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Post by shabbychick on Jul 5, 2014 17:35:04 GMT -8
As I said over on the 4th of July thread, I found an old dresser for ten dollars at a thrift store and brought it home. It needed to be repaired, which I managed to do all by myself. I was going to paint it up and put it in the garden, but I decided to keep it in the garage instead. I painted it yellow and blue (which I've kind of decided is going to be the overall color scheme for my garage-turned-crafts-room. I used a new product from Americana Decor called Chalky Finish Paint. It is a lot less expensive than real chalk paint and also doesn't require one to mix up their own batch. It comes in several nice colors but can be hard to find. So far I've only found it in Home Depot, Michael's, and Ben Franklin Crafts. Not all of them carry all the colors (I had a terrible time finding the yellow I was using). Once you get done painting, you can use a clear or a brown creme wax to antique the finished piece. I hadn't used the wax before, but I used it yesterday. They recommend using the clear wax first and then the brown over it. I tried it without using the clear wax, and it was too dark and then really hard to wipe away. It ended up being darker than I meant it to be. Eventually I diluted the wax, which helped some. I think I like the look. If you look at the drawers, you'll see little wooden curlicues on each drawer. Those were not on it originally. I found them at Michael's and glued them on. Anyway, this little dresser is now holding/concealing stuff in my garage, and I like the look. I didn't do anything with the drawer pulls except wash them in Oxyclean and bleach. I considered painting them black but changed my mind after I antiqued the drawers. It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted it to, but it's good enough. Shabbychick  |
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Post by Mac78 on Jul 6, 2014 16:06:02 GMT -8
That looks really nice. Looks like you have a nice garage too!
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Post by shabbychick on Jul 6, 2014 17:05:16 GMT -8
Thanks, Marie. The garage is nothing special, just a plain old single car garage. If you put a car in it (which I never do) you can just about get out of the car and around it to get in the house, but you can't do anything else. But it's nice as a crafts and storage room. I've painted the ugly walls, put down that foam flooring that locks together like puzzle pieces (and is also ugly) and thrown down a bunch of thrift store rugs to cover the ugliness. Putting real lamps in it helps a lot, and the dresser is a bonus. My goal is to get enough cupboards and dressers in there to hide almost everything, though I do like having my tools hanging on the wall for easy access. Sadly, I still have to keep the garbage and recycle bins in there, and they're not as easy to hide. Someday when I have my forever house, I'll be able to keep all the ugliness out of plain sight. For now, though, this is a decent solution.  |
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Post by allen820 on Jul 7, 2014 5:02:39 GMT -8
I agree with Marie. That does appear to be a great garage/craft space! Good use of an area which you were not getting much use from before -- and you probably had fun pulling it all together!
Allen
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Post by shabbychick on Jul 7, 2014 6:00:55 GMT -8
Thanks, Allen. I actually did have fun working on it. I've probably put more money into that room than I have into any of the other rooms in the house so far. I replaced the original garage door with a top-of-the-line insulated garage door with a row of windows (double pane) across the top panel to bring some light in during the day. I also had a screen door installed. It rolls down on a track mounted below the track for the garage door so you can open the garage door, pull down the screen, and enjoy some fresh air without the bugs. It's a privacy screen, too, so I can see out, but other people can't see in. The cat loves sitting out there and watching the world go by. If I were going to stay here forever,there's a lot more I'd do out there...like add more electrical outlets, mud the walls, etc. For now, though, it's a nice space, so when I sit out there to do a craft or watch a video, I don't feel so much like I'm sitting in a garage. How's the garden coming along? Are you guys able to sit outside and enjoy yourselves this summer, or is there too much work to do?
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Post by Vintage Girl on Jul 8, 2014 13:04:05 GMT -8
I love the dresser. It turned out really nice. I love blue and yellow together:)
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Post by shabbychick on Jul 9, 2014 18:54:15 GMT -8
Thanks, Vintage Girl. It's earning its keep holding a lot of the stuff I didn't want out on display. I'm having less luck with the dresser I've been painting to put outside in the garden. I put one coat of blue paint on it and left it outside in the sun to dry, but when I went out to try to apply a second coat, the paint just started to shrivel up as soon as I applied it. I've never seen that happen before. I don't know if the dresser was too warm from the sun or what, but now I have to sand that part of the dresser and try again.  |
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