Cedar Chest

I've had this cedar chest for a few years.  My aunt bought it for me for my 30th birthday I think.  I had been wanting one, and she is a master thrifter/antiquer so she found me this one.  One of the best things about it, is that it came with the original skeleton key!  I love skeleton keys, they have to be one of the coolest things ever.

Anyway, this chest has been in our master bedroom at the foot of the bed ever since.  It houses extra blankets.  Well, since I am in the midst of a master makeover, I decided to paint it blue.  The blue is the same as the stripes that I put on the wall - my oops paint that I got for $5.  You can see my stripe wall here.

After I painted the entire thing, I distressed it with a palm sander.  I wanted it to look pretty beat up.  Mission accomplished.  Then I applied one of my most favorite products - Valspar's antiquing glaze in asphaltum (black)

I may add a stencil to the top, but I'm not sure yet - I kind of like it just the way it is

This is going to make a great addition to my master bedroom makeover!

I started painting and then remembered the before photo

Awesome skeleton key - love

Check out the cute wheels, love those too

You can also see other parts of my Master Bedroom Makeover here.  Links to each post are on that page.

Chair Makeover

I love chairs... I can't explain it, I just really love chairs.  I picked up this chair at the Goodwill some time ago.  I left it the way it was for a very long time.  I liked the chippy white paint.  Well today I decided enough of the white, let's go yellow.  I was actually experimenting with this yellow, because it's the color I am thinking of painting a buffet/cabinet I've got in my dining room.  So I wanted to test it out and see how I liked it.

Let me just say that this is such a pretty yellow.  It is Valspar's Golden Maize, and now I know it will definitely be going on my dining room cabinet.

Anyway, below are the before and afters of my chair.  Cute isn't she?

BEFORE

AFTER

Dresser Reveal

Ok, here it is... I am loving the way this turned out.  It is a completely different dresser!  I sanded and cleaned the whole thing.  Then I applied a dark walnut stain to the top only.  I love a dark top with a contrasting lighter bottom.  Looks so sleek and elegant to me.  Anyway, then I painted the dresser and drawers a light grey - 3 coats.  After it was dry I sanded just the drawers to distress them a little.  Then I applied a light coat of the dark walnut stain to the whole thing in small sections so I could brush and wipe, brush and wipe.  And of course, new drawer knobs.

So here are the before pics again, and afters below them.  It is for sale, so if you are local to east texas or in the vicinity and need a new dresser feel free to email me.

Whoever the new owner is of this piece needs to own a smoking jacket.  It just seems like a piece that a person who wears a smoking jacket would own.  :)

Cleaned and Sanded

Now for the afters...

I will be linking this up with http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://sassysites.blogspot.com/
http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/2011/05/features-simply-creations-link-party-8.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20SimpleHomeLife%20(Simple%20Home%20Life)
http://www.pollywantacrafter.com/

It's The Little Things

So I just redid (is that a real word?) a mirror I had.  Just an easy change, but it makes such a difference don't you think?

I am still working on kitchen chairs.  They are a real pain to finish up.  And I don't like the paint I used on them.  Which stinks because I paid $35 for a gallon of paint.  It was just off brand paint from a paint shop out here, but I'll never buy it again.

Anyway, here are the mirror before and afters.  Chairs are coming soon I promise.  I have one almost done, but I don't want to post any pics until I have them all finished.  They do look good with my table though!

BEFORE

All I did for this mirror was paint it a cream color.  Then I distressed it lightly and applied a minwax early american stain over the whole thing.  It definitely brightens up my brick wall which is the backside of my fireplace.

AFTER

In this first picture you can see a little of the frame wall that I put in my dining room area.  I need to fix it just a little, but as soon as I do I will post real pictures of that too.