Guest Room: Part 2

The big news around here is that today we found out we are having a girl! We are very excited.

But on back to the guest room. Last time I discussed the stripes on the wall. This time it's all about the furniture. Mainly the free furniture that got refinished for this room.

When Jeff and I lived in an apartment we found a chair out by the dumpster. I thought "I could refinish that chair. It's a perfectly good chair." But it sat in our apartment for 2 years and never got refinished or sat on because it had nails sticking out of the seat.


Last summer I finally refinished it. I sanded it down and painted most of it black, save for the detail on the back which got painted with the same green used as a stripe on the walls. I then used a high-gloss polyurethane coat to protect it.

The chair pad got trashed, but I saved the wooden seat. I bought a new pad at JoAnn's, cut it to size and stapled some quilting fabric (also from JoAnn's) to the seat. And voila.


Then one day shortly after we moved to our house we were driving through an adjacent rich neighborhood and I saw this nightstand on the side of the road. It was just my style. We are now officially the type of people who dumpster dive and pick through people's trash on the side of the road.


I used the same technique as the chair; sanded, painted, polyurethaned. The wood probably could have been refinished to look really pretty, but I wanted it to match the chair and I wanted a kind of high-gloss mod look.


(Note: I framed a little extra piece of fabric from the chair to hang on the wall to tie it all together)

I love the custom and consistent look of the furniture in this room. The styles are different, but I love that slightly eclectic look.

Coveting

In college I got it in my head that I wanted - NEEDED - a laminate-topped, tubular steel, retro kitchen table, like the one that had sat in my Granny's home for 40+ years. I had no idea how I was going to procure one, but it must have been in the stars, because one Saturday my junior year, my roommate and I were at a flea market and she spotted one being used as a display for a merchant's wares. She haggled with him and threatened to walk away this instant, until he finally agreed to let me have it... for $40. I know, clearly I have an issue with "overspending" on furniture.

The table came with 4 disgusting vinyl covered chairs which I took home and re-covered, but eventually discarded. I took some steel wool and dish soap to the table and cleaned it up until it was shining again. I loved loved loved that table (still do!). I've never seen another in that style that I like as much.

It still currently resides with me, along with 4 chairs from Target that I got for $25 each.


It has fit perfectly into every apartment I've lived in, but now I have a little more room. And now when we have dinner guests there is barely enough room for 4 plates, let alone drinks and silverware!

So, while I love my retro table, I long to replace it with a chunky farm table. A farm table with a matching bench and seating for six. My mouth is watering just imagining it. The table I lust after is this Pacifica Table from Crate and Barrel (in the 60" version).


Possibly with some white wooden chairs like these from West Elm


I've sold Jeff on the idea, now I just need to save my pennies.

Our First DIY Project

Before we bought our house I found this dresser at a garage sale. It was $15, but by the way Jeff and I discussed it, you might have thought it was $115. We just weren't sure there was room in our 2 bedroom apartment.

I loved the retro-feel; the slight curve of the drawers and the spindle legs (not pictured above). And I love finding inexpensive furniture in good condition that I can really make my own.

I imagined stripping it and refinishing it, until I realized the top was laminate and the drawers were just veneer. So we decided to paint it, and for reasons I cannot remember we decided on a bold orangey-red - Sherwin Williams "Red Cent."

It was the first DIY project Jeff and I tackled together. We did it in my parent's garage, and I impressed upon Jeff all of my knowledge of furniture refinishing.

She sat perfectly in a nook in the dining area of our apartment for a few years, and I was nervous when we moved to our house because I knew I wanted to paint the wall in our dining room where it would sit green. I wasn't sure how that would look, but I think it works. It's a happy pop of color, and all told we only spent about $40 on it. I use it to store odds and ends that don't fit in our kitchen cabinets: dish towels, wine openers, note pads, etc.