May 2, 2012

{Making it Pretty}


When Christine contacted me a few weeks ago, she had a couple of little projects for me to do for her. One of them was a free bookcase she had found online.

I was a little hesitant with this piece as the surface is a laminate. It can be a bit tricky to paint, but I am willing to try anything (and Christine was totally game!) so I went for it!


I repaired the edging and the broken leg and gave it a really thorough sanding to rough up the finish to help the paint adhere better. For something like this, it is really important to use a high quality primer first. I really LOVE  Stix Primer, it is far superior to anything else I have tried. It is more expensive, but worth it for a project where you want a beautiful finish.


I think that this turned out beautifully!

I painted it black, and added some pretty wallpaper along the back to make it pop a little more.

I very lightly distressed the edges and gave the whole piece a polish with Minwax Furniture Paste. This was truly a diamond in the rough! I love it!


The other piece Christine had brought to me was an old dresser. I think she may have found this on good old Kijiji as well. It has great lines and was absolutely solid, it was just a bit beat up and needed some extra tlc to make it shine.

This was intended for her young daughter's room so she wanted it pretty, but fairly neutral so that it could grow with her.

I painted it Decorator's White from Ben Moore and distressed the edges and some of the more "lived-in" areas.

I have some really pretty and bold wallpaper that I lined each drawer with. I like to be surprised with a little extra pretty on the inside too.

I found some inexpensive drawer pulls at Michael's of all places. They are just acrylic, but actually look very pretty and have a little sparkle too.

We mixed some clear and pink knobs on the drawers as we couldn't round up enough of either to finish the dresser with one colour... Sometimes you just have to work with what you have!


When Christine came to pick these up, she brought me an old lamp. I hope that I will be able to do something fabulous with it! It is my favourite kind of project. Really ugly and she has trusted me to do whatever I want....  Hmmmmm.