Furniture Makeovers Archives | Page 17 of 110

Furniture Makeovers

All Things Home

double-welting tutorial

Well, it only took six months, but I finally finished the “deconstructed chair“! If you think I always plow through my to-do list and nothing languishes, well, the fact this took me six months should make you feel better. There are times when I drag my feet, lack motivation, or I’m simply not in the mood. And upholstery is something I really need to be in the mood for. So, for those who haven’t seen this chair along the way, here is how it looked shortly after I acquired it. It was upholstered in a tattered, threadbare pink silk fabric that was stripped off pretty quickly. I really liked how it looked with just the muslin and burlap, but it was just a little too far gone. It was shedding horse hair stuffing and burlap fibers like crazy and just wasn’t going be functional at all. Despite what my husband thinks,

January 4, 2017 36 Comments

All Things Home

a grain bin turned coffee table

When I shared the industrial-style coffee table a few months ago, some of you called it. It just didn’t work with my style. While I like the table a lot and it was very functional, it was too large for the space and the longer I lived with it, the more it felt off with everything else in the room. Great piece, wrong space. Since I realized that, I’ve been looking around at antique stores and craigslist for something to replace it, but pieces were either the wrong size, wrong style, etc. I finally came across an old grain bin on craigslist. It was a little longer than what I was looking for, but otherwise the dimensions were perfect. It wasn’t blue, either, but it was really old, had a lot of character, and, at $105, the price was right. After thinking if over for a few days (and seeing that

December 9, 2016 81 Comments

All Things Home

my new creative workspace

Yesterday, I was a determined woman. Despite the gloomy weather, I was in the mood to organize, purge, and get my creative space put together. We have organized and cleaned out the studio here and there, but we haven’t picked through each bin and each drawer, keeping only the things that are really used. It was time. It was long past time. Kriste and I worked together, emptying out the contents of bins, drawers, cabinets, and cubbies, and grouped like things together, so we could actually see everything and make more informed decisions about what to get rid of and where a group of items should be stored. We found all sorts of fun and useful stuff that I entirely forgot I had and we also found eight trash bags full of completely superfluous stuff that I gleefully hauled to the dumpster. (We also found some things that other people might want that we’ll list

December 8, 2016 42 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

there is a time & place for spray paint

I am just going to admit it. I am a bit of a paint snob. That is probably not a huge surprise to anyone, since I am an unabashed paint enthusiast and, therefore, I am a bit picky about my paints. That being said, even though milk paint has my heart, I do use other paints on occasion, like latex for walls and trim, acrylic for some hand painting, and I even have a few cans of spray paint on my shelf. I cringe at the idea of using a can of spray paint on an entire piece of furniture (yes, dad, like your desk), but there is a time and a place for spray paint. When I was looking for casters for the art cabinet, I was really hoping to find some vintage or antique cast iron wheels…some that would work with the hardware I selected and would be sturdy

December 1, 2016 9 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

The art cabinet makeover

The art cabinet is finished! In case you forgot (or missed it), here is how it looked when I bought it… It was charming as is, but it was a bit orange for me and I had a “vision” for it. You can see more details on the before HERE and the pieces that inspired me HERE. Finding really cool hardware was a key part of executing my vision. I sourced these cast iron pulls from England on … They were the perfect hardware to dress up the drawers. It was a little tricky installing them, though! The drawer dimensions were irregular and several were broken, so I had to eyeball a lot of the pulls, hoping they were lined up and level. I painted the cabinet in MMS Milk Paint Grain Sack. I didn’t sand or prep the piece and I ended up with a lot more chipping than I wanted! I paint a

November 22, 2016 40 Comments

Before and Afters

Angie’s Landscape Dresser

Let me start by saying that I rarely accept custom work, but this one just felt right. Angie, the client, said I could just do what I do and her only request was that I “add critters”. She also wasn’t in a rush, so I was able to work on it when I had time and as inspiration struck. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Farmhouse White to give a blank white “canvas” for the landscape. I decided to paint this one almost entirely with milk paint. I have been mixing acrylics into the other dressers I’ve done, but I wanted to keep these colors very soft. I also wanted to do the landscape primarily in blues and green/blues. I used Eulalie’s Sky, Shutter Gray, and Farmhouse White for the clouds, Flow Blue, Trophy and Shutter Gray for the mountains, Boxwood, Lucketts

November 20, 2016 37 Comments

All Things Home

patience pays off

Usually, when I am dragging my feet on a project, it’s because 1.) I’m not 100% sure of the direction I want to go, 2.) I know what I’d like to do, but the execution of it is going to be tedious, and/or 3.) I question whether I can pull off what I envision. There are times when I bulldoze through, anyway, just for the sake of being done. Historically, that doesn’t work out well for me or the project. So, I’ve learned that these roadblocks are generally a good thing and I just need to be patient until I can move forward confidently. That’s exactly why this chair has taken me months! Well, I was busy with other things also, but I really could’ve had this chair done a long time ago. I just kept getting stuck and I really wanted this chair to turn out well, so I kept

November 15, 2016 37 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

it gets worse before it gets better…

I took some time the day before I left for Montana to work on my “new” art cabinet. The hardware I ordered off of Etsy had arrived and I was eager to start transforming it. I also added some antique wheels that I picked up at a local antique store. I wanted something unique, but I’m still deciding if I like these or not. I’ll reserve judgement until it’s all done, though. Casters are easy to change out and I can always use these for another project if I decide not to use them on this piece. Here is how the piece looked with the hardware and label holders removed. I decided to paint the piece in MMS Milk Paint Grain Sack, leaving the top wood. I usually paint pieces with the drawer in, but the drawers had quite an overlap, so they needed to be removed. Since there

November 14, 2016 25 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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