Stories Of A House

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

How to modernize a gold mirror

January 13, 2013 by Christa @ Stories of a House 7 Comments

I haven’t posted lately about the little projects I’ve done around the house. I’ve mostly been repurposing and repainting things we already have to make it work in our current space and decor. This gold mirror worked well with the decor in the last house, but it doesn’t work with the vibe I am looking for in this house. Since I didn’t want to just give it away, I gave it a makeover for my teen daughter’s bedroom.

Getting into all the little swirly parts was tricky even with a paint sprayer, but with some patience it eventually covered just fine. It looks great on my daughter’s wall and it didn’t cost a thing! I’m motivated to repurpose several other mirrors around here for a no-cost solution to empty wall space.

Filed Under: Before and After, Do it Yourself, Home Decor, My Home

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!

Linking to:

Be inspired @ Elizabeth and Co.

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

The Finished Kitchen

October 15, 2012 by Christa @ Stories of a House 20 Comments

We’ve put all the finishing touches on the kitchen cabinets and are finally enjoying our kitchen! It took us a while to get all the trim work, cabinet feet, and hardware ordered and installed as life is so busy, but we are finally there. Here is what we started with. The cabinets were nice to begin with, but as you know, I love white kitchens…

After…I can’t begin to tell you how much lighter and brighter this room is now.

We also demolished the tile around the kitchen sink to add two drawers, and a trash and recycle bin.

Before:

I was briefly unsettled when Kevin took a sledge hammer to it, hoping the installation went okay.

But, it turned out great, phew! (And, the dog hasn’t figured out how to open the trash bin yet like she did in the last house.)

I painted the toe kicks black and added bun feet to the cabinets so they look more like furniture than builder-basic cabinets. We protected everything with tape & plastic and used black spray paint with a spray sealer.

I also painted the pantry door and french doors to the backyard black then added black hardware to tie it all together.

We still have many more projects in the works to make this house a home!

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

My love of white kitchens

September 19, 2012 by Christa @ Stories of a House 7 Comments

I’ve done many white kitchens in the past and I never tire of the look of them. They just seem timeless to me.

I had the opportunity to paint my parents’ oak kitchen cabinets white and when I am over there I always admire how much they brighten up their space. I finally got around to taking an after picture the other day at my sister in law’s baby shower. Here are some “during” pictures as I forgot to take some shots before I got started:

And after:

I love the black hardware against the white for contrast. (I used Benjamin Moore Aura paint in Acadia White.)

On another note, I’m very excited that Kevin and I are going to be building our farmhouse kitchen table soon. He drew up a plan of what we’ve been talking about and here is what we are thinking it will look like:

It’ll take us a few weeks but hopefully I’ll have the after pictures to share sooner than later. I recently finished painting my kitchen cabinet casings (again) and am working on the doors and drawers so there are a lot projects going on at once! Oh, the joys of being a DIY’er and a nester. The projects never end!

Filed Under: About Me, Before and After, Cabinetry, Do it Yourself, Home Decor, My Home, Paint Colors, Table and Chair Sets

~ Our cute little family room ~

September 17, 2012 by Christa @ Stories of a House 15 Comments

I’m not exactly making the progress I thought I would over here, my friends. But, the family room is shaping up and I’ll take what I can get! This is the view from the kitchen. I’m so happy with the wall colors we chose (Frazee Keratin is the main house color), our homemaid built-in entertainment center, pendants from Lowes, and our slipcovered sofa and loveseat in off-white. I have a feeling they will be washed often. I may have ~~begged~~ asked the girls to keep the dirt on the down-low or lay a blanket down so I don’t have to wash them as often as they aren’t easy to put on! (Unless my pal Sausha can tell me what I’m doing wrong – her slipcovers always look perfect!) Call me lazy, I guess. I don’t like doing laundry but I sure do like clean stuff.

We are soon getting started on building our own farmhouse style table that will be situated to the right of the view of this picture. I bought some chairs on CL that I may or may not paint (Not these ones – I just sold them today as I found better ones for our space yesterday. Kevin and I really enjoy working on stuff together so I can’t wait to share all the details of our table and chairs. We’ve been brainstorming ideas for a month and think we have it figured out, yay!