Thursday, August 06, 2009

Design on a Dime

I spent 2 days in Tetonia, ID at my sister's house after moving out of my Seattle apartment. She is 7 months prego and we thought it would be refreshing to give some of her furniture a makeover. I didn't do the best documentation, so I am piecing together the "after" photos with some "befores" that were emailed to me when Amie asked for some home improvement advice.


THE COFFEE TABLE PROJECT:

Before: Broken and ready for the trash. No, not worth salvaging.

After: I purchased this coffee table at a thrift store in Seattle for $1 and used it in my apartment for the last several years. I was happy it could find a new home because I love the surfboard top. I sanded and then stained the table a dark ebony color. After it dried over night, two coats of polyurethane sealed this baby like a dream.


THE KITCHEN PROJECT:

Before: The walls in Amie's house are weird; they are some type of wallboard with flowers printed on it. I felt it essential that this disappear as soon as possible so we bought a gallon of paint and with 3 coats, the flowers are gone for good.

After: The great thing about the new wall color is that it helps to neutralize the forest green countertops and tile.


THE DINING TABLE AND CHAIRS:

Before: The table had a laminate top, which I thought would be problematic since we were doing this on the cheap and I also didn't want to wait for expensive primers to cure. So I came up with an alternate option.

After: I used Krylon plastic spray paint for the top and used Krylon all purpose spray paint for the rest of the table and chairs. It worked perfectly and seems durable enough. Avery already made several spills and it wiped up without scratching or chipping. I used steel wool to add a light grain affect on the top, which also took care of any hot spots from the spray paint.


THE BATHROOM PROJECT:

Before: Again, the floral print walls are oh-so-offending-me. We used some white paint left over from another project and with three coats we sent the flowers to their grave. I also plucked the forest green trim that bordered the mirrors right out of the wall.

After: I'm looking forward to seeing a final picture of this entire room since it was being re-tiled over the weekend after I left. But already, feeling so much better.

OTHER PROJECTS:

Several other important things that we did that are not pictured are as follows...

-cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, decluttering and purging items, scrubbing cabinets, floor, refrigerator, etc........

-painted a bookshelf/dvd shelf

-painted a vase

-painted a picture frame

-painted the gold trim on Amie's dresser and night stand black and said goodbye to the 90's.

*Note: This was all done in about a day and a half and for a total of $60.00... If I flunk out of grad school, I'll try to get a job on a home improvement TV show.

5 Comments:

Blogger Tom said...

"Sent the flowers to their grave" sounds like good family fun.

3:13 AM  
Blogger Sharalea said...

You have the magic touch, Jenni!! Impressive. I bet your sis is SO HAPPY with her *NEW HOUSE*!! What a great sis you are. Seriously, I bet HGTV would LOOOVe to have you!!

7:59 AM  
Blogger Jess said...

Sweet! I can't wait to see the improvements live. I am sure they appreciated! I am glad that coffee table got junked. The table looks amazing.

9:06 AM  
Blogger Monique said...

I love me a reno.

Do you follow Young House Love?

4:08 PM  
Blogger Amie said...

I can't thank you enough sis....this "home makeover" was my saving grace. I could have not done it without you...you have a gift!!! You also gave me a road map to finish other projects....I don't have to worry about what color I am going to paint my living room...you took all the stress out of it!

10:25 AM  

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