Foyer Makeover Before and After

Here it is my completed foyer makeover.  Our new focal or statement piece the large buffet that we remade this last March, from a piece we got at a consignment shop for 55.00.  We spent about 60.00 on supplies and hardware to finish the piece, purchased a few accessories and framed a piece of art made buy our daughter, it is a huge improvement of the prior space.

The color is a teal blue from Behr, we actually were able to paint the entire thing with the 3.00 sample from The Home Depot. New hardware and some color detail in the flower motifs on the drawers.

We sanded the heck out of this, and washed in thouroughly, the painting was done inside, using a dry brush technique, where we put on the paint then removed some by brushing with long strokes with a dry brush, this allowed some of wood beneath to shine through.

Below is the piece as we purchased it, dark and huge brass hardware, our piece completed and then my inspiration piece.  Admittedly I am still looking for the perfect bust for our room, it has actually been a running joke...I know one is out there that will look great.

 
So the before and after pics, ok, the first before picture, this area is a complete mess, honestly most days it was a bit neater, well a few days a week it was anyway.  Our foyer is large and really is a huge dumping ground for pretty much everything.

Entry into our home, much nicer and neater now, and honestly people really seem to like the piece and are quite impressed with our accomplishment.  The buffet holds a lot, in the center we each get a drawer to stash stuff, like mail, keys, phone, library books.  The left side holds a lot of my crafting books from the shelf that used to be here, and on the right my MOST favorite part a large rubber bin to hold shoes, they are no longer strewn all across the foyer, honestly THIS is the best part.

A Few Random Topics

Dining room alcove, new paint job

We spent pretty much the entire weekend painting our living room and dining room, which is a good amount of our first floor. So lots of upheaval and moving furniture back and forth in the house. This area is pretty much done, beside a few touch ups, we have taped the hallway which is a small defined area however there are lots of doors and this area also needs to have the ceiling painted.

We also moved indoors the buffet, yes I have decided this is/was a buffet and not a dresser, mainly because there is a big stamp on the back "buffet". This to got painted and polyurethane treatment as well, it is not quite done so I will wait for the big reveal. We actually managed to get this inside fairly easily in spite of its huge size. We did break a piece of the siding that went under our front door, I suppose I should add the price of that repair to this makeover...sigh.

Buffet color, it is one shade darker then in the dining room

This is the blue I chose it is actually called "Teal Bayou" from Behr, a sample size for 3.00 covered the entire piece. We applied the paint then with dry brush wiped off some of the paint, below are the first strokes going on. This gets good!


These carvings, there are four on this piece are going to get their own makeover, but first I need to sand and prep as I changed my mind on what I want done with these. My husband actually came up with the idea I plan to use.

I managed to finish this for about 60.00 bringing the total for this buffet and its makeover to just over 100.00. I am actually going to do another paint treatment on the carvings and want to line the drawers with something or paint them or both, so guessing I could be spending another 15-25.00 to get it completely done. It is however in ready to use condition, so far it is an awesome addition to our beyond boring foyer.

Also on the weekend I made a full turkey dinner, no kidding even cranberry sauce. My thinking was a lot of food so when painting we had leftovers. I made a mountain of mashed potatoes so the leftovers really felt like Thanksgiving. I did not get any good pics of the turkey after cooked, I soaked this in a brine solution for about 24 hours, it was extremely moist and juicy out of the over, after that I tasted no difference, my husband was on and on all weekend about how good it was. Moral of the story, I WOULD brine a turkey again. I think it helped a lot as this has been in the freezer for about 4 months.

Now for this nifty painting trick we tried and it worked. At the end of painting each day we wrapped our rollers in foil then double bagged and put in the fridge, they were still wet the next day and ready for painting. I think this saved us about 20.00 doing this over the course of our painting.

Also, my window seat is getting a makeover too, here are some before pics. It will be the same blue as in the dining room as it is along the same wall. I will also be making a new cushion and pillows, so that is underway as well.

After all this we will be moving upstairs to do our daughers Princess room, you guessed in "pink and purple".

Behold My Foyer Makeover is On Its WAY

It has been almost 7 years since we remodeled our home, this gave us a large foyer of which is boring and not very welcoming, to us or our guests.

Of course we have been busy, baby, job upheavals and life in general so there has been a few good excuses for ignoring this room. However, now that we are past baby and toddler stage we are need of touch up and painting all over our first floor so I have been doing some serious consideration to this space.

Mainly shopping and sadly for me the pieces that we have found and liked have not been in the budget, well my husbands budget anyway. So I figured it would be a less painful battle to buy something and re-do it, with spring coming and the weather breaking this has been my new focus.

What I have been looking for is a large statement type piece, this is a space that can hold about a 6.5 foot piece of furniture and not overwhelm the room. When shopping these pieces are not inexpensive, we have looked at consoles, dining room pieces, tables, dressers you name it we have been a lot of places, both low end and high end, sample sales, estate sales, this piece below $1500.00 has been no where to be found.

It dawned on me I needed to focus on finding a dresser, as these seem to be a very common cast off piece, all over estate sales, craigslist, consignment shops. So I have been scouring websites for makeover ideas hoping my piece would come along.

I also just noticed/found a consignment shop about 1.5 miles from my house, it actually just opened in December. We stopped in on Saturday and grabbed this dresser, which was on its last day of consignment for $55.00...YES $55.00. We went to get paint samples and returned an hour later to purchase it, today we picked it up.



This thing is a beast, it is 70" long, 19" deep and 33" tall, it was in fact a dresser or perhaps a buffet (that was what the shop called it), I think it was a dresser. It fits the bill on every aspect of what I want for my foyer, large statement piece, drawers for the paper and mail always floating around the foyer, doors that open with shelves, actually this will be used for shoe storage. Only down part of this piece is the dated color wood grain look and hideous hardware, other then that (which ok is A LOT) it could be fabulous.

Ok, before you say but it is so ugly, I know but here is where I will remind you I paid $55.00, and really if you could turn it into something like this...


Blog post by Recaptured Charm found here

Wouldn't you see the beauty and potential in this dated 70's - 80's dresser? I had actually been contemplating the foyer this blue color, but think the dresser will be the blue in the room and I am going to go for a caramel/mocha color that will be a good accent to the adjoining rooms.

Overall it is in excellent condition, my husband and I are still somewhat debating how much of this is veneer how much is wood, it is crazy heavy and very solid and for the most part is in amazing condition.

Top is virtually scuff and mark free, surprisingly this seems to have the least wear.



Drawers and doors, both on my wish list, I am going to get a large basket for shoe storage.





Three drawers, one for each of us, I am already shopping for initial knobs for my husband, daugther and me, a bit of personalization.



So undecided about all these carvings, I think if they can come out with the amazing detail in my inspiration piece I will keep them. My husband is wanting to fill it all in with wood filler...we'll see.

Just so you know how desperate my makeover is here are some pics just as the foyer is right now and sadly most days...boring, actually I think that is a kind description. Note the table is open now, often it is more a sofa table that we convert to a games table when company comes, we stick the kids there.



It actually looks worse in pictures, that's good right, my makeover will be more impressive...I hope.

So this is the wall it will go on, the table and bookshelf will be relocated elsewhere in the house. We will be repainting this room a deeper warmer tone and hanging art or mirror(s) above, I also plan on bringing in a lamp or large candle piece.

This is an idea I found and am seriously considering for over the makeover piece, this gives me an excuse to shop for a bunch of mirrors.

Blog post from In My Own Style found here

This is the view as you step in our home, cannot wait to makeover this space. I will be sure to blog about this and show progress as I go.

2011 UFO FInished - Laura Gunn Fabric Pillows

Another 2011 UFO done, well nearly...done enough to be put to use. I still may go back and do some more beading on the birdcage pillow, but for now the less is more and calling it done.

These are my favorite two chairs to seasonally embellish, ready made pillows that I often cover make this easy to change out as I desire. These chairs are great for entertaining as they make an nice conversation pair and are also easy to slide on our hardwood floors, as an added bonus when needed they are a great height to our dining room table, for really big gatherings.

I love this first fabric collection by artist Laura Gunn, her fabric is from Michael Miller and I have quite a bit put away to use for home decor projects for myself like this one. I also have a pieced small quilt that I was hoping to applique a tree on it and hang it above these chairs. I am actually unsure I still want to do that so I have this rather simple pieced quilt I am deciding what to do to finish.

I actually sort of followed some pictures on Laura Gunns blog when she did this fabric release. I sized them to fit my 18 inch pillows that I already had, below are just a few things I did to make the pillows.

I almost always do a quilted top for my pillows, the stability and weight the batting provides to the completed pillow is worth the effort. My pieced pillows with some simple on point grid quilting to hold the batting to the top, I only use batting and the top, no need to back it as it will be enclosed.

Auditioning thread colors, just unfurling thread and laying randomly on piece to be quilted will give a good visual to the finished item.

I marked with white pencil a cross hatch design to be quilted, I only quilted the 2 accent fabrics on the side.

Finished quilting

I then did some free quilting to the motif design, just enough to hold in place.

Birdcage pillow, below beaded details, I beaded most of the aqua and fuchsia bird cages.

Lantern Bloom Pillow with quilted detail below



Makes a lovely pair, I just used a faux chocolate suede for the back and made them in an envelope style to change out with the seasons.

Sometimes I sew for myself

Been having the urge to do some sewing for myself. I love sewing and sharing with others, but taking the time to do for my family and just something to enjoy is also very satisfying.

I have been making yo yo's and with this group of 36 batik yo yo's I hand appliqued them onto a quilted denim pillow cover. The thing I think I love most about this, is it used fabrics I already had, though I was tempted to get some new batiks these were all from my stash along with this great light colored heavy weight denim.

I loved making this so much I am doing it again in ivory denim with fabrics from a line called Surf and Sand, and hope to write a tutorial on this pillow.