Bold Vermont File Cabinet Fix-Up

I finally got around to fixing up the second file cabinet of the pair I picked up over the summer.

Here is what I did with the first fix-up:

For the second file cabinet, I also spray painted the shell red, but this time I painted the hardware gold and decoupaged a Vermont map onto the drawers!

Do you like it?

Badger wanted to pose with the file cabinet.

This piece can be found for sale at my shop - Furniture Consignment Center - in Willison, Vermont. Stop by anytime and say hi!

Blue Ombre Sewing Desk ... FINALLY!

I have been working on this desk for MONTHS!

June: Bought the desk & chair at a garage sale in New Hampshire for $20.
July: Desk & chair sat in the garage collecting dust.
August: Dusted them off, prepped, sanded and primed.
September: First coat of white paint, with the gracious help of my dear friend Elly. Thank you!
October: Sat in the garage some more.
November: Finished painting the chair and drawers. Added knobs.

During October, I got caught up with launching the furniture consignment shop. But the Universe did me a solid this Sunday and warmed the Vermont region to a toasty 65 degrees, which allowed me to get outside and finish it up.

I had originally planned to sell this baby at the store, but after looking at the finished product, I couldn't let it go! I put it in the small guest room and plopped my sewing machine on it to create the perfect sewing nook.

So there it is! What do you think? :)

Happy Hump Day!

Reupholstered Dining Chairs

First of all I want to thank Cindy for graciously donating her dining table and chairs to me and Mike! (Cindy is Kelley's mom, and Kelley is my best friend) I told Kelley I am simply holding on to the set until she moves back up to Vermont. :)

So here is a chair pre-reupholstery.

And here is he after!

I love how fresh the pattern looks with the dark wood chairs. It also syncs up famously with the painted white table legs. Love!

So this is what our dining room area looks like right now... the white trim for the ceiling is waiting to be mounted, and we just ordered a new chandelier. It's all coming together, slowly but surely.

Have a great week!

Throw Pillows Sewed

I finished sewing up the 12 throw pillows that Mike and I picked out fabric for the other day!

Do you like?

Sorry the photo quality isn't the best. I was literally taking the pictures on the run out the door this morning. I am recklessly multi-tasking like crazy these days. I know that all my hard work will pay off :) Happy Thursday!

Guest Post: Have Sweet Dreams

It seems that scientists are always urging us to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night in order to live a healthy life. However, many people don’t follow this advice, for a number of reasons. Sometimes it’s a hectic work schedule, sometimes it’s a legitimate medical condition (like insomnia), often it’s just recklessness and bad habits during the transition from day to night. You’d be surprised by how many people suffer from bad sleep due to inappropriate bedroom conditions.

It cannot be stressed enough: in order to maintain a healthy mind and body, you need healthy sleep, and for a healthy sleep you need a proper bedroom.

Here’s a short list of what I believe does not constitute proper bedroom behavior when it comes to getting a good night's sleep:

• Untidy room with clothing lying around
• Uncomfortable mattress and pillow that are bad for your spine and neck
• Not enough fresh air
• Eating in bed, leaving crumbs on the sheets
• Watching TV in bed, listening to loud music

Another very bad habit is to fall asleep wherever one happens to be at the moment (living room in front of TV, sofa in the study room, a friend’s place, etc.) It’s OK to have sleepovers from time to time, but if you don’t have a permanent, regular place of rest, it can lead to sleeping disorders.

5 Steps to a "Proper Bedroom"

Here’s what you can do to introduce sound sleep in your life:

1. Get a comfortable mattress. Mattress manufacturers come up with better solutions each day, so now we have a choice of organic, eco-friendly, anatomical, foam mattresses, etc. The names they give these products are: balance, revitalize, harmony, comfort, perfect sleeper, and similar. They want the mere name of their products to express the comfort level and soothing quality of where we’ll be sleeping. I recommend Memory Foam Express to get a comfortable mattress.

Via Pinterest

These advanced and innovative products come with a certain price that’s not so soothing to many people. That is why it is best to stick to the generally accepted and well-proven method: chose a medium soft mattress that your body won’t sink into. Trying out a mattress before buying it is the best strategy.


2. The quality of your pillow is an equally important element in the search for the perfect sleeping spot. Some people prefer high pillows, and some choose very thin ones so that it almost feels like they are not using any. Again, it’s an individual thing and everyone should choose what they feel is comfortable to them. Of course, it’s recommended to choose a pillow that will not endanger the spine and neck.
   


Via Decorpad

3. Often ventilate the room you are sleeping in. That goes for every room in the house, but is especially important in the bedroom, where we spend the whole night. When it’s not too cold outside, it’s preferable to leave the window open the whole night. You can also get room fresheners or ventilators that naturally and effectively ventilate the room.
   
4. Tidiness and nice décor positively affect one’s rest and sleep. Whether you’ll decorate your walls with paintings, framed photos, nice modern wall stickers or soothing wall paint, it’s only important that you feel comfortable and peaceful with your surroundings. Also, if you’re surrounded by dirty laundry and 2-day old food tray with leftovers, your body will probably rebel by refusing to sleep and rest.
   


Via Decorpad

5. Proper and healthy sleep demands peace and quiet, so including TV and loud music in your bedroom area is ill-advised.

If you follow these not-to-difficult steps to a healthy relaxation, you’ll have no trouble having sweet dreams every night.

About the contributor: Stacy has worked in the home improvement industry for a few years. In her leisure time, she likes to write and share her experiences and observations in order to be a helpful contributing member of the society.

Sneak Peek

I have been super busy this week at the Furniture Consignment Center. Since the clocks were set back on Sunday night, Mike and I not surprisingly used our extra hour to work on the house.

We hung the curtains above the sliding porch door in the dining room and started dismantling the dining room chairs we got from Kelley's mom's storage unit.

Here's the before picture of the chair, for my upcoming "Before and After: Reupholstered Dining Room Chairs" blog post.

We are going to try to find some time to go to the fabric store and pick out fabric to recvover the chairs, as well as recover the terrible pillows in the living room that came with our new couches.

Here is a sneak peek of the curtains we hung in the dining room... I obviously haven't ironed them yet.

Stay tuned for the final reveal!

Candy Corn Decor!

This year, unfortunately, I will not be hosting a Halloween party. To be honest, I am not crazy about Halloween. At age 19 I realized that the amount of candy I'm inclined to consume during the Halloween season would make me gain 20 pounds. After that late yet sad realization, I pretty much lost my desire to dress up.

However, any reason to decorate for any occasion still gets me zesty, as long as it's not gross and zombie-inspired. This post will focus on decorating with candy corn! This is a safe candy to have in the house because the sugar chocked into one little bite will satisfy your sweet tooth immediately, and honestly if I eat more than 6 I get an instant tummy ache.

However you choose to decorate for Halloween, I hope you have a happy and safe holiday!

Furniture Consignment Center

I am super excited to announce that I am now one of the owners of the Furniture Consignment Center at 22 Chad Lane in Williston, only a few miles from Burlington, Vermont.

Since I have recently updated the about me section on my blog, I think it's important that I let you know what it said yesterday.

"I'm working towards becoming a self-employed furniture fixer-upper through thrifty home decor resale. I strive to lead a happy life while maintaining my frugal sense of style with DIY projects."

When you read my previously stated goal, you can clearly see that this is the perfect fit for me. I am following my dreams! Starting November 1st I will be a self-employed furniture fixer-upper at a consignment shop where I'll be selling a wide variety of used home decor pieces. Amazing!

Do you want the background story? Okay, I'll tell you!

Remember that free dresser I fixed up and painted green?

Yeah, that's the one! Well a few days after I listed it on Craigslist, a man named Danial came to buy it. Upon our meeting, I learned that he runs the Furniture Consignment Center in Williston. I had been there a few times, and I told him that I had actually spoken with his sister a few weeks prior about possibly consigning my furniture there!

So we got to talking about his furniture business and how I fix things up. I showed him all the furniture and home decor treasures that I had collected in my garage during the summer months, and he liked what he saw! I was hoping that he would be interested in striking up an exclusive consigning partnership with me, but it turned out he wanted a business partner on a much bigger scale.

Throughout the month of September we talked about the possibility of joining forces and how partnering up could really benefit both his business and mine. We discussed employment, ownership, interest, percentages, wages, skills, hours, etc, and we finally decided what we would do.

In early October 2012, we started the "Green Dresser Corporation," under which we will co-own the Furniture Consignment Center. We are going to work together over the next few months to grow the business at the Williston location with the goal of opening up another furniture consignment shop down in Montpelier, VT.

I'm looking forward to bringing my creativity, energy and marketing skills to the new company. I anticipate obstacles and tough situations, but I am prepared to put my positive attitude and character to the test. While I'm a bit nervous about leaving a stable position as the Social Media and Web Specialist at Vermont Public Television, I truly believe that this is an amazing opportunity for me, and I fully accept the challenge!

I'll update you on more of my grand plans soon. Happy Friday :) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

What Goes on a Sofa Table?

We're getting ready to bring in the big pieces of our living room. We've got a fresh coat of paint on the walls, a brand new rug, curtains ordered and couches being delivered. We've figured out the layout for the staples, but now it's time to start thinking in terms of accessories.

As you can see from the layout design I have drawn up, we plan to use our current entryway table as a sofa table (also called a behind the couch table).

This got me thinking... what exactly is supposed to go on this table? I've used this entryway table as a sofa table in the past. It used to sit behind my arm-less couch in my Boston apartment because the living room was so small we didn't have space for end tables to put the lamp on. We mainly decorated it with wine glasses at night, replaced by water bottles in the morning. This is the only photo I can find with evidence of its existence.

Those things aren't hovering in mid-air, they are on my sofa table!

So anyways, I'm now trying to figure out what is actually supposed to go on a classy sofa table. Upon a bit of research I have compiled this super short list:

1. Lamps
Ah, I was on the right track! If you don't have an end table, place your lovely lamps behind the couch. If you have two, try to space them out symmetrically. If you have one, place it to the side. Don't put it smack dab in the middle.

2. Books
Well one can only hope that Kramer comes out with a coffee table book about sofa tables.3. Plants

3. Plants
It seems to me that most interior design photos in home decor magazines feature a plant on every surface in the room... So the sofa table, being a surface, deserves a plant, or as many as it can fit.

4. Miscellaneous
This is the catch-all category. Every bare surface in the home calls for trinkets, candles, tchotchkes, figurines, bowls (empty or full), baskets, vases, rocks, driftwood, anything really.

SO basically what I have learned is that I was on the right track with my sofa table. Granted the vase had fake flowers in it and the only bowls that ever touched that table were filled with ramen noodles... But I am on the up and up! I am trying to be more classy and sophisticated. I may even stop wearing leggings as pants.

PSYCH! I will never stop doing that. But in the meantime, I will try to start collecting some unique and meaningful pieces to display behind my couch.

Sorry, Not Sorry

I haven't written a blog post in over 2 weeks. I haven't fixed up a piece of furniture in nearly a month, but I'm not sorry about it! I still have major LOVE for my QuarDecor! I've just been busy.

What have I been doing you (probably didn't) ask? Well, I'll tell you. Remember that green dresser I fixed up at the end of August? Well I sold it! More on that later.

Mike and I got a dog, a Great Pyrenees named Badger. He is awesome and I am slightly obsessed with his fluffy face.

Badger and I having a moment.

Mike and I have also been working hard to redecorate the living and dining room area in our house. It's a large space. We ordered new couches and this rug:

Which when delivered, turned out to be much darker than we expected. But we like it!

We hired a contractor to paint the ceiling and walls. We were SO tired of painting after finishing all the rooms upstairs that we decided we deserved the paid-for break. We chose a light aqua blue.

Next on the list: get some curtains for the front bay windows. I'll keep you posted!

Living Room Inspiration

Now that fall is upon us, getting outside to fix up furniture is getting difficult. Mike and I are bringing our project mindset indoors. We are getting ready to redecorate the 2 living room areas downstairs, as well as the open dining room! We just bought 2 sets of the Lena - Putty sofa and love seat from Ashley Furniture.

We are also going to order this dark grey rug on Overstock.com and hopefully it will come by the time we get the couches so we don't have to move them around again.

Here is the layout I am thinking for the first floor living and dining area:

The layout looks bland and boring, but don't worry, I fully intend on bringing color into the room. I'll splash some color on the walls, hang some loud curtains on the windows, drop some bright lamps on the tables and toss a few fun throw pillows on the sofas. I can't wait to start my thrifty hunt for all the necessary accent pieces. Maybe I'll even paint some pieces for the wall!

Pictures to come! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I love you :)

First Floor Unfinished

This summer, Mike and I took a little break on our home renovation here in Vermont, but with fall approaching quickly we are thinking about capitalizing on the upcoming indoor weather and getting some big projects done.

We've finished the upstairs overhaul with only one major detail left to fix up, the carpeting! But we are probably going to leave the current carpet in for now, and replace it down the road, or whenever Badger learns how to wipe his feet at the door.

So next up is the main floor. Here is my botchy blue print of the first level of the home.

We will start with the kitchen. We will need new cabinets and countertops to complement the house's brand new fridge, oven/stovetop and dishwasher. I also hope we can get a nice new sink, I'm thinking deep farmhouse style.

We are considering knocking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room, but we think that wall may be necessary to hold up the house, and it has coveted cabinet space. Let's zoom in on the current kitchen layout.

So that's what we are working with. Over the next few weeks we will be picking out a paint color, back splash, cabinets, countertops, lighting, layout... everything! Oh, on a budget of course :)

Wish us luck!

I've Been a Busy Badger

I'm trying not to feel guilty about not posting on my blog lately, but I have been so busy since Mike and I adopted a dog last week!

His name is Badger. He is a 16 month old Great Pyrenees rescue, and despite his size, he is still very much a puppy.

There he is in his perch peeking out the window.

Mike and Badger going for a stroll in our neighborhood.

He loves car rides!

Floppy face on the floor.

Mike and Badger out in our yard.

So far he is doing pretty well. He just came down with a yucky tummy ache and I had to give him some treatment for fleas, so he isn't feeling that great, but we are sure that he is very happy to be in such a quiet and loving home after being shuffled around from shelter to shelter for so long.

I am heading down to NYC for the weekend to visit some friends and to celebrate my dad's birthday! When I get back I am going to finish my ombre blue desk. You guys are gonna LOVE it.

Recovered Chair Cushions

Good morning and happy hump day to all! I recently picked up a chair on the side of the road with the intention of painting it and recovering the cushions. So far I have sewn new covers, but I am not sure if I want to paint it or not.

Here's the chair:

And here it is with the new cushion covers:

What do you think? Should I paint the chair frame white? Blue? Orange? Or should I leave it the same?

Freebie Fix-Up: Good Ol' Green & Gold

Every Saturday that I am in Vermont starts the same. Mike and I get up early, empty my car, put my back seats down and head out for garage sales (with a quick stop at McDonald's - coffee for me and frappe for him). A few weeks ago we headed out on our usual 4-hour loop, but before we even made it to McDonald's we stopped at a tag sale. I saw a dresser I liked, but at $35 it was too much to spend so early in the day. I told him, "let's keep going, and if on the way home it's still there and the car is still empty, I'll buy it."

We went out and tag saled all morning, and I forgot about the dresser until we were on our road heading home. I saw it, sitting on the side of the road, with a FREE sign taped to the front! I pulled over, packed it up and brought it home. Then I did a little jig in the driveway out of excitement!

The hardware was great, it had obviously been replaced, and I vowed to use it in the fix-up. I wanted to do something different than my usual white and gold, I wanted to go bold. I remembered I had a sample can of green paint. By using this paint I would essentially make this a $0 fix-up. So I got to it!

First I had to fill in a lot of dents, scratched and missing corners. I let that dry. Then I sanded it down, primed and painted. This piece took about a week to complete.

How do you like the makeover? I am going to touch it up a bit tonight before listing it on Craigslist. There is still a bit of white primer showing inside the bottom drawer.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out some of my other fun fix-ups I've done:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	Rachel's Darling Dry Sink	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	The Great White Bamboo Redo