Fun Aqua/Turquoise Dresser

I actually passed on this cute little dresser the first time around. I saw it at the Goodwill last Wednesday. It had just arrived and did not have a price yet. The lady in green (she wears all green, only green, head-to-toe green, every single day) told me it was $15. Now, I don't know what I was thinking, but I walked away. That night I couldn't stop thinking about it and was just hoping it would still be there first thing in the morning. As I was walking (very quickly) down the aisle, I saw it was in fact still there - whew! But now it had a price - $30. Oh no! The lady in green does not work on Thursday, but I found the manager, told her my sad story and she sold me the dresser for $15 - whew again.






It started out mint green with a lovely oval of tiny twinkly stars contact paper stuck to the top.












The drawers were lined with more colorful contact paper.







The contact paper may have had something to do with my initial hesitation, but fortunately it all peeled off rather easily.

I thought this looked like a fun retro dresser that deserved a fun fresh color - a shade of aqua/turquiose.

I've been wanting to do a stencil on a piece of furniture and was just waiting to find the right piece. I had a vine stencil that I thought would work well on the drawers. Instead of stenciling across one drawer at a time, I did the center vertical row of vine, then spaced out the other rows after that.

To soften the look, I did a light sanding and brushed on my favorite glaze - a little white paint mixed into Valspar's Clear Glazing Mix. I've talked about this in detail in several recent posts in case you missed it

I added pretty oval crystal knobs and this Goodwill find took on a whole new personality!

I can't believe I almost let this one get away!

I'm linking to...

My Laundry Room

Ok, I need a painting break. How about a tour of one of my favorite rooms? Believe it or not, it's my laundry room. It's just fresh and bright and makes me happy!




I love the colors, the beadboard, the toile. I wanted the room to have a cottage garden feel.




It's pretty, but functional with tons of storage. It has two big closets, one for coats and one for serving dishes. Yes, I have a lot of them.




Between the closets is a windowseat that looks out to the front garden. I've always wanted a window seat. And it is a handy storage spot for hats, scarves and mittens. I made the window seat cushion, the pillows (the solid one is from Target) and the curtain. I picked a girly toile fabric and a coordinating checked pattern. The person who does the laundry gets to pick the fabric, right?

A comfy, cozy spot!

I love the big sink, perfect for washing up after a painting project. And there is more storage on this side of the room too. It's a great place to keep all the party and picnic stuff that you don't need every day.


A spot for pretty, fun stuff!


And of course you need a spot to hang your hat!

This sign was a gift from a friend. It has a sweet message!

It's so much easier to do the laundry in a bright, happy and organized space, don't you think? ... Thanks so much for stopping by today!

I'm linking to...

Ryan's New End Table

Ryan moved into a new house a few weeks ago. It was a short distance move, right around the corner. The new house is a little bigger and he needed a few extra pieces of furniture. He knew just the place to shop - mom's garage! It was actually a bit of a trade, as Ryan was feeling creative and made me a few birdhouses. I'll share pictures as soon as I get them painted.

Ryan lives in a cool old rowhouse in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood. It's charming! But the houses are very narrow and scale is important. He found the perfect, well almost perfect, little end table.

It was missing a little piece of wood, but that was an easy fix. Don't you love Gorilla Glue? I only recently discovered it. Not sure how I lived without it.

Ryan's living room has a very cool brick wall and lots of browns - sofa, rugs, and leather chair. A few pretty slate blue pillows really pop in the room, so that was a good color choice for the end table.

I did a light distressing and glazed it with chocolate brown. The pull got a quick spray of dark bronze. And I added a special touch just for Ryan - a map of Baltimore lines the drawer. Ryan loves maps and living in the city. ... I like lining drawers on these small pieces. It just makes them a little more special.

Ryan, I hope you like your new end table!




I'm linking to...

Doors, Doors and More Doors!

Believe it or not, I did not go to a single yard sale this weekend. I've been hitting the sales pretty hard this summer and have accumulated quite a collection of good stuff, most of it furniture in need of a fresh coat of paint (if only it were that simple). The problem is that I'm accumulating faster than I can paint. So, my weekend was spent in the garage. I was very productive, but all the while, I was imagining all the great finds I was missing.




Now Karla, my friend and partner at Elizabeth & Co., was not home painting. She was out there making deals and snatching up the great finds!









On Thursday evening, Karla saw an ad in the paper for a yard sale that started on Friday morning. It didn't sound all that interesting, except right in the middle of the ad it said antique doors. Now that got her attention. There was also a phone number, so she thought she'd call ahead just to inquire about the doors. The seller said they were already setting up and Karla was welcome to come on over and check out the doors for herself. Needless to say, she did not hesitate.













Well, first of all, there was a barn - we love that! And out of the barn came 16 fabulous old doors!!! The doors came in all sizes, shapes, colors and with all sorts of different hardware and degrees of chippy paint. That's enough to make a girl weak in the knees.










The seller said the price for the solid doors was $15 each and the price of the doors with glass was $25 each. A bit pricey, but Karla had already spied a few favorites. She settled on two doors, paid the man $40 and headed home.









But as often happens, she had another thought. Maybe she should go back for just one more door. ... OK, one more solid door and another $15. Done. ... But as she looked longingly at the doors left behind, the seller said, "Ok, another $50 and you can have all the doors."





That's right, all 16 doors for $105. That's just $6.50 per door - a far cry from the initial asking price! And to top it off, he offered to deliver them to her house!!!






And when he made the delivery, he brought her an extra lockset, just for good measure.





Good thing I stayed home this weekend. Nothing was going to top this deal!






And lesson learned, if you see something that sounds interesting and a phone number is included - call ahead. They put a phone number in the ad for a reason. Maybe you'll get an early bird special too! ..... I wonder what he told the people who showed up on Friday morning expecting to buy some antique doors.






Great find Karla!