If you are even slightly familiar with this blog and/or my Pinterest boards, you’ve noticed my obsession with bar carts. I’ve been pining away over them for years. I had plenty of bottles to fill it up with, but no cart. It took searching and lots of patience, but I finally found my perfect, vintage bar cart.
I couldn’t believe it, but the people were practically giving it away… crazy!
It was a little dusty and needed some TLC, but it was mine. One gold paint job later, and it’s one of my favorite things in the house. I topped it with a tray and a set of vintage bar glasses. Fancy, right?
And yes, my curtains have pom poms on them. That’s a whole different obsession…
I showed you my painting a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t show you where it was going – and here it is in our foyer! I think Jordan thought I was crazy when I bought this used credenza, but I knew that I had a special plan for it.
The wood matched the wood floors in the house which made it boring and bulky – definitely did not flow with my white and airy walls. After much research (aka Pinterest), I narrowed it down to stripes because of the even proportions of the drawers and doors.
And have I mentioned how much I love Annie Sloan paint? Yes, I know I have, but I must emphasize again how amazing it is to skip the sanding and priming steps when painting wood furniture. It only took two coats of paint and a poly-crylic coating on the top. If you’re in Baton Rouge, both LD Linens and The Nest carry Annie Sloan paint.
I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty obsessed with how it all came together. Next up is the dining area…
I was looking for a solution to my mounds of jewelry laying around the bathroom counter. Sure, that’s what they make jewelry bags for, but my jewelry never seems to make it back into them – especially the pieces I wear the most. After an exhaustive search, I still hadn’t found my perfect solution, so I decided to make it.
I’m sure you’ve seen the tutorials on how to make your own cake stand out of a plate and a candle holder… but I thought I’d use the same concept on a smaller level… and stacked. I found these beautiful dessert plates at an antique store for about $1 each. I picked up the ones I could find with gold edges and details.
Not so much luck with finding suitable candle holders. I needed them to be skinny, but most of the time they ended up being votive holders that were too short. Somewhere along the way, I realized shot glasses turned upside-down would be the ideal solution.
Starting with the widest plate on bottom, glue the shot glass in the middle of the plate. Add a plate on top and so on. Let it dry overnight, and then start adding your jewelry on it.
I absolutely love it. It’s a life and time saver for me in the mornings. No more digging around to find my pyramid studs or untangling my necklaces. I think if done with pretty plates, it would be a great gift idea too!
I looked everywhere for nightstands, but the look I was going for would have cost $500+ per nightstand… umm, no thanks. So I impatiently tried looking for nightstands at local thrift shops and estate sales. The only problem was finding TWO matching ones. Literally took me months. Until one fateful day, I found a listing for these two wooden end tables for $50 a piece. They were in perfect condition, but a tad too short for my bed. Luckily, I’ve been lost in Lowe’s quite a bit, so I remembered the aisle that stocks wooden dowels in various lengths… the tables were mine.
The painting process took quite a while. I had to prime and then, paint both the end tables black. I spray painted the dowels and hardware with gold Rust-Oleum spray paint. It was then time to decide whether to hand paint the drawers or spray paint them. By this time, I was so over the hand painting especially if it was going to require multiple coats. Instead, I taped off the drawers and went over with the gold spray paint again.
So here they are elevated and painted! What do you think? Full room to come…
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have already caught a glimpse of my dining chair project, but here it is from start to finish.
At this point, I’m a Craigslist professional. I know what’s good and bad and what’s worth the price, so I flipped when I saw these bamboo and leather chairs. I got them from a local restaurant that was closing. What I liked most about the chairs was the giant, leather cushion (not pictured). Leather covers meant the cushion underneath would still be in good condition. Before I bought them, I made a trip to see the chairs to find out how difficult removing and recovering the seat would be. It was as simple as removing two screws – SOLD.
The next task was figuring out what color paint and fabric to use. I finally decided on black chairs with a white table (you’ll see in another post). I found the perfect fabric – I stopped in my tracks when I saw it. It has all the colors I was looking for and is a print that mixes well with other prints.
The actual painting and reupholstering took place over the course of two different days. I needed an entire day to paint and let them dry completely. Super easy, but time consuming since you have to wait between coats. The fabric recovering was not as easy. I had to rip out all of the previous staples, take off the leather covers, then start restapling the new fabric. Three hours in, I wanted to throw the staple gun off the top of the house. Make sure you have a good staple gun!
But they are finally finished and well worth all of the effort. Since, these photos were taken, the table and other things have been added in, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise of the next project posts!
