home office Archives - Two Twenty One

Home Office Details

March 7, 2013

Thanks for all your amazingly sweet comments yesterday about my home office makeover reveal. You guys are the bomb diggity.

Today I’m sharing some more details about the makeover and where I purchased everything. And you know how I like transparency, so I’m also sharing the approximate cost of the makeover. I’m going to give the prices of things I specifically purchased for the makeover.

Wall color: Voyage by Valspar… $30

Workstation: 6×6 Ikea Expedit shelving unit and Expedit desk… $200 + $50 = $250 (BUT it was technically free to me because I cashed out some credit card points I acquired through paying for our wedding expenses.)

White boxes and magazine files: Ikea Kassett… $55

Pink boxes: Hobby Lobby… $35

Bridal bouquet canvas: Canvas On Demand (Groupon)… $45

Shelves: Ikea EKBY JÄRPEN/ EKBY BJÄRNUM… $25

Clear Ball mason jelly jars: Goodwill… $12

Turquoise Ball mason jars: Yard sale and Goodwill

Bakers twine: eBay (18 spools)

Washi tape: Target

Vintage thread spools: Grandma

Buttons: JoAnn Fabric

Printer cart: Gift

Greeting card organizer: Gift via Amazon.com (read about it here)

Here’s the before and after of the printer cart. I used spray paint to spruce it up a bit.

Chair: Craigslist

Table: Goodwill… $9

Whale: Kohls

Pillow: Home Goods

Blanket: Handmade gift

Curtains: Target… $20

Gallery wall frames: Ikea (full details here)… ~$100

Katie Daisy print: Katie Daisy… $15

Sewing cabinet: Gift… but, the makeover cost around $40 (read about the makeover here)

Pink storage box: Kohls (read about the makeover here)

Apothecary jars: Micheal’s and Home Goods

Pink threads: thrift shop and grandma

Fabric covered faux nailhead trimmed memo board: Upcycled old cork board… $12 (read about the makeover here)

Pink vase: Gift

Personalized lucite tray: DIY project… $15 (read about it here)

Gold polka dot candle holder: Target

Small white bowl: Goodwill

File cabinet: Gift (read about the makeover here)

Calendar: Anne Taintor via Amazon.com… $13

TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT: $651 – $250 (gift card from credit card points) = $401

A room makeover for less than $500? Not too bad.

Who’s itching to go to Ikea now?
Any other questions?

28 Comments · Filed Under: home decor, home office, Ikea, makeover, our home ·

Home Office Makeover Reveal

March 6, 2013

Today’s the day! My home office/craft room makeover reveal. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

This room makeover has been in the works for hmm 17 months. The process was slow. Obviously. This goes to show that rooms don’t come together over night. Remember that.

I must say I really love my office. It’s my woman cave. The place where I can display as many pink and feminine things as I want. Forget about man caves, every chick should have a woman cave.

Let’s start with the largest piece of furniture in the room– the Ikea Expedit workstation. I decided on this behemoth because it seemed like a good storage solution for my office. So in May, 2012 Brad and I made the 2 hour drive to Cincinnati, home of the nearest Ikea, to get the workstation, white storage boxes, picture frames, shelves, and some chocolate.

Brad started on the Expedit shelving unit when we got home and had it assembled in an hour. I don’t know why people complain about assembling Ikea furniture. Tip: don’t use the supplied dinky Allen wrenches. Get a cordless drill. And a beefcake husband. You’re welcome.

I’m not an overly girly person. Don’t let this room give you the impression I’m the bubble gum and rainbows cheerleader type. I’m not. I just like the color pink. I mean, our wedding colors were pink and green.

Speaking of weddings, I tried to sell my DIY wedding program box and card box after our wedding but that didn’t pan out so they’re hanging out on top of the Expedit. I had my wedding bouquet immortalized on canvas this past summer. But I still didn’t have the guts to throw away my gross, dried up bouquet. It’s in the wedding program box.

I originally bought these shelves (from Ikea) for our guest bathroom but they were too deep, so I put them in the office. The Ball mason jelly jars I thrifted a while back fit perfectly on the shelves. I also store my turquoise Ball mason jars on the top shelf.

I store various craft and sewing supplies in the jelly jars– washi tape, bakers twine, buttons, and vintage thread spools.

This wooden cart was given to us by Brad’s grandma. I brightened it up with a little spray paint. I use it to house our printer, modem, router, my greeting card box, and some of my books.

I created a little sitting area/reading nook with one of the chairs I purchased off Craigslist and a table I scored at Goodwill for $9 on half-off Saturday. The table looked a little rough, so I freshened up with a coat of white spray paint.

The blanket has made previous appearances on the blog– it was a wedding present knit by my Great Aunt. The pillow’s twin has made an appearance on the blog too.

I showed you how I tackled the gallery wall a few weeks ago. The process wasn’t as painful as I thought it’d be.

I spruced up my grandma Mildred’s sewing cabinet a year ago. And I showed you how I took the storage box from ugly green to pretty pink last year.

Thrifted tatting threads and vintage thread spools are displayed in apothecary jars.

Last year I covered my teenage cork board I stole from my parent’s basement with fabric and pushed 5,000 thumbtacks along the edge to give it a nailhead trimmed look. I get phantom pains in my fingers when I look at it. Just kidding. Kind of.

No room reveal post is complete without fresh flowers. Write that down.

I picked up these hydrangeas for under $5 at our local grocery store. Two of them were in the clearance section for $.89. $.89! And these puppies have lasted well over a week. They look pretty nice next to my DIY lucite tray, no?

I’m not opening those closet doors and showing you what’s inside. . . yet. I have a little DIY project planned for the closet. Hopefully, I’ll get to it within the next 5 years.

The C monogram hanging on my closet door is from college, and the canvas bag is my super cool Two Twenty One bag. I’m legit.

Oh look, it’s my stenciled file cabinet.

I had it under the desk, but I didn’t like how it was somewhat hidden so I put it here. It fits perfectly in this spot.

The Expedit is pretty awesome. It holds a whole lot of stuff. Which is really nice for me because my home office really is my home office. I’m a self-employed developmental therapist, and I provide in-home therapy in clients’ homes so my home office is my home base. This room also serves as the Two Twenty One headquarters and my craft room. Therefore, I have a lot of stuff. I’m able to store my work related necessities (client files, paperwork, books) along with my blogging, crafting, and personal items in the Expedit.

Finally, no room reveal post is complete without the appropriate before and after photos.

I hope you enjoyed the home office/craft room tour!

Find out more details about the makeover, where I purchased everything, and the approximate cost of the makeover HERE.

What do you think about the room makeover?
What’s your favorite thing about the room?
Any random questions?

151 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, home decor, home office, makeover, organization ·

Home Office: Before

March 5, 2013

Tomorrow I’m sharing my home office makeover. You’re on pins and needles, right? Well, today I’m showing you the former states of the room.

When we moved into our house in July, 2009 the every room was painted this shade of beige. Here’s my office before we moved in. Blank slate in my opinion.

I decided to paint my office purple. My inspiration was a photograph I bought at an art fair the spring before we moved into our house. Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m going to blame it on being a young, excited, new home owner.

The room remained in its purple state from July, 2009 until September, 2011. Throughout the months leading up to our June , 2011 wedding, the office became my wedding bunker. I stored all of our wedding related decorations and other materials in the office. After the wedding, I decided to purge and reorganize everything before I painted. That meant putting everything in the center of the room– even the contents of the closet.

Hoard, much? I had so much random crap in the room it was unreal. Yes, you are seeing baby toys. No, I don’t have a child you’re unaware of. I work with toddlers. So toddler toys are a must.

Why did I show you the above photo? I’m trying to keep it real. But notice how I didn’t watermark the photo. I’ll share it with you, but I’m not putting my name on that hot mess.

So I cleaned up the room, sold the computer desk and corner bookshelf, and donated the barely recognizable TV stand. Then I got to painting.

Speaking of painting, most of you know how hard it is to find a perfect gray. Oof. I brought home a few samples to try out on the wall. The one on the far left is Gravity by Valspar. Second to left is Voyage by Valspar. I went with Voyage because I thought Gravity was too light. I should have gone with Gravity. The temptation to repaint the room came over me but I was tired of painting so I accepted the color and moved on.

Voyage is OK, but in color tends to look more blueish gray than gray. Darn tricky grays. At least it’s better than the purple.

My sewing cabinet makeover was the next big thing to hit this room after the new coat of paint on the walls. All of those gray paint samples came in handy. I used one of the samples (Grey Porch by Valspar) for the accent color on the sewing cabinet.

My file cabinet also received a makeover in preparation for the room redo. Again, all of those gray paint samples came in handy. I used the Gravity sample to stencil the file cabinet. Paint samples, people. They’re your friends.

And a few weeks ago I finished my gallery wall. No paint samples were needed for this project.

Now that I’ve teased you with a few projects I hope you’re excited to come back tomorrow and see the room in its entirety.

Have you ever painted a room a color and later on thought “what was I thinking?”
Do you hoard paint samples so you can use them on future projects?
Plan on coming back tomorrow?

29 Comments · Filed Under: home office, makeover, our home ·

Home Office Gallery Wall {Decorating Ideas}

February 13, 2013

A momentous thing happened this weekend. I completed the gallery wall in my home office. It’s a small miracle seeing as I’ve been working on this room for well over a year.

gallery wall with white frames

I used three different types of Ikea frames (Ribba, Sondrum, and Virserum). Seriously you guys, if Ikea is a drive for you, stock up on frames when you go. It took me months to collect enough frames because I didn’t buy enough the first and second times I went. Now I’m sitting pretty with a large surplus of Ikea frames.

gallery wall

The gallery wall contains photos, one of my favorite Katie Daisy prints, a Kate Spade card/print, my glitterfied Indiana artwork, and random things I framed like my admission tickets to the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, a card from my best friend, and a dove Christmas ornament my late aunt gave me. I also framed the cover of our wedding program with two photos of us after being pronounced husband and wife.

white gallery wall

gallery wall with ikea picture frames

The wall was fairly easy to assemble. Arranging frames for a gallery wall is a lot like Tetris. So if you’re a Tetris pro creating a gallery wall shouldn’t be too difficult for you. But I found it was best for my sanity to do it over time– as in multiple days. Sometimes it’s best to walk away, regain your marbles, and then get back to work.

First, I put the things I wanted to frame into the frames. Then, I traced the frames onto craft paper, cut out the shapes, and started working on the layout of the frames by using the actual frames.

how to arrange a gallery wall

But then I deviated and used the craft paper frames on the wall to create the layout I desired. The kicker was making sure I was properly hanging the paper frames– whether the content in the frame was horizontal or vertical in nature. I found it helpful to arrange the frames accordingly on the floor as I assembled the paper frames on the wall. Still following me?

how to make a gallery wall

Once I was happy with the paper frame arrangement I started hanging the frames. I’m pretty good at eyeballing where to put nails in regards to picture frame hooks so I went with the ‘eyeballing method’. It worked out well. Out of 20 frames I only had to redo 2 nails. I think 90% accuracy is pretty good for wingin’ it.

how to create a gallery wall

Now, if you’ve ever attempted to hang an Ikea ribba frame you know how pesky they are. I don’t know whose idea it was to make a frame with an inch of space between the nail hook and where the frame meets the wall. When I asked an Ikea sales associate about it he said, “I guess you’ll have to use a long nail”. I may or may not have replied, “well that’s just silly”. But do not fear, my friends, do not fear. I developed a cutting edge way to hang these irksome frames. Make a loop with picture hanging wire. But don’t make your loop too large or you’ll be able to see the loop when you hang it on the nail. If it’s too big, simply twist the loop to make it a little smaller.

how to hang an ikea ribba frame

So there you have it. One more home office/craft room item knocked off my to-do list. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be able to reveal the entire room makeover next week.
Get excited.

home office gallery wall

Don’t forget, I’m taking questions for my 2nd blogiversary next week. All question askers will receive virtual chest bumps.

Have you tackled a gallery wall in your home? How’d it go?
Has a room makeover taken you well over a year to complete? Don’t be ashamed, you’re not alone.

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Liz Marie Blog, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Thrifty Decor Chick, and Serenity Now.

25 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, home decor, home office, Ikea ·

Glitter State Art {DIY}

January 29, 2013

In an attempt to build up my artwork for the gallery wall I’m putting in my home office/craft room, I came up with this glitter bombed piece of work. It’s Andy Warhol meets Liberace. Or something like that. I was going to say Andy Warhol meets Kesha. But I’m not a fan. Homegirl has got to go.

Anyway, I came up with the idea to pay homage to my state by covering it in glitter. You can never go wrong with copious amounts of gold glitter. Never.

glitter state art

I started by finding an image of my lovely state through a google images search. Then I sized and flipped the image in Photoshop. Why? Because when I cut it out I didn’t want any of the black outline to show. You can flip images in Word. Just google it.

I printed it out on card stock. The card stock is important. This won’t work very well with regular ole paper.

diy glitter state art tutorial

Then I cut it out (see how there aren’t any black lines on this side?) and grabbed my Mod Podge. I put a thick layer of Mod Podge on the cut out with a foam brush. Make sure you put enough Mod Podge on, but don’t go too crazy.

glitter art

I grabbed my gold glitter and covered the Mod Podge covered state. You can go crazy with this step.

indiana glitter art

I waited until the Mod Podge had dried and shook off the excess glitter. There were some spots where the glitter didn’t stick well so I dabbed some Mod Podge on with a toothpick, poured on some more glitter, and let it dry.

glittery indiana art

I didn’t take a photo of this, but I also sprayed it with Rustoleum clear gloss to seal the glitter. Tip: Spray from at least 2 feet away. Don’t go overboard. Spray a light layer and go back and do another layer if needed. If you spray too much it’ll look bad. Read more about this step here.

glitter art diy

Then I took my goldified Indiana and attached it to a piece of pink card stock with double sided tape. I went with pink because it’s what I had and gold and pink look good together. But this would also look great with emerald green, navy, or turquoise paper.

diy glitter state art

I grabbed an Ikea picture frame with an 8×10 opening and slapped the bad boy in it.

state art

I think it turned out pretty well for a spur of the moment idea.

glitter state art

Do you think you’ll try to make your own glitter state art?
Are you so crafty you bleed glitter?
Do you dislike Kesha as much as me?

27 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, home decor, home office, Ikea, tutorial ·

Holiday Gift Wrapping Station with Martha Stewart™ with Avery™ + $100 Staples gift card giveaway

November 14, 2012

With the holidays quickly approaching I decided to make life a bit easier and create a holiday gift wrapping station in my home office with the help of the Martha Stewart Home Office™ with Avery™ collection which Avery sent for me to try out. To say that I’m excited to utilize this station and the products in it is an understatement. Prepare yourselves, organization lovers.

My stenciled file cabinet was put to work, becoming the base of my station. I topped it with the Stack + Fit™ organizer. Isn’t it pretty? I used the Stack + Fit to organize my gift tags, holiday shipping tape, ribbon, scissors, pen, and holiday gift bags.

The Martha Stewart mitten and stocking shaped gift tags are the most adorable gift tags I’ve seen. They rank up there with puppies in the adorableness department.

I used the back part of the Stack + Fit to organize my gift bags and a red and white striped padded shipping envelope.

Have you seen the festive Holiday Shipping products Martha has come out with? They’re available in-store at Staples. Definitely more cheerful than slapping someone’s gift in one of those boring, yellowish brown, padded envelopes. And check out the awesome holiday-themed shipping tape.

Instead of throwing all my coupons in my purse, I decided to organize them in this Shagreen Accordion File. When I go Christmas gift shopping I’ll throw the file in my car, and when I arrive at the store, I’ll grab the coupons I need. I’m sure this method will be ten times more stress-free then spending five minutes digging through my purse.

I hung this Shagreen Pocket, which comes with thumbtacks (thank you, Martha) above the file cabinet. I filled the pocket with address labels in a Corner Lock™ High Capacity Document Sleeve and addresses and return address stickers in another Document Sleeve. This area will definitely come in handy when it’s time to send out Christmas cards.

I used a large galvanized container to hold my rolls of gift wrapping paper. Care to guess my favorite paper? Hint: mittens.

I used some boxes I already had to organize my gift bows and tissue paper. I used these great Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Chalkboard Labels to mark the boxes. The Chalkboard Labels are such a great idea because when the holidays are over and I put the holiday stuff back in our attic, I can erase the labels and use the boxes to store something else. The labels are also removable, an added bonus.

And there you have it.

Bring on the holidays. This chick is organized and ready.

Are you organized and ready for the holidays? No? Well you’re in luck because I have a $100 Staples gift card to give away to one lucky person. That’s right, one of you will be able to head to Staples and pick up some of this awesomeness from the Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery collection.

GIVEAWAY
To enter the giveaway, comment on this post and tell me which Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery item you’d love to buy if you won the $100 Staples gift card.

Visit Staples to see the entire Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery collection. Be sure to check out the Avery website and Facebook page.

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 11/14/12-12/14/12.

Be sure to visit the Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m sharing this at the following parties: Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tidy Mom, Liz Marie Blog, Craftomaniac, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Live Laugh Rowe, Miss Mustard Seed, and Serenity Now.

173 Comments · Filed Under: christmas, gifts, giveaway, holiday, home office, organization, review ·

Stenciled File Cabinet

October 24, 2012

I’ve been working on my home office makeover for, oh, over a year now. To say that it’s slowly coming together is an understatement. But high five me because I finished one more project on my to-do list the other day– stenciling my file cabinet.

I started with a dull, greenish/tan file cabinet, which I scored for free.

Then I painted it white… and it sat for a year, waiting for more to happen to it. But recently, the great people at Royal Design Studio got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to review one of their stencils. The file cabinet was the first thing that popped into my head. I had been eyeing their Rockin’ Roses Damask Stencil for some time, and I knew it would look great on the file cabinet. So Rockin’ Roses it was.

source

The stencil was pretty easy to use. It probably helped that I was able to roll the file cabinet over so whatever side I was working on was face upward. I started by taping the stencil in the middle of the the long sides. Adhesive spray wasn’t necessary with this project. In addition to the stencil, I used a paper plate covered in foil (super classy and professional), foam roller, and a sample of latex paint (Valspar’s Gravity)– all things I already had on hand.

I used the smaller stencil to finish one end and the large stencil to finish the other end of the tall sides. The stencil registration system made it easy to match up the pattern. The large stencil was all I needed for the top of the file cabinet.

I wanted the handles to stand out a little, so I covered them with painters tape before stenciling.

The stenciling itself didn’t take very long. I found that the key was using just enough paint. It’s better to go with too little paint and do a second coat than go with too much paint on the first go. The most time consuming aspect, for me, was cleaning the stencil. It may have had something to do with the intricate pattern of the stencil I chose. Ultimately, I found it best to soak the stencil in hot water with some dish soap and scrub the stencil with the green side of a Scotch Brite sponge. Altogether, this project probably took about 3-4 hours (that includes prep, stenciling, cleaning the stencil, clean-up).

I love how the file cabinet turned out. Now having to file paperwork won’t be as boring because I’ll be looking at this pretty little thing.

Tadah! A stenciled file cabinet.

Have you used a wall stencil? What did you stencil?

Do you have a less-than-pretty piece of furniture you’d like to stencil?

I received my wall stencil for free. I was not compensated to review this product.
As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

62 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, furniture, home office, paint ·

Nothing A Little Spray Paint Can’t Fix

May 16, 2012

What does one do when they own something that is functional but it is, for a lack of better words, ugly? They grab a can of spray paint. That’s exactly what I did for this little project.

I’ve had this file storage box for about 5 years. I bought it because it was in the clearance section, and I needed file storage. I didn’t buy it for its color.

So last fall, yes, last fall, I spray painted it pink. Why are you just now reading about it? Because I do what I want. Just kidding. I don’t really know why it’s taken me so long to write a post about it. Maybe you’re reading about it now because I’ve been inspired by my recent trip to Ikea. Speaking of which, do you spy any Ikea items in the photo?

Why yes, that is a Kassett magazine file and Forsommar plant pot. I should have bought at least one more pot. I love the design. Two packages of paper napkins with the design did come home with us.

I plan on using the file storage box to store sewing supplies once I finish my filing cabinet. That’s why the box is sitting next to my newly updated sewing machine cabinet. The magazine file contains my sewing machine manual and a vintage sewing book that belonged to my grandma. I put some of my grandma’s vintage wooden thread spools in the pot. The “C” is a $2 paper mache letter from Hobby Lobby that I spray painted.

I love the updated look of the storage box. It’s much prettier than the ugly green. No?

Do you believe in the power of spray paint?

What’s your favorite spray paint makeover project?

19 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, furniture, home office ·

Pinterest Challenge: Button Monogram

March 14, 2012

I love a good challenge, which is why I’m participating in the winter Pinterest Challenge hosted by Erin, Katie, Sherry, and Cassie.

For this challenge, I created a button monogram. (Check out my other projects, both Pinterest-inspired and not, here. And speaking of Pinterest, you can follow me, here.)

I was “pinspired” by a button monogram that caught my attention a while ago. I loved it! I mean, who wouldn’t love a button covered monogram? The original is by Jen Jockisch.

Source: americancrafts.typepad.com via Chelsea {twotwentyone} on Pinterest

I grabbed a wooden letter from the Hob Lob and painted it white.

I rounded up my ~~unhealthy/borderline hoarder~~ button collection and chose some corresponding colors. I went with shades of pink and green, and turquoise because ~~I’m a 13 year old girl~~ they’re my favorite colors. Hello, I talked my husband into a pink and green wedding. (I promise I’ll stop talking about my wedding when I have an offspring.)

Then I started the mindless task of hot gluing the buttons onto the letter. Listen-watching Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of Atlanta got me through it.

Things got a little hairy when I ran out of light pink and light green buttons. So I had to run out and get more buttons. But it was cool because Chick-fil-A is very close to JoAnn Fabric so I was able to get some lunch too.

I like how it turned out. I think it’ll look pretty good ~~next to my Justin Bieber poster~~ on the gallery wall that I’m planning for my home office.

Are you participating in the Pinterest Challenge? What’d ya make?
What do you think of my button-tastic creation?

32 Comments · Filed Under: DIY, home decor, home office, pinterest ·

Sewing Cabinet Makeover {Painting Furniture}

January 18, 2012

Hey friends! Today I’m sharing my first major furniture painting project. This project was near and dear to my heart because it’s my late Grandma Mildred’s sewing machine cabinet. She willed it to me before passing away the morning of our wedding day. While I loved the cabinet, it needed a bit of a face lift. And I LOVE how it turned out.

Let me just say that I have a greater appreciation for all you furniture painters out there. This project took me ten times longer than I thought it would. You definitely won’t catch me saying that it was so easy I could have painted it blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back.

Kate’s tutorial on how to paint laminate furniture helped me get the job done. First, I primed the cabinet with Zinsser primer. I added Penetrol, an additive that minimizes brush strokes, to the primer. Then, I painted it with Valspar’s ultra white semi-gloss latex paint with some Floetrol mixed in (an additive for latex paint that helps minimize brush strokes). The grey detail color is Valspar’s Porch Grey with Floetrol. Penetrol and Floetrol are awesome. I highly recommend using them. After all the painting was done, I put on a few coats of Minwax’s Polycrylic.

I swapped out the brass handle for a brushed nickel one, and I primed and spray painted the hinges silver. The storage fixtures on the inside of the door were primed with Rust-Oleom and spray painted with Krylon’s Classic Gray (gloss).

My grandma also willed her sewing supplies to me. The pink spools in the big apothecary jar were hers. I found the vintage tatting threads in the smaller jar at a thrift shop for $2. The “Keep Calm and Sew On” print was something I found online. I edited it in Photoshop to clean it up a bit.

I hope my grandma would be happy with how I updated her beloved sewing cabinet.
She was a very vocal woman, so I’m sure she wouldn’t hold back her opinion.

What do you think of the makeover?
What are your thoughts on painting furniture?
Was your first experience harder than you expected?