re-do.)

As some of you know, we have been working on Destructo's bedroom for several a few months now and I am pleased to report that it's finally done! We decided on a car themed bedroom, but not just any car, it needed to be a Mustang car bedroom.

Why would we "customize" his room to be solely Mustang territory, instead of just cars in general? Well, If you don't already know, Studly not only loves cars, but he eats, sleeps and dreams them. He especially loves Ford Mustangs. Fortunately for him, Destructo has inherited some of that same love for cars. Thus, this is the 3rd of three car themed bedrooms, and the 2nd of Mustang themed bedrooms. However, I have to say I love this one the most, which is good because it definitely took the most work!

I'd have to say that one of my favorite pieces in the room is his dresser.

Originally, I wanted to get an actual Craftsman Tool chest, like the one that Studly has in the garage:

However, that was definitely NOT in our budget, so I had to get him this dresser, instead:

Sure, I had already removed a knob, but at least I remembered to get a "before" pic, right?

 It was an Ikea "Tarva" Dresser for about $80 and didn't exactly say, "Hey, I totally go with a car themed bedroom!", so I had to fix that.

First, I took off the knobs and puttied the holes then sanded, puttied, and sanded some more.

I

After I got done with that, it sat for a week I got right to work and spray painted it with some primer and then Rustoleum "Apple Red" in a gloss finish.

The next thing I had to tackle was the "handles". At first I was going to use these handles from Lowes:

However, they were pretty expensive and didn't give the dresser a very authentic look, so I had to look for something else that I could use and I finally found it after walking up and down almost every aisle in search for anything that resembled the "handles" you see on the tool chests. I found it in the flooring section. It was a simple aluminum flooring threshold that fit the profile I needed perfectly. It was also just over $1, which made it even better! I picked up three of them and went on my merry way.

The "thresholds" were about 3 feet in length, so we just cut them to the length of the drawers with some wire cutters and then I spray painted them black. We also wrapped a little duct tape around the ends of them being that they were aluminum and the edges were still sharp enough that I was worried about someone cutting themselves on them. Then, we just screwed them on. It was pretty simple and it gave the "look" that I wanted.

I take such great pictures of shadows.

 The dresser was starting to come together, but we still had to do a couple more things to make it look as much like a tool chest as possible. Mainly, we needed that "Craftsman" badge that you see on all of their tool chests, which I found one on eBay for about $8.

After we got the badge on, we only had one final thing to do, and that was to saw off the legs of the dresser and replace them with casters, just like we had done on the ottoman.

...and that was it!

It was probably one of the easiest and cheapest projects I have ever done!

"Move your butt, Harley!" (She likes to photo bomb)

Here are a couple more pictures sans dog butt:

 I can't wait to show you the rest of the room, including the coolest wall treatment that I have ever done!

From Desk to Vanity

Hi, remember me?...

Now, why would anyone give me away??

...that ugly desk that Jen bought from the thrift store for $25 when there was still snow on the ground and said she was going to turn it into something beautiful? Well, she finally did and here is the long awaited blog post all about the excitement, the heart ache, the near mental breakdowns and the sweet, sweet joy of finally getting a project finished after several months.

 Originally, I planned to still use it as a desk and refinish it for our office, but then I realized that I had a major problem:

...and that wasn't even half of it. 

My makeup, skincare, and hair products had taken over my bathroom, and quite frankly it was getting to be a pain in the ass to move everything constantly to clean the sink. Not only that, but I could never find what I needed. I was constantly looking for primer, or foundation, or anything else related to girly primping.

...and I had always wanted a vanity...

I got to work right away (okay, it was a few months after we unloaded it into the garage.)

One of the first things I had to fix was the veneer that had chipped on the top.

I took a stiff putty knife and shoved it under the veneer and started prying pieces off:

 It was actually a great stress reliever, but after a few dozen pieces flew up at me, I remembered that I liked seeing out of my eyes and so I got my safety glass and continued to rip up the veneer:

 At this point, I realized that I hadn't really thought ahead about what I would replace the top with, but I decided to worry about that another day and began working on the drawers and the fabulous hardware they came with:

After, I had taken off the hardware and puttied the holes, I primed the entire desk with Kilz Oil-based Primer. Then, I used a homemade chalk paint recipe that I had found online and mixed some gray paint left over from Destructo's room and a pink shade of paint that Lowe's had samples of. I ended up deciding to paint the drawers pink and the rest of the body the light gray. After I did that, I took black acrylic paint and swiped it wherever I felt like:

After that was done, I put another coat of the chalk paint over the drawers and desk and then sanded them down a bit. The drawers didn't look quite how I wanted them to, so I put a coat of the gray paint on them, and then painted them again with the pink paint before sanding them down. I also applied just a little of Valspar antiquing glaze in a few spots on the desk. I was going for a shabby chic look, but I didn't want to be too obvious.

I found some adorable knobs at Hobby Lobby that fit my shabby chic theme and had Studly attach them (He is a little more precise then I am at measuring.). I also replaced the feet because the other ones just didn't do it justice...and they were also ugly.

It was definitely starting to look damn good, if I do say so myself (and I do.)

 However, with every project there is a snag and mine was the top of the vanity as I still hadn't figured out what to do with it. I didn't want to put new veneer on it, because the online tutorials looked like there would be too many steps to follow and since I couldn't even finish the YouTube video explanations without falling asleep, I passed. I thought about mod podging scrapbook paper onto the top like I had seen on Pinterest, but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. Then, I thought about fabric instead, but when I cut the fabric, I kind of destroyed it and so that was out, too. For about a week, I stared at the ugly particle board top, out of ideas (that wouldn't be too much work.)

Then, one day Diva started talking about how she learned how to make stuff out of duct tape in one of her classes at school and asked if she could duct tape a nightstand that we had handed down to her. After seeing the results, a light bulb went off in my brain.

"Duct tape!", I told Studly as I opened the shopping bag that night.
"What the hell for?"
"My vanity top, silly! We are going to duct tape it!"

He looked at me like I lost my mind, but he listened to my idea anyway and helped me duct tape away.

 

It took a roll and a half of white duct tape to finish it off:

My favorite part is that it kind of looks like wood planks, which is an idea that I had earlier, but had scratched thinking about the work required to seal it and how sucky it would be to clean between the planks

(Remember people, I'm all about convenience.)

A mirror was the next step. 

Luckily, I already had one that I had recycled twice before: 

The first "recycle" was when I painted my very first piece of furniture, which is what started this whole thing.

The second time, was as part of the Christmas display over my mantel last Christmas, when I took the side mirrors off, removed the glass out of each of them and replaced it with chicken wire, Santa, and a Merry Christmas!

 Luckily, I had kept the glass...Just in case I needed it again.

This happened to be the "just in case" project. So, after finding all of the parts to the mirror, I put the glass back in the side mirrors and repainted them to match the dresser. However, there was just one minor setback that happened when I was stapling the backs back on:

 Whoopsie!

Not to worry, like most of my other projects, disaster seemed to spur creativity in me and I soon came up with an alternate idea for that side mirror.

Instead of a mirror, it became a necklace rack. All I had to do was put some fabric over the cardboard that was supposed to cushion the glass from breaking (a job it obviously did not do) and then I just used spray adhesive (which smells quite flammable) to attach it before placing those handy little command hooks in random spots all over it:

Well, isn't he funny after midnight?

 After everything else was done, I took my trusty hot glue gun and added a little something to the edges of my new vanity.

I think I almost passed out when I saw the finished project. Mostly because I couldn't believe it was finally finished!

Anyway, let's get to the before and afters, shall we?

 ...and a few more pictures, just for fun and giggles:

The vanity stool is from Target. I had wanted it for several months, but didn't want to spend the original price which I believe was around $100 and even the reduced the price to around $60 was too high. So, when I saw it for under $18, I was like, "SOLD!" I think it's perfect, don't you?

This is the only time that you will be able to see this much surface.

.

(It doesn't exactly say Shabby Chic, but 5 Daytime light bulbs definitely helps you see that zit you need to pop.)

(...and when that zit needs special attention, we have a back up.)

Diet Coke: The Decor that goes with anything.

One more before and after shot?
Well, okay...

Well, that's it for now. I've got to go use this thing to make some magic happen for this face, run some errands, and then do my statistics homework (jealous?).

(Oh, and I also have to finish up taking pictures of my other project that I've been working on....Stay tuned.)

Nailed it, again!

I am just not good with hair. I don't know why, but for some reason it escapes me. I feel like I have mittens on whenever I try to "style" it, so that's pretty much why it's been the same for the last few years.

....But, I have been trying to change that, so I watched a tutorial on YouTube on "Hot Rollers" and decided to try it today since we are going out tonight.

(yes, I always end up experimenting when it's absolutely NOT the right time...)

Here's the result so far:

...and from the front 

My thought? "something seriously went wrong here...."

I've decided it's the rollers fault. They must be faulty

Because, I just hope  know that I can't be this stupid...

I have approximately 1 hour to fix this.

Starting NOW...

Oh, and if you are wondering why my face looks so pasty, it's because I just put on my foundation so far and I haven't done any contouring or highlighting and I cannot find my Erase Paste anywhere!!

(I really need to finish the vanity before I lose my entire makeup collection because it's so disorganized.)

Nailed it!!

A Phone Conversation with My Niece

My six year old niece and I were talking on the phone today.

Me: Did you go to "Tiny Grandma's" today?

("Tiny Grandma" is the nick name we use for my grandma that Diva gave her when she was in preschool because she is about 4 ft 8 inches tall.)

Niece: Yes

Me: What did you talk about?

Niece: Her funeral. She already has it all planned out and told me all about it. 

Yes, my 80-something year old grandmother thinks it's completely normal to talk to your 6 year old great granddaughter about how you would like the family to rent you a casket instead of buying one in order to save money on your funeral, as well as other various requests that you have for when you kick the bucket. 

(What's even more interesting about this conversation, is that nobody in my family who reads this will be shocked or bothered by it. They'll just nod their heads in acknowledgement.)

Baby Noah's Crib Reveal

I'm pretty sure I told you all about Baby Noah's crib, but I'll recap (because, I'm up way too late working on the blog and I don't have time to read back through all of my recent posts to see how much I revealed.

Here we go:

My cute next door neighbor, Emily approached me when she was pregnant, having seen some of my projects, and asked me if I would paint her crib for her. I had two thoughts: 1. I was totally flattered and 2. I was instantly terrified. This is because when I paint my own stuff, I don't have to worry about being perfect, but a crib for someone else that people were actually going to see, that's a different story. However, even though I was extremely nervous, I decided to try it. What was the worse that could happen? Uh....I could destroy a perfectly good piece of furniture that she would end up hating (although, I would never know because she suffers from extreme and genuine sweetness and probably wouldn't say anything). But, with encouragement from Studly, my dad, and Emily (who assured me that she would love whatever I did), I started painting baby Noah's crib (Okay, okay...so it was about two months after she delivered it to my house, but I did start on it eventually...)

I thought spray painting it would be best for the look she wanted, but doing that in the dead of winter in Utah is ill-advised, so I used a chalk paint recipe that I got from Jamielyn over at I heart Naptime. I had used it once before, but it didn't work as well as I wanted it to, so I decided to try it again. I played with the mixture a little and it ended up working a lot better this time. I used regular interior paint from Lowe's in satin. The directions did say to use flat paint, but if you have learned anything by reading this blog, it's that directions are for wussy's....(until I screw something up royally.)

I also used 3 coats of Polycrylic in Gloss in order to seal it. I prefer to use Polycrylic because it doesn't yellow like the other poly (which I am not even going to attempt to finish spelling at this hour.)

*If you don't know what chalk paint is, you are missing out because it's awesome! It gives you more of a rustic look that is really easy to distress, which I personally like, being that my style is all "eclecta-cottage" (I really must trademark that.) Anyway, aside from that there is NO sanding or priming required because it is a really thick consistency and dries pretty fast. My hutch was actually a dark walnut color before I painted it white, and I used 2-3 coats (after I used 2-3 coats of another color that I decided against). "Official" chalk paint is known by Annie Sloan, but there are only a couple of stores that sell it in Utah that I know of. However, there are a few recipes that are much cheaper than Annie Sloan, which is hella expensive (although, I still want to try it).* 

Anyway, Emily was kind enough to send me a few before pictures from when her second child was born, so you can see the transformation (because,we are all suckers for before and after pics, right?) :

...And here is the work in progress with yours truly playing contortionist...(Sidenote: this was not easy and it wasn't until after I instagrammed the picture that someone commented that they took their crib apart when they painted it, and it was much easier...D'OH!)

The crib was more challenging to paint than I had anticipated because of the bars (Sheesh, those took a while!) and I kept getting little drips here and there which is always the part of furniture painting that is the most "I'm going to throw this paint can through the wall!" frustrating. Some dog hair would also randomly decide to waft in the room and stick to the wet paint, so I did have to sand a few places away and repaint over them.

Obvious Tip: If you have a drip that you don't notice right away, I found that using a butter knife to scrape it off worked really well and made it much easier to fix.

It took me about a week to finish (well, maybe two...okay, probably three once I finally started...) and Destructo had to be temporarily displaced from his room in order for me to paint it (His room has the best light.) but when it was all over I was in love...kinda...Actually, I was really nervous, because even after being really careful and fixing all of the flaws, I was still finding little areas that I thought I should fix, but Emily was so close to having Noah that I knew if I didn't just get it over there and let her be the one to approve it, that he would be sleeping in a dresser drawer until he was 6 months old. I have to be honest though, I totally had that "impending diarrhea feeling" while in the process and even after she took it home. All in all, though, it was a fun and challenging project and I love that Emily loves it, which was SO important to me!

Here are the "after" pics:

I have to say, looking at the pictures, that it is pretty cute and don't you think Baby Noah's bedding is adorable? (Emily made the quilt herself, which I think is totally awesome.)

I am so grateful that Emily trusted me enough to let me do this for her and I really did enjoy the transformation process, even though I sound a little whiny in my post :)

(Oh, and sorry for the quality of the pictures. I had to take them from my iphone and I'm not too good at editing the exposure.)

Until I blog again....