Bohemian Painted Dresser

Last month I painted a dresser with bohemian vibe by giving it a very artistic paint job.  What was once a regular, traditional style dresser is now a work of art with loads of storage.  The dresser came with a huge mirror that I debated whether or not to paint it to match.  I'm so glad I went for it because the mirror really made the piece.  See for yourself!

I love painting like this because I can have complete, creative freedom.  The base color is a deep teal chalk paint and a blended in lighter turquoise, I then layered on the accent green colors.  Distressed it and gave it multiple coats of poly, sanding between coats as always for a super soft smoothness.

 

This dresser is super solid, with 9 dovetailed drawers and it was made by Heywood Wakefield.  The original hardware looks so amazing up against the deep color, and the mirror makes a huge statement.  I love the outcome of this piece.

**It is available in my Etsy Shop Lilly's home Designs

White And Black Farmhouse Dresser

I'm back with another piece that I worked on in the month of January.  I bought this vintage oak dresser from a person via Craigslist.  Once I brought it home I knew exactly what I wanted to do to it.

  I sanded it, and sealed it inside and out  twice with shellac drawers and everything because it had a cigarette smell.  Now, I didn't notice this when I bought it, otherwise I would have passed.  Then I sanded it again and proceeded to paint it with chalk paint.  

The top section was curved and I wanted to accent that feature, which is why I went with the two tone.  Black on top and white on the bottom.  I purchased small, white knobs for the two top drawers and contrasting black ones on the bottom.  The inside of the drawers had seen better days so I added a modern liner.  I sealed this piece with wax for a soft buttery feel.    

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.

Teal Turquoise Vintage Hepplewhite Dresser Makeover

Hi there!  The last months of 2016, I barely touched a paint brush except to paint trim and walls at home.  What I really mean is I didn't paint any furniture.  Why?  Well because the end of the year is busy, it's filled with holidays and family time.  I'm glad to say even thought the holidays were beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it, it's all behind now and I can get back to work.

Now, I am jammed packed with inventory but on New Year's day we had breakfast at Ihop and sneaked a quick trip to Goodwill where I spotted a beauty of a dresser and snatched it up.  My husband is an enabler but don't tell him that.  He always says you don't need any new pieces you have more than enough.  But he knows a good deal and doesn't let me pass on them.  I love him!  Anyhow, we took this baby home and it jumped to the front of the makeover line, just like that.  I was itching to paint a piece of furniture.  Sorry no before pictures!  I posted a before picture somewhere in my Facebook.

This piece was in immaculate condition, all it needed was some light sanding and some cleaning to get it ready for paint.  I used chalk paint for this makeover, distressed it, sealed it with a couple coats of poly, cleaned up the hardware and lined the inside of the drawers with beautifully light scented drawer liners.  Bam!  That's all folks!  Enjoy the rest of the afters.

PS. This piece is available on my Etsy shop, Lilly's Home Designs ;-)

What have I been up to?

Hello, is anybody here? I've been absent from the blog for a couple months now and I wanted to check in and share some things. I'm going to start with a few of the furniture pieces that I have done lately. Then I thought I could talk about some of the changes we've made to our house in the last couple of months. How does that sound? Good? Okay let's do it!

Let me begin by saying that having an Etsy store has been helping me tremendously with selling furniture so I am very thankful for that. One of the pieces that I redid was this beautiful blue mid century modern dresser.

This is a vintage Basset dresser that I completely sanded, primed and painted with Sherwin Williams high gloss advanced formula paint. I added new glass hardware and spray painted the original bottom pulls in brass. It is quite a stunning piece!

It now lives with a young lady in Brooklyn NY, who fell in love with it and could not resist it's gorgeous new look.

Next up is this campaign dresser. This was definitely the most popular guy in my Etsy shop. I received so many emails for this piece and it too sold quickly. I have a few campaign pieces in stock ready for a makeover so it wont be long before I have another one available in my shop. If you are on the hunt for one keep an eye out on my shop, these things sell like hot cakes.

The last piece I'm going to share today is this sexy little black coffee table. It's painted in glossy black, new hardware from Anthropologie and lined drawer. This piece is still available in my shop! ** Hint, hint ;-)

 That's all for furniture today! I have a bunch of more pieces in my Etsy shop all painted by yours truly, so make sure you stop by and see whats new!

As for house projects, oh my! Where do I start? I would say none of the rooms look quite the same. Our Kitchen got new appliances, Yey!!! This new appliances led to some other changes like adding a wall of cabinets and open shelving. I'm not sharing the after pictures yet because I haven't styled them yet but here's a sneak peek of what's going on. It's like an early Christmas for me this year.

Yes it's ugly and messy but I assure you when I post the reveal pictures you are going to love the changes. You probably noticed that the cabinet doors are missing. Yeah, well when I painted those suckers a few months ago they started bleeding so I put it off for a while but I finally sanded them back down, primed them with oil based primer this time and painted them. No more bleed through just bright white, beautiful cabinets now!

A few other projects we've tackled around here include finally painting the trim and doors in our hallway. Refinishing some furniture pieces, rearranging the living room furniture, still not sure of how I feel about the furniture in there but the layout is working. We cleared out our storage room and made a gym in there, we are painting it this weekend and I'll share that too. Also our entryway/home office is sporting new furniture pieces as well. So yes lots of changes but all for the better.

The trim got a fresh coat of primer and two coats of bright white making everything shiny and new again. I painted the doors with a medium grey color and I love the combo. These are just some of the pictures, but I will be sharing complete afters of every room when I get to that. Also the color on the gym is the one we will be painting over not the new color. That is Pantone's peacock, my daughters chose it when we first moved in because that was their bedroom before. It's a beautiful bold color but I want something more light and subdued to go with the rest of the house.

That is all for this little update of what's going on around here. I'll be back to share more updates soon! If you want to see progress on other spaces please visit the Our Home tab on the top bar. Thank you for stopping by :-)

Rustic Grey White and Black Painted Desk

When I got this desk I wasn't sure how I was going to paint it.  I new I wanted to stick to neutrals and I wanted to do more than one color.  I wanted to keep the hardware because I they go very well and I love the noise it makes when you grab it and let go of it, I know it's a weird thing to like but just I can't explain it.  By the way if you are wondering about the coffee table you can see how I painted it in ombre effect here.

And here is the desk in it's new painted glory.  I sanded it and painted it grey with thick black and white stripes over the bottom drawers.  I then sanded a whole lot to give it a rustic farmhouse look.  I used several coats of poly and reattached the original hardware.  

The inside of the drawers got some modern contact paper.  I love doing a little something in the inside, I know a lot of people don't see it but it's a little happy moment when you open the drawer and see a little something fun in the inside.  

 I usually like doing a little staging pre-pictures but the process of prepping, painting, pictures, posting is so long that sometimes it's just easier to do away with the staging part.  Maybe the next piece!  Anyhow, this piece is available in my Etsy shop.

Also check out this other desk I made over recently 

Lucky Green Nightstand Set

A little while ago I painted a nightstand set in Sherwin Williams Lucky Green.  It was a long process like always but the end result was fabulous and they sold right away.

They came with big ornate hardware but I new I wanted to change them and give this set a modern look.  I chose the green color and used Sherwin Williams advance paint in high gloss.  I bought some gorgeous lucite and chrome hardware, two pulls for the bottom drawers and two round knobs for the top.

The set got filled sanded primed twice sanded again and I sprayed 5 ultra thin coats sanding between each one to achieve a smooth finish.  I had some over spray on the drawers so I painted the sides in the same color and added a modern black and white contact paper to the inside of the drawers.

I posted  them up for sale on my Etsy shop and they sold very quickly.  I was flattered when an interior designer contacted me because she wanted the set for her client who's home she was designing.  Her client purchased them and we delivered the set that same weekend to a gorgeous brownstone in a trendy area of Boston Massachusetts.

Some people gave me a crazed look when they saw the color I had chosen but I knew this was the right look for them.  My customers where so happy and so was their interior designer who was there to see them at the time of the delivery.  They loved them and I couldn't be happier!  I guess the color I chose for the nightstand set really was a lucky green after all ;-)