Lilly's Home Designs: Mid Century Modern

Showing posts with label Mid Century Modern. Show all posts

Mid Century Modern Nightstands Makeover

Hi, it's the end of January and I realized I have only done one blog post. Not because I'm lazy but because I've been busy on my furniture biz, OK! A couple weeks ago I shared the first makeover of the year it was a turquoise beauty. I set a goal to work on 4 pieces and I'm happy to announce that I met my goal for the month. I need to get better about sharing them right away but anyhow, I will share them gradually. I will also try to share some of last years makeovers that I never got around to posting about.

The second makeover of the year was a set of Mid Century Modern Nightstands. I wanted to go neutral on them so I chose an ebony stain for the top and dark gray that I custom mixed for the bottom portion. I also used the ebony stain on the wood pull at the bottom. These nightstands are very sleek, I debated adding modern, anchor style knobs to them like the ones from Anthropologie but in the end I vetoed the idea or maybe I'm still debating. I don't know but for now this is the way they look.

Oh yes, and check this out. Made by Morganton, in excellent condition, with dovetail drawers and with the original tags still on. I snatched these babies up fast!

They are available for purchase on my Etsy Shop, Lilly's Home Designs.

Thrifty Finds

I just wanted to pop in an show you my latest thrifty finds. While shopping around at Goodwill a few days a go, I scored some pretty cool stuff for cheeeeeap! I actually popped in there real quick to see if I could find a mirror for the bathroom that we are working on.

Lets start off with these cool bamboo looking handles. They probably used to be from some tacky purse right? Well, last week Dana talked about Bolga Baskets and when I saw this pair for a buck I had to bring'em home with me for a little Bolga DIY project.

Next up is this green and gold, metal, Mid Century triple plant stand. If you remember back when I shared an Ikea wish list there was a triple plant stand that I wanted to purchase. Lucky for me, last time we went there it wasn't available. So naturally when I saw this triple plant stand for only $6, I went and grabbed a cart to stick this baby into.

I left the best for last. I mentioned going into Goodwill to see if I could find a mirror for the bathroom, right! This thing was meant to be. It was the perfect dimensions and hello its freggin rattan looking. I say looking because it's actually some plastic-ish material it's also painted to look like rattan. The tag read $10 which was already to good to be true, giving that it was the perfect size and style. I ended up paying only $5 because it was 50% off yellow tags and guess what color tag this puppy had? Yup, you guessed it! Can you believe it? I spent less than $15 on these three items.
Given that our bathroom has turned out to be a complete mess of a mini makeover, more on that later, I'd say this was one lucky shopping trip. Well now I gots to go clean up all this stuff.

Black and Gold MCM Coffee Table

Mid Century Modern Octagonal Coffee Table Gloss Black and Brass Gold

I am usually drawn to pieces that are different and unique so when I came across this MCM coffee table it was no surprise that I had to buy it to give it a makeover. I love the modern design of the legs and the octagonal shape of the top, it's just not something that you see everyday.

For this makeover I wanted to do something different that would fit this table's modern design. I decided to go with a gloss black on top and gold base. My husband was not a fan of the color choices, he said the colors reminded him of the 90's metal bases with glass top tables, so many people owned back then. I didn't listen, I knew it would turn out amazing!

Shhh... my mom had them too!

Like always I did all the prep work first cleaning, sanding, priming, yada, yada, yada.... Then I sprayed the bottom with several thin coats of my favorite Rustoleum's metallic spray paint in gold. After it was dry I painted the top in black, it took about five thin coats to get complete coverage. Lastly, I sealed it with five thin coats of gloss polycrilic sanding between coats for a smooth finish.

It turned out amazing! The gloss black and the metallic gold look are a perfect match for this table. I don't think it's either too feminine or too masculine. I feel like it would suit anywhere from a glamorous lady's home to a professional, bachelor's apartment. I can imagine this table in a very sleek condo, full of modern, clean lined furniture, with a nice tray on top and some decorative coffee table books. Of course, I just had to take it for a spin in my own living room to see how it looks.

Guess what? The hubby doesn't hate it or think it looks like a flash back from the 90's anymore. What do you think, is the black and gold outdated or do you think it works in this era?

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Triple Treat MCM Bookshelf

I was getting in the car on a Friday morning to take my oldest daughter to school and my neighbor from across the street was having a tag sale. I wish everyday started with a tag sale waiting for you right across from your house. They were just starting to set up and I figured I would check it out on my way back home but my daughters inherited my jeans they can't see a tag sale and not beg me to go. So I said sure lets check it out. I spotted this nice big golden deer made of papermache for $1 and I snatched it up.

I took my princess to school and on my way back they had put out more things so I checked it out again with my youngest. I saw a small bookshelf, it was Mid-century modern (I love mcm), solid wood, had angled shelves and spectacular little feet with metal on the bottom. At first I didn't buy it because I have been trying really hard not to buy anymore furniture because my basement is full. So I went inside my house and tried to go about my day but every time I heard a car stop or door slam I would peek out the window to see if the bookshelf was still there. It wasn't until like the fifth time that I looked out the window that I decided I was going to buy it. After all if I was going to keep looking out the window every couple of minutes just to be sad if it was gone, I may as well just buy it. That's logical, right? I hurried across the street with my little one and told my neighbor I couldn't stop thinking about it so there I was for the third time today.

It was full of dings and scratches

When I brought it inside I tried google-ing it to see if I could find any similar and low and behold I found a few and they were selling for $150 and up in as is condition. I went on Pinterest and found the perfect inspiration piece painted and stained. I new I wanted to do something similar but with different colors.

I wanted to use two different stain colors and white paint. I did the table below, a MCM side table where I used a similar combination of colors and I wanted to do it again. This table was one of my favorite pieces that I have done, I was sad to see it go when I sold it.

I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate the two stains until I remembered of a piece done by Reeves from The Weathered Door. Jack Pot I've been dying to make a piece like that since I saw it. I knew that combining all three of these inspiration pieces was it. It was going to look amazing.

Reverse Dipped Mid Century Dresser WD-b-10

The Weathered Door

I soon as I new how it was going to look I got started. First I filled all the nicks and scratches with wood filler. Then I sanded the entire thing and in the areas where I was going to stain I sanded the stain completely off.

I worked on the feet separately, sanded the finish off. The metal part of the feet were a little bit rusted so I sanded them as well, and sprayed them with Rust-oleum Universal advanced formula metallic paint and primer in one in the Pure Gold Finish. It took several coats for complete coverage. Then I stained them with Rust-oleum Ultimate wood stain in Kona and sealed them with Minwax water based Polycrylic.

With the help of a ruler and a trinagle I measured out the lines where I wanted the angles for the stains to meet. I used Frog tape and polycrylic between stains to help with preventing bleed through. For the top stain I used was Rust-oleum weathered gray and Kona for the bottom.

I didn't get too much bleed through with the stain, now the paint was a different story. I taped up all the stained areas this was a very tedious and long process. Then I primed all the the areas I was going to paint twice. The white paint took five coats to cover so all together it took seven coats.

I carefully removed all the frog tape, I used a razor and pulled carefully. When I finished removing all the tape I was left with a mess of bleed though.

This was a bit frustrating but I did my best to fix it with a razor blade scraping away and retouching. This happened because I used the poly trick between the coats of stain but I forgot to do it before the painting part. Now I know for next time.