Bedroom Update...

Well, the headboard is in the room!  It may be a bit too tall - I'm still considering whether I want to chop a few inches off the legs!  If you have a thought about it, share it with me!  In any case, I love it.

Disregard these pillows!
The big ones will be recovered, and I have some pretty, small throw pillows just waiting .

My bed is the kind where the foot and head of the bed moves up and down, it's old and it's lower than most beds these days.  I had a 3" topper on it and I liked the height, but the topper wasn't very comfortable, so I went back to my low mattress.  Instead of chopping off a few inches, though, I just learned that Temperpedic does sell something that you add to the legs to increase the height.
Maybe I'll do that...

And, today I started on the nightstands.
Because there's not a darned thing wrong with these nightstands I've been putting off doing anything to them.  But, today I told myself to get a grip and just do it!  They're only nightstands, what's the worst that could happen?  My answer was that if I really screwed them up and just hated them, I'd take a trip to the thrift store and find something that I could live with.
So there - problem solved.




Still, that first coat of paint looked mighty scary!

First things first though, I had to get the drawers out of the thing - and what a struggle that was.  When the scrapes on my knuckles  started bleeding I was almost ready to give up and just paint it with the drawers still in it.  A piece of tape over the top of my hand solved the problem and I was able to pull hard on the drawer while holding down the little metal tab thingy that pops up to hold the drawer in.  Voila!  the drawer flew out - and just a tiny bit of blood was lost!

I don't have much patience-really, almost none at all when it comes to finishing, but today I really tried to slow my painting process down.  I do want the finish to last (unless I really hate it, then I'll want to sand it all off really fast!!).  So, after rubbing a deglossing compound all over everything, then cleaning all of the deglosser off the pieces, I was ready for the first coat of paint.

I used this 

NO!  Not really.  I love yellow, but this is just too yellow even for me.

This is what I'm using.  It doesn't look yellow in this picture (taken from the Home Depot site), but it is a pretty, soft yellow called "Straw flower"  - even the name is pretty.

And, if you've never used one of these when using a can of spray paint, you should run - don't walk - to get one.  They make using spray cans so much easier!

And, then I had this

 See, that first coat really was scary!  

But, after about 8 very light coats, I had this!

 And, this.

A satiny finish that just needs a very slight sanding.  

Tomorrow I'll tackle nightstand #2, and add some slight distressing to the edges.  I can't wait to get them done and back in my room (it's a mess right now with the stuff from just this one nightstand spread all over the bed and floor!).

Oh, see that thing in the background?  I'm going to tell you all about that just after I fix myself something for dinner-or maybe tomorrow morning!  Depends on whether I have a glass of wine with dinner - hmmm, probably tomorrow morning.  It's a fun thing and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

It's time...

I'm antsy to change up my bedroom.

I love the color, kind of an "artichoke" green.  Totally different than my usual basic beige!  I decided to keep that green and work with it!

Years ago I made drapes for our family room in our San Dimas home.  I fell in love with the soft yellow/tan color with the large pattern of tropical flowers in muted rusts and greens.  When the sun shines through the fabric the color is just amazing!  They always cheered me up!  So, I remade them to fit the slider in my bedroom.  I love them!

You can the drapes in this picture.  And the color of the walls (sort of).  Pretty, right?

I moved the large entertainment cabinets to my friend's consignment shop.  I hope they sell, but in the meantime, they are out of my house!  And, I moved in the dresser that has been with me for over 38 years.  Don and I purchased the dresser from an elderly lady (looking back, she was probably my age!) who said that she and her husband had purchased it new over 35 years before.  So, although I wouldn't give it antique status, it is old!  Most importantly though, I still love it.  It is deep with very large, deep drawers.  Over the years, it's been used in many different bedrooms, and even as a TV console in our living room.  And, it looked like it had been well "loved".  I thought about painting it but just couldn't bring myself to paint over the beautiful veneer work.  Sooooo, I glued up a few loose pieces, sanded it a bit, and rubbed on a coat of stain and then rubbed in a polyurethane finish.  It's almost like new.  The color is warm with tones of light gold and burnished reds and oranges.  And, it looks like it has a hand rubbed finish.

This picture is not great, but you get an idea of the veneer work.  What you can't get is a good feeling for the size of this beauty.  I could probably store 10 pairs of jeans in that bottom drawer!  And, aren't those legs lovely?

Isn't that finish pretty with the sun shining on it?

   

I created a little reading nook with a big comfy table and my little table that I made (similar to one that I'd seen, and liked a lot, at Pottery Barn .

I made a headboard and then wasn't sure that I wanted it in my room.  I thought maybe an upholstered headboard was more what I wanted.  But, I was wrong!  I decided to finish the headboard with the same stain I used to renew my dresser.  The colors are just so warm and comfortable.  The finish on the headboard is, of course, not exactly the same as the dresser.  They're made of different woods, and the headboard lumber was raw to begin with.  But, I love the way the colors play off each other.  I'll upholster a headboard another day!

  

And, now I'm left with my night stands.  There's nothing at all wrong with them.  And in fact, I like them.  They each have two small drawers and a hidden drawer.  And, they are the perfect size in height, width and depth.  But, they are the same merlot colored finish as the big entertainment cabinets, and I'm just done with that.  My plan is to paint them.  I plan to use a straw colored yellow, then sand the edges and some of the flat surfaces, add some glaze and distress them.  Not too much distressing, just enough to give them some character!  That's the plan.  

But, you know what they say about the best laid plans...