Hello everyone, how are things? I’m busy busy busy with a very cool new project I’m working on, I’m very excited to share it with you, that’s coming next week.  Meanwhile, you may recall this $7 thrift store chair I scored a few weeks ago.  Well lah dee dah, look at her now!

She was all by her lonesome at a local thrift store and I adored that scroll back and figured she’d be a great piece in my neighbor’s daughter’s room.  Now she’s all fancied up with some paint, new fabric, and (ooh la la) gold leaf on that gorgeous scroll.  It’s the perfect little desk chair for this space under the window. The room is mostly white and turquoise, so we were going for a dash of glam, and as always metallics will do the trick – this time it was gold leaf.

It was sanded lightly then primed with my fave primer – Zinsser Cover Stain. (You can see how gorgeous this chair would be in white too!)

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I was visiting my friend the other day and noticed an old cottage screen door sitting by the side of her house.  I said, “Whatcha gonna do with that?”  and she said “Don’t know, doesn’t fit our doorway.” and I said “It’s really cool, can I do something with it for you?” and she said, “Go for it.”  So I decided to turn it into an architectural planter rack for some herb containers. 

I also made her some cute paint can planters too – I snapped a few pics of the door turned planter rack in my yard, but it’s headed back to her house where her hub will attach it to the side of their house.  But I have to say, I’m totally smitten with this door, the pale blue paint is all chipped and crackled and old and awesome and the arched panes on top had me at hello.  I will miss it when it goes so I’ll have to visit my friend as an excuse to stare at the transformed screen door that I love so much. 

For the rosemary, basil, spearmint, cilantro and dill, I made these paint can planters with the same technique I used three years ago for these gallon size paint can planters. 

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My friend is redoing her little girl’s room and she really loves the coastal look in her  home, so when she mentioned she was redecorating, naturally I volunteered my help. 

One of her requests in her girl’s room design was to makeover the pine dresser that one of her in-laws painted for her daughter years ago.  It was a kind gesture with a *ahem* questionable result.  This is what the dresser looked like before I got my hands on it. 

Clearly someone got a little carried away with the ‘Under the Sea’ theme and then threw in some black and white action just to keep us all mesmerized. It’s not that I have a thing against tropical fish. They’re cute on canvas or in a fish tank or floating in front of my snorkel mask while I’m vacationing in Hawaii. I’m just not a fan of them on a pine dresser.  (Which one’s your favorite by the way?)

We decided to keep with the coastal theme but I transformed the dresser from a nautical no no to a more subdued Nantucket nicety with thick gray stripes running down the front.

Super cute for a little girl’s room! 

Here’s the step by step.

AS chalk paint is one of my three favorites to paint furniture with, especially when I’m going for a weathered or distressed look, so I mixed up some Old White, Paris Grey, and a little Duck Egg Blue to arrive at a bluish grayish shade for the stripes.

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My sister came to visit this past weekend and she only comes to visit a few times a year but when she does, great things happen.  Mostly she makes me do what I need to do more of these days and that is take a break from the computer to watch movies and eat cookies on the couch – she’s a good influence.  My sister and I love to watch television or movies together and to the program we always add our commentary based on our strange sense of humor. We are known to bust out in random monologues about things that are completely nonsensical to others but make perfect sense in our little world.

This information is irrelevant to today’s post but I thought I’d share anyway because what’s true is if I hadn’t finished painting the family room built-in cabinets I wrote about a few weeks ago then I’d have absolutely nothing to say to you today other than the marathon session of Downton Abbey Season Two spent with my sister this past weekend was as the kids say “epic” and as the Crawleys might say “splendid” and I’m counting the minutes until Season Three. 

Back to those cabinets. You may recall I desperately wanted to paint the built-ins white because there are no windows in this room and it felt like a cave but a certain person I’m married to was hesitant to do so. Then you faithful readers came rallying to my defense and I was emboldened and so I went ahead, trusting my instincts, and painted them white.  And here’s the best part – my mate who didn’t want to paint them at all at first, actually likes them much better now. I think you will too.

Here’s a glance at the behemoths before I pulled off the doors and painted them.

And today.

Much improved I must say.  The cabinets were primed with Zinsser oil based Cover Stain last week.

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