house projects

i finished up a few house projects that i think you might enjoy seeing. since our present living situation is a rental property, there is only so much i can do to satisfy my love of making a house a home. even though a rental, i feel sure that if i only lived here a few months, i would still need it to feel like “my” home. and since we’re going on a year, without a plan as of now to change that in the very near future, there were a few things that i was wanting to do to continue to make this place feel updated and home-y.

you might’ve seen a few months back my tutorial on glazing furniture…where i showed you this piece that i painted and glazed:
i SO fell in love with that outcome, that i just had to do it to one more piece.

remember this eyesore??

i bought it years ago at GoodWill for $25. i found this pic that i had taken with my phone at the time from the store as i was debating:

a) whether or not i wanted it
b) how the heck i was gonna get it home
it was a nasty old TV cabinet…but i saw hidden beauty. (actually…i saw the ability to store and organize all my serving dishes and platters and plates…cause i love me some service wear!!!)

the hubs recruited a few strong high school boys (one of the pluses of being a youth pastor at the time) and they used a trailer and brought it home for me.

i did an awful job of painting it black…without sanding or priming, mind you. what was i thinking??

this is what it used to look like in our old house (somehow i can only find pics of this piece from past parties!):
it has definitely served its purpose of storage, but it never really looked all that great.

so we revamped it a few weeks ago, and i’m telling you…it changes everything!!!
the piece was just boring straight lines, and if i have a say, i personally prefer lots of details and curves to my furniture. so we decided to add some…
using a handy hand saw and miter block:
i cut pieces of thin decorative trim that i bought at Home Depot, glued those bad boys to the edges of my piece, and then tacked them in with small nails: ( i only did this after priming because i didn’t think of adding the trim until after i had already primed. i would attach the pieces before priming and prime them all together at the same time if you attempt)
we then applied 2 coats of paint, (Martha Stewart’s Bedford Grey, lightened by 50%…the same as the piece in the tutorial) and then applied the glaze (the same way it was done in the tutorial):
i then stapled burlap to the back, to give it a more tailored, finished look:
the decorative trim adds just the right amount of detail, and helps the walnut glaze to really pop…a nice way to personalize and update this piece for a very small amount of $$$:

i’m pretty happy with the results!
a piece that once seemed out of place and weighty now serves to really brighten up the space:
(now if only i could figure out something great to do with that table and chairs!! i’m still secretly holding out that the hubs will build me a farmhouse table and bench…a girl can dream, can’t she??)

and since we’re talking house projects, we added some shelves behind our couch too:
i had been inspired by this photo from Pottery Barn that i saw on none other than Pinterest:
being the lover of photography that i am, i wanted a way to display more pictures. i started searching for shelving options, and IKEA’s Lack shelves seemed to be a great option…simple, straight, enough room to display lots of things…and all things IKEA are usually affordable.

however, because i’m used to IKEA being right in line with my budget, i was more than disappointed to find that these shelves were significantly out of my budget. not that they are expensive…they just were more than what i was thinking they might be.

so i decided i would make them. yes…i was gonna make them.

but…i think God might’ve known ahead of time that that could’ve ended in disaster, mixed with a big mess and lots of tears…

so he sent me some off Craigslist instead! my sister in law happened to find the exact IKEA Lack shelves for me from a local seller on Craigslist, for less than half the price. i snagged them up right away:
i only had to purchase one frame…an 11×14, and i got it for $5.60 at Joann’s during a 65% off after Thanksgiving sale. the rest i had and a few i just spray painted black to match. i loaded them up with pictures (you’ll see more details on those pictures before too long), and love the way it all turned out!!

now if only i could replace those couches…they’ve had a lot of love over the years…can you tell??!!