Rag rug

Rag rug out of old sheets.

Trying to be proactive and get as much as I can now before the move. I couldn't find any fabulous cushions for my wicker sunroom furniture, so I made my own. It was going to be $100 to buy unfabulous ones, and I made these for about $25.

So, my friend Dayna brought over this great book the other day called "Junk Chic." It is really cool. Anyway, there was this picture of a bathroom cabinet that the author created by painting a scene with a meadow/trees and a sky. I loved it instantly. I get these overwhelming feelings of inspiration sometimes and this was one of them.
Well, earlier that day I had seen a plain old ugly $15 dresser on Craigslist along with a bunch of other furniture for sale by the same people. As soon as I saw the "Junk Chic" picture, I immediately thought of that dresser and how I could turn it into something like my inspiration. It must have been a miracle because when the dresser guy finally called me back, somebody had come and bought everything he had for sale except the ugly dresser.
Here it is, I think I like it. And in my defense, if anyone is concerned about the hardware, I understand and I had reservations at first too. But the "Junk Chic" lady used the SAME exact hardware on hers and I didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me.
And, of course I forgot to take a before picture until I had already primed.

Dresser New and Improved!

The Dresser

So, the big move isn't until the end of March and I can't even start on the renovation until my current tenant vacates. But that doesn't mean I can't start the preparations now! I've decided that for the smaller house I need something to put my TV on. Right now, in the big house, we have a big flat-screen over the massive ornately carved stone fireplace. That looks nice, but I think there is something quite gauche about hanging a giant electronic on the wall. In fact, if it was up to me I could do with a 13" in an armoire. Alas, I am not alone in this family. At any rate, I stumbled on a blog called "The Decorated House" and immediately fell in love with a French Provincial Dresser that she had painted. You know the kind I'm talking about, right? Remember the bedroom set every girl had from 1960 probably to 1990? White with the gold trim? Well, she had painted this dresser Tiffany bag blue, which is one of my favorite colors, not to mention stores. I have never painted anything in my life and I decide: I'm going to scrounge up one of these old dressers and do just what she did! The next day I spent all day scouring flea markets, antique stores, and thrift shops, not to mention Craigslist, but my dresser was elusive! Finally, I told my tired and whiny 7 year old (who was incidentally playing hooky from school; serves him right) "one more store."
And there it was, like the proverbial beacon in a storm: My Dresser! I got so excited I overpaid. Well, I followed the directions on The Decorated House and Voila! It's pretty. This was good practice for what I'm going to do to the kitchen cabinets at the new house. The colors don't show up as vivid as they are in real life, but it's definitely Tiffany bag blue!

Before I Begin

Here are some inside shots of the house, pre-transformation obviously. But you can see some of what I have to work with, I will post more soon. Vision, people! That's all we need! My goal is to have it done by June.

Moving and Transforming

This is going to be a major transformation! Tough times in the economy and I am getting ready to move out of my lovely and large French Country chateau and into a 1998 cookie-cutter-track-house that I've been using as a rental. I bought it new, but 12 years later it has seen better days. So, many things are going to have to be redone, replaced, refinished, re-everythinged! Originally I was just going to hire a crew to return it to its former glory, (which is not very glorious) but as I researched the internet and found out how much everything was going to cost just to restore mediocrity, I have decided to do the work myself and make this average little house into a lovely petit maison a la Provencal!
A little paint, a little toile, and a lot of work lay ahead but it'll be fun to see the evolution!