If you remember from a few posts back, we own a past-life bachelor pad dresser that is pretty hideous to look at, courtesy of my hubby:
But voila!  Add a little primer, a little paint, a great wax job and we have ourselves a beautiful and almost free baby dresser:
Now for a breakdown of the products used to produce this new beauty -

1.  KILZ ODORLESS PRIMER - We started with the idea that spray paint is easier.  We spray primed the drawers with Kilz Odorless Primer.  Although this spray may be odorless, it still STINGS the nostrils!  This primer was all over the floor, the walls, everywhere you could think of.  Not ideal for in-home priming.  Live and learn.
2.  RUST-OLEUM PAINTER'S TOUCH ULTRA COVER - We first sprayed the drawers with Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover in Satin Lagoon.  Great coverage, no complaints there.  My only complaint was, again, painting inside our home with sprays.  Just not a good idea if you live in a semi-small apartment.  Moving on to brush paint.

3.  BEHR PREMIUM PLUS ULTRA PAINT + PRIMER SEMI-GLOSS - I fell in love with this paint!  This is what we decided to switch to for completing the body of the dresser after the spray painting debacle.  This was color matched beautifully with the crib, Heirloom White.  It is a bit more costly but worth the money with built-in primer.  I was also leery of the semi-gloss look when we used satin spray paint (only because I couldn't find the spray in semi-gloss) but with a good wax job, it all blended together in the end.
4.  MINWAX PASTE FINISHING WAX - This stuff is inexpensive and works so much more beautifully than Polyacrylic or Polyurethane without the sticky feeling that they tend to leave on furniture.  In my professional opinion, at least.  We worked this into the finished wood with an old tshirt, much better than using a paint or foam brush.  Tried those first, of course.  After 3 minutes, we wiped off the excess wax and the piece was left looking shiny and polished but most importantly, left a very natural look to the painted wood.  Apparently I can't say enough about this wax.  See detail below...
Look at that shine!
Drawer liners to top it all off
5. DRAWER LINERS - I found this particular liner at Target.  These were a bit harder to add than I originally thought.  I tried the directions on the liners themselves, not successful.  Then tried a couple of different methods before one finally worked the best for me which was cutting the liner in half, adding to 1 side of the drawer, then fitting the other like a puzzle piece to the opposite side of the drawer.  Definitely need to play with drawer lining a bit more before I become a pro...  But I had fun and the final piece looks great so that's a success in my book!

~A
 
Since the husband was out of town this weekend I thought it would be a perfect time to find a great nightstand for the baby's room.  Jaime isn't very patient when it comes to what I like to call my 'discovery process'.  By this I mean discovering an old ugly piece that has potential for greatness.  He can't exactly see the GREAT in something that isn't so great to begin with.  This was what I had in mind, thinking "how hard could this be??" -
Oh it was MUCH harder than I ever thought.  Here is what I ended up finding in several of the areas marked 'Furniture section' of my local Chicago thrift stores -  
Shame on you, 'Furniture Section'!  You've got to be kidding me Chicago.  I remember a thrift store in Irving, Texas with the most amazing refurbish-worthy furniture... maybe I need to get to the 'burbs.  I did find ONE solid wood nightstand that was in decent shape for $30 - but I thought, I can beat this:
... I should have gone back for that one.  I am now determined to find the perfect piece.  More on that soon, I hope!

~A
 
I feel that I have tons of unfinished projects around the house these days that I can't wait to finish and post to the blog.  Luckily I finally finished a couple of things this weekend and it feels SO good!  Remember this is where I started on my nursery wall plaque project, very shabby chic:
And here is the plaque after paint when I determined that a little glaze might go a long way.. very uneventful with just a coat of paint since there is so much detail in this piece:
And the finish product, coloring is a little off due to my camera phone photography, but you see how the glazing MADE these pieces stand out:
Here is the glaze mixture that I used to achieve the look:
Picture
1. To achieve desired glaze effect, mix 4 parts Behr Premium Plus Faux Glaze with 1 part Behr Premium Plus Color Sample in Black.  A sample of black is all you need since you are only mixing 1 part to 4.

2.  Brush the mixture onto your piece ensuring that you completely cover the detailed areas.  You can immediately wipe the excess glaze from the piece with a cloth or even a paper towel.  Stop there or continue to paint on glaze and wipe away until you reach a desired textured look. The glaze job doesn't have to be perfect, you can leave extra here and there, wipe away too much somewhere else - it all adds character to your piece in the end!

I think these pieces turned out great after 10 years of moving them with me from Fort Worth to Dallas, TX to Chicago, IL... I'm now happy that I kept them around!

~A
 
When I think about blue and pink nurseries, something makes my stomach turn.  Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with a stereotypical color for a girl or boy's nursery but for me, I'm more a fan of the neutral colors that can go either way such as aqua, yellow, orange.  Here are some of my favorite neutral nursery looks:
I love how this room flows so nicely with little *pops* of color!  The orange pieces really stand out here!  Makes me want to add this cute little Etsy sign to this room...
A simple neutral shelf draws your eye in this yellow and light aqua nursery...
The yellow and light aqua color mesh so well together in this room.  Is it a girl or boy's room?  Who cares because it is so sweet.  And the rug adds such an elegant touch.. I want that rug!  I found a similar one at Ikea with a little more flavor...
This rug sells for $9.99 at Ikea and is faux sheep skin.  So I get the feel of soft animal fur without feeling guilty that a sweet little sheep was skinned for my benefit!
The gentle colors in this room are SO sweet but I especially love the celebration banner hung above the frames.  I also like the neutral look of a burlap banner like this one from Etsy...
The small personal touches in this room attracted me to this photo.. dual green chevron pillow, basket and curtain, the little table with baby books and fishing lamp coordinating with the crab pillow.  Love how it is subtle but so personal!
And finally, I'm obsessed with the giant giraffe and want one so badly!  Don't ask me why but I think it's too cute peeking over the crib.  Maybe a little creepy but mostly cute.  I'm somehow doubting that Jaime will agree with me - what do you think about this big guy?  I found one by Melissa & Doug at ABaby for $69, not too shabby since a less realistic looking giraffe at Toys R Us sells for $149.99!  What can I say, I love bargain hunting!  Half the fun of shopping, in my opinion.
~A
 
Happy St. Paddy's Friday out there!  So I've said before that I just have a problem buying something and utilizing it "as is" - am I the only one with this problem?  Take this mirror for example.  I really wanted a fairy tale-esque mirror for the baby's room and found the PERFECT one at World Market for 30% off!  There was nothing wrong with the mirror.  It was just white and lacked the character that I was looking for in my home.  You will come to realize that I like bright colors and if I didn't have a husband with a bit more conservative taste, I would probably have alot more kooky things in my house.  Here's the mirror before:
And here is the mirror after a nice paint job with some glazed finishing touches.  I haven't used glaze too much before so I was really excited to see how it would go over on this beautiful mirror.  Mission accomplished!  (Forgive the mess in the reflection)
I think the hardest thing about this revamp project was taping the mirror.  I decided not to show a picture of that because it wasn't pretty.  But it was necessary for an easy repaint job.  I have this vision of picking my baby boy up from his crib and looking in the mirror to see myself being a mommy.  Corny, huh?  Well, I can't wait to do that with this piece! 

~A

** Check out my project feature on Liz Marie's Linky Party
 
So we started our spray paint job on the man chest this weekend.  Wow, was that a PROJECT!  I think we both realized that spray painting might not be the best idea for the size of our home.  Thus, this is the first and last undertaking of this kind while in our current condo.  I will have to find some good painting brushes for future projects.  Due to the fume headache, I didn't take any progress pics but will do so tonight for tomorrow's post.  I really had to apologize to our baby boy for that mishap. 

Since I wasn't actually allowed to help with the spray painting makeover, I was only allowed to take in fumes from under the door, I decided to take on a small hand painting project of my own.  Just so that you're aware, I'm the type of person who doesn't like to buy new things for my home if I already own something I can re-do.  For example, there is a small skinny wall space in the nursery that's in need of love... I could buy a new cute baby decor item but what fun is that?!  Instead I'm attempting to revive these wall plaques that I haven't utilized because they don't really fit our style any longer:
At one time I painted a little light green in the center and called them good but they now need a drastic makeover to fit our more contemporary style, versus my old love for country chic.  Here is a start to the new look.. trying out a little glaze on these bad boys once they have a final paint job and really hope they add a fun touch to the skinny bare nursery wall:
Aren't mini projects fun on a rainy Sunday?

~A
 
Bachelor pad dresser, that is.  My husband's single life dresser is what I like to call, a man chest.  It has no special quality to it, boring shape.  Take a look for yourself... 
But I'm determined to turn it into something unique for our baby boy.  We were just laughing that his once bachelor party pad dresser now belongs to a baby.  HA!  You never know where life will take you, or your furniture..  So anywayyy here are a few inspirational ideas that I have for remaking this drab dresser into a fab find for our little guy, with a manly-er feel, of course.  These are a bit beachy looking so I'm hoping with a darker aqua color they will still have the desired look that I'm going for: 
Hoping to start this project this weekend, with the help of my wonderful husband, of course.  More photos to come soon.  And who knows, we might get crazy and finish the nursery rocker too.  Although since I can't do any of the painting right now, that's all up to Jaime  :)

~A
 
Since I've been pregnant and the weather in Chicago has not been too cooperative, my new business starting point has been on hold.  Which has made this impatient person very impatient!  On top of that, the rental space I was looking into previously fell through.  Apparently it is a tough world out there for furniture refurbishers who live in the city!

Needless to say, my projects are sitting, waiting at the moment.  HOWEVER, I had a snow day yesterday.  Yes, in March, a snow day.  Being a Texas girl this was very confusing for me but somewhat exciting at the same time.  So given that day to myself, I decided to begin my ideas for completing the baby's room.  Here is a portion of his room at the moment which you will see isn't too exciting...
My darling Grams bought the beautiful crib for us, so this is what has begun the inspiration for our baby boy's room.  I thought it would help to get the crib sheet on, generously purchased by my best friend Leah, along with the blanket and mobile.  But sadly it just looks more in need now!  Not to fear, I have ideas flowing.. If I can focus this pregnant brain into something wonderful. 

And PS, we found a great modern rocker on Craigslist that we plan to renovate for the nursery.  As well as my husband's previous bachelor pad dresser.. more to come on that...

I also found the cutest ideas on Pinterest for the changing table wall.  Here's a sneak peak.. 
And here are the letters that I have so far... definitely some work to do but as you can see, Mister Jones is helping me immensely so it should be completed in no time.  Also, giving my sister credit, she thought it would be an awesome idea to make the letters for the baby's name all in the same pattern... love the idea!  But it came a little late as the letters had all already been purchased.  Good to note for later though -
More to come VERY soon...
~A

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