sweet mellierose: Decorating

Whenever Country goes out of town, I usually get really inspired and do something dramatic around the house. It's fun for me to take on some projects and then surprise him when he gets home.

So, I've had these pine dressers from IKEA, circa 1997 or so. For years I've thought I should just take the plunge and paint them to update them a bit. Then one day while browsing through Hobby Lobby, I was stopped in my tracks by this awesome storage type unit that had each drawer painted a different neutral color and then distressed. I loved the piece, but had no use for it and well, the quality left something to be desired. But, inspiration striked and I thought my set would look great with a paint treatment.

Here's the before of the taller dresser:

So, here's the how-to. Since I was alone, I dragged each piece of furniture into the living room and onto a tarp. A few months ago, I learned my lesson the hard way that the key to painting IKEA furniture, no matter what type of wood it is made of, is to prime it with oil-based primer first. Yes, this stuff stinks to high heaven, but it works.

Then I rummaged around through my paint ~~collection~~ cans and found a bunch of neutral colors. I am in the habit of picking up the "OOPS" cans and samples of paint from Home Depot, so I had everything I needed already. I painted each drawer a different color and then on both pieces, painted the top and sides in greige.

I didn't take pictures of the next step since I didn't have a free hand, but I just got out the palm sander and went to town distressing. Then, I took a little glaze and added some black paint and brushed it on. With paper towels and rags, I wiped it off to give it that aged look. Here's the little piece:

And the larger dresser:

Since I had all of the furniture out of the room except the bed, I decided to paint the bedroom a fresh new color. I was a little tired of the brown and blue. No before pic on that one--I'm too lazy to scan one in. But here's the after--the color is Ryegrass from Behr. I also picked up some new bedding. Actually, just new sheets. I found the Waverly coverlet for $5 and the greenish duvet cover, which Tripp is laying on, for $2 at Salvation Army!!

And then, because it wasn't quite enough to just paint the furniture and bedroom, I added another project to the list. The staircase.

Let's talk about the staircase for a minute. This is what it looked like when I bought the house:

I'm not a big fan of carpet on stairs. I'm not a big fan of carpet in general. So, away it went. The railing did nothing for me as well. Bye bye.

And so it sat like this for years. As in, six years. There was also this pine paneled wall:

First I stained the treads over the course of the weekend. Then I used the oil-based primer to prime the risers and the pine wall and then painted it all in a soft cream color. Here's the after: