One Room Challenge: Week 4 {Slap Some Paint On It}

In this post:  Do you love a good before and after?  A transformation?  Well, this One Room Challenge post is for you because it is chock full of makeovers.  SIX!  That’s right, SIX makeovers!

Grab your beverage of choice, sit back, and be amazed at what a little paint can accomplish.

Ready, Set, Go!

Makeover 1:  The French Hutch Who Has A New Lease On Life

This is my French beauty.  She has graced a few different places in this house and has had a few different looks over the years.

The bottom is a dresser hubby and I bought when we were first married and was our only dresser along with a full sized bed in our master for many years.  Then, I found a top I thought would be perfect and they fit together so well, you would never know they weren’t even related.

Not even distant cousins.

Here she is sitting in my dining room before the whole makeover of ORC began.

She was always my pretty girl and I couldn’t imagine she could be any prettier than she already was.  Everything she wore looked great.  She was so photogenic.  I thought the green with the white wax was so perfect until…

I decided to give her a little face-lift and I thought if she came out looking worse for wear I would start over again…but then this happened…

Bam!  I’m totally smitten.

I mean really…I didn’t think she could be more beautiful and then she just shows up in such a big way.

I used some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White.

I added some weathered wood to the back of the top.

That combination made magic.

I used a great weathered wood product I bought at Lowe’s made by a company called GPS Design Innovations.  I simply cut the pieces and used wood glue to adhere it to the back.  Easy Peasy.

I distressed it quite a bit letting the green come through.  This is one of those pieces I will NEVER get rid of.  She’s just darn gorgeous and I’ve never seen anything else like her.

I think this is what she was always meant to become.  I’m pretty sure hubby is tired of me telling him what an amazing difference this is.  She brightens up this whole part of the dining room.

Makeover 2:  The Table That Was Kicked Out Of The House

A long time ago in a land far away there lived a table.  Actually, it was in a warehouse sale up the street from me and found itself coming home with me even though I wasn’t in the market for a dining room table.  Isn’t that how it goes though?

When you need a dress…you can’t find one.  When you don’t have anywhere to go…there’s tons of cute dresses.

Such was this table.  Purchased for the amazing price of $300 a few years ago, I dragged it home to find…I didn’t love it.  Oops.

You can see it in this post from a few fall’s ago.

It is long…95″ long and takes up some serious space.  The gray always felt cold to me even though I have other pieces of gray furniture in the house.

It just never felt right so I kicked it out of the house.

Literally.

I moved it to our paver patio and thought it would live out its days covered in pollen, leaves, and the grime of outdoor life.  I justified it by telling everyone that a large outdoor table would cost me at least $300 so …no big deal.

Because I’m me…and nothing stays the same ever…and I never make up my mind for good on anything…and it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind at any given moment…

I did this

BAM #2

Right?  This was a little bit of a process.

I sanded down the outdoor poly I had slathered on it and then gave it a wash in a paint sample I had close to ASP Coco color.  Just a wash…not full coverage.

I then used liming wax from Amy Howard and thought it was going to be fantastic.  It looked great close up but from a distance it had a pink hue (I can’t show you the far away view because that would spoil the whole surprise).

I pulled out my Valspar Glaze which seems to be saving the day lately on quite a few projects.  Here’s with some of the glaze rubbed on…hello gorgeousness!

I had to take a few more photos to share with you.  Let’s just pretend this is reveal day for a few minutes okay?  Don’t tell.

Makeover 3:  The I’m Too Cheap To Buy New Chairs Makeover

I had picked out some Frenchy upholstered chairs in my inspiration board and told myself if there was a way to buy them I would.  I even put them in my cart but I just couldn’t hit ‘checkout’ because I knew.

I knew my current dining room chairs were perfectly good.

I knew I would end up hauling them to the thrift store where some other woman would feel like she hit the jackpot.

I knew if I revamped them I could live with them.

Here they are before.

What I didn’t know when I quickly snapped this picture, was I was about to make dining room chair history (at least in my mind).  Ready for BAM #3?

I didn’t see that one coming!  I thought I would paint them and they would be fine until one day when I could get the chair of my dreams.

But these are the chairs of my dreams thanks to Primer.  What?  Primer?  YES!

All I did was give this 3 light coats of Valspar’s Primer.  I loved the look of the Primer so much I never even put paint over the top.

Six cans of spray primer and some $5 a yard fabric from my local coastal fabric store and for once, I’m so happy I was cheap.  I think these chairs are even more wonderful.

Those Valspar people keep coming through for me because they were involved in the next one too!  We are only half-way there people.  Three makeovers down and three to go…go ahead and pour yourself another cup of coffee.  I’ll wait.

Makeover 4:  Here Chandi Chandi…Come on Chandi…Good Boy

Did you get that reference or is it just me?  You know…Annie calls Sandy before the police officer is going to take her back to the orphanage and that mean Miss Hannigan?

A few weeks ago I was down at my MIL and FIL’s condo in Bonita Springs, FL.  My MIL and I ran out to pick up a few items at the drug store and found this chandelier.  It turns out, she and I can’t just go to the drug store, we have to thrift shop our way there.  It was some of the best thrifting I have seen in a while.

Can you believe I only paid $15 for this?   Okay, I know some of you might be thinking that is way too much and you have a brass chandelier that you can’t wait to get rid of.  But did you know it could look like this?

Be still my heart.  It’s this perfect mix of flat black and jute roping that makes it a little bit coastal, a little bit French, and little bit farmhouse.

I sprayed it all with Valspar’s paint and primer in one in a flat black and simply used my glue gun to wrap the inner part in roping.

Makeover 5:  The Impulse Buy

I’ve been known to visit a thrift store, buy something, come home with it and let it live in my garage forever.  That usually means I didn’t really love it.  These?  It was love at first site.  I didn’t even check the price before they went in my cart.

Here’s what they looked like in the thrift store.

They were sort of a hammered gray with a little bit of black on the edges.  These were one of the last items I made over because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go white with them…or black.

I went black in the end and love the look.

I may cut a really thin board and give it a weathered distressed finish to go under each candle yet.  Thinking about that.  Wondering if I’ll have enough time.  The candles are battery operated and someday I want to replace them with the remote control version.

Ready for the final makeover?  Whew!  I’m worn out just writing this post.  Was I crazy to do all of this?

Makeover 6:  Whether You Loved Them Before, Now They Are Weathered

I was so sure I would love these amazing sconces I bought at an estate sale forever…and I do.  Just not the finish.

I thought I would love them.

I really tried.  But they too, succumbed to the paint brush.

Before:

I know what you are thinking…those are so pretty!  Why would you paint them?  They just never felt “right”.  The off-white always threw me off a little bit.

After:

I pulled in the flat black and then gave the rest the same weathered finish I used on the dining table except I put the Valspar glaze on first and then brushed some liming wax over the top.  Now they feel right.

Okay, I’m exhausted…but thrilled!  This has been a thrifted ORC makeover and I’m always amazed at the power of paint.  Eight cans of spray paint, some glaze, liming wax, and a paint sample can make such a huge difference.

If you missed my progress along the way you can check out my previous posts.

Week 1:  The Design Plan

Week 2:  Working With A Real Budget

Week 3:  Shopping Tips

Thanks so much to Linda from Calling It Home for spurring me on through the One Room Challenge to make me do all this work!  Check out all the other guest participants on her site.  There’s some awesome stuff happening over there!

Sharing At:

The Creative Circle | Feathered Nest Friday  |  The Scoop

A Stroll Thru Life  |  Wow Us Wednesdays