I Need Your Help! Buffet Makeover???

My dining room is blue.

I have a retro dining set that I snagged off Craigslist.

I scored this antique buffet table off Craigslist for $25, too. But it has problems. Let's start with the color. It is like an orangey-reddish brown. Doesn't match the other furniture in the room for sure.

The top is scratched up and battered by wine bottle bottoms:


So the question is.... do I do something crazy to it, like this guy??

This buffet is majorly wild, too, but I like it!

Or do I go a safe route, paint it white or black, like this hutch? Maybe then do some fun, colorful or funky hardware? Or go crazy and do like a yellow paint?

THIS buffet turned out awesome in black!

Do I sand it down, then try to stain it closer to the color of the other pieces in the dining room??

Try a distressed look like this GORGEOUS HUTCH??

Or should I simply leave it alone?

Let me know your thoughts!

(And, I am thinking a white fluffy area rug, and maybe dark gray curtains in this room, but I have NO CLUE what to do for those things, either, so if you have textile suggestions, lay 'em on me!) Thanks, everyone. :)

Candlestick Fixation

Saturday, I hit up Goodwill because I was on a serious mission: to seek out several mis-matched candlesticks for my mantle.

Goodwill did not disappoint:For $15 total, I snatched up these 5 random candlesticks. Two are made of wood, two are metal, and one is ceramic. When painted a matte black, however, they look much more unified, despite being of different styles/shapes, heights, and materials:

While my mantle has garland and christmas lights for now, these candlesticks are hanging out on my dining room table:
So, you'll have to stay tuned for the finished project idea.....


Although, wanna know the bonus? I also snatched up these candlesticks, for just $3 each from the same Goodwill trip. As soon as I saw them, my heart lept, for their gorgeous Danish-esque shape struck me as ultra retro/modern and AWESOME, and I knew I had to have them.

How easy it is to change colors, even metal!
Thus, these babies are now a nice brushed nickel color, thanks to some spray paint. I just get so psyched because these cost me $6, whereas you'd spend a lot more for a pair like these or these or these.

Furniture FAIL: [paint] strippin' ain't easy

I had big plans for this side table. I purchased it for $5 from a thrift store years ago, and I used to enjoy its lovely green wash... but now it's time for a change. I initially used my electric sander to try and eliminate the MANY layers of paint, primer and poly on this guy, but quickly realized that would take too much time and waaay too much sandpaper.
Look at that beautiful wood!! I would slap a dark stain on that in a heart beat.

So I thought... okay... I'm just going to go to Lowe's because surely they carry a "safe" paint stripper, I'll just grab something natural. I walked out with this crap after dropping $10:

The verdict? Absolutely worthless. Like the bottle recommends, I let this stuff soak into the paint for an hour, and when I tried scraping, barely the top layer came off. So then I thought, okay, I'm going to spray it and let it sit for way longer -- tried 24 hours, still the same problem:
As you can see, I am no better off than when I started!

So, what's a girl to do? I am truly intimidated by those scary, hugely chemical paint strippers. I have a dresser that I want to strip, too... so this isn't the only project I have in sight.

Can anyone recommend something that actually works?

I tried this in my basement, and I liked that the Zinsser didn't let off too powerful an odor, but of course what good is it if it doesn't actually STRIP?
Help me out, please and thank you!! :)

Pressed Flower Art

When I lived in Germany during the summer of 2004, I hiked up Philosophenweg several times. During these hikes, I picked flowers and pressed them in the pages of my travel journal, and then I did something very illegal: I brought them back into the country and didn't mention them while going through Customs.

:)


Truth be told, I totally forgot all about them until I was going through some old journals recently. I decided to frame them so I'd be reminded of my trip every time I see them.
I already had a thrift-store frame that I had spray-painted white, and matting.

So I played with different configurations....
Then I glued them to a piece of cardstock and ta da:

Free "art." :)

Thrifting as Therapy

This afternoon I hit up Goodwill, a thrift store called Value Village, and a tiny antique mall. I think I scored some pretty good stuff for cheap:

1) [Antique mall]: Ornament for $.50:

2) [Value Village]: This Kleenex box for $.80. Came home and spray-painted it an oiled bronze to match my upstairs bathroom. We'll see how it turns out. But if it still looks kitschy, I'm only out eighty cents...


3) [Goodwill] I think it's a candle holder, but whatever it is, I sure do like it, especially for $2.
4) [Antique mall] This cute little bird drawing/painting for only $2.


And the rest are fueling my milkglass addiction...

5) [Goodill] Lovely plain candy dish, currently hanging out with some of my poetry books ($1):

6) [Value Village] For $1.21, another vase to go with my collection....7) [Value Village] For $1.21, I snagged this milkglass compote:


And you can see they play nice with the others......

I sometimes think I like to go thrift shopping more than I like to eat chocolate cake, and that's REALLY sayin' a lot.

Mancave Transformations

I haven't posted in quite a while, and today I must confess, I bring you graphic content. If you have a queasy stomach, and flinch at the slightest sight of disarray, kindly exit now.

For today's topic is none other than the MANCAVE.



You've been warned. These photos aren't pretty.
This is our 4th bedroom, it's upstairs, and the former condition of the mancave was nothing short of disastrous. Observe:
Here you have:
1) piles of shit strewn about
2) beer cans
3) HEINOUS floral couch (a free donation from a family friend), half-covered by a crappy old red slipcover
4) wires, wires, everywhere!!
5) he was using my tiled coffee table as a makeshift TV stand

Another angle of the mess:
[I can't believe I'm seriously showing you these photos, they are TERRIBLE.]

And this was the view, head-on, when you walked into the room:


Aha, but now! Hello lovely, modern new comfy couch!!!
And hello, proper TV stand!! (Note that Kevin has his computer hooked up to the TV, which serves as one giant computer monitor. Convenient for watching shows and movies off the internet.)


I spy, with my little eye, a) a sneaky feline, and b) NO MESS:

There is still clutter hidden behind the giant sectional, but at least it's out of sight. We might put long dark wooden shelves along this wall for all of our movies and his games.
And a before/after comparison.

I actually love love love this room now. It is pretty masculine, with the browns, blacks and dark blues, but it suits Kevin really well. It's comfortable.

I guess next we'll do some shelves and talk about paint colors. But for now, this is a HUGE comparison if you ask me.

And in case you're wondering, the blue area rug is from Ikea. The coffee table was a free donation from a family friend, and the new couch and TV stand come from Weekends Only, which I actually wouldn't recommend for reasons that I won't go into....