Pottery Barn Inspired Dresser

If you have read my posts about our living room and our bedroom,  you know that we have a Pottery Barn, coastal vibe going on.  Even though I LOVE Pottery Barn, I HATE paying for their stuff.  Especially, their furniture.  Most things are solid wood and the quality is good but the penny pincher inside always reminds me I can find a better deal.   I did buy our sea grass chairs from PB (30th birthday present to myself so I feel it was an acceptable purchase) and our living room rug is PB but I bought it on eBay for a fraction of the store price.

Here in New Orleans we have a Pottery Barn and a Restoration Hardware in our mall right next to each other.  Again, LOVE the styles and spending time in the stores drooling over the beauty of the pieces but HATE the cost.  So when I saw the 4-drawer dresser I knew I could make it have that PB/RH feel without the PB/RH price.

Here are the before pics:

Overall, it was in great shape but definitely needed some updating.  The drawers are very deep so they can hold a lot of clothes!  I used a chocolate/java colored stain (again, this is a stained piece, not painted) and distressed the edges to give it a bit of a worn look.  Also, I did paint the original hardware and was going to reuse them but when I put them back on I felt like the dresser was missing something.  I decided to update the hardware and it really brought everything together.  It is a BEAUTIFUL result and this is one of my favorite pieces.

After pics:

As always, thanks for reading and following my blog.  Have a great weekend everyone!

The Office in Progress

Hello all!  Just thought I would do a progress post about our office.  Sorry for the bad pictures.  It was rainy yesterday and I couldn't use natural light.

I have been mentioning the office since I started the blog and I thought it was time to post a few pics even though it is not finished and half of the room looks like a fly tying bomb went off in it...more on that later.

This room has always been the guest room that we knew was going to be the office.  For a long time it was the junk room.  I figured you didn't need before pictures of this since we all know what I am talking about.  Just imagine Monica's secret locked closet at the end of the hall.  Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad but there was a lot of stuff living in that room and we were not using it for anything but storage.  I got it cleaned up and set up this fly tying station for my husband.  This is where he is supposed to sit and tie flies for fishing.  Perfect little space right?  Except he says he can't watch TV in the office while tying his flies.  My bad.  Long story short, it now looks like a bomb of feathers, hooks, weird tools and bright colored strings went off on the desk and the fall out landed in the surrounding area.  I am trying to fix the problem but we are going with this picture until the aftermath has been cleaned up.

Brian's space has been taken care of but now it was my turn.  I wanted a desk that was a big enough space to do crafts and sewing so I started looking for tables instead of a desks.  I came across this dated beauty on Craigslist.  It also has 4 matching chairs.

Here is the after.

I stained the top a mix of several colors.  I wanted it to look greyish like weathered drift wood but not too grey so I added some walnut stain to darken it up a little.  The base and the chairs are painted a fun blue color I had left over from Jaxson's Skiff Bed.  Love the finished project.  I got a great deal on the table & chairs and I had all the supplies & paint for the refinish so the cost was minimal for a huge workspace.

Here is what the desk and surroundings look like.

Kind of blah, I know.  I still haven't decided what to put on the wall behind my desk.  I have a few things to decorate with but I'm not loving any of my ideas which means it is still pretty naked.   Nothing brilliant has come to me but hopefully soon. :)

I do love my lamp.  This lamp was purchased years ago and used to be in our  spare room in Texas.  It has been hanging out in this room since we moved and finally has a purpose.  I know its strange to see a floor lamp on a table but when I am at my desk the ceiling light and the window are behind me and they create shadows on anything I am working on.  To get rid of my lack of light, shadow problem, I put my floor lamp on my desk.  It is high enough to light up the whole area unlike a table lamp that would only light up the immediate area.  It also works because the on/off button is on the cord not up high near the lamp part.

I also love my custom dry erase board on the wall left of the desk.

I had this frame laying around so I decided to make it a dry erase board for notes and reminders.  The picture is from a map I inherited from my grandfather who was a boat captain.  He started a marine business, took us fishing and out on boats as children, and ultimately triggered my love/obsession of the water.  I have several of his maps from the 1970s on the walls in the office but they are not being shown right now because they are in the bombing zone...lol...they will make the next office post.  I didn't want to hurt any of the maps by folding or cutting them so I made colored copies of the area I wanted framed and pieced them together.  This is the final result.  It is of Rockport, TX which is where Brian and I want to live/retire so it is a constant reminder of our future goal.  I didn't have to buy anything for this project so it was free!  Love that! 

And lastly for now, I love my curtains. 

I talked about our tall ceilings in my post about our master bedroom.  It is really hard to find curtains long enough even if they are ordered.  The options are always limited and the price is rediculous.  I went to Joann's and the blue patterned fabric was on sale and it matched the desk BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH!  Blah.  I hate it when that happens.  So I decided to add a stripe of cream fabric at the top to "make it work" as Tim Gunn would say.  This let me use the blue fabric and it broke up the busy blue pattern.  I made two 9.5 foot panels for less than $30 and the curtain rod we had already.  Thank you mom for teaching me how to sew!

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have things organized better and I will figure out what to do with that blank wall behind my desk.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog!

Happy Monday!

Reality is sinking in!  If I was still teaching, I would be driving to work right now!  I am so thankful my husband is supportive of Fisherman's Wife and let me quit to pursue my business full time.  It is such a blessing.

Here are a few projects that I have going on this week.

Custom Media Cabinet

I have several pieces from a return client.  Here is a sneak peek of the media cabinet.

Before:

Sneak peek after:

4-Drawer Dresser

I originally had this dresser as a "pick your color" piece but when I started to prep it for primer, I realized what good shape the wood is in and I decided I couldn't paint it.  So, I stained it a chocolate/java color instead and it is amazing.  It is coming along great and I can't wait to show y'all the after pictures.

My Friend's Boat

Another project for this week is a friend's boat.  That's right...a boat.  My husband and I have built 2 boats together so fixing small things and doing touch ups is no problem.  In this picture, I have already wet sanded the bottom to clean up the clear coat and sand out all the small scratches.  It already looks better. 

USA Table

I also have this Made in the USA table with a leaf and 6-chairs.  They are in great condition and I love the curved back in the chairs.  Someone had tried to re-stain the top and did a horrible job.  It will have to be painted but it is going to be a beautiful make over.  If anyone is interested in this set, e-mail me with details of what you want done and I will get you a price quote.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Check back for some updates on this week's projects.

The Huge 9-drawer B&A

Hi everyone!  Happy New Year!  This is a short and sweet post just to share some B&A pictures.

I love this dresser! I knew when I saw its great shape and detail that it had amazing potential.  You just had to look past that yucky weird color finish but beauty was there.  It was a "pick you color" piece so the client got to choose their color.  This dresser is going in their master bedroom and needed to match the current cherry finish furniture.  So I stained the top a red mahogany/cherry color and the body and mirror are Ivory White from Benjamin Moore.  Here are the before and after shots.  Enjoy!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

HUGE Announcement

After months of debating, discussing, stressing, budgeting, crying more tears than I would like to admit to, and changing my mind 20 times or so, I have decided to quit teaching.  AAHHH!

I am still in denial.  My last day teaching high school Geometry will be Wednesday.  It was a really hard decision to leave my students at mid-year and I have a huge guilt cloud hanging around me.  Even though they drive me crazy sometimes, I do love them...most of them at least. :)  Teaching during the week and doing furniture on the weekend/evenings is just too much and I am tired of not having any personal time.  I had to give one up so the decision was made for me to quit teaching and I will now do furniture full time.  I am extremely excited and scared to death!  I appreciate any prayers sent my way during this time of transition.   Thank you to all of my friends and family that have been supportive and have had many words of encouragement while I was making my decision.  I love you all!

Decorating for Christmas

Many of you know Christmas is my favorite holiday.  There is something about everyone being a little bit happier that just makes me happier.  This year, I decided not to put up the tree (GASP, I know).  We are super busy this month and we are not going to be here for Christmas day so I just did my wreath and stockings.

The wreath was one of my first Pinterest projects from last year.  I made one for myself, as well as for my mom, MIL, and SIL.  They are super easy and CHEAP which are the 2 most important things when you decide to do a project.  All you need is a grapevine wreath, ribbon, ornaments, and Christmas foliage (Poinsettias, peppermint sprigs, holly, etc).  I got my wreath from Joann's with a coupon so it only cost about $4 and all the ribbon and accessories I got at Wal-Mart.  I decided to go with plastic ornaments so the wreath could be stored easily and I don't have to worry about the ornaments breaking.  To decorate the wreath, I tied pieces of ribbon and ornaments to the grapevine.  THAT'S IT.  So easy!  Overall, it's just a bunch of knots with ornaments, sprigs and poinsettias smashed in there.

My Wreath

My Mom's wreath.  She does red and blue with cardinals for her Christmas decor.  

The stockings are new this year.  After contemplating making my own since pretty stockings at a specialty store or online apparently are worth the price of gold, I decided I didn't have time and bought these white ones at Wal-Mart for $7 each.  Now we need stocking holders....another price of gold item...of course the ones I like are $30 each or something crazy like that, times 4...I don't think so.  I am not spending $120 on stocking holders!  So, I bought the new clear tab hooks by 3M.  I used one on the window to hang my wreath and I used 4 on the mantle to hang the stockings.  Of course, this left things looking a little plain and the white stockings needed something.  I used the left over ribbon from my wreath with a mixture of left over plastic ornaments and real ornaments from our tree and I tied them together and hung them from the "stocking holder".  The finished product ended up being very nice and I am really happy with it AND most importantly, I didn't have to spend a fortune to get it.

The letter I purchased at Hobby Lobby and spray painted it red.  It is sitting on the mantle with a cluster of ornaments and ribbon.  Very simple but it adds a little something.

A furniture update:  I have been working on a dresser but I had the cold that would never end last week and I am behind on it.  I am hoping to have it finished this weekend and will post pics soon.  Also, I have a huge announcement!  I will be posting it tomorrow so check back tomorrow evening to see what it is!

M.I.A.

I know I have been missing in action when it comes to the blog.  As usual, things are super busy and I have put things on the back burner and the blog was the first one to go back there.  It is 5:51 A.M. on a Sunday morning and I am super sick, my Nyquil wore off, so I am laying on the couch with nothing better to do so I thought now was a perfect time to update everyone.

First off, I did go fishing with my husband yesterday even though I woke up not feeling 100%.  I knew I was getting sick but pushed through so I could spend some time with him and practice my fly casting.  I caught my personal best red fish on fly rod and it was so amazing.  This morning I am definitely paying the consequences for being out in the sun and wind all day yesterday but I feel it was worth it.  Here is a picture of my big fish of the day.

I have been working on a large 9-drawer dresser with mirror this week.  It is a beautiful Bassett dresser that needs some updating.  Overall it was in good shape but the color and paint quality was horrible.  The client decided to go with a two-tone look with it.  The top will be stained a dark color to match her current bedroom set and the body will be painted Ivory White by Benjamin Moore (we all know he is my favorite).

Here are a few before pictures:



Can we say huge!?

It has beautiful detail on the drawers.

 

Here is a sneak peek of the after:

It is going to be a great makeover and I should have it finished by the weekend and posted soon. 

There is a lot going on over the next few weeks.  The office is almost complete and that reveal should be posted this week.  We are approaching the Christmas break for me (I teach) so things are slowing down a little at work and hopefully I can keep up with posting updates more over the next few weeks.  I also have a HUGE, and I mean crazy, huge announcement I am going to make this weekend.  Very exciting stuff so check back soon.