Before and Afters Archives | Page 30 of 51

Before and Afters

One of my favorites… |

This is one of the pieces I finished yesterday… Yes. I painted it that way on purpose. That’s not the before. I’ve learned that some people get it and some people don’t! I’ve been really inspired lately by pieces that are heavily worn, distressed and chippy, so I decided to take the distressing on this piece to the extreme. And the result is one of my favorite pieces that I’ve done in a while. Here’s how it started… I did take process pictures, so I’ll share a tutorial, but as a quick rundown, I painted it in a base coat of MMSMP Grain Sack followed by the Wax Puck and Hemp Oil to act as resists. I then applied a coat of a custom mixed color – equal parts Shutter Gray and Trophy. After a heavy distressing, I finished it with Furniture Wax and a little bit of Antiquing

May 2, 2014 58 Comments

Before and Afters

1800's Linen Dresser

I hope you’re ready for some furniture makeovers, because you’re going to be seeing a lot over the next few weeks! I’ve got quite a collection growing for Lucketts. Here’s the 1800’s dresser with the amazing carved handles that I finished yesterday… It was pretty rough when I bought it, but I could see the potential… It’s painted in MMSMP Linen. The wood was very soft and porous, so it absorbed the paint well without any bonding agent. I distressed the edges and, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, added some additional texture by applying more paint in patches and drying it quickly with a hair dryer. This lent a subtle cracked and crusty look to the paint that gives it a sense of age. For the styling of this piece, I kept it monochromatic and simple with an ironstone bowl filled with wooden croquet balls and some leather

April 16, 2014 26 Comments

Before and Afters

humble upholstery & an ornate frame

This chair has been languishing in my basement for a while…almost a year, I think. Sometimes I don’t work on pieces because I’m stalling, busy, uninspired or it keeps falling to the bottom of the to-do list. I think other times, providence plays a small role. I wasn’t really sure what fabric I was going to use on this piece and was just planning on defaulting to natural hemp. Then, I found this PA grain sack at an antique store. I happened to set it on the chair and it seemed like they were meant to be together. I wasn’t sure how well the ornate frame would play with the humble grain sack, but they were perfect. Here’s what the chair looked like when I bought it. Not bad at all, but the tapestry-like fabric wasn’t my style and there was flimsy cardboard backing that I wanted to replace. The

April 14, 2014 39 Comments

Before and Afters

Finishing Projects…

Over a year ago, we installed wood floors in our bedroom and family room. We ripped out broken closet doors and baseboards. Then, we got busy. I mean, painting a piece of furniture or installing wood counters is a lot more exciting than priming a baseboard or putting in a threshold. A few months later, I was hired to do some freelance projects that involved work in the master bedroom and bath. We finished everything that would be in the photos…and nothing more. So, one half of our bedroom looked like this… …while the other half looked something like this… I’m learning that things are always going to be busy and having these unfinished projects hanging over my head was a bummer and a drain. This weekend, we had beautiful weather, a clear schedule and great motivation, so we got some things done. I mean, a lot of things. Our

April 7, 2014 34 Comments

Before and Afters

Family Room Wainscoting

I spent all day in bed yesterday…down and out with a virus or something. I was still dragging this morning, but was feeling well enough this afternoon to get my photo shoots done. Unfortunately, a photo shoot is much more involved than just snapping a few pictures. I had to finish some details in the room, clean and then style. I just chipped away at it slowly to get it done. Get ready for a lot of pictures! Here’s what the family room looks like now… And here’s a look at how far this room has come since 2009… I don’t have pictures of the other side of the room, because it had a the jump-a-roo and other baby/kids toys. We removed the fireplace a couple of years ago to make a space for a wall-mount flatscreen TV. The fireplace was massive and didn’t work, so I

March 26, 2014 90 Comments

Before and Afters

updated kitchen pictures

Before we dive into the pictures, I had to share something funny. My mom read my post from yesterday and immediately got her painting clothes ready. You see, she helps me on Wednesday nights when the boys are at Awana and she knew after reading the post that we would be painting my guest room! She knows me so well and was, of course, right. We painted most of the guest room tonight. I still need to do the dormer, ceiling and trim, but we made some good progress. It’s coming together bit by bit. I also worked on some photo shoots today. I have a freelance magazine shoot & article I’m working on as well as images for the look book and updated pictures for “my home” page on the blog. I shot some of the kitchen today… The picture above was taken today and the one below was

March 19, 2014 46 Comments

Before and Afters

"spackle dries in three minutes…"

Jeff and I got more of the family room wainscoting done last week and I got things cleaned up and “done” along that wall yesterday. Here’s how it’s looking… This is where we were in December…one curtain panel (the other was on the way), the French daybed wasn’t upholstered, etc… And here’s where we are today… With the wainscoting done, I started to play around with wall art options in my head. Do I want to leave the walls blank? Hang something above? Below? I finally settled on a row of ironstone platters on each side of the window, above AND below the trim detail. About halfway through putting nails in the wall and stepping back, I wasn’t sure if I liked it. Then I heard my dear friend Shaunna’s voice in my head. “I mean, spackle dries in three minutes, y’all.” When she visited me a few weeks ago,

March 4, 2014 99 Comments

Before and Afters

1/2 Bath Refresh

Well, today was yet another school snow day. It was a really good day, though. The boys played very well together and there was lots of laughing and toys everywhere and imaginative play. In addition to it being a delight to listen to them play, it allowed me to get some things done. I listed some more things in the online shop and packaged up most things that have sold to get ready for our shipping day tomorrow. In addition, I played around in the house a bit. I haven’t touched the half bathroom since I finished it a few years ago and I’ve been thinking it needed a little refresher. I’ve been leaning pictures against the wall in there and planning things out in my head for weeks and I was finally inspired to work on it today. Above is what it looked like when we finished the bathroom

February 5, 2014 65 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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