Mary B. 's home - Part II

This is the chapter II of the Mary's furniture makeover in the entrance hall, lounge and dining area. 

As I told you in chapter 1 I had a great time painting the entire furniture in this house! 
Introducing new color scheme in a same project can sometimes be adventurous even if we take the liberty of giving new feeling in specific areas. We must bear in mind colors might be boring after a while but in this case I think we did great. 

Staging Mary B.'s home - Part. I

A customer contacted me last month to transform the entire furniture decor of her home! 
This cozy house has been completely renovated and the style is mostly colonial. Most of the furniture were great pieces but a painting touch would enhance their beauty even more. 
The project has been a pleasure to deal with as the lady was very open minded and happy to get some color advice; it was like collaborating in a home styling project from artisan decorative effects! 
We then chose the colors and finishes on every single piece and I we were done...

Rainbow dresser

Hi,

This lovely kitchen dresser has been repaired and painted a while ago but for some reason I hadn't published anything about it on the blog so here it is. 
What I love about it is to explain the whole process of fixing, repairing and painting furniture from beginning to end. 
It was love at first sight and in spite of the bad shape and dirt, I could see a treasure and that it could turn into something magnificent! 
The pictures were taken from my cell phone so it's not great but you can follow the steps. 

How to make a playroom on a budget?

Hey, how is everything?

After being soooooo inactive for a few months I am back to keep on blogging a little bit. However I won't have too much time left as I used to have these past years but you can always follow me on my Facebook profile. 

The playroom is eventually done. I am so proud of it as it has been a 100% low cost project. I would have liked to be posted a while ago but it hasn't been possible so far. The most important thing is to have the children happy enjoying it and I know they do!

Casa Ella project

I come here today to tell you about a beautiful deco project I have been working over the summer; I have named it the "Casa Ella" project. Casa Ella is a beautiful Bead & Breakfast; the house is a 100 years old property located in the Benahavis village near my workshop. It has been refurbished several time since then but had to face a complete makeover in order to match modern B&B requirements. The owners came to see me while the property was being refurbished and were able to choose furniture and colors to paint with.

Standing mirror makeover

This is a great makeover I want to share with you today! 
I have a standing mirror for years... I was no longer happy to see it around but did not want to get rid off it, of course! It's the perfect mirror which fits in any corner or at the end of a hallway. 
As I said I couldn't stand for its look anymore and have been thinking how could I turn it into something more... "my own style". 
And so the inspiration came, probably browsing Pinterest for hours(!) and I started this new project. 

My bedroom makeover

Here is the reveal: my bedroom makeover is now completely done! It has taken a long time but it really worth it. 
I have followed the exact steps as for my guest bedroom makeover: painting white walls, converting, repurposing and refreshing furniture on a budget. 

Skateboard ramps

Hi! 

A friend of us recently could get great skateboard ramps for his kid; they are made of reclaimed wood planks from a construction site. The design is just fine! 

The planks were coming from rubble materials so you can imagine dust and concrete leftover was part of them... It was quite difficult to move them as there was no handling system at all. 
I once asked the child if he wanted me to paint and bring some colorful touch on his ramps; he agreed and asked me to paint a very famous logo on them! 

We started this project organizing a huge cleaning with water pressure and let dry overnight. I sanded, plastered and primored the whole surface to paint. I also re-used some hangers I had from my kitchen makeover and screwed them on the same side. Painting stripes and colors divisions was the funny part of the project! 

You can see the skateboard ramps are definitely in use now; check out result in images...

Guest bedroom makeover

Hi there!

My guest bedroom is eventually finished! I explained the multiples changes I wanted to make in my previous post. Walls color and a very few little decor items gave a great result. I realize how true "less is more" is. 

My own milk paint

I recently made my own milk paint.
I selected the tutorial I liked the best (click) and I just did it. 

French café chairs

Since my painted floor is finished I decided to update my French chairs and turn them on something brighter and colorful. They are probably 100 years ago and I love them! If you follow me on Instagram I have already posted a few ones since my living area is done. Anyway when I rescued them about a year and a half ago, I restored and aged them applying asphalt on top of paint.

BEFORE

BEFORE

I loved the final result by then. This time I just used chalk paint and a colorless clear coat without an aging painting technique.

AFTER

Painting hardwood floor

Painting my hard floor is in my mind since we made the kitchen makeover. Once we decided a hard floor tropical wood all over we hadn't realized how dark it would turn overtime. 

BEFORE

White scandinavian interiors have much to do with this decision and most of my research on Pinterest, Hometalk and 1.000 deco sites took my fears away, especially Cleverly Inspired and Nostalgiecat providing easy instructions on their own floor jobs so here we go... 

AFTER

I had to paint by area as the whole surface is about 752 sqm totaling entrance hall, kitchen, dining and lounge. I used Old White from Annie S. mixed with a quarter of water, sanded the whole surface (especially on wood joints) and 2 coats of matte clear coat are needed. The effect is great, a kind of aged creamy white.  Check out the "before & after" pictures as well as the process. 

Outdoor furniture makeover

This is a "medium size" project I want to share with you today: a table and chairs refurbishment and new look. A few years exposed to weather result damaging on any piece of wood, even treated and/or varnished. It was actually uncomfortable to sit due to the rough wood flakes on the chairs.  I just love these kind of works; you just don't give back a great aspect to the wood but also create effects with the paint to achieve the result.  Be my guest checking out the before and after pics and tutorial afterwards. Hope you enjoy...
 

BEFORE

AFTER

Upcycled shutters - Part I

Most of the works have been done on the shutters rescued from the trash. It’s been a long and hard work as no paint stripping is strong enough to remove lacquer; it has been a nightmare and I only could remove and age using the heat gun.

Check out the makeover for a cozy corner.

Kitchen makeover

This was my original kitchen. 

Everything was white: access door, wall tiles, cupboards, floor… 

We made modifications a while ago as we wanted an open plan from the kitchen to the living area; washing and drying machines were moved to a built-in laundry place and we put wooden floor all over. One of the corner cupboards was modified (brown color on the right hand side). 

US mailbox

Wherever I have been, mailboxes have always been of my interest.  Their symbols are very similar on any of them: enveloppes, clarions, blasons or crowns when the country is a monarchy like Spain, Belgium, Denmark, etc.  Private mailboxes are usually regulated by law and most of them feature Post Office symbols. They use to be identical and gathered at the same place in apartments or group of residences. 



So it is where I live: all the mail is delivered at the same place and not door to door so it appears useless to have a mailbox at my entrance door... 

However, here are some pics taken along the road during my last trip across New England which actually gave me some creative ideas...

My dining table

Here is the makeover of my dining table. This asian red wood had been varnished industrially, hence the shinny effect.  The idea was turning the "blink" aspect into a rustic vintage tone as well as enhancing the brightness in the room.
 

My old trunk

Using asphalt and a Tiffany blue paint, I could give a wonderful makeover and use it as a great decorative piece combined with the reclaimed door for the entrance hall. 

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

My craft room

I've always wanted to convert one of my bedrooms into a craft space, an inspiration room where I would be comfortable to invent, create, transform and decorate... This room was for me a retreat where I used to read a book or watch TV. A few years ago I had painted one of the wall in an old pink color but was long time thinking about turning it into a bright color so I simply chose white. This is how it was before the makeover: