My Free Bedroom Set

The great thing about living in a super old house is all of the stuff I've found in the attic and basement.  I was told that none of it belonged to landlord (who hasn't been to Buffalo in over 30 years), so it was up for grabs.  I literally took an entire bedroom set out of the attic before we had even officially moved in.  There is a matching dresser, mirror, nightstand (wish there were two), headboard, footboard (which we're not currently using), and desk (which is currently in my office, but I hope to use as a vanity in my future master bedroom when we buy a house).

Dresser & Mirror Before.

Nightstand Before.

All of it is solid wood with dovetail joints.  They don't make furniture like this any more.  And the best part is that it's a piece of Buffalo history.  On the backs of the pieces they are stamped "North Park Furniture."

To prep the pieces to paint, I removed the old knobs.  For the dresser, I had to fill in the extra hole in the drawers where the old knobs were with some wood filler.  I put painter's tape on the back of the holes and just squirted it in.  When that dried, I sanded each piece with some medium grit sandpaper to remove the shiny finish and smooth out any dings and cracks.  I washed the wood down to remove any sawdust and dirt.

I bought a Behr paint and primer in one, thinking that it would save me a step.  Unfortunately, it really didn't save me much time.  I would have normally done one coat of primer and two coats of paint.  With the paint and primer in one, I ended up doing three coats anyway.  I think it had to do with the fact that my furniture was so old and dried out from sitting up in the attic for years.

Nightstand After.

In the "after" picture of the nightstand, you can see the old gross mustard-y color on the headboard next to the new light tan color.  The color did turn out about two shades lighter than the paint chip somehow.  It matches the comforter almost exactly, which isn't what I was going for, but isn't horrible.

Dresser & Mirror After.

The headboard is done, I just haven't gotten an "after" picture of it yet.  I want to mount it up higher on the wall so it is actually visible above my pillows.  And I still need to tackle the desk in my office.

So for only the cost of a gallon of paint from Home Depot and some new knobs on sale for half price at Hobby Lobby, I have a completely new bedroom set!

Parkside Tour of Homes

Today I took my husband along with me on the annual Parkside Tour of Homes.  The Parkside neighborhood is located adjacent to the Buffalo Zoo and Delaware Park and only about a mile from where we live.  It allows visitors to tour 10 historic homes, varying in architectural and design styles.  Most of the homes date back to the early 1900s.  You can hear more about the event here.

The tour started outside the Darwin Martin House, and you were allowed to wander at your own pace to each of the ten houses on the tour.  We chose to start at the southernmost house and work our way back north towards our apartment.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside any of the homes, but here are a few of the exteriors.

Queen Anne Victorian, built 1906

American Four Square, built 1910

 

Arts & Crafts bungalow, built 1911

 

Frank Llyod Wright's Darwin Martin House, built 1903

 

Craftsman Foursquare, built 1920

Arts & Crafts, built 1925

Fortunately, much of the original woodwork remained unpainted in these houses, which is the main element of Craftsmen homes.  Most of the home owners chose to decorate in furniture styles that matched the style/time period of their houses, but once in a while I'd see a very modern room that caught me off guard.

It was my first time taking the tour, and I had a great experience.  I was a bit disappointed that in several of the homes we didn't get to see much more than the living room and dining room/kitchen.

A few tips for anyone planning on taking the tour in the future are:

1)  Wear comfortable shoes!  We walked approximately two miles traveling from house to house.  (We also walked about a mile to and from the event each way as well.)

2)  Set aside enough time.  It took us about three hours to see nine of the ten homes.  (We bypassed one house that had a huge line out front.)

3)  Bring cash.  There were nine food trucks parked along the route, as well as several adorable children selling lemonade.  (We only had about $6 on us, which only got us each a small hotdog so we were starving by the time we got home.)

4)  Use the restroom before you start the tour.  Since the tour does take several hours and you're not allowed to use the homeowners bathrooms, it was a bit of an issue.

Wine Cork Dart Board

It looks at though my craftiness is rubbing off on my husband...

Now that Mike has his own "man cave" in our third bedroom, he insisted on getting a dart board.  But we didn't want a ton of holes in our walls from poorly aimed darts (we'd like our security deposit back when we move out). So he decided to create a dart board surround out of wine corks.  I'm ashamed to admit that we did drink most of these bottles ourselves, including some from our first trip together to cherry wine country in Michigan.  But we also got a few from Mike's grandpa.

The process was fairly simple.  Mike cut a piece of plywood to the desired dimensions (approximately 24" wide by 30" tall).  Then he cut four pieces of molding at 45 degrees to line the edges and create enough depth for the corks to sit in.

After he nailed the trim to the plywood base, Mike filled in the center with corks in a parquet type pattern. He dry fit them before gluing them down with Gorilla wood glue.  He did have to shave the edges off of some corks to get them to fit properly.  A screw was attached near the middle of the plywood to hang the dartboard from.

The glue holds the corks down well enough that even when a dart gets lodged in one, the dart easily pulls free without the cork detaching from the board.  I would know since I hit the corks more often than I hit the dart board!

Spring Bedroom Makeover

It's officially spring!  Even if it doesn't always feel like spring outside, I wanted to make it feel like it inside.  Today, I'll be focusing on my bedroom.  One of the easiest ways to transform the whole look and feel of your bedroom is to change your duvet cover, which is what this design is focused around.

First, let's take a look at what my bedroom has looked like since we moved into our apartment at the end of October.  I chose a relaxing, color scheme of mostly tan, seen in the duvet cover, nightstand, and wall art.  I punctuated it with a few dashes of chocolate brown in the curtains, pillows, and bedskirt.  The rug incorporates both of these colors.  The room felt warm and cozy on those cold winter nights. 

Before:  Fall/Winter look

To transform the space for spring and summer, I changed the duvet cover to one with a colorful leaf pattern.  The background color is still the same as the previous duvet, matching the art and rug.

I purchased a yard of clearance fabric, which happened to match perfectly, to make fun toss pillow covers (see last week's post).  Goodbye brown, hello color!

I swapped out the brown bedskirt for a white one.

Finally, I stole the curtains from my dining room (which I replaced with sheers in there) to lighten up the whole space.

After:  Spring/Summer look

Not a dramatic change, but a very affordable one that makes enough of a difference to brighten my mood on these rainy spring days.