Toy Room Buffet

WOW! I've been MIA this month. Once I finished my show I was spent and had to take some time to clean my house! It had been completely neglected for about a month and was trashed!!!

I've been wanting to paint the T.V. buffet in our toy room for quite a while but was too busy getting ready for my show and had to produce products to sell. So I knew this would be the first project on my list of things for the house. I LOVE decorating my home. It's truly my passion.

I pondered what color to use for quite some time. The room is orange. I mean REALLY, REALLY orange. Not every color goes with orange. Of course I was going to use an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. So I considered Old White but this buffet gets used a lot...with kids. The art supplies are housed in here as well as many other toys. Something darker would work best. I had Aubusson Blue on hand and I went with it. I loved this color on the dresser I finished right before my show.

This is not the best before pic ever. I went through all my photos and this was the only one I had. I think my son was doing one of his newest dance moves...sorry buddy. But if you can look behind that fabulous stance you can see what the buffet looked like before.

I did a little distressing to this piece as usual. I figured it would probably get a little more distressing the natural way so I kept it light. I also decided to use the original hardware; frugal as always. My husband is a lucky man :-)

When I purchased the buffet to use for the new T.V., I knew right away that I wanted a large shelf above it. This shelf is 7 feet long and made by my "other" hubby, Tom. He's a fantastic woodworker and is always willing to indulge me in all my "great" ideas. He custom made it to my specs and I think it's just perfect for the wall. On top of the shelf is one of my newest collections...globes!!! I'm loving this collection and still have plenty of room for more! I'd really like to find a black one. One thing I'm learning with collecting is that it takes a great deal of patience.

I just couldn't resist putting this pic in. Gosh...he's so darn cute and growing up way to fast!!! I love you T. Finn and my other babies too! Now make sure to keep the toy room clean :-)

I'll be linking to some great parties this week. Check them out!

The Longest Project EVER!

This was the project that would never end! And although I'm happy to be done; I'm also a bit sad. The Red Robin got sold last weekend and now I kinda miss her.

I picked her up late last winter in a small town thrift store. She was the very first purchase when starting my new adventure into furniture painting. And I actually remembered to take a before pic! She had good bones but needed some work. The drawers were solid wood but two of them needed to be reinforced with some wood glue and another had to be completely rebuilt with a new bottom and more glue...thanks hubby :-)

If you look closely at the veneer on the bottom of the dresser you can see where it was bubbling up terribly. It was truly beyond repair. So I did what I've done so many times before...I searched other blogs for help. I found instructions on how to remove the veneer with a moist towel, a very hot steamy iron and a paint scrapper. It worked like a charm! And since I was painting her anyway you could never tell!!!

I painted her using Annie Sloan chalk paint in Emperor's Silk. When the paint first goes on it has a pink hue. I was a little nervous that it would stay too pink but as always I'm never disappointed with this paint. And when I added the protective wax the red color became even more rich.

I went to Hobby Lobby to find some new drawer knobs. As you can see from the before pic she was missing some pulls when I got her. For those of you who may not be aware, Hobby Lobby is a great resource for drawer knobs and pulls. They have a huge selection and some really unique items. Also, they tend to go on sale for 1/2 price every three weeks or so.

Here is Miss Red Robin in her finished state and ready for the taking. I was so happy to be done with this one. But along the way she started to feel like a girlfriend sitting in the corner of the workshop just watching all the other projects come and go. I'm glad she's off to a new home where hopefully she will enjoy her new life!

I'll be linking to a few parties this week. Check them out!