Presently, four pieces of wood furniture scream my name.
Under our outside lean-to, they wait and wait. As bits of pollen, dirty paw prints, and fallen leaves accumulate, they understand that sometime the same yard sale master who saved them from certain demise, will surely put them out of their misery with a magical brushing of paint.
Then and only then will they find comfort, shelter and safety within the realm of their new home.
Until then, the yard sale master will show off her brother’s inspiration. (I mean he lives just through the woods, so it’s kind of like I did it.)
This is the same brother who I featured as the Master Wedding Cup Cake Stand maker. The same brother who high-fived me at the check out stand when I took him triple couponing for the first time. The same brother who I now call, “The next Design Star,” although I don’t think he truly appreciates that accolade.
Soon enough, I will cross the threshold where my daughters will move from our haven to that of another. Yet, for my oldest brother, two out of three of their daughters are now married, with the last spending the majority of her time in NYC. Their home consists of a separate two bedroom/ one bath “girls’ suite” which was filled with the typical white furniture that graces many rooms. The girls had three identical sets of furniture so my brother decided to surprise my niece and her husband with a “honeymoon suite” for their visit last weekend.
The amazing part about tackling a weekend room project such as this, is that you can do it on a budget of $20 or less…much less if you find some OOPS paint at your local Home Depot for $5/gallon ,which he did.
He also used the free Glidden paint that I posted about last month….whoot whoot. 
Room before…plain white walls, white furniture…
I know many of you are probably gasping that he would paint this furniture…trust me, it needed it. Doesn’t all our children’s furniture need a good painting every decade or so? Plus, there are still two more white sets in the adjoining room.
After…isn’t it gorgeous? It’s a grown up look.
Inside the desk before…well, not quite before, but after it was cleaned out, before it was painted.
After -
My brother was in furniture marketing/advertising for many years. Organizing photo shoots for magazines was one of his responsibilities.
Those instincts never die.
After painting the white pencil marked walls a soothing blue, he went to Goodwill and purchased a handful of accessories to change the little girl decor into a get away in which any married couple would revel.
Finding small God moments makes my day…this was one of my brother’s Goodwill finds – exactly “as is.”
Can you believe it? He didn’t have to paint this picture, distress it or match the colors. God loves to surprise us with perfect matches like that.
Twin bed before…
Here two of the three twin beds are pushed together to make a masterful King sized escape.
Candles were lit, fall leaves accented the front, and sparking grape juice was waiting as they entered. Don’t you just want to get away for the weekend?
I know many of you are thinking…I can’t do that.
Seriously, you can. Painting wood furniture is so easy, so simple…it just takes a chunk of combined time (and thus why my four pieces are patiently waiting.)
He cleaned the furniture well – years of makeup spills, and hair spray can do that in teen girls’ rooms.
Then he sanded down many of the surfaces. I know that you can use an amazing primer to avoid that step. (That’s what I do, but he’s much more professional than I am. )
First, he completely painted over the white furniture with the free red paint, and then the black (latex eggshell finish). This allowed the red to peek through with the aged, distressed look he was going for. He purposely wiped away sections of the black/red so that some of the original wood shone through. Check with your paint store assistant for the best type of paint. If you don’t mind paying extra (instead of the Oops), they may recommend enamel.
The beauty of the distressed look is that it takes away the perfectionist mentality. You don’t want it to be perfect; that would completely defeat the purpose. Painting like this, there are no mistakes, and therefore, it is just perfect!
Posted at: Kimba’s DIY,
What a great re-do!
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Wow…what a difference! I love the distressed black with a bit of red peeking through.
I don’t know what the deal is, but I have tried to change your feed on my blogroll several times and it won’t work. It always goes back to the original blospot URL. Any suggestions?
~Amanda
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Wow! I am impressed!
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Love the look! You have an award waiting for you on this week’s Crock Pot Wednesday post. Come collect it. Thanks for all of your great ideas.
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Awesome! I have started trying my hand at spray-paint re-dos, but I’ve just never had much luck with brush painting. With the distressed look, I suppose it wouldn’t matter if the paint isn’t applied exactly evenly, though. Hmmm… thanks for the inspiration! I have a few pieces that I need to transform. Your brother is very talented! Would love to see his daughter & son-in-law’s faces when they see her old room!
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Very pretty! I’ve got a few things I’d like paint but time and paint are lacking! Also, confidence. But I guess I’ll pick a small stool and start there! When I get some paint.
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He did a lovely job and how nice for them to have a lovely, sophisticated place to rest their heads while they visit.
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WOW, wow wow!!!
I want to bring a good book and relax in that room.
The furniture looks amazing!
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AAAAAAAmazing! Love every bit of it! Always loving the deals you share. Diggin the black and red.
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Wow! So elegant!
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It looks awesome painted! It looks like a new bedroom set. The nice thing about black is it hides fingerprints, too, which is a good thing in kids’ rooms!
Jane
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Gorgeous!!
m ^..^
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I love it! Each piece turned out so well! So pretty!
XOXO
Jen
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It looks fantastic! And I had to laugh when I saw the picture frame! I bought one just like it this spring from Michael’s and that’s the picture that came in it! It’s perfect in this room!
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what a talented brother! and awesome father- what a gift for his grown little girl.
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Wow! That had to have taken forever…very busy in that house!
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My parents did the same thing with their kitchen table and chairs (was plain wood but they painted it with color).
And I was like “wow new table?” – they laughed “nope”.
So yeah good wood furniture never dies! You can always give a modern look and feel with contemporary colours
Nice post, thanks for all the pics, I love that
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This was the best surprise to come home to! My dad is so creative and talented I hope some of his good genes will rub off on me in my years to come! He didn’t stop there…he did the bathroom as well which was a project in itself. A labor of love went into it and we will enjoy it every time we visit… Thanks dad!
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