Small Kitchen Island

Hello there all,

I am having trouble with exporting my blog to blogger, so in the mean time I will send you all a link to my post over there.  Click here  to see how I turned this:

Into this

Don't forget to follow my new blog to stay posted on my updates.

xo,

mONICa

Parisian Nights

How was your weekend?  One of our weekend projects was these Parisian nights side tables, nightstands, end tables, whatever.  The color turned out amazing.  We really didn't have a direction with these pieces to begin with, they  just kind of evolved.  We started with a lagoon blue spray paint, the next layer was a mixed a custom color with glaze.  We used some stain to distress it, then another custom coat.  All in all I think it has  4 different coats of paint, but I think the finished product is amazing.  Here is a shot of what these babies looked like before:

After primer

After a couple of coats of paint

The finished product

We love the inside of the drawers

And for once we kept the original hardware as is, because we thought they looked pretty good just the way they were.

Did you have any fun projects this weekend?

xo,

mONICa & eLAINe

Trash to Treasured Wedding Gift

I'm so sorry.  I totally missed show off Sundays this week.  I've been packing all weekend and just have the basement left.  After packing comes organizing for Saturdays garage sale.

I thought I'd share this dresser that I did for a friend's wedding exactly a month ago today.  Her then fiance found this baby in the TRASH.  Most of the drawers were broken and the paint was pretty badly stained.  When I heard the news of this rescued "first" dresser I thought that in addition to buying a traditional wedding gift I would fix up the dresser for the bride and groom as a housewarming gift. I have to admit I've never repaired broken drawers before, but I knew I was up to the task.  Plus it was a Broyhill Dresser, which I thought would be worth repairing.

Here is a glimpse of the broken drawers

I decided to prime the dresser first before I tackled the mess with the drawers.

I have to admit I didn't even own clamps. I found these amazing band clamps at Home Depot that wrapped around and adjusted to any size.  I glued the drawers together and wrapped them in these band clamps and let each of them sit for 24 hours.  Then off to primer.

I used a silver metallic spray paint by Valspar and covered the dresser with two coats, then I used wipe on poly to seal.  The bride got some amazing knobs at Hobby Lobby that finished off the look.  I love how it came out.

xo,

mONICa

Participating in these wonderful link parties. Click here for full list.



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Raspberry Side Chair

Here is a project I did a couple of months ago that I thought I'd share.  It's a side chair that I painted in a raspberry color and recovered the seat with something bright and fun.

It's so funny now my projects fit my mood of the day.  I'm so glad I don't keep everything I redo, otherwise my house would be funky and not just eclectic.  When you live in a city where things are not always bright and sunny your mood can change from sunny to dark instantaneously.  The way I look at it, living in a place like Cincinnati just helps give my customers variety.

Here is the  chair before, It was okay, but not terrific.  I had it sitting in my formal living room until I could figure out what to do with it.

Here is the frame after a few coats of raspberry spray paint

Here is the fabric I chose to put on the seat

and the completed product

A closer look

Isn't it fun?  What girl wouldn't want a girl power chair?  I think it would look really cute sitting on a front porch as well.  Why not? Have some fun.

If you have not done so add your link to our Sunday Showoff Party going on until Thursday.

xo,

mONICa

Also sharing this project in these LINK PARTIES.

Click here for a full list of parties I participate in.

Yellow Coffee Table

Oh boy,  I'm so glad this weekend is over.  My daughter was in a big wedding and I'm exhausted.  I did, however get the chance to work on this small coffee table last week.  Cute little ornate table that I picked up at a local estate sale site:

It wasn't in this best of shape, some wobbly legs and scuffs and stuff, but I took care of that with some clamps and some wood glue.  I primed and painted it with a warm yellow.  Then I started the distressing process.  I sanded the table at random points, mainly the edges and  I did what I call my sloppy wax on wax off stain technique.  Just slap some stain on and wipe it off.

If you wipe the stain off fast enough you don't need to use glaze.

I decided I wanted a contrasting color for the ornate area on the top, so I painted the center a navy blue color.

Ummm...HATED IT!!!

I did however, like mixed a little bit of blue onto the top to give it a distressed finish. I guess that means it wasn't a complete FAILURE.

Round two....silver metallic.

LOVE IT!!!

An antique piece with a smiley face : )

Don't forget to join us on SHOWOFF SUNDAYS to post projects that you have been working on.

xo,

mONICa

Storage Bench- Before and After

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Thought I'd share this nifty little storage bench I picked up at an estate sale.  I looked and it and it reminded me of something my grandpa would've made.  It was calling my name and I had to take it home. This is what it looked like when I got it.

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First I patched up some of the small holes with wood filler.  Than I removed the top and the vinyl seat fabric.  Underneath was smelly original foam padding so I tore that out as well.  Next I primed it.

Then I painted it and started working on the top.  I didn't want to use $22.00 foam padding so I used  $6.00 carpet padding instead.  You can see how I did that here.  I used upholstery/ drapery fabric to cover the top.

And here is the final product.

I love it.  I'm almost inspired to use it as a pattern and make a banquette with similar construction.  I think that would be awesome.

xo,

mONICa

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