Furniture

Mother’s Day, and a Hutch.

May 13, 2013 by Christa 1 Comment

I hope all you Moms had a wonderful day on Sunday! My kids and hubby were super sweet to me for Mom’s Day…I was woken to my favorite breakfast in bed with scrambled eggs, grapefruit, and coffee. I received beautiful poetry from Kassidy, a really cool Facebook post from Chloe, and a hand sculpted clay bowl with a momma bird and her eggs, meticulously painted and dried, from Kate. We got ready, went to church, came home, and prepped food to celebrate my wonderful Mom with a family BBQ. It was a fabulous day!

Every year I like to “give” something to myself for Mom’s Day. It usually requires a bit of effort, and is far from a pedicure or a massage. This year, my gift to myself was to refinish this thrifty Craigslist hutch that I brought home several weeks ago. It turned out very farmhouse-y and rustic; like the modern farmhouse style I’m working on here, (since I’ve always wanted to get out of the city and live in the country). I started and finished the hutch on Saturday so that I could stare at and enjoy it on Mother’s Day. I’m weird like that. I will be back to share the completed farmhouse hutch soon! (pssst…I’m working on a downloadable step by step tutorial.)

Filed Under: About Me, Before and After, Do it Yourself, Furniture, Home Decor, My Home, Thrifting

Check out our new kitchen stools!

April 25, 2013 by Christa 14 Comments

We’ve been on a counter stool hunt for quite some time. The island needed something in front of it, and the girls needed another spot for homework or eating. The problem we kept running into was that all the ones we liked were bar stool height. We thought about going with these – this one is from Kevin’s office drafting table:

We liked them okay…they are cute, but the metal was too noisy on the tile, and a bit too industrial for this room. One night I went online at World Market and found one I really liked, AND they were marked down 1/2 price at only $45 apiece. Ka-ching! They come in a few fun colors, too. The one review said they were difficult to put together and they tipped over easily. Also, they are on clearance, so I was a little doubtful. But, the cheapskate in me won and had us at Cost Plus within the hour.

They did require some leveling which Kevin was able to do. I guess they could be considered a bit tipsy like the one reviewer said, but it wasn’t a big concern for us. The problem we had was that they were too high for our counter. But I loooved them! We stood there and stared, trying to convince ourselves the height was fine. Then, we looked at the legs. They had spindles, which meant we could cut them down to size.

And so, we, er, Kevin, cut then down with his table saw.

Here are the heights, before and after:

They fit perfectly! Of course, cutting the legs of stools won’t work for all types of stools, but with some creativity and an eye for the one you like you might be able to make it work. Kevin’s architectural eye says they especially work because each one fits right outside of or in between the pendant lights. And so, we have one more thing checked off the house list. Woot!

Filed Under: Finding Furniture, Furniture, Home Decor, My Home

Kassidy’s room

April 12, 2013 by Christa Leave a Comment

I’ve had requests to see some of the rest of our house, even though most rooms are in a state of flux. In our quest to begin tackling our to-do list, we worked on Kassidy’s room this week. I had originally painted this CL bed for her, thinking it would work well for her room, but the foot board recently broke off. Rather than finding a quality solution for repairing it, we decided to get her something less bulky. In general, the bed was out of scale for her room. Here is what it was before it was broken:

After:

So, we bought her a new bed at Ikea for $99. (Wall color is BM Folk Art, Bedding – Target, Lamps -Ikea).

Better, huh? Of course, a room always looks better without cups on nightstands and laundry on the floor . Her sisters like the bed so much that they want me to sell theirs and get them the same one. If you’ve read my blog for long, you may remember seeing the same bed when I converted our playroom into a guest bedroom (wall color: SW Believable Buff). Seriously. This bed can work with any style.

I will never get rid of these animal prints. Someday, my grand babies will enjoy them. One of the many, many things I love about Kassidy is her spirit of contentment. When she outgrows something, either I have to notice or she will tell me when she truly does need something. I love it when out of the blue she smiles and says, “mmmm, I’m happy.” She’s so laid back that way, but we also joke that she could easily be secretary to the President as she has our social agendas planned and memorized down to the minute. Anyway, she’s had the above animal print pictures since she was 3 years old! She still loves them and has no plans on me changing them in the near future. I got the prints through Art.com and bought the frames at an Aaron Brothers two-for-one sale so it was a cheap solution that has lasted us for over 8 years. I just asked her the other day if she still loved them, and yep, she does! Of course, all of our girls have their own strengths and all are special in their own way. We just breathe them in and celebrate them as much as possible…

Kassidy also doesn’t mind me buying and refinishing Craigslist furniture for her. I bought her dresser and two nightstands on CL for less than $150. When I asked her if she’d like some pretty glass knobs for her nightstand she said “Actually, I’m happy with these.” “Okay, well….would you like me to take you to Hobby Lobby and you can pick out any kind of knob?” “Yeah, that would be fun.” Her love language is quality time. Precious. So knob shopping we will go.

Anyone out their have this bed, too? Also, what are your art sources and secrets for adding character to your walls without breaking the bank?

Filed Under: Before and After, Do it Yourself, Family, Furniture, Home Decor, My Home, Paint Colors, Uncategorized

The Patio Table in Progress

March 15, 2013 by Christa @ Stories of a House 11 Comments

We have been looking for an affordable patio table for over a year now ~ something durable that didn’t cost a fortune. Until this weekend, we weren’t sure we’d ever find something that fit that criteria, but then the heavens opened and I found this massive farm style, pine plank table. We bought it for $1300 less than the owners said they paid for it. We actually bought it for less than the materials would have cost us to build. We know this after building our DIY farmhouse table. Plus, this thing weighs two tons. I could barely lift the corners up myself to lay something down prior to staining and sealing.

As you can see, it had been sitting outside but hadn’t been properly sealed for outdoor use. I went through a lot of electric sandpaper to get it smooth and ready to stain.

After sanding an re-staining:

Here is a quick before and after peak of the finish:

I’ll post the final “after” and also more details on how I’ve prepared the table for lots of wear and tear, soon.

Filed Under: Before and After, Do it Yourself, Finding Furniture, Furniture, Home Decor, My Home, Table and Chair Sets, Wood Finishing

A Modern Vintage Dresser

March 12, 2013 by Christa @ Stories of a House 8 Comments

This weekend Kevin helped me out and brought home a couple of dressers for me to work on. Had I been with him I wouldn’t have bought this one, but it’s a long story and he ended up bringing home both. This one needed a ton of prep, but in the end it came out sooooo pretty. It is currently listed on Craigslist in Phoenix.

Before:

After:

I found the new hardware on clearance at Target, and had some SW Dover White on hand that I wanted to use up. It is another pretty, creamy white that I would definitely recommend and use again. I primed and sanded and primed and sanded the heck out of this piece, but the end result is a super smooth finish that will look great in many different places and spaces.

We are also giving our back patio some much needed attention. I found an enormous table with two unique benches made out of reclaimed wood on CL that I’ll be finishing to endure the heat, cold, and rain here. We strung white lights overhead and are looking forward to dinners and parties with friends and family out there. I’ll post as it all comes together. Have a wonderful day!

Filed Under: Antiques, Before and After, Furniture, Paint Colors, Thrifting

Cottage Gray Chest of Drawers

March 5, 2013 by Christa @ Stories of a House 10 Comments

Hey strangers! It was so nice to be in my shop this week, working on furniture again. I’m just about done painting all the cabinets in the house – a task I’ve grown to dislike very much, hence the procrastination to finally complete it. I forgot how much I enjoy the process of repairing and painting furniture to be enjoyed again for years to come.

I’ve had this antique chest of drawers sitting around for a while. I was tempted several times to just take it to the dump because of how many repairs it needed. But, I decided to go ahead and try to make it sound again, and am glad I did.The repairs and prep work only took me a few hours and I love the finished piece. I chose a Behr color called”Silver.” I usually don’t use Behr paint but Home Depot was close to home so I went for it. I replaced the old knobs and handles with an updated modern version. Here is the before and after:

I’m off to find some more furniture in need of a facelift. Hope to be back soon!

Filed Under: Antiques, Before and After, Do it Yourself, Furniture

Our diy farmhouse table

November 27, 2012 by Christa @ Stories of a House 16 Comments

We are so happy to have the folding kitchen table back in the garage and our homemade Farmhouse table finished! First, Kevin designed our vision on Autocad and this was that look we were after:

He spent a couple of days building it and I spent a couple of days finishing the top and painting the base and here is what we have now…we LOVE it!

I found the two Pottery Barn Windsor arm chairs on Craigslist, and the four side chairs on a Craigslist as well – which I plan to paint and distress to match. Now that I look at this photo, everything in this room is either homemade, from Craigslist or Goodwill, and most of it refinished from home.

Here are a couple of shots of the building process. Kevin dealt with a lot of warped pine and I dealt with a lot of cracks to fill with glue and sawdust before staining the top. The sanding alone took me an entire day to get it smooth and ready for staining and sealing. The stain I chose was Minwax Jacobean, but first I rubbed on a stain conditioner per the directions to prevent blotchiness. It turned out very rustic and gorgeous! The final finish is the same one I used here.

We have a ton of shots of the building process, but right now Kevin is job hunting. However, if he gets a chance to give more details on how he put it together, he will do it!

Back to the table, we purchased the chunky legs online from Osbornewood.com and the customer service was excellent.

Kevin built the table skirt himself.

We love the light and dark effects with the knots and where the cracks were filled with glue and sand dust.

One final shot of using our table for the first time on Thanksgiving. We look forward to many more holidays, family dinners, and game nights around this table.

Filed Under: Before and After, Do it Yourself, Furniture, Home Decor, My Home, Table and Chair Sets, Wood Finishing

Pale Tiffany Blue Antique Chest

November 13, 2012 by Christa @ Stories of a House 13 Comments

I took a break from working on the house to refinish this cute antique dresser. I jotted down the paint formula from a blog and I wish I could remember where! It is like a robin’s egg blue but reminds me of a pale blue Tiffany box. I just love it. Definitely not as gray-blue as it shows in my lighting.

Here is what it looked like when I found it. The veneer on the top was missing so I had to fill and paint rather than refinish it. I love the end result without the refinished top after all.

After the makeover. So darling in person!

It had all the original hardware. I just gave it a spritz of satin nickel to bling it up, and lightly distressed the edges. What a great piece for a nursery, a girl’ room or a shabby chic guest room.

For AZ locals, shoot me an email if you are interested.

Today I spent the ENTIRE day in my shop sanding and prepping our homemade farmhouse table. It’ll take me a few days to finish it but I’m excited about the possible end result. I sure hope it turns out…I need it done by Thanksgiving!

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