daily decorator » Before & After

Easy-On-The-Wallet Decorating

TS — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:45:33 +0000

This economy can sure put a damper on our decorating dreams. For many of us decorating fanatics, we do need to be more selective than ever and maybe pace ourselves a bit, but we don’t need to completely put on the brakes. The daily decorator will feature some easy-on-the-wallet decorating ideas each week this summer. If you have an easy-on-the-wallet decorating idea that you want to share, send an e-mail to ddmail [AT] dailydecorator [DOT] com.

It is one of the easiest ways to freshen up a space with minimal damage to your bank account. In the pics below, I transformed my parent’s living room with a quick coat of paint (2 actually) on a feature wall and a few accessories mainly purchased from Pier1. As you can see in the pic below the room was looking washed out and tired.

I pulled the color from their couch to put on this corner of the room to help highlight the fireplace and the bookcase.

Bringing this color to this side of the room created balance and the needed contrast with the white built-in bookcase and white “mantle” to make these great features stand out.

Below is the color inspiration for the feature wall…

With a few accessories strategically placed on the bookcase shelves I was able to create a clean, un-cluttered look.

There is still a little more to do. A new flat screen t.v. has been purchased and we are on the lookout for a sleek t.v. stand (now if we can only pry away that purple chair from my father…) Although the room is not completely done yet, the paint color has already given the room an entirely new look. Definitely an easy-on-the-wallet decorating project!

This post is part of Hooked on Fridays blog party hosted by Julia of Hooked On Houses make sure to check it out!

The Big Reveal

TS — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:39:58 +0000

Back when I had DIY Mondays in May (click here), I was inspired to start my own diy project. So I decided to tackle the makeover of our casual dining table. It is used everyday and was beginning to show some wear and was in desperate need of a facelift. Here are some before pics…

One of my goals was to modernize the mostly country-style table. The light colored stain had to go. I came up with a concept of staining the table with a dark stain so the wood grain will still be visible. Then for the modern touch, paint a modern design on top in a bright white. After some power sanding and hand sanding, I removed all of the original finish from the tabletop. Then I applied 2 coats of ebony stain.

Here is a close up of the tabletop with the new stain.

Now a lot of people would have stopped there and called it a night. I wanted to take it a step further and make a unique look by hand-painting a design on top. I looked at modern wallpaper designs to get some ideas and then with chalk in hand, I sketched out several different looks until I came out with one that worked.

Once I decided on the final design, it was time to get out the paint. I used leftover white latex paint that we had from another project and purchased a few quality art brushes. Following the chalk outline made this step super easy and the possibility of making a mistake less likely. It took about 3 coats of the white paint to get the look I wanted.

Now the only thing left was to apply 3 coats of polyurethane. This step took longer than I wanted because for the majority of the month of June we have had super soggy weather (hence the delay of the reveal). But, finally I am very excited about the final results and ready to tackle the next project!

So there you have it a little country with a little modern makes a great look. This gives me a little boost to continue to slowly update this old country house into a modern country look. Hope you like it too.