The watermelon dresser.  This dresser was a freebie, great quality, an Ethan Allen; that I just had to go crazy on.  I could have simply painted it white, shabbied it up and called it a day, but no.  I apologized to Sheri as these funky dressers always take longer to find homes.  But,  every once in awhile I need to  break out of the box. :)  I had purchased wrapping paper with a similar design and attempted to decoupage it on the drawer fronts.  The paper was high quality and thick and soon began to bubble.  I love to decoupage, but always have better luck with thinner paper.  My next attempt will be fabric on furniture, but that's a different day.  So, I decided to free hand the zig zag design.  It was lots of fun to do, but at one point I almost chickened out and sanded off the whole design.  And that's when I decided it was perfect.  The sanding/distressing toned it down just enough(sort of). I changed out the old pulls with some new and vintage, and painted them all in copper to match the warm wood tones of the dresser.  Linking up with http://missmustardseed.com/.

Black Diamond High Boy!  We painted the entire piece in a graphite black chalk paint and then with a can of gunmetal metallic spray paint and a lace curtain panel in a funky retro pattern the tone on tone pattern was added to the drawer fronts and top of dresser. There is new hardware on top drawers and then original was coated in the same metallic gray.   The entire piece was moderately distressed and then coated with wipe on poly.  The End.

After and Before.
http://www.redouxinteriors.com/We were given this Ethan Allen dresser in great condition.  A family was passing it on, kind of hard to believe.  There is nothing wrong with it, just kind of boring and traditional.  I painted it antique white with our home made chalk paint, and then a coat of the same in pale gray.  The hardware got a spray coat of antique copper, and the top drawers were given vintage lion head pulls.  I distressed the piece with my electric sander and then rubbed it down with Howard's Citrus Wax.  Done!

Its different, that's for sure.  Still traditional but in a more casual way.  We posted it on Craig's list yesterday, and are just waiting for its owner to find it. :)    We are linking up with:   http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

Before

After

This was a free piece.   An older dry sink that reminds me of the 1980's.  My mother was into colonial decor, and we owned a dry sink where the liquor was kept. I chose to paint the chunky dark stain a turquoise chalk paint and then dry brush over the  top a few shades of gray/taupe.  I then freely distressed the whole thing to let the blue show through.  It's still a great little cabinet with lots of life left.  Could be a place to keep your booze, or even an infant changing table.  We are considering changing out the hardware for rope.

Funky Gray and Black

BEFORE

and AFTER

This is one of our most recently completed pieces! Working off a tip from my neighbor,  I picked the dresser up curbside, one of two discarded pieces, from  a home that had recently been put up for sale.  My 13 year old son  Donovan helped me maneuver two dressers into the back of our minivanon the way to his soccer game. It was covered in stickers from the mid 70's, a little boys life and loves collaged on every drawer.  What a cool Mom he must have had to allow this.  The six million dollar man sticker was my fav.  I can still remember how exciting the opening to that show was.  Anyway, it was not so exciting to remove these stickers, but after several hours of sanding and spraying and scraping I prevailed.  Donovan joined in at one point to give me a break too.  I decided to paint the entire piece a neutral gray chalk paint and then the drawers in black.  I am out of black paint or might have done the entire piece black, but now am really liking the result.  I considered stripes on the front drawers but was not happy with how it was turning out. I love spray painting stencils, so after repainting the drawer fronts black again I grabbed a rubber doily like place mat that I purchased for exactly this idea, and a can of cheap gray spray paint.  I haphazardly repeated the place mat stencil on each drawer.  It is not precise and perfect (not my style or expertise for that matter), but rather has a faded, hand- made look.  Plus I knew I would be heavily distressing the dresser to let the original brown stain show through.

I have been listening to Mumford and Sons lately so I think that is where the Indie folk rock feel of this is from. It's done, I did it, and it's different.  I like to think that if Restoration Hardware, and Anthropologie had a love child, this would be it. :)
Linking with Miss Mustard Seed :)   http://missmustardseed.com/2012/10/furniture-feature-friday-link-party-favorites-6/

Greetings!  These are a few of our recent transformations. Our "afters".  It is our hope and intention to take better before and during photos so others can learn along with us on this creative journey.  Sheri and I are busy Moms of several teenage children.  About 8 months ago we decided to collaborate on a creative process.  We are hoping to expand our horizons and make a little money along the way.  It was not long before we settled on re-styling furniture.  We love the idea of up and recycling! There are so many forgotten pieces of furniture in thrift stores, basements, homes and curb side just begging for a make over.  Why purchase something new when these pieces have so much character, style, and usability left in them?  We are entirely self taught in this endeavor, pouring over  the Internet and basically working by trial and error.  We look for inspiration everywhere but would love to inspire others as well.