Convincing the Spouse

Sometimes the hardest part of a project is convincing my husband John that my fabulous idea really will turn out amazingly beautiful.  It's not that he doesn't trust my abilities to do something amazingly beautiful - he is the most supportive husband I could have ever asked for. No, I think it's more of a, "but we've owned this table/chair/dresser/desk for five years and it does it's job and it is just fine as it is."  While John may be thinking that the end table/bookshelf/lamp has been loved and appreciated for five years, I'm thinking that I did not like the paint color/lamp shade/knobs before we even brought it home. 

With such differing goals for our furniture and other home goods, you can see where I have a need to paint and sew and rearrange while John tends to just live with things.  This is the reason why I must put so much time, effort, and energy into convincing him that our side tables must be painted or that our gallery wall is just too small-scale.  I'm curious if anyone else has a spouse that likes to live with things as they are while you have a desire to make that tv console perfect.

I've learned that John needs lots of visual aids while I plead my case.  Remember those horrible end tables in our living room? He was adamantly against the idea of painting them and couldn't understand why I hated the tables so much.  I tried reasoning, begging, and bribing...and once I broke him down and we had painted them, he was in love with them.  He even went so far as to say, "Next time I need to just go with whatever you want to do - you know best." Does he remember saying that? No. I really should carry around a tape recorder.

One of our dressers

I've been talking about my desire to paint our television console for a few months and he's been ignoring me.  I've also shared with him many times about my desire to paint our bedroom furniture to help make our mix matched dressers and bedside tables fit together better. He's also poo pooed that idea. I know that I could probably beg until he consents - like I did with the living room tables - or do the project and ask for forgiveness once he sees me already painting, but I'd much rather have him excited about the project and believe that what we're doing will make our home 100 times more beautiful and comfortable.

Enter pictures. I've been collecting photos for the past month of inspiration colors and furniture that I plan on laying out nicely in front of John.  My plan is to help him visualize how a simple paint job could turn our bedroom from shouting hand me downs and thrift store to grown up and soothing cocoon.  I don't want to overwhelm John with too many options or pictures so I need your help. I'm trying to decide between painting our furniture white or gray.  The vision I have for our master bedroom is grays with pops of white and green.  We're renting right now and have white walls, but when we buy a house in the next year or two I want to paint the walls a pale gray...hence the indecision.  What do YOU think?

I'm loving this moody dark color for our bedroom furniture. I worry, though, if it would be too much with two bedside tables and two tall dressers...what do you think?

Here is a picture of white against pale gray...I love it and I know it will help John visualize the potential of our bedroom.

A softer, lighter gray bedside table. I think it may blend into our future light gray walls, though...I can picture all of our furniture painted this color, though.

I love this color with the pop of white in the knobs.

So, please vote for the color you think we should paint our furniture - white, dark gray, or light gray.

$4 Upcycled Bench

Would you mind if I brag about my husband for a second? You see, he is the most amazing guy I know.  I tend to get some crazy ideas in my head, but it is John who takes my vision and creates something amazing.  For instance, last weekend he built an amazing bench out of leftover firewood that we hadn't been able to burn through this past winter.

While cleaning up our balcony and making it beautiful for lazy summer evenings, I was quickly falling out of love with the pile of firewood I had previously been head over heels for.  I started brainstorming ways we could put the wood to use (it had been an amazing birthday present and had kept us toasty warm throughout the winter) while getting rid of it.  It was taking up valuable garden space!

In my visionary state of mind, I began seeing a rustic bench for our containers of vegetables and flowers.  I sorted through all the wood and found four legs that were the same height.  Excited, I described my dream bench and sweetly asked John to build it for me.  Wait until you see what he created!

I sanded the legs well, stripping the bark and ensuring splinters were not the consequence when touching them and John bought a piece of wood (forgive me but I have no idea the size or type of wood) for $4.

We carefully set up the piece of wood on top of the branches to ensure it would be stable and not wobbly.  When we had decided where we wanted the branches, we flipped it over so we could pencil in where they would go.

John pre-drilled the holes so the wood wouldn't split.

While he was working hard on building an amazing bench, Layla-Butt and I cheered him on.  We're great cheerleaders!

Once the branches were screwed into place, John decided the bench needed some additional support. Taking a walk through the woods behind out apartment, he found the perfect stick.

He drilled large holes and placed the sticks between the legs to stabilize the bench with wood glue.  We then used wood filler to create a seamless fit.

After staining and waterproofing, our bench was complete.

Isn't is amazing? To think we made it out of firewood and a $4 piece of wood.

It provides the perfect backdrop for our balcony and displays our container garden beautifully!  The remaining wood is neatly stacked beneath the bench until I come up with some new ideas...suggestions welcome!



 I'm linking this project to Today's Creative Blog as well as the parties listed in the party tab.

A Makeover About to Happen

I'm sure you knew a furniture makeover was imminent after I shared my obsession with staring at before and after furniture pictures (found here).  With John on Spring Break, the weather looking warm and sunny, and many kind and encouraging comments, I figured I needed to take a deep breath, put on my big girl panties, and grab a paint brush.

I'm starting small on two side tables in my living room that I have hated since the moment I shoved them into my car.  Several years ago, when John and I moved into our first apartment together, we didn't have any furniture whatsoever. Nothing, nada, ziltch.  So, I went craigslist crazy and bought the first thing I saw in all categories.  These tables were the first of the mistakes.

I am planning on painting them heirloom white, which seems to be the diyer's ideal paint.  I've wrangled my husband into sanding them and I'll begin painting them tomorrow.

I do have some questions:
     1. Oil-based primer or water-based primer?
     2. Should I try and cover up the groves with wood putty or leave them be? I really don't like the plank look and would enjoy a smooth table.

Wish me luck, I'm off to Home Depot.

Painted Furniture Eye Candy

Over the past couple months, I have been enjoying the sense of accomplishment I gain when I take something old, ho hum, or imperfect and make it new, unique, and perfect for me and my house.  As a new DIY-er, I am experimenting and learning with smaller things such as Goodwill frames, spice jars, and flower pots.

Despite the intimidation, I find myself drawn to the fabulous painted dressers, end tables, and book shelves bloggers are posting.  Oh, the colors, the boldness, the perfect before and after contrast make my heart leap for joy. I have been telling myself it's too soon, still, to try something so large and intimidating. I should stay small and focus on my spray painting skills (which need help - why does everything get bubbly??).  I can't help it, though. I keep finding my eyes wandering.

Centsational Girl is the queen of pretty painted eye candy. She transforms the ugly into the beautiful and it's breathtaking.

found at Centsational Girl

Impatiently Praying for Patience just painted this amazingly fun side table. I'm loving the little knobs she added...they pop against that green!

found at Impatiently Praying for Patience

This table tugs at me every time I glance it's way. We have a kitchen table that is almost identical, except it's an orangey-brownish finish and gross. Lilyfield Life has shown me that I could fall in love with my table again...

found at Lilyfield Life

Since every piece of our furniture is a craigslist find, nothing matches and everything is in need of beautification.  In our bedroom we have white, black, and three shades of brown. In our living room we also have three shades of brown and black.  Have I mentioned all the browns are nasty orange-brown shades? Yuck!

My list of furniture that is crying out to be painted or refinished includes:

• Bedside tables - I'd like a gray-blue or while
• Dressers - Should they match the bedside tables?
• Living room end tables - White!!!!
• Kitchen table - See above photo. Enough said.
• TV console - White or light blue

Any tips? Suggestions? Failures or successes you'd like to share?