Vintage Mod Tween Room Before & After

Well, I thought I had hung up my blogging hat but this room was reason enough to temporarily come out of retirement. I recently had the pleasure of creating a crazy fun tween room. Momma's request was for the room to "take her well into her teen years" and her request..."turquoise, lots of turquoise!"

The fabric we used for drapes was our jumping off point. It was instant love on all accounts so we ran with it.

I am SO impressed with the lacquer paint job we had done on this amazing mid-century dresser. It's so slick and not a single imperfection in sight. I secretly want to lacquer everything now!

 The pink accessories (minus the candle) are all straight from grandma, literally! She showed up as I was tweaking things and pulled out the mirror which finished things off nicely. Momma remembers growing up with the hands (seen on top of the books) in her own home. It warms my heart to incorporate special pieces into clients' rooms. That's what it's all about!

I really wish the camera could capture this rug accurately. It has sparkles in it! I'm not even kidding. Think Christmas tree tinsel woven right into the shag. It's perfection for this glitzy, spunky girl!

Momma couldn't wait until Christmas to share this surprise, a signed Taylor Swift guitar! We originally left a blank space for it but we were all dying to see it all pulled together so "Merry early Christmas!" It was literally the first thing she ran to when the full room was revealed! I think momma knocked it out of the park. ;)

Bed in front of the window? Yep! Sometimes ya gotta do whatcha gotta do and moving the bed smack in front of the windows was exactly what this room needed. It fits perfectly in the bay area and now there's plenty of room for lounging and more storage.

A look at where we started...

Before

A big thanks to my clients for "letting this room evolve." We took our time with this space and all the pieces fell perfectly into place. Laid back attitudes and lots of trust go a long way when designing a room.

Shed Before and After (and the dirty in between)

We've been staring at an unsightly shed right out our front door for over a year now. Seems odd to have a shed in your front yard, right? Our house's orientation is flipped since there's a pond on the front of our property. Anyway, the view from our master bedroom window, as well as, front door was the shed that the inspector we hired prior to moving in, said "should be condemned." I'm happy to say we didn't listen to him and now have something functional and somewhat pretty! 

This picture helps you understand why the inspector was leaning towards demo...

I wasn't too thrilled about painting this entire building with a roller so when HomeRight offered to send me their big daddy paint sprayer, I said, "Yes, please!" See him in the bottom left up there? Yep, that's the Power-Flo Pro 2800 getting ready to rumble. I started by trimming the shed by hand so the overspray wouldn't get on the shingles.

And, that's where the fun stopped. Screeeeech! I spent the next 4 or 5 hours reading directions, watching youtube tutorials and calling the HomeRight help line. This, my friends, is what things looked like when I started crying  threw in the towel...

Whomp! Whomp!

You MUST be wearing the paint by the end of the day to call it a successful one!

I knew there was a huge chance the problem was an operator error instead of a defective machine so I decided to wait for John's help before I deemed this product a heap of junk. The people at HomeRight were very patient with me and even offered to send me a new sprayer if I thought there was something wrong with it. 

Well, I'm very embarrassed to say that I'm an idiot who can't follow directions my husband is a genius and had this sucker working in 2 seconds flat! Literally, 30 minutes later the entire shed was covered and the angels started singing. Pretty sure that's God's sense of humor while letting me know, "You need him, Dana!"

We started small with the shed but up next, we're going to tackle the detached garage...

So thankful we'll be using our Power-Flo Pro 2800 instead of pure arm power. That sure does make this job a lot less daunting. You can bet I'll be sure John's available to read the instructions. ha!

*not a sponsored post

Window Trim before and after

I've been best friends with the paint brush recently. After painting our bedroom with Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee (OC-45), I knew our window trim was going to need a little something. The white trim was completely lost against the cream paint, so I went for something with a little more umph and a LOT of contrast...black!

Before:

After:

I used Rust-Oleum's Semi-Gloss paint in oil-base for just the right amount of sheen.

And, this is on today's to-do list...

Wish me luck. This is going to be a beast of a job but the impact is going to be quite something (in my mind's eye at least)!

Enjoy your weekend, friends.

Finding the Right Shape

Good Monday morning, friends! I thought we would start the week off with a little before and after picture fun. Below is the corner of a client's living room. The side table gave this little corner a heavy feel. The shape was wrong for the spot and made things feel cramped and heavy.

Before

In order to make the space feel more open and less forced, I recommended she look for a round, glass table. I stumbled upon the table below at Goodwill. It was a little beat up but definitely showed potential. The original glass had a dark tint so she had new glass cut. Next, we gave it a little Rub 'n Buff love to tone down its original gold color. Wondering what Rub 'n Buff is? I used it in my own house here.

Let's take a look at the after:

After

Doesn't it just feel better? I love how the color really picks up the accent color in the chair. Next step... a little bit of accessorizing and hanging a picture on the wall behind the chair, then she's set!

So, as you're arranging the furniture in your own home, give some thought to the shapes your working with. A little switch-a-roo with scale and shape is what will bring your room into its own.

Not feeling confident to do it yourself? Contact me, I'd love to help you!