Salvaging the decorative painting on a dated chest of drawers

 My neighbor gave me this little chest of drawers……….

 Dang, someone did a lot of work here!

All this decorative painting…….

but I can't take those flowers~

 And check out the faux marbre top.

Whoowhee…that is ugly.

 I decided to try to save some of the painting……

I love harlequins,

so I came up with a cool idea:

I used a stencil and turned each flower into a black fleur-de-lis.

 See?

Works like a charm.

 Then I painted the knobs and outlined each drawer in the same black.

 And I painted the top in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Versailles.

 So much better……..

I waxed and did a little distress sanding,

and then I added this little wood detail to the top back.

I lined all the drawers with this cheetah print wallpaper...

And there you have it.

It's resting now in my Greenwood Antiques booth.

For sale, $165.

SheShe, The Home Magician

Sheila Fox

sheilafox@aol.com

804-402-4370

Clark's "Big Boy" Bedroom at Grandma's

My cousin, Debbie, 

has had this bedroom suit 

since she was a teenager.

 Nice solid pieces…

They've been up in her attic..

I painted the bed a while back for her to use in a guest room.

She keeps her grandson during the day,

and lately, little Clark,

has taken to crawling out of his crib at nap time.

So those days are over,

and it's time

for a "big boy" room!

She wants me to paint the furniture to use

in his bedroom at her house.

 I mixed up Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in a 50/50 ratio of

Old White and Louis Blue

and painted all three pieces and a mirror.

 Debbie really wanted to purchase new hardware...

 But that would be a $100+ investment, 

so I convinced her to let me just paint them.

I painted all the pulls and knobs in Old White.

 After drying, 

I used clear then lots of dark wax.

 Now they look old and crusty..

(She can always replace them later with new ones,

but I really like this look.

Gives the furniture a little character.)

 For each piece of furniture, 

I painted two coats.

After drying, 

I waxed with clear waxes

and very lightly distressed the edges.

And then buffed to a nice sheen.

Here's the bed.

 The dresser…

with all the hardware reinstalled.

 And the chest of drawers.

 And here is little Clark,

modeling his new bedroom furniture.

Clark is my first cousin twice removed.

(I had to research that to figure it out!

I always get confused!)

 Grandma went and bought him a mattress and box springs 

and set up his room this past weekend.

Now she won't have to worry about him

toppling over furniture, because these

are quite substantial pieces.

They will last many more years.

Don't you just love it when you can reuse

pieces instead of buying new ones?

Have a piece that needs a lift?

Send me a photo!

SheShe, The Home Magician

Sheila Fox

sheilafox@aol.com

804-402-4370

Loss

I haven't been able to post anything for a while.

It's been such a difficult week,

with lots of loss….

So I'll just say,

farewell for now...

 To Robbin….

To Dan…

 To Dick..

Memories are forever.

Hope to catch y'all on the other side!

Revisit: Staging and Preparing a Home for Resale

Okay,

if this were your home,

and you wanted to sell it,

what would you do?

My client, Kathy, asked for my help 

on what could be done 

to get this house in shape to put on the market.

Take a look:

You enter into the living room,

where it's dark,

the window treatments are dated,

the furniture is in poor position.

The first thing I notice:

This dated slatted partition with 

grasscloth wallpaper in terrible shape.

Here's the reverse angle.

And although I love grasscloth,

this is in such bad shape, 

it needs to go.

On one side of the living room,

beneath the picture window,

is the sofa.

 On the other side of the room,

a large dark hutch.

This is just not an inviting room at all.

We're going to fix that!

 In the back of the living room is the den.

It's like a dark hole..

dark pine panelling…

dark furniture..

a brick fireplace,

and a large rug that doesn't go with anything.

 There is a bookcase insert (used to be a window)

that is lined with smoked glass.

Oh my,

how can we bring this home into this decade??

Is it too far gone to ever be presentable again?

Why of course not!

Take a look at the AFTER:

Yep, this is indeed the same house!

I couldn't WAIT to get rid of those 

vertical slats! 

I sawed them right off and then patched the wood.

I also removed all the grasscloth wallpaper.

Yes, a chore…

but well worth it.

I painted the walls in the living room

in Benjamin Moore Alaskan Husky

and all the trim in White Dove.

It's beautiful and fresh!!!!

I removed those dated window treatments which

immediately brightened the room.

And under the window,

where the sofa was,

I placed a chair and small table with lamp.

On the opposite wall, 

I moved out the huge hutch, 

and placed the sofa.

Now you can actually look out the window when you're seated!

Using all of Kathy's art pieces,

I created a montage above the sofa.

And flanked the sofa with end tables and lamps.

I brought in a secretary and chair that I catty cornered in the back,

and I moved in the rug from the den.

This living room is totally warm and inviting now!

In the den area,

this dark space….

was totally transformed as well.

I primed all the paneling with a shellac based primer,

then painted everything in Navajo White.

I added beadboard to the back of the bookcase,

to cover that smoked glass,

and painted it in a pale aqua.

Then propped with all of Kathy's pieces…

I rearranged furniture.

And once again, 

a totally inviting space!

Yes, the house sold!

Kathy now lives in Florida.

Need help getting your home ready for market?

SheShe, The Home Magician

Sheila Fox

sheilafox@aol.com

804-402-4370

Cozying up A Cold Basement Den Into A Warm Retreat!!

So yesterday I blogged about my client, BJ's, 

kitchen spruce up.

Today, I want to show you what I did in her basement.

Here you will find a pingpong table,

with bookcases all around it.

In the back is the den area.

To the right of that is what will eventually

become "the library."

But the den is the space I'm going to be working on today.

Now when I first worked here back in July,

the den looked like this.

I moved the "too large" area rug up to the sunroom.

 And moved the lighter colored sofa to the back wall.

So this is what the room looks as I begin today.

And here's what I did: 

First, I moved out these tall bookcases from the 

game room area.

I moved this barrister cabinet in it's place.

It is more compact, looks nicer,

and isn't as deep as the bookcase,

so it's easier to maneuver around the pingpong table.

 I took the two bookcases, attached them side by side,

 to create a wall.

(These haven't been staged yet…

I'm just getting them into position for now…

and the books off the floor!)

Now this wall of shelves...

  faces into the "library."

And it separates this area from the den.

 And here is the new den!!!!!!

 Isn't it inviting now??

WOW!

 Here's the back of the bookcases.

 I used it as a freestanding wall and hung artwork.

I positioned the loveseat on this "wall."

I removed that dark green slipcover,

and used a quilt to cover it.

 Then I added pops of red all over to warm up this space.

I found this rug rolled up in the garage. 

It's the perfect size,

It doesn't compete with the awkward hearth 

that juts out in the space.

And the new coffee table??

That's a small bookcase that I turned over so that the back is the top.

And I found a piece of stone to put on top.

I put the storage chest over in the corner,

between the loveseat and sofa.

And added a carrom game board for a top.

And brought in a lamp,

which really warms up the space.

The colonial maple rocker got new duds.

 I whipped up a couple of cushion covers 

from this rich botanical fabric BJ already owned.

 

And I made throw pillows in the same fabric

to add to the sofas.

 I layered lots of textiles:

Throws and furs.

The red accessories pull in the brick and stove,

and make this feel like one cohesive space.

This makeover is a great example

of how you can totally reinvent a space just

by reworking pieces you already have.

I bought nothing!

 So crank up the stove,

and snuggle up in your wonderful new den!

Have a room that needs help?

SheShe, The Home Magician

Sheila Fox

sheilafox@aol.com

804-402-4370