Master Bedroom Dresser Do Over

I fixed up a fourth and final piece for our Master Bedroom. I picked up this wonderfully large 9-drawer dresser at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $30 flat.

I removed the hardware, painted it white then screwed in all new brushed nickel knobs and pulls to match the rest of the Master Bedroom furniture. In total I have spent less than $100 to create this lovely set of matching furniture :)

A simple, cheap and quick fix for our final piece.

The Master Bedroom still seems a little bare, but I would rather it be that way then cluttered and full of stuff. As always, I intend on slowly collecting pieces for the house to make sure I get the right stuff, most importantly at the right price. Here are the other pieces in the MB:

Refreshed White Night Stands

Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Soon I will actually make the bed so I can take a picture of the room as a whole ... haha!

I am looking forward to going to the Women Business Owners Network (WBON) Williston chapter breakfast meeting tomorrow to meet with some wonderful people. Have a great day!

Check out a few of the most popular posts here at QuarDecor:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Happy Birthday Mike!

Today is my amazing boyfriend's birthday!!! Happy 33rd Birthday Mike!! You are the most amazing human ever and I am so grateful to have you in my life.

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Fresh White Nightstand

Good morning and welcome back to the work week! Mike and I were super busy this weekend. On Friday we finished staining the windows in the house. On Saturday we went garage saling and I found a bunch of cheap and some free items, including 2 file cabinets and a dresser! Then on Sunday we did a ton of yard work. We trimmed trees, weeded the gardens, moved the entire wood pile to the fire pit and cut more firewood. We also cleaned out the screen porch and started prepping the house for company this weekend.

Oh yeah! Friday is Mike's birthday so we are having at least 9 people staying with us on Friday and Saturday night to celebrate, including all 4 of my siblings! More on that later.

This is the story of the fabulous nightstand refresh. My mom found this nightstand for free, so she handed it over to me.

I brought it up to Vermont and gave it some TLC. Witness the power of (spray) paint!

I've been using spray primer to prep my pieces, and it's making a world of difference. The paint goes on smoother and more evenly, and in much less time!

And I've already sold it :) Woo-hoo! Meanwhile in New York, my mom is preparing for her master bathroom to finally be refinished! I can't wait to feature the before and after on my blog! Oh, and I was featured on West Furniture Revival! So check it out if you get a chance. Happy Monday!

Here are a few of my popular DIY projects:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Fun Lamp Revamp

I've recently started hunting for lamps while garage saling. My goal is to find the cheapest ones possible. Usually when I find them, they are broken, or missing a shade, or just completely hideous. No matter what, they are all in need of some major TLC.

Prime example: This lamp + shade combo I bought for $1.50.

When I approached the piece with wide eyes, Mike looked at me like I was crazy! But I have an eye for recognizing the bones of a piece and I can see the potential in every worn out desk and beaten up frame.

So I handed over my buck-fifty and quickly packed pinky into my car. When it was time for the revamp, I stripped the ruffled fabric from the lamp shade and spray painted the base of the lamp a light blue. Then I covered the lamp shade with fabric using spray adhesive and a hot glue gun to keep the ribbon trim in place. Voila! A brand new lamp :)

Here she is sitting on my refreshed nightstand... more to come on that project later! Happy Thursday.

Just Picked Blueberry Muffins

This morning I woke up early to tend to the garden. A crazy storm came through Vermont last night, providing plenty of rain to my deprived plants. I did a bit of weeding, then I picked a basket full of blueberries from the patch!

I rinsed them off and whipped up a batch of fresh blueberry muffins for the office :) After some quick internet research I decided I wanted to use brown sugar in the muffins, but wanted a sugary yummy crumble for the top. So I made up my own recipe! Enjoy!

Muffins:
1 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put liners in muffin cups. Combine butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently. Divide batter among muffin cups and top with crumb topping. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Zucchini Bundt Bread

My garden produced its first zucchini! There will be plenty more to come this summer, as it turns out the plant that I thought was a cucumber plant is actually another zucchini plant... so now I have 3!

It was too hot and humid last night to work on my furniture, so I decided to bake something instead. I made zucchini bread of course!

Meanwhile, the carrots are filling in nicely, but the recent drought has been tough on the poor broccoli plants. It's raining a bit today so that should bring them back to life. The blueberry patch is also producing, I am going to pick a bunch tonight and possibly whip up some blueberry something for the office tomorrow.

zucchini bundt bread (adapted from pete bakes!)

3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

1. beat eggs, add grated zucchini, set aside.

2. beat sugar and butter, add vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. mix well. add the flour mix to the egg/zucchini mix.

3. pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Getting the House in Order

According to the results in yesterday's business card poll, most people think I should print the detailed business card to let people know what business I am in!

So I will be printing up these cards as soon as I can. In the meantime, Mike and I have been working hard to get the guest rooms cleared out and in order for the guests we will be having over the next few weeks. Here are some sneak peek pics:

I also bought a paint sprayer which I look forward to testing out on the $30 9-drawer dresser Mike and I found last weekend at a tag sale! It's going to get a fresh coat of white paint and brand new brushed nickel hardware to match the master bedroom decor. Yay!

I won't be able to do much crafting this weekend since Janice and I will be meeting in Boston for the Color Me Rad 5k! Follow me on Instagram @TheresaMcCabe for some colorful updates!

Business Cards

Now that I have established the QuarDecor.com domain, I want make my business cards ASAP. I made a few mock up versions and have settled on the final two. The first card has a short description about my business, while the second one is lacking this little blurb.

And here is the back. Do you like?

So please vote in my little poll to help me decide if I should go with 1 or 2! And comment below with any additional comments or questions... Thanks!

Guest Post: Add Color to Your Garage with Beautiful Wooden Doors

Today my fancy sister state file cabinet fix up is being featured at Vanilla Bean Girls! So head over there and check it out :) Meanwhile, I am featuring a quick guest post from Tanya Carlton about garage doors. Have a wonderful Friday!

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Garage doors can add beauty to the exterior of your home. The most beautiful garage doors are the ones that match the home architecture and complement it. Garage doors that look tacky and cheap will degrade the value and beauty of your house. 

There are many different materials, designs and styles in the market that can help give your home a distinct and elegant look. Without any doubt, wooden garage doors are first on my list. Beautiful artful wooden garage doors will make your neighbors stop and stare. Here are a few of the Woodrite Warwick Garage Door design options:

Woodrite Warwick Wooden Garage Doors

You can choose to go with the natural look of wood, or you can have your doors painted any color. When selecting a color, to make sure that it matches the structure and architecture of your home. If you eventually grow bored of the color you chose for your wooden garage doors, you can simply repaint them!

Wooden garage doors not only look beautiful and add colors to your garage but are also very durable. You can customize the wooden doors according to your needs. Wooden garage doors are available as roll-ups, commercial and carriage garage doors. You can also fit automatic garage door openers to these garage doors. The electric and automatic garage doors openers will help you operate the doors with ease.

You have two customization options, wood on metal and solid wood. In the wood on metal option, a layer of quality wood is glued and screwed onto the metal and is mainly used for commercial purposes. This type of door benefits from internal integrity and also allows a beautiful real wood external facade. As it has a stable support system under the wood it gives your garage or store more security. It has a great look and it can be stained.

The second option, solid wood, can be used for domestic purposes and it has the ability to be customized. Solid wood doors act as a decorative element for your house or garage. You can also come out with an entirely new design that meets all your needs and gives your garage and home an elegant and distinctive look. You can use either pine or cedar in designing your door. However, these will have less structural support when compared to wood on metal garage doors.

About the Author: 

Written by Tanya Carlton, is a content writer from UK. She writes articles on several subjects. Follow her @eBizVenture

Fancy File Cabinet Fix: Tribal Red & Black Fabric

This is my fourth fancy file cabinet fix up! I am really getting the hang of it now. I've even received my first custom order request for another Vermont state map file cabinet!

I've been selling the finished fancy file cabinets for around $35, so if you want me to fix up a file cabinet for you please let me know! Email me at QuarDecor@gmail.com.

Now onto the marvelous makeover... I picked up this old black file cabinet last week:

First I popped off the hardware with a little - okay a lot - of help from Mike, and spray painted it black. Then I gave the cabinet a thorough scrub down, because it was extremely sticky - yuck. After it dried, I spray painted it black to freshen it up. Then I decoupaged some awesome fabric onto the drawers! Once the transformation was complete, Mike supplied the appropriate "oohs" and "ahhs" I needed to validate my hard work :) Thanks Mike!

What do you think? So far I think my favorite fancy file cabinet fix up was the decoupaged map drawers. Last weekend I picked up an awesome book of nautical maps of Nantucket! I have a feeling these will look fabulous on a file cabinet, or possibly lining the drawers of the $20 desk I snagged a few weeks ago for the guest bedroom.

On a side note: I am considering buying a paint sprayer for my furniture. I have a few big pieces in the queue that I would love to just spray white instead of further exacerbating my carpal tunnel by painting and rolling. I'll keep you all posted on my research and decision!

In the meantime, check a few of my popular DIY projects, and have a wonderful day :)

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Refreshed White Night Stands

Paint Chip Art: Deep Blue Sea

This easy art project cost me a total of 99 cents! I found the frame in a "free pile" at a garage sale last weekend, and stealthily collected the paint chips at a number of our local hardware store, which we visit often. Let me break it down for you:

Black Spray Paint: $0.99
Frame: Free
Paint Chips: Free

Project Cost Total: 99 cents

So I sliced and diced the paint chips to all be the same size rectangle shape. Then I carefully stuck the rectangles onto an easily constructed "sheet" of packing tape in a deep ocean blue gradient pattern.

I spray painted the old wood frame black to really make the piece pop! (Mike's request) It's always hard to get the final picture with the art in the frame because the glass reflects an image of me trying to take a picture!

Do you see me in the reflection of the glass? Haha hi!

Let me tell you, these pictures stink, but it truly turned out to be an exquisite piece of art. I will try to snap some better pictures tonight :) Happy Tuesday/Friday since we have tomorrow off for Fourth of July!!

The Great White Bamboo Redo

I recently finished renewing a lovely 6-drawer dresser I found on Craigslist. The seller was offering it to me for free, but after helping me maneuver it out of his apartment, down two flights of stairs and then into Susie Subaru, I tossed him a $10.

I popped out the hardware and spray painted it gold. Then I got to work on the dresser. It was really hot these past few days, which seemed to make the white latex paint chunky when sitting in the sun. I rolled the paint onto the flat surfaces and meticulously painted all the cracks and crevices in the bamboo detailing.

Here she is in all her angelic white and gold glory:

I wish I had a better back drop to set her in for her photo shoot, but she is heavy and Mike went camping in New Hampshire this weekend, so I was unable to move it!

Before and After:

Overall I'm pleased with the end result :) I will be selling this one, since Mike doesn't like gold hardware.

Side note: On Saturday morning I found the perfect second dresser for the master bedroom. I just have to paint it white and give it some brushed nickel hardware to match the other pieces in the room. Pics to come obviously! I hope everyone has a lovely summer day. Stay cool!