DIY: $20 Chalk-Painted End Tables

After the magic that happened with the dresser that I chalk painted, it boosted my confidence to paint more recycled furniture. There's something so fun about taking something that's a little outdated and making it into something completely your own. 

I'm almost finished with the "closet room" aka the bedroom I've turned into a walk-in closet. I've also finished decorating the home-office. So my next project is the guest bedroom and guest bath. To start on the guest bedroom, I found these dated end tables on a Facebook yard sale site for $10 each. Since I already had the paint, this project was only $20 for two new side tables for the guest bedroom. 

These are the two end tables that were $10 each. I saw potential in them because of the design in the front that I knew would be beautiful if painted white. The tables weren't real wood, they are the fake stuff so I didn't really care about painting them. 

I loved the original hardware, the design in the drawers, and there were two of them in really good shape for a fantastic price! 

I used the Rustoleum's Chalk Paint again in the Linen White and then applied two coats of the protective top coat. It's really SO easy to use. 

After painting the drawers, I knew these side tables were going to be gorgeous in white. 

This is the final product! Just like I had imagined, two beautiful side tables for the guest bedroom! 

Not only did I get each table for $10, I found two matching lamps for $10 each as well. That brings the end tables and both lamps for the guest bedroom for a total of $40! 

Here's a preview of the guest bedroom. The bedding is a little dated, there's currently no headboard, and I really want to update the size of the mattress. All in due time and all within a budget of ... well not much. 

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DIY Chalk Painted Dresser Makeover

There seems to be one thing on my mind lately ... and one focus on the blog. House updates. I promise I'll get back to sharing other things soon, but for today, I wanted to share this SUPER EASY dresser makeover. 

When we bought the house last fall, we (mostly me) agreed that one of the spare bedrooms should be turned into a closet. As in, the entire room is used as a closet. It actually wasn't as hard of a sell as I thought it would be. Rich uses the closets downstairs in the master bedroom, so I am using an entire room as a closet upstairs. It's taking some time to pull together because I'm trying to do it all on a budget. 

So one of my first budget-friendly finds was this dresser  I found on a Facebook yard sale site for $40. I knew it would need some updates and new drawer pulls, but it was the perfect size and height for the space in the room. 

The dresser was painted in a light blue color had a bit of a glittery feel to it and that felt a bit adolescent to me. The easiest way to update the dresser was using chalk paint. I had never used chalk paint before but decided to try the Rustoleum's Chalk Paint because it was so cost friendly. I thought why not give it a try! 

If you look at the top two drawers, you will see that there are holes for two pull out handles. These handles were an awkward size and I decided I wanted to update the dresser anyway so I caulked the holes with nail hole filler. 

The nail hole filler applies in a pink color and then it dries white. Once it dried it's easy to sand down to be even with the drawer. You can't even tell there was ever even a hole! 

We moved the dresser out on the patio so I could lightly sand over the top and the sides. It's not required, but there were a few spots I wanted to make sure were even from the previous paint job. Once sanded, I wiped off any dust from sanding and it was time to start! 

I used the Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint in Linen White. Once the paint was dried, I gave the dresser two coats with the Chalked Protective top coat in Matte Clear. 

Here's what the Linen White looks like when you open the can. It is in fact, white. 

 

The dresser and the drawers were given two coats of the Linen White Chalk Paint. Once dried, then two coats of the protective top coat. The top coat looks like watered down milk but goes on clear. It also dries clear but just provides a bit of shine to the painted dresser. 

And, ta-dah! 

I added new hardware, a larger lamp, and the closet room is now nicely pulling together! It's amazing how easy the Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint was in transforming this once blue dresser to a bright, clean white. 

Find the Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint here. 

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Creating a DIY Container Garden

A backyard can be a beautiful place, unfortunately, mine has not been. A few weeks ago I wrote about what sort of jungle it became and with a little money and someone else's time, it was nicely cleaned up. 

Here is the before... just a MESS. 

And here is the AFTER. 

It looks SO much better, but it still needs a prettier touch. This 'flower bed' was probably something beautiful at one point, but not anymore. There were weeds, random rocks, and if you look closely a white puppy roaming around.

Here's what I planned to do: 

- Move the rocks around to make an outline of the flower bed 

- Bought some mulch to make it look defined and cleaner 

- Decided it was time to create a container garden. 

On to the DIY container garden...

Since this whole home ownership is still new, I didn't want to put a lot of time and money into starting a garden this year. Creating a DIY container garden seemed much more doable. A guy at work who owns cows (remember, I live in Arkansas) had some buckets that he didn't need anymore that I knew would work for my space. 

Free buckets, check.

We drilled some hole in the bottom of them for drainage. 

Free buckets that I turned into containers for growing things, check.

Because these buckets weren't the prettiest things in the world, I cleaned them up and used gold spray paint to turn them into golden, beautiful container pots. 

Spray paint = less than $10

Now, with a cleaned up area, and free container pots, this spot was looking like it was finally coming together!

Each pot was filled with soil and compost, and a tomato plant was planted in each one. I even found a rock that looked like the state of Arkansas, so I spray painted it gold too. 

Incredible what you can do with a little elbow grease and gold spray paint! 

Here's a before and after for comparison! 

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Before&After: Painted Dining Room

HOLY COW.

It's been TOO long, friends! Where have I been? Well... I've been SO busy at work, I've been SO busy volunteering, I traveled to D.C. and then I took off some time to work around the house.

Aka. Paint the ugly rooms.

So if you've been keeping up on this emotional house journey then you know that there were a lot of ugly painted rooms.

Whoever said cream was the new gray was seriously disturbed.

I'm still working on decorating, buying other furniture, and painting bookshelves, but here are just a few before & afters. You know what is expensive? Furniture. You know what is expensive? Paint. You know what else is expensive? Hiring other people to paint so I am doing it room by room myself (with the help of my sweet boyfriend who is in law school so he doesn't have a lot of time).

Here's the before:
(Notice the dark paint colors on the wall that I did not end up choosing)

And here is the AFTER: 

I painted these areas in Sherwin Williams Repose Gray. It's the same color as the living room but I had it lightened 50%! It made a huge difference in the room and really ties the two together. I'm still working on the rest of the dining area before I show a 'full' reveal. 

I also painted ALL of the trim in the living room and in the dining room/kitchen area. My right arm feels so strong now! 

Thoughts? Do you like the Repose Gray that's 50% lighter? 

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Update: News About the House!

OK, OK... You're never going to believe it... remember the house that we lost because of the inspection? WELL, NOW WE ARE BACK UNDER CONTRACT! 

I got a message from my realtor last week saying the sellers were ready to do what they needed to do to sell the house. They've cleaned the chimney, fixed the rotted wood and put on a brand new roof! So, we made a deal and are back under contract with the closing date being in October. 

What happens next? Getting the loan approved. I went to the bank of Friday to sign the mortgage papers, then I had a huge emotional breakdown because of all of the papers I had to sign, then my boyfriend took me to eat Mexican food because it's the best stress food, then I calmed down again because cheese dip can solve all problems.

It wasn't until today that I got excited for the first time again since making an offer on the house the first time. I know we still have to get the house appraised and loan approved, but the idea of moving into a house that is MINE is exciting. There's also a lot of stress about packing, moving, needing to paint, decorating, being able to afford to buy new things for the house, etc. All of that will work out like it should. 

For weeks I prayed that God would bless me with the right house I was supposed to buy and I really think this is it. It was kind of a fluke that I went to go see it when I walked in it felt like home, and it has all the space and room that we need. It even has a fireplace which I didn't even know I would want until I saw this house with one. 

This also means I get my office back that I blogged about the first time we were under contract! 

Going from a baby room to a chic office look! 

Does anyone have any house advice? Any DIY blogs that you follow? Let me know! 

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