Sunday, February 8, 2015

Renovation Reality... More projects

Here's the post with more projects for our 'Bohemian Dream Room'. I hope you're impressed. But if you're not, that's alright because I am, and really that's all that counts. Hahaha. Well, I am the one who has to live with the finished product, you know. 

First I will share our groovy dresser redo. I have other similar examples that gave me the idea on my Pinterest, so be sure to check them out @patoconnor. 

We had two great chests of drawers that used to be in our finished basement, so when we redid things down there we saved the dressers for when we finally redid our room. 
BTW that's one of the greatest ways to save money when renovating. Repurpose things you already have!!  
One of the dressers, which is more like an armoir, we left original and just changed out the knobs.
  I know it's nothing exciting, but a nice piece all the same. 

The other chest had some damage on top, so we eventually decided to use spray paint, but to leave some of the chest in its original finish because it still looked good. We picked out purple, orange and turquoise. We would've used gray too, but the curtains are gray, so I wanted more contrast.  In the end we also added off white, and I really love the results. By just using a light coat of spray paint and letting the finish show through, it gives the piece a little more rustic, yet sophisticated look. 
  Out in the shop, looking kind of ragged without the drawers!
      The finished product looking super cool, doncha think?

The next project was done by using the wood lathe strips that came from tearing out the walls in the room. I had seen, yes on Pinterest, tons of cool pallet signs and wanted to recreate that look. I also had in mind a couple of favorite song lyrics to use. I began by deciding on the size I needed to have Saint Handy-Jim cut the wood strips into.  Sorry, I didn't save measurements, but you can recreate the process with any wood, any size I'm sure. 
  
    I hot glued them together and then had Jim staple gun them for extra strength. 

To get the finished look, I lightly dry-brushed them (again going for a rustic look) with acrylic paint. The next step was to use paint markers (found at Michael's) to write the words. I added some flat fancy beads to one of them as well. The first one is going on the door to the room, and the other is on the wall above the groovy painted dresser!  

  Not super 'professional', but I like! And very romantic, right? 

Btw, since we're on the subject of walls, here is a photo of a great piece of art that I bought from The Shared Lives Studio in downtown Toledo.   
 http://shop.lottindustries.com/studio.html

    So GROOVY   The perfect compliment to our theme!!! 

That's all I have for now, next step is redoing some items for bedside tables. I found some interesting pieces at the Maumee Antique mall yesterday.   http://maumeeantiquemall.com
 I will share more as soon as I can. 
Happy Sundayfunday 
Pat



Friday, February 6, 2015

Renovation Reality...Part 4

I promised to share some projects with you all and here goes...

Remember my bohemian theme for the bedroom renovation? Well, first I made a Pinterest board with inspirations and then I got to work. BTW... Follow me on Pinterest! 

During the summer Jim had brought home this great old window he had gotten from a customer. I knew right away that it needed to be a part of our headboard. While I thought about how to finish it, Jim cleaned it up a bit with a light sanding. After some time, I decided that the best bet was to remove the old glass panes. Although it was that original old wavy glass that I love, it just seemed too risky to have glass right above the head of the bed. If you know what I mean!? Wink, wink. 
There I go, cracking myself up again. 

This glass removal was actually the hardest part of the project.  
                Before glass removal
         My handy dandy lady colored tools!
           After the glass was safely removed.

Now it was time to make it pretty, while keeping it rough around the edges. I dusted it off well and vacuumed it well also. By the way, only one ugly black spider emerged during the glass removal.  Hence the vacuuming of each little crevasse.  No spiders in my headboard, no sir!!  Jim also sprayed it well with a clear finish to keep the paint bits from further chipping, and hopefully sealed in any other little devils that might want to creep out!
Next step was to have the handy hubby cut some thin board to fit in each pane so I could cover them with my groovy fabrics. Covering them was really easy. I used a light coat of spray glue to adhere the fabric to the front and then used hot glue to wrap the fabric around back.


No limit to the design possibilities here, it just depends on your choice of colors and textures. I decided to use plenty of both in order to get that bohemian feel. I must say the finished product makes me very happy! I'll show you in a moment. 
So, we HAD to go to Tybee, our favorite vacation spot, this fall. Thanks middle child for getting a master's degree from SCAD. The trip was such a sacrifice, you know. Anyway, I'm really not off the subject. The point is, the headboard in the little apartment where we stayed gave me further inspiration and so, I had to add shutters to the headboard design.  

  Case in point... Yes, my window is much bigger, but it's the idea here! 

I couldn't find old outdoor shutters that I liked for a reasonable price, so as often happens ( when you're me) I go for option 2. Option 2 turned out to be an old tall indoor shutter. It was likely 1/2 of a closet door, but the cost was $8.50 at the antique mall, so I was determined to make it work. Or, should I say, make the hubby work on it to make it work to my specifications. Yep, that's it!  Thank you saint handy-Jim! The shutter door was soon cut in half and I worked a little 'lightly stain with paint, do a little sanding' magic on it, and it was ready to go.  

So, without further ado, I present to you... Bohemian headboard exhibit 'I Love It!'
             Ready to be hung. 

         All leveled and screwed into place -- I helped!

   
       And, the finished project! Yes, that's a cat on the bed. The cats love it as much as I do. 
What do you think? Let me know your thoughts. 
Next time, a couple more projects we've completed for the room...
Ta-ta for now, 
Pat