It occurred to me that I never followed up on the furniture upgrading I began last year. Miracle of miracles, I actually followed through on a plan of major (to me) overhaul of furniture. I'm sure many people in my position would have dumped their old second-hand, childhood, and mismatched furniture at a consignment shop, Goodwill, or the side of the road, and hit the nearest furniture store for brand new, never-before-owned pieces. Believe me, I considered all of this. But one, I'm cheap; two, I'm poor, and three, I'm way too creative, sentimental, and disgusted by this generation's fetish for biggest, newest, and flashiest to whore myself out at a retail giant. So I kept everything, dropped fifty bucks on paint, brushes, a face mask, and sandpaper, and revived my worn out furniture by making it look older and cooler than it was before:
Truth be told, I sprang for sand blocks (?) instead of sandpaper. Seemed like they'd be easier to hold onto.
I chose Valspar paint for no other reason than it seemed like a popular enough brand name to be a good choice. Most of my decisions are made that way when I have no idea what I'm doing.
Here is my wobbly, plain, unattractive shelf I've had since before I can remember. This old lady has seen me evolve from Peter Rabbit, Golden Books and Berenstein Bears, to Babysitter's Club and Boxcar Children, and now to Jane Austen and cookbooks. How could we part after experiencing so much together? But she did need a makeover so...
Black satin finish Valspar and distressed edges make for a vintage-cool look.
I also revamped the mahogany full-length mirror I grew up with, which was already in decent condition, but seemed dated, and not in a good way.
More black satin Valspar and sanded edges for the vintage look I love.
See that rainbow monstrosity on the right? It used to be a gorgeous antique chest in a rich brown stain, until my dear, dear Nana got on a rainbow kick one unfortunate spring. It has since become mine, and in loyalty to Nana I've tried really, really hard to keep it the way it was left to me. But enough is enough, and change is good. Sorry Nana. It's for its own good.
That's a whole lot of drawers that serve no purpose to me.
What an improvement. Did you notice how bare and sad what little of my apartment is visible was in the previous photos? That's because it was bare and sad. My fiance Andy now lives here and his furniture makes the place feel more homey, but his stuff is certainly not immune to my creative impulse.
His coffee table, entertainment center, and corner bookshelf may be experiencing an identity crisis soon. I'd probably prefer to just invest in new furniture, but we're not quite ready to part with huge (to us) amounts of money on an apartment we consider temporary and not quite home. It's home for now, and we're very happy here, and in no rush to start buying grown-up things when we don't feel completely like grown-ups in our current surroundings. In time. Until then, I'm going to soak up these pieces of home, because one day we'll look back on all this as "the good old days".
looooooooooooooooove!
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