I’m gonna get down to a little painting and gardening this weekend. Maybe even another re-upholstery task. What Can I say….The sun is shining and I’m motivated.
What are you up To?
Here’s a cool vintage poster (undated) from Benjamin Moore…You see! Peeps have doing this DIY thing forever!
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Hi again, so glad you came over to check out my progress in the One Room Challenge! What is it? It’s 20 design bloggers finishing a room start to finish in 6 weeks. You can catch up on my posts here.
Holy Cow! It’s getting close to finished. The Girl Glam Apartment is totally coming together and this week I want to show you the dresser my client and I re-painted and installed as extra storage and a pretty perch for her TV! Here’s how it looks today…
I brought her some colour samples on a board and some inspiration pics…I think they scared her a bit…what is this crazy decorator trying to do? But after a few days living with the samples she decided on Peacock Blue Benjamin Moore 2049-40. Yay!
She painted the dresser and here it is delivered and ready to stain. Nice work Chiquita! (Good Tip: when you paint a dresser make some kind of temporary knob through the hole so you can open the drawers. I used wired twine.) Bah bad iPhone pic.
I don’t know what I have against flat paint finishes…but lately I have to rub something on top of everything I paint. I just can’t leave it be. My client was OK with this, I swear.
I found a blue water based stain and thought YES! So I tried it and it really popped the peacock into overdrive. So in the spirit of more is more. I rubbed that whole sucker with the blue stain. Not just the edges. The top, the drawer fronts..the whole enchilada. Too much coffee? Maybe…
You can really see the colour difference between the unstained top and the rest in this shot…Holy…Am I really doing this???$^$%&@$%&@$
Although the colour looks like electric Neon blue in the pic. It’s really pretty awesome in person. A watery effect. My client spray painted the handles with the same antique gold paint’s I used on her coffee table and I’m proud to say she installed them herself! I love working with people who like to get involved. Such a treat!!
And that’s a wrap. A few observations…since this is a very popular makeover for DIY enthusiasts.
Painting a Dresser 101
- Pay attention to the legs. If the dresser is too heavy on the bottom it’s harder to make it look pretty.
- You have to sand down to the wood for paint and stain to work.
- It is better to use a latex that acts like oil. I prefer Advance by Benjamin Moore.
- Don’t use wall rollers. It leaves a bumpy texture. Foam rollers = smooth sailing
Phew – that’s in the can. Next. The Tables we ordered from Overstock.com arrived (Yahoo they ship to Canada!), and next week is going to be all about side tables, gallery walls and lamps. I can’t believe it’s almost over already!
Here’s a list of all the other ORC participants. Pop over to their blogs and show some Love. We could probably all use it right about now 
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My wonderful clients said “arrivederci” red and “nice to see you” neutral this past week and their basement is starting to take shape. New paint, rug, sectional and end table are in place and ready for some great reclaimed furniture pieces. We are decorating the room with artifacts and photos from their travels and I should have an update next week on the progress of this room…
The Paint is Benjamin Moore Litchfield Gray HC-78 and Benjamin Moore Whitall Brown HC – 69
This project is a great example of how to showcase your colourful ethnic art pieces and photos to their best advantage by using a neutral background. This room is about to get much more colourful Here’s my design concept for this project:
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Hi! And thanks for coming back to check in on my progress in the One Room Challenge (ORC). (ORC is 6 weeks, 20 bloggers/20 rooms and Lots of action!!) If this is your first glimpse of my project you can check out weeks One and Two right here. This past week I made my requisite trip to IKEA and showed remarkable restraint I might add! I got some Billy’s and Benno’s per my measurements and then headed to the hardware store to pick up trim and crown molding. Here is what I ended up with:
And here’s where I started…
This bonus room is under my garage. It is dark and the lighting will be addressed in the weeks to come. I painted the back wall with Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore. My lovely nieces helped paint the backs of the Benno shelves but assured me that they have no aspirations toward design. They are strictly focused on becoming zoo keepers. Well,…. okay then!
As you can see I have trimmed out all the fronts and where it meets the wall to give it a finished look. I painted all the wood trim in Timid White by Benjamin Moore as it is a very close match to the white of the IKEA Billy shelves. I added a crown at the top too which seems like a preschool step compared to what Linda at My Crafty Home Life has been doing with her crown molding- so let’s be clear…she’s the reigning queen of crowns, and mine’s pretty good
I took a small Billy shelf and cut off the bottom in order to construct a bridge between my two stacks. It started to sag a bit in the middle so I went back to the hardware store and got some small pieces of lumber which I painted in the wall colour. These cleats are screwed into the studs and provide just the right amount of support for my hack!
So there it is. Not allot of pretty pics this week – but certainly lots of work!! I might submit it as an IKEA hack when I’m done. My desk Hack is here. I feel relieved that this hard part is over and I’m looking forward to some good old fashioned decorating.
Next week the electrician and the drywaller will be here…that’ll be a gong show.
Below you can find links to the other Challenge Participants!! Check them out!
Jessie - Mix & Chic – Master Bedroom
Linda - My Crafty Home Life – Master Bedroom
Alison - My Little Happy Place – Office
Danylle - Nana Moon – Master Bathroom
Jennifer - The Pink Pagoda – Family Room
Lindsay - The Pursuit of Style – Stairway
Emily - Rue de Emily – Living Room
Lindsay - Sadie + Stella – Office
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey – Living Room
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Everyone likes to paint and refresh in the spring, check out this selection of Candice Olson’s favourite colours from Benjamin Moore. (pic is the link as usual) The colours are not new…it’s just a peek into a designers bag of tricks.
Of course, I love that she likes some of my favourites such as,…niveous, edgecomb gray, gray owl and stone. Great minds think alike right!
Contact me if you would like some help making the place you live a place you love
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Thanks for coming back to check on my progress in the one room challenge. This week I managed to paint the walls and complete my bedside tables project…A relief because they were the two most labor intensive aspects of the room. The rest is the fun stuff…but more on that next week.
Here is how the room progressed this weekend…If you look closely you can see that early on I had an enthusiastic assistant, but he deserted the project shortly after the work began…typical.
Click here for my Week 2 post on choosing my paint colour. I chose Kendall Charcoal (Benjamin Moore HC 166)
In addition to painting the feature wall I finished these bedside tables…Click here for the Week 3 shots in progress.
My Tip of the week relates to installing new hardware onto cabinets or furniture pieces like I did this week..
Professional Tip: When installing new hardware to your DIY project sometimes you need a longer or shorter screw than the one that came with your new knobs. There is a screw called a “breakaway” that you can break off at the appropriate length in order to get a nice tight fit. They are available at most hardware stores. The only trick is to try not to damage the thread by squeezing too hard when breaking off the pieces….my advice is to buy a few extras 
Check out the other amazing bloggers taking part in the challenge and see what they’ve been up to!
Jen Office
Kelly Office
Danylle Girl's Room
Emily Boys Room
Suzanne Girl's Room
Kim Living Room
Taylor Living Room
Jennifer Laundry Room
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Thanks for checking out my progress in the One Room Challenge! I’ve been working and have a steady supply of coffee, coke zero and tea on hand depending on whether I’m feeling overwhelmed, totally spent or unusually confident that it will all get done.
1st project this week is the bedside tables….they were a deal at Homesense and while the colour and hardware is not my taste, I saw the storage and DIY potential right away.
I was inspired to paint them black and distress with antique gold by this dresser from Pottery Barn.
Before
Inspiration from Pottery Barn
I bought new hardware from Lee Valley Tools for the bedside tables…and bought extra to replace the knobs on our old dressers (which I cannot afford to replace – so they just get a little lipstick this time around)
Old Dresser
New Knobs
I filled and sanded the holes well and then primed with Gray primer and followed up with Black semi gloss spray Paint. It’s not easy to find a dry sunny day around these parts in January but I lucked out on Monday!! I think the rest will have to be completed in my garage…
filled and sanded
Gray Primer
Oops those holes need more sanding
1st coat of black semi-gloss
I am sanding the filled holes again with super fine paper to make sure they disappear, because when you use any sort of glossy paint the imperfections show up even more. Once done with the painting I will be sanding once again, by hand, in order to rub off the edges and distress them in all the right places. I will rub some gold metallic paint into the areas I have distressed and wipe away any excess….more on this next week.
Professional Tip: Don’t mask off squares and paint on the wall… it leaves ridges around the edge and is more difficult to sand off and prep for your painter. INSTEAD, do a freehand test, Like I have below, and be sure to feather out the edges so you don’t have to sand out any nasty ridges.
This week I am also choosing the paint colours for the room. I did some samples on the wall, but I only kinda like 1 and 2. Hmmm I may have to go back to the deck. Testing like this is key so you can see them in daylight and lamp light. Professional tip …Don’t mask off squares and paint on the wall, it leaves ridges around the edge and is more difficult to sand off and prep for your painter. INSTEAD, do a freehand test, Like I have below and be sure to feather out the edges so you don’t have to sand out any nasty ridges.
Next week. Painting vs wallpaper – and Hardware installation.
Check out all the other challengers below:
Jen Office
Kelly Office
Danylle Girl's Room
Emily Boys Room
Suzanne Girl's Room
Kim Living Room
Taylor Living Room
Jennifer Laundry Room
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My most recent project has been a home where the hardwood floors were replaced and we painted the entire house. (pics of that to come soon). The fireplace was in need of an update and the client chose a charcoal coloured slate to replace the old multi-coloured slate tile.
My client also had a beam in her garage…yes a big (giant even) piece of wood…you know just hanging out in her garage. Cool client huh? So of course we had to make it into the mantle… despite the rather obvious bow in it.
I sanded that bad boy with a rented belt sander from Home Depot and had a BLAST! It revealed a really beautiful piece of wood underneath and I had help installing it from my buddy Shawn.
The drywall was patched by a pro and the painting of the house went on all around me as I painted the niches in Benjamin Moore Silver Fox and the shelves and feature wall in Benjamin Moore Black Tar in Pearl finish.
I stained the beam in one coat so as to keep it on the lighter side. it turned out amazing. I used Minwax Jacobean coloured stain ans sealed it with a polyurethane.
This project captured allot of my design philosophy…that is, re-using and reclaiming materials and vintage pieces. Using the clients objects in a new way rather than buying everything new, and most of all ensuring that the client gets exactly what they want…even if they didn’t know what that was when we started.
Contact me if you would like some help making the place you live a place you love.
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A couple months ago I promised a virtual house tour with local shopping tips so here is the second instalment…a bedroom. This bedroom seems so peaceful and the bed so welcoming that I thought it deserved to be recreated.
There are a couple things about this room that make it special. First it has carpet whereas most homes today have hardwood floors, and the carpet adds to the feeling of softness and tranquillity. Second, the bed has a coverlet and not a down filled duvet, this is a bit old fashioned but chic at the same time, I like it! And third, the rooms colour and finishes are muted, simple and not overly expensive but it is all capped off by a splurge in the form of the fortuny light fixture. Gotta love the splurge!
Lamp – Canadian Tire
Bench – Chintz & Co.
Coverlet – PotteryBarn
King Headboard – Home Depot (online only)
Curtains – Potterybarn (but you can get them anywhere rona, fabricland, home outfitters, winners, ikea etc)
Books – your shelf
Fortuny Light – Bespoke
Pillow – Chintz & Co.
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Disclaimer – This is not an easy job… or a weekend job. I spent two weeks on the process and then two more days to re-install and put on the new hardware. Not for the faint of heart!
If you’re game then here are my suggestions and steps for success!
Take a bad before shot (the worse it looks the better your”after” shot will look)
Bad Before Shot
Then you have to take all the doors off, But WAIT Number them first and put a corresponding number inside it’s cabinet home. Best place to put the number is in the hole for the cabinet hinge. Tape’s no good because you have to remove it when you paint and then things get all mixed up!
Remove the Doors and Number Them
Maybe I should have emptied the cabinets, but I didn’t. This is real life folks!!
Next step is to remove ALL the hardware, handles, hinges and everything – this will make your job so much easier…trust me.
Next step is to wash the doors on both sides with TSP and be sure to also RINSE them off as the TSP residue will prevent good adhesion from your primer.
Washed, Filled and Lined up for Primer
After they are dry you can begin to fill the holes where the old handles lived. I used wood filler and a putty knife and after it dried I sanded it and did it again. Try not to leave a big smear of the filler on the door surface, make your repair small and as good as you can possibly get it. Sand the surface of the doors with a palm sander, or by hand if you’re comfortable with a medium grit sand paper.
After sanding use a tack cloth to clear the surface of all debris. (What the heck is a tack cloth??) It is a sticky cheese cloth type of thing, costs about $1 at the paint store and it picks up all the remaining stuff on your door before you paint and despite it’s sticky texture it does not leave any residue on your door. Get one or two, you’ll thank me!
Next you are ready to prime. Use an oil based primer and make sure it is well mixed. My trick was to place the door on a small box on a lazy Susan so I could spin the door and get good coverage on all sides. Try this, it was a good trick!
Spin that Door
Apply the primer thinly with a brush meant for oil based paints. Allow it to dry at least overnight. I placed each door on a box in my basement to dry flat like this…
Doors Hanging Out
I kept the Uppers and Lowers separate through the whole process and it helped keep me sane. You will need some room to spread out and let them dry flat so prepare your space for this.
Once your primer is dry, look at those hardware holes you filled and make sure they are smooth smooth smooth. If not, sand again and prime again. The primer is important over the filler so the texture of the topcoat doesn’t change over the filled areas. Allow it all to dry.
Once dry you are ready to start painting. I recommend the Benjamin Moore Advance Paint in a Pearl Finish. It is adverstised to set up like oil paint but it can be cleaned up with water and I can confirm it does both beautifully. You will need two brushes (if you are working on two sets like I was – this allows you to wash and dry your brushes throughout the several days of topcoats you have ahead of you). I also recommend having some of those small rollers on hand. The best type is the one that is the same circumference of a full size roller but 1/3 of the length. These give a nice flat roll of the paint. I Don’t recommend those skinny longer mini rollers (fuzzy nor sponge) the fuzzy type is not good with this paint it clumped up and was no longer round…a total mess and the sponge ones put too much air into the paint and can leave bubbles.
The best technique is to roll and then brush the thinnest most even coat you can and then roll lightly over it all again. Careful that you catch any drips on the edges…the Advance paint has a tendency (like oil) to do this, but the lazy Susan is a great help in getting to all sides and preventing this. Let each coat dry at least overnight. I did three coats on the front and two on the insides of all my doors.
During this process you also have to paint the sides of your cabinetry and the little trim bits inside the cabinets. I used the roller exclusively for this part.
Sand Prime and Paint the Cabinetry too
At this point I was pretty exhausted by the whole thing and so I took a few days off. When I returned I re-installed the doors, made a cardboard template for the new hardware I purchased and spent a full day installing the hardware. I love using my drill so this part was kind of fun:)
Almost Everything Back in it's Place
Next step is to get a new sink, have the counter tops measured and order the back splash tile. New lighting is also a must and I feel like we are well on our way to having a great ‘like new’ kitchen!!
You can do it too peeps!! it just takes time, space to spread out and patience. I ran out of all of these at one point or another, but that’s normal. It’s done and I cant wait to call in the professionals to do the counter and the tiling work!!!
Let me know if you found this helpful. I am happy to answer questions or give suggestions. just email me. nicole@scottdesigns.ca
Cabinet Colour – Niveus by Benjamin Moore
More Posts to Come!!
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