before and after – Page 3 – There's No Place Like Home

August 1, 2016August 1, 2016

Furniture Rescue: Oak Cerused

So a while back I fell in love with this oak coursed secretary that Little Green Notebook Did….

Check out the tutorial Here. It’s amazing stuff.

So when I found this fun coffee table, for $40 on craigslist I thought it might look really cool with the same treatment. And it was only $40 so if it got messed up no biggie.

First caveat is that on Little Green Notebook, she explains that it HAS to be oak. Now I had no clue if this table was oak or not, but I knew that just from the look of it, the piece had VERY pronounced wood grain. So I figured it should work, directionally correct.

TNPLH: Furniture Rescue Cerused Coffee Table 3

So the hardest part was the stripping of the wood. It took FOREVER! And it was a TOTAL MESS! I have done a lot of furniture in the past, however I usually paint (not stain), so I usually don’t have to do a perfect job stripping down to the bare bones. But in this case you have to put in the dirty work and get it all the way down to the wood.

Also – when I asked for the metal wire brush to stripe the wood, the hardware store looked at me like I didn’t know what I was doing. But the thing is you want to use this (not sand down) because you really are trying to get the deep divots of the wood grain to become more pronounced. So it will feel like you are being rough with the furniture, that is ok!

The navy looked so cool I almost wanted to leave it like it was. I layered up 3 layers of the Shellac and then I waxed my heart away…you can also kinda see above that the wood grain was already pronounced…..

Boom! I love the way it turned out. What a great inspiration Little Green Notebook was! I love it! Not bad for $40, $20ish in supplies, and some good hard elbow grease! Love!

June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Craigslist Chair Rescue

A while back I found these incredible chairs on craigslist.

I got both chairs for $50 total.

Just a reminder this is what the corner of the living room looked like when we moved it!

I have done some reupholstery in the past, but I wanted these done fast so I sent them to my amazing upholsterer to they could be done quickly! It’s nice to see how far along the living has come over the last year. Slowly but surely!

I like how the living room is coming along so far. As you can see we pulled up the carpet when I FINALLY found an are rug. It took me a while to find something I liked (that wasn’t $5,000). This rug I found at world market. Isn’t it fun? Check it out here.

I also love these little garden stools (from home goods!). As you can see we still have to refinish the floors and then I will need to paint the trim. I am hoping to have them done when we are gone for vacation for a week this August!

May 9, 2016

Little Yellow House: Dinning Room Reveal

I have shown some pics of the dinning room with some of the dinner parties I have throw, but I haven’t officially taken nice pics to share!

For the most part I just picked up my dinning set from the condo (seen featured here) and brought everything to the house with a couple updates.

The cane back chairs I just love. Craigslist over 7 years ago. $50 for the set of 6. Not bad in my book. A couple weekends ago I finally got around to re-upholstering the cushion. I hadn’t done anything with the pink that was previously there, and then one Sunday I realized I had extra of this navy and white fabric (Tilton Fenwick for Duralee) on a bolt still and alas, had enough for re-finihsing them. So that was a great quick update and really helped bring the space together.

If you follow me on Instagram you have seen me toiling away sewing these curtains. I followed the Design Sponge Pleated Drape Tutorial found here. The thing with curtains is (this was my first time making them so am far from an expert), in my opinion the hardest thing is the quantity of fabric you are dealing with. I laid mine out on the floor when I did mine (it’s also a fantastic butt workout because of all the squats you end up doing).

I plan on posting on how I made my curtain rod later this week, so check back!.

TNPLH: Little Yellow House Living Room Before PIc 1

Just as a reminder here is what the total space looked like. As you can see from above we pulled up all the carpet, which we knew had hardwood floors underneath. We were going to wait till our kitchen was done to protect them, but I couldn’t handle the hideous carpet anymore. You can see above we still need to refinish the hardwood, they are on the orange side. But for now, they look much better.

This picture shows the behind, which again I haven’t shown too much of, but I will be posting on that later. Yes, that china cabinet was from craigslist, as were those upholstered chairs….I reflected the other day that in the first year of being here at the new house I have purchased 6 pieces of furniture all on craigslist and I swear that I didn’t pay more than $1000 for all of them together (and that includes having my guy reupholster the chairs!!). My theory is…..that many of you know…I hunt and hunt on craigslist for everything. 85%ish of my furniture is used. So, that allows me to splurge on things I just can’t get right!

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015

ORC: Navy Bedroom Reveal!

I am so excited to share the final reveal of the ORC today! We moved into our first house in March and we have been updating little by little since then. Be sure to follow along with all the participants here!

You can see here was the before. We did a lot to the room including….

painted walls, trim, and doors

refinished floors

sewed canopy panels

sewed pillows

updated Ikea sconces with Ikea hack

re-upholstered ottomans

re-painted end table for night stand

replace light fixture

BlueRoom-low-028

I am so happy with the way the room turned out. We have guests coming this weekend to visit (perfect timing) and I am pumped for them to enjoy the space!