“I’ve got nice legs.” – Our Nightstand

You guys.  I painted furniture.   And I’m here to admit.  It felt good.  Reeealllyyyyy. Good.

Ever since we moved into our house, we’ve been mainly focused on larger projects.  Taking care of major surfaces.   Correcting wrongs that needed to be righted.  Floors.   Walls.   Windows.  Front doors.   Pool resurfacing.  Rotted wall fixing.  Roof repair.  Basically, trying to set the stage so that we CAN decorate and do it right.  I mean, sure, some decor has crept in there, but it just hasn’t been the main focus yet in the way it was with our last house.  A new construction with no major issues… Thus, decor was really the ONLY focus then.   I feel like we’re getting slowly there, though.   Slowly.   And happily.   🙂

But… BUT… I painted furniture, y’all.

I feel like it’s been forever since I did that.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Ya see, I hit up a local antique mall last weekend and found this beaut of a nightstand…
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I’m sorry about this picture.  Somehow in my excitement to make over this badboy, this was the ONLY sad ‘before’ pic that I took.   Oopsie.   As you can see, I thought he would work well in the guest room to replace his dumpier predecessor.  His leggy profile made the space feel lighter which was totally my goal.

I have to say that I was so excited when I found him.   The antique mall that I purchased him from tends to be a bit  of a pricier one, but I thought I’d check it out anyways since it was close to home.   So, when I stumbled upon this little guy and a glance at his price tag revealed that he was only $29 (!!!), I pretty much sprinted to the cashier.   He was in need of some love, but sturdy.  A perfect find for me.

Now, when it comes to wood, many of you may know that I’m usually a purist.  Especially with antique furniture.  I like keeping wood-toned things wood to be true to the piece.  That is, unless the finish is damaged beyond repair or super ugly.   And in this case, the finish was uber fugly.  For real.    I’m sorry.  It just was.  The lines of the nightstand were retro.  The finish… dated.   It’s hard to tell from my blurry before picture, but it was a red mahogany tone.  But not good mahogany.  Fake, bright red mahogany.  And really, really glossy.  But, damaged in spots also.  Some scratches and chips. Wrinkling in the finish.  The whole chebang.  And it clashed with… well, pretty much every other wood tone I have in the house.

So, I decided to paint it. (Gasp! I KNOW!!!)

I gave it a light sanding with a fine grade sanding block, then wiped it down with some liquid deglosser to ensure a nice dull surface that would better accept paint…

I wiped it down with tack cloth (which decided to photobomb in the right-hand corner).  You’re welcome for that. 😉

Then, I gave it two thin and even coats of Valspar’s paint+primer semi-gloss in Ebony Field (leftover from when I painted the back door in our last house).

I sanded lightly with an extra fine sanding block between coats and wiped it down again with my BFF, tack cloth.  And then I let it cure for a few days before moving it.

Now, let’s move on to the brass accents and hardware.   I sort of worked on them throughout the process, so you’ll see some pics from before and after painting the table.  The knobs weren’t in the greatest shape…

That wasn’t just tarnish.   The brass coating seemed to have worn away with time.  Because of this, I doubted that I could rejuvenate them as is.  I wanted them to sort-of match the leg accents, although I knew it wouldn’t likely be a perfect match.  First, I tried spray painting them with some leftover Rustoleum Universal in Pure Gold…

But, the results when compared to the leg accents looked really plastic-y…

Not exactly what I was going for.

So, I decided to try a new product.   I’d read about Rub n’ Buff on several blogs and was intrigued.  Apparently, you simply rub it on to achieve a metallic sheen.  So, I ordered a tube on Amazon for just under $7…

The directions recommended rubbing a small amount onto your surface with a finger or a soft cloth.   So, I started with the legs.

Which is when I started talking to myself.

Which despite popular belief, means only good things.

“Holy WOW!!!”,

“Geez!  This stuff is amazeballs!”,

“Where have you been all my life??”.

All *may* have escaped my lips as I astoundedly rubbed the magical solution on.   This beautiful stuff covered imperfections almost instantaneously with just a tiny amount and gave a gorgeous metallic sheen that I’ve yet to find with paint.

Here’s a before…

And after…

I probably should’ve taped off the leg, but it’s nothing a little touch-up paint couldn’t cure.    That brass piece literally took me all of 15 seconds to do.   I completed all four legs and then treated the knobs as seen in this “after” shot…

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Metallic and lovely.

And what do ya know…. They ended up matching perfectly after all.  The knobs look a bit “rosy” here, but in person they’re definitely more of a gold.  I can’t attest to how well Rub n’ Buff wears, but I’ll keep y’all updated.  In any case, it was such a quick fix, that I’m sure I can handle re-treating the metal accents as needed.

And here’s the table in it’s entirety…

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I chose to simply accessorize with a cute lamp (found at Marshall’s a while back), some books, a shot of me and Lucas when he was only 18 hours old, and one of my easy mirrored planters (which are still rockin’ it, BTW).  This guy was in our bedroom atrium and wasn’t getting adequate light, so I moved him.  I’ll have an atrium update soon since I’ve been an accessorizing fool as of late.   Actually, I’ll have a lot of updates soon.  I’ve been a busy bee this weekend.  😉

Anyhoo, back to the point.  Here’s a view of the room from the doorway as it stands now…
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So, that’s my little painting project this week.   Like I said, I’ve got more in store including a few breakfast nook, living room and atrium updates as well as the results of moving our fence.  Joey and his dad are hard at it out there and it’s looking awesome.   So, have a great rest of your weekend!  Until next time…

*** For updated pics of this space, check out this (adding a new awesome $12 lamp) and this (creating DIY burlap wall art).***

TDC Before and After
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Feelin’ Shelfish

Howdy folks!    So, the last time I posted about Lucas’s Room was when we added a pair of Expedit shelves with a little pop o’ green behind them, which transformed the “play-zone” part of his room into this…

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Back then, I stated something along the lines of “next will be shelves between the units”.  And I’m happy to say that a whopping five months later “next” is finally here!

This is gonna be more of a “before and after” post rather than a tutorial since I was a bad blogger and didn’t take proper pictures.   It all started when I found two shelves on clearance at Target for $4 a piece (marked down from $14.99).  They were the perfect size and color (similar to the Ikea white of the units) for the space above Lucas’s toy trunk.   So, I possessively shoved them into my cart and chauffeured them home.

I threw a few ideas around for brackets, but in the end, cheap won out.   I purchased four of the brackets below from Lowe’s for just over a dollar a pop…

Style Selections 6-in x 1-1/2-in White Shelf Bracket

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I spray-painted them gold with leftover spray-paint that I had from when I created my Target-inspired bench.  I wanted the brackets to play off of the gold accents on Lucas’s toy trunk…

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The pic above was taken about halfway through painting.  After the brackets had cured, Joey hung the shelves above the toy trunk, level with the shelves on the Expedit units…

I’ve thought about dabbing the screws with a smidge of gold paint, but really… they don’t bother me that much.   Once the shelves were hung, I loaded them up with a few accessories that I’ve been saving for this very occasion…

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…A few jugs to play off of the other orange accents in the room, a two-dollar painted mirror from Goodwill to bounce some light around…

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…his little guitar that had been precariously teetering in his closet for far too long, a wooden dinosaur that we brought back from Mexico and some model cars (of course). 🙂

Here are a few wider shots…

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And just as a reminder of where we started… a before shot taken just after we moved in…

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Here’s a pic with the toy chest lid open just to demonstrate our reasoning for shelf placement…

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There’s plenty of space for Lucas to rummage about his toys without the shelf crowding the lid.

I’m pretty much loving it. The new shelves provide additional storage and brightness and offer a great space to display larger items that were taking up space in his closet.  They also act as a visual bridge between the two Expedit units which makes it feel more cohesive. For a smaller bedroom, I really feel like we’ve made pretty good use of the space for storing Lucas’s toys in easily accessible ways, which in turn, leaves more room for concealed storage in the closet. Win-win in my eyes. Thus, I hereby dub this play-zone complete (for now).  🙂

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So anyways, I hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!

Linked up at: I Heart Organizing I Heart Nap Time, Lines Across, Say Not Sweet Anne, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Upcycled Treasures

TDC Before and After