Easy DIY Furniture Update with Contact Paper

I have this awesome mid-century chest of drawers that I got back when I lived in San Diego. It was too beat up to leave it as it was so I used my favorite method of furniture updating, spray paint, to paint it black.

It worked fine but I still wish I could have saved some of that cool wood grain that looks so nice on mid-century furniture. Well, not saved, since it was an ugly shiny plastic woodgrain laminate before, but I wish it had it in the first place to save.

So what is my solution? Contact paper to the rescue! I've wanted to use this woodgrain contact paper since I saw it at the hardware store, but it's a little tricky to find just the right place to use it without being horribly tacky looking (although I guess the whole idea of it in the first place is that it's a little kitschy.) Plus, when I get tired of it I can just peel it off instead of repainting the whole thing. Sweet!

I measured out the shapes that I wanted on each drawer and cut them out carefully. Then I peeled off the backing and placed it on the drawers! Super easy! I think it makes the drawers look a little more interesting instead of just being a big black hunk of furniture sitting there. Try it!

DIY Dresser Makeover

I got a bedroom set from a friend when I first moved into our apartment that looked like this:

My friend must have had this set for a long time because I opened up one of the drawers and a baby picture of her fell out! 

Since we have moved I decided I really wanted to get Joe and I a new(ish) set and give this set a makeover for the nursery. There are so many decorating projects and things we have to get done in the new place that I find myself trying to do two things at once, or getting distracted while working on a project and starting on another. I actually painted this dresser green and then put it in Ellie's nursery a couple days ago. I was bringing the drawers for the second dresser out onto the patio and got half of them painted when I decided to bring the first dresser out and do a design on them with painters tape.

Are you getting tired of chevrons too? Yeah! Chevrons are probably taking over the internet! I LOVE my area rug though. It brings the attention away from the boring taupe walls. 

Even though chevrons have gotten a little overused I really think it still looks cute in a babies room. I used painters tape and eyeballed the spacing. I suppose you could measure each stripe if you want it to be exact, but I had no problem making it look even. 

I used an ivory color to go with the green. I felt afterward that the green I picked out was a little too "primary" and I wish I had picked a softer shade. I'm still happy with it though! It will transition well from a nursery to a kids room. I peeled the painters tape off while it was still a little wet and it worked out just fine.

After they were dry I screwed on the new silver handles I picked to replace the gold ones. You have no idea how much I wanted to purchase these adorable handles that were shaped like branches, but $15 a handle is just a little too much for a babies room!

DIY Kitty Tower - Kitty's 13th Birthday!

Mrs. Peacock turned 13 a few days ago! What an old lady! Since we got a much bigger place to live I thought it would be nice to give her a little spot to hang out and look down on the lowly humans. It would also be a great place for her to feel safe away from a dog, whenever we get one. 

We purchased a couple of floating shelves from Lowes because they looked nice and were wide enough for Kitty to be comfortable. Make sure you look at how much weight the shelves you buy can hold, since you wouldn't want your kitty to fall down. Mrs. Peacock is only 6 pounds and these shelves can hold 12 pounds, so I think they will work out just fine. 

Make sure you put the shelves where there is at least one wall stud to support it. We used drywall brackets for the side that couldn't be drilled into a stud.  

Do a staggered set up so kitty can jump easily to each level! We put two above her kitty tower so she can get pretty high up and one behind the couch because she loves to sit with us.

It's really important that you put something they can dig their claws into so they don't slide off. I used a double thickness of black felt for the tops. My kitty loves fleece but I didn't have any to make pillows out of for her. A good idea is also to use scraps of carpet for scratching or an old bath mat.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Peacock!

Weekend Nails #14

These nails took a while! I have a habit of putting the nail stickers on too early and peeling off the color underneath it. It was nice to actually have my nails done again though! We took these photos in Haines at a little coffee place the morning before we left on the ferry.

OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down The Window

L.A. Colors - Palm Tree

Essie - Mint Candy Apple

L.A. Colors - Energy Source

Weekend Nails #13

Yesterday was officially my last day at work! I signed out at midnight last night. I can't believe it's over and three years are already gone. A lot has changed since I first got up here! I had just met Joe that November and we had only dated for about three weeks before I had to move to Alaska. I didn't think it would turn into a marriage and a baby on the way by the time I had to leave. Life is pretty cool that way I guess.

Holy moley I haven't done my nails in months! I found a new shade of green from OPI at Target and I had to buy it. I picked a weird combination of colors with the pink glitter but I kind of like it. I'm all set to get some new designs on my nails now that I don't have to work for a while.

OPI - Uh Oh Roll Down The Window

Essie - A Cut Above

Dresser Set Makeover - The Planning Stage

Wow guys, November is really moving fast! This is a big month for us, getting all our stuff together for the big Road Trip across Canada and the U.S. This coming week I have to continue with a bunch of paperwork, driving all around gathering signatures. This Saturday is the baby shower. We have to organize all our stuff into "bringing with us in the car" and "packing up with the movers." The car needs to be spacious enough so when we leave it parked in a city like San Francisco it won't get broken into, but we also need the essentials like clothes, toiletries, food for the cooler, emergency stuff in case we get stuck in a snowstorm, and stuff to keep the kitty comfortable. We also have to get kitty her papers and a checkup to go over the border. Of course my job is making things more difficult by just now telling me that I NEED a government passport. As if I could get one in less than a week. This is all BS of course. But whatever. The date I leave is the date I leave and they can't stop it!

What I am really excited about lately is the new house we will be getting in Louisiana! I keep looking at the floor plans they have and wondering which one we will get. When we moved into the apartment we have now I didn't have any furniture at all. I actually got everything from my friend who was getting rid of her bedroom set and wanted to get rid of an old love seat too. So that is what we have now, two bed side tables for a TV stand in the living room, a loveseat for the both of us to sit on, a dresser in the living room to hold my military uniforms and sewing stuff and another dresser in the bedroom for clothes. I'm hoping that Joe and I can get a whole new bedroom set once we get to the new place... It might take a while since I really want to find eclectic things from flea markets and thrift stores. I have a storage unit in California with some nice things in it that can start us off, but it won't be enough for both of us.

The main point here is that I want to use our current bedroom set for the nursery. I'm willing to live out of a suitcase while we look for a nice dresser, as long as the nursery is perfect! The problem, of course, is that the bedroom set we have is a little old. It seriously needs a makeover! Good thing I LOVE this kind of stuff!

I have been sitting here looking at these dressers for months now, wondering what I can do with them. The bare bones of the furniture is like, a mid nineties style I think. It's not modern, it's not traditional or transitional. I can't really tell what it is except that it has gold trim (yuk!) New drawer pulls is the first thing that comes to mind. I also want to pull off the gold trim and replace it or find a way to paint over it. Spray paint is a miracle, by the way! I also want to see how easy it would be to put the dressers on little feet instead of just being flat on the ground.

Tapered Pyramid Sofa Leg - Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Primer

Liberty Bar Cabinet Hardware Pull

But what about the inspiration? I've been searching for some ideas and here are a few that look feasible with the design of my current pieces. It's a shame how many photos you see on pinterest of perfectly awesome looking furniture, mid century modern style, that are then destroyed with weird paint jobs! I swear half the "makeover" pins I looked at had the "before" peice looking much better than the "after."

Mid-Century Dresser from Dream Green DIY. Weird paint job, yes, but it actually looks really cool combined with the wood stain she used. 

Ikea Dresser Makeover from The DIY Homegirl. This paint job is simple and still looks retro!

Ikea Tarva Hack from Persia Lou. She was inspired also by the mid century dresser I posted above. Again, I love the idea of incorporating wood grain in the design. 

I'm trying to refrain from taking a trip to Home Depot! I don't think it would be a good idea to start up a big project like this right before a big move, but hopefully I can get it done once we finally get settled into our new place.

The Sweet List - Diaper Bags (that don't look like they belong tobabies!)

Is it just me, or do diaper bags always look awful? I'm a grown up. I don't want to carry around a bag that looks like it belongs to a kindergartener. Just because it holds baby things doesn't mean it needs to have Mother Goose on it. I guarantee the baby doesn't care either. No to mention that I'm not the only one who is going to be using this piece of equipment. My husband is also going to be taking it with him... so it needs to not look like a woman's purse.
I went on an Etsy search for diaper bags and I hardly had any luck. There were either goofy looking bags or just your basic messenger bag that could supposedly double as a diaper bag. Then it dawned on me... I'm probably going to be taking the camera anytime I take out the baby, you know, because he or she is going to be freaking adorable. I also assume a diaper bag needs lots of pockets... so what has lots of pockets, looks unisex and can carry a camera? A camera bag! Boom. I'm a genius.

Distressed Leather Bag - I love this bag style!

Green Canvas Bag

Canvas and Leather Bag - I think this shop wins hands down for bags. It's even called "AWESOMEBAG" So yeah. I'm sure I'll be purchasing one of these soon. They are reasonably priced too!

timi & leslie Sophia Diaper Bag - Not unisex and not even a camera bag, but a legit diaper bag! Whoa! I love it. 

Kitschy Kitties Part Three

I found one more silly cat this weekend. I actually found a ton of cool things at one shop last Saturday. When I walked in I immediately picked up 6 things I HAD to have! I've been scouting out 70's style kitschy things ever since I realized that our color theme was pea green and orange (it just kinda happened that way.) 

I found a handmade flower embroidery which I love...

...and this mushroom wall clock! Holy moley! My husband didn't like it, but I told him I could not just leave it behind. Since I cleaned it up and hung it on the wall he changed his mind about it and thought it was pretty cool.

On top of that, I found some sweet mushroom ceramic tiles.

I seriously need a better camera!

Weekend Nails #3

Master Plan by Essie

Jewel FX Lavender by Milani

My mom sent me some french manicure strips that I will have to try out next weekend!

I can't wait to get out of Alaska... spring just won't show up! It was getting warmer and warmer and then it just started snowing again. It's always like this every year. I'm glad it's my LAST winter in Alaska.

Yellow Dress

I've been working on this dress for a few weeks now. Well, more like I worked on it for about two days and then let it sit around for two weeks before I picked it up again. From the looks of it I think I might make this same dress again with different fabric! I'm doing version B, with the sleeves, which is coming out really cute so far. 

The sleeves were a little tricky because I couldn't understand what the pattern was trying to tell me to do. By far the most annoying part was trying to put in the pockets! I made the mistake of using a french seam on the curved pockets instead of a mock french seam, so things got a little funky. Trying to figure out which parts needed to be sewn right sides together or wrong sides together was tripping me out as well. Eventually I figured it out and the pockets turned out okay. Luckily I discovered that I could place pleats strategically over the pockets so the seams that got a little messy wouldn't show.

I'm happy with the colors I picked out as well. I'm already scheming which fabric patterns I will use for the next version of this dress!

Weekend Nails #2

I did a kinda-80's-nail-design this week. The pink is Milani Neon in Pink Rocks! and the blue is Butler Please by Essie.

This week went by so fast! I'm looking forward to working on my dress project this weekend. I'm trying really hard to make this dress perfect. I got the hang of french seams which really helps to make the dress look more professional. 

I'm also thinking about doing a feature on different recipes I try out from my cookbooks. I don't have a ton of cookbooks, but I have a few interesting ones. Many times I end up quickly looking up a recipe for dinner on Yummly.com because I can input ingredients that I have on hand, but really I would like to try to stick to my cookbooks for a while.

Weekend Nails

I can't have painted nails at work, so I rarely take the time to polish them on Friday nights just to take it off on Sunday night. But after picking up a few cute polishes at Target I decided to try to make some cute nail designs more often and post them for fun.

I was looking for those little nail stickers for French manicures but couldn't find them anywhere. Then when I got home I remembered that I packed away a bunch of crazy shape scissors in my closet that I could cut tape with to make stick-on painting guides!

I have HORRIBLE cuticles. I pick at them and they are totally dried out. The hand I photographed was my good hand (and I photoshopped it, lol) My husband got me manicure sets for Christmas and they came with this awesome cuticle oil... I highly recommend it!

The first coat was Eternal Optimist by Essie.

It's not perfect but I'm going to keep practicing! I have to be patient and let the first coat dry completely before using the stickers. I'm excited to try out my other scissor shapes this next weekend!

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