Sofa Makeover For The Home Office Part Two

I'm back today with Part two of the home office sofa makeover (read part one here).  I gotta be honest, I didn't think I was going to finish it so quickly.  I knew I could but I was hesitating so much because I was not looking forward to stapling a million staples with my hand held upholstery stapler.  Came Valentines day and my husband went all hero to the rescue on me.  He bought me a few tools that I've been in dire need of.  One of them was a pneumatic stapler with a 20 gallon air compressor among other tools and lovey dovey stuff like flowers etc... Yes he kinda, no, more like, he completely outdid himself.  I love that man!  Anyhow back to the couch.  And just a reminder or if you didn't see it before, here's the UGLY before that I shared back in January.

What'd I tell you?  UGLY!

This baby went by smoothly.  The air stapler was a huge help.  I started the project in the very end of January.  I sanded the body and stained it but the stain was a little blotchy.  I knew if I was going to tackle this project it had to be done right because I don't plan on doing it again any time soon.  So I took a break and didn't touch it at all in the month of February.  A few days into March I was going to have a get together for some of our family members and my house was a finished and unfinished furniture projects mess.  I had not one but two finished dressers in the entryway/home office plus the couch on it's side and the cushions were on top of our dining table.  I knew I wanted to get everything out of the way before the get together and have additional seating in the home office where the guys always have their drinks and play Domino.  So I got my butt to work.

I sanded the frame again and stained it one day and the very next day I did all the upholstery in a few hours.  I bought new 1 inch batting to add more cushion to the couch and then I did the fabric.  I wanted the ikat prints to be somewhat symmetrical so it took some measuring and centering before doing all the cutting but it wasn't  too hard.  Also I did not want to sew, so I folded all the corners as neatly as I could and pulled the fabric nice and taught until it looked good to me and stapled.  BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM......  The back is a whole different story that I don't want to go into today.  Lastly I sealed the frame with my favorite water based poly as usual.  Look at that wood grain, uh, la, la...

The next day was our get together and we had to attach the cushions back to the frame.  Holly crappola that was a pain in the tush!!!  It took us an hour and a half because the back cushions did not want to go back on.  A lot of sweating and swearing to get them back on but somehow we made it happen.   I'm just happy that I finished and it looks great!  I LOVE the fabric and my husband loves it too so I am a very happy camper.  You know what else my husband loves about this project, that it didn't cost a small fortune ;-)

Oh yes and what do you think of one of my latest Goodwill finds?  This lamp!

I bought this clear globe LED light bulb for it, that thing almost cost more than what I paid for the lamp itself.  I don't know about you but I think it looks pretty cool.   It opens up too for storage, it's pretty neat.  This room is still getting tweaked so once I'm done I'll share the whole space.  I think it's coming together really nice and we like it a lot better now than the first time around.

Here a little before and after, what a difference some stain and fabric can do.      

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.    

Sofa Makeover For The Home Office Part One

I started a new project for our home office.  I'm giving this big ugly sofa a makeover.  We bought this piece for our home office sometime in the spring last year.  I didn't want to upholster it right away for a couple reasons.

Reasons 

1. I'm super indecisive about things, especially furniture in our home.  If it doesn't work in a few months it's out.  The couch has proven it's usefulness here, so we are keeping it!  
2. I'm equally indecisive about colors, textures and finishes.  I mean with so many fabrics to choose from, someone out there should be able to relate.  
3. Time!  Yes I work on many furniture pieces at a time but not for my own home. It usually takes years for me to complete a furniture project for our home.  I never have or make time for it.  I'm trying to change that!    
4. Money, fabric is freaking expensive and when you need 6 yards for your own use, well that can hurt.  I'm not one splurge so much on myself.  
5. Upholstery is intimidating for me.  I'm all about sanding, painting and staining but sewing is a whole different territory.

We repainted our home office again and it looks completely different than when I shared our first budget makeover here.  We bought a new-used desk, rearranged things, go rid of some pieces and added other key storage pieces and we needed extra seating so we got this couch.  Everything else started to look nice so the couuch just became an eyesore.  Yes an ugly, burgundy, dog hair magnet, eyesore.  We felt it was time to tackle it.  That meant it was time to finally choose a fabric.  I wanted the couch to be neutral because it's a big piece in the room and it's a big job for me so I didn't want a color I would grow tired of in a year or two.  I also wanted it to have a nice print just in case it gets stains which it will because we have children, a dog and wine spills happen, I mean spills, spills happen in many different forms of liquids.  

I narrowed down my fabric to neutrals, some type of pattern and it had to be budget friendly.  I thought about using a checkered, plaid fabric but the office already has a masculine appeal.  I wanted my husband to feel comfortable and this might sound crazy but I like to decorate keeping my husbands masculinity in mind.  He lives with 4 females (even my dog is a female) so I don't want to have rainbows and unicorns everywhere.  Plus I prefer neutrals anyway so it's a win win.  

A few months ago I used a beautiful ikat fabric to upholster some chairs that I sold and ever since I've been wanting to find a place to use the same fabric for our house.  My husband also liked the fabric since it has a lot of black and neutrals.  Perfect!  This fabric was just under $20 at Joanns.  They were having a 50% off sale, then I went online to check for coupons and they had a one day 15% entire purchase, including sales, BINGO!!!!!  I picked up 6 yards which I think is too much, but better to be safe than sorry, right!           

I already started to take the sofa apart.  It's naked!  

It took me a few hours to get every single last staple out.  Next, I have to sand down the frame to stain it, cut sew and staple a million times!  Yay, not so much, but when I'm done it's going to be worth it.  I can't wait to share with ya'll!    

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 :-)