Agent P Costume for Halloween

Ok, so I tried my best to make a "Agent P" costume for Halloween. It's totally based on this wonderful blog called Dabbled and her instructions when she made an awesome Agent P costume for her little guy. If you want to check out the instructions to make one for yourself, they're here. This costume only took about 45 minutes to put together once I had everything.

I found the perfect blue sweatshirt and sweatpants at Target ~ just don't tell my little guy that they were in the girls section. I found a roll of orange craft foam at the Dollar Tree store and the eyes are ping-pong balls that my husband had. I used a black permanent marker to make the eyes and just did a quick stitch to sew them on the hood. I used sticky velcro to stick the feet on the bottom of the pants.

I found the fedora at a costume store ~ it had a little button on the ribbon that said Indiana Jones. Of course, I removed that since Agent P would never have an Indiana Jones hat on!

Introducing my new old China Hutch ~ Ta Da!

I am so excited to introduce my new old china hutch ~ this started out looking much different than it is now. It was a pecan color and the style from the 60's. It had door-knocker style hardware on the drawers... and well... it wasn't my favorite piece of furniture.

It's now black and I think it looks fabulous. It's now one of my favorite pieces of furniture.

I used black and white decorator fabric from JoAnn Fabrics to line the inside back panel. The door pulls have been replaced with some brushed nickel pulls that I found at the Home Depot.

What do you think?

Project: Drexel Dresser for Kids Room

Here's my newest project found on Craigslist two weeks ago... a vintage Drexel dresser with 9 drawers that will hopefully fit in my daughter's room. It's huge! The guy I bought it from said it was his grandmothers. I haven't had any time yet to do any research to see how old this piece is.

The top had been scratched and someone tried to paint it the ugliest brown I think I have ever seen but looking at the details of this piece is what makes it worth it.

  

It has the most unusual knobs on it
and I haven't decided what to do with them.

I love the detail on the bottom in front.

I also love the detail in the legs.

I think it will be gorgeous painted black, of course. I haven't started on this one yet so stay tuned...

Project: Buffet

I started this next project Sept 16, 2011 and am now just catching up on my blog.

This is the buffet or bottom half of my china hutch from the 60's. I had already removed the hardware when I realized I hadn't taken a picture for the "before" photo...

I always disliked the stars on this piece because they are so pronounced and noticable. I decided that it would look best if it were black like the other piece, and would look nice in the room near my dining room table.

I used my favorite black paint from Parker Paint: Klean Air Low Odor Acrylic Semi Gloss Enamel. I used a foam roller and a brush for getting in the corners. I painted two coats on this piece and added new acrylic knobs. The holes where the original hardware were fairly high since the hardware it had was a knocker style... but I'm happy with the outcome.

I moved it into the house a few days later so that it might dry a little faster now that the rainy season is upon us. I have a couple of spots to touch up but it's mostly done. Yay!

Project: Refinish Old Dresser for Entry of House

I picked up a great old dresser on Craigslist and Walla ~ I have my next project!! The woman I bought it from said it was at least 50 years old. I love furniture that has history and this one was the perfect size for the place I had in mind. I know exactly where it's going to go when it's finished... in the entry of the new house. {Did I mention that we're moving soon ~ ok, so that's another story}

So, this dresser looks like it might have had a mirror at one time. I'm glad that it doesn't have the mirror now because the dresser and mirror wouldn't have fit in the space where I want it to go and I would have felt bad not using it. It had really old wooden wheels but two were broken so I took them off right away.

When I brought this home, Troy opened the door to the garage. I said "look at this beautiful dresser!" He said nothing and closed the door. Guess he's not as excited about this project as I am. I guess he knows me well enough after all these years to know that it'll either (a) I'll get done right away or (b) it'll sit around for a long long time. Either way, I'm sure he knows it's his new project too and well... it's not something he has time to do at the moment.

I've been doing a ton of research to get ideas and information ~ how to paint it, what color, what kind of paint, the steps to prep it for paint, etc. I think I've settled on painting it semi-gloss black.

It looks like someone tried to refinish it before I got it. It has a leopard kind of print look to it for lack of a better description.  

Before Refinishing:

Check out the dove tailed drawers!

It has metal stops that drag on the bottom
 of the drawers because the glides are worn
down on the sides.

Here is a great picture of the "leopard print"
that the finish had from the previous owner
trying to refinish it.

I haven't decided if I'll keep the existing hardware. It's going to depend on how it looks once the piece has been painted.

I hate sanding so I picked up some stuff that was recommended by the paint store that will do the job for me. It's Klean-Strip Easy Liquid Sander Deglosser and so far it seems to be working like a charm.

Once dried, I lightly sanded it the next day. The liquid sander did most of the work so lightly sanding the dresser didn't take long.

I purchased Klean Air Low Odor Acrylic Semi Gloss Enamel in black from Parker Paint for the dresser. The Manager at my local Parker Paint store said this would work perfectly. I painted it with three coats of black paint.

I waited two weeks to put the final coat of polyurethane on it. I used a satin finish because I really didn't want this piece of furnitire to have a glossy finish.

Then I put the old hardware back on it and moved it into the entry.

What do you think???

Welcome to my blog

It's day one of my first attempt at a blog. I'm excited to give this a try and wonder if it'll be something I'll regret. Will anyone follow this? I've been reading so many great blogs that I thought that I should give it a try.

Welcome!