Blackberry House blog retail shop projects and painted furniture

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Major Makeover Magic!

Edited 4/2/2010 to add: I know this is an older post, but since it was in the infancy of my blog, I suspect almost no one ever read it, so I thought it'd be safe to pull it out of the archives and link up to Funky Junk's Home Decor Link Party.

Update: We moved 2 months ago!

We're moving in less than a month, so I thought I'd show a few final pics of the home we're currently living in and how it was when we 'inherited' it.

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Here's a complete makeover that doesn't require much explanation.

This is a picture from the week before we moved into this house:

And here's that same room a few weeks later:

A little color goes a long way!

(Click on any picture to enlarge and see details)

Remember when I told you that my favorite fabric ended up as drapery in my living room?

Well, here they are.

And just for good measure, here's a close up of that fabric I love so much.

Update: Laura from Decor to Adore realized she had some of this fabric and sent me a fully made shower curtain! (so thoughtful!)

A few more detail pictures:

Make a colorful day for yourself!

Another Update (4/2/2010): I'll be posting about the living room in our NEW house next week. Stay tuned!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Instantly Aged..........................a quick fireplace mantle makeover

Have you ever wanted a quick way to spruce up your mantle without having to commit to a long, drawn out process? Whether your mantle is wood, stone, or tile, there's always an easy fix for an update.

I'll show you what I did to my white wood mantle to get instant age in a couple of hours.

Here's what I started with:

I wish I had taken pictures while I was painting so that I could show you the step-by-step process. However, on the night this transformation took place I was watching tv, and for some reason I couldn't tolerate this white out of the corner of my eye. So, off to the basement I went to see what I had that would get rid of that white before morning.

After a bit of searching, I found some of those little bottles of Ceramacoat paints. I ended up with Butterscotch paint, black paint, and a brown glaze. I gathered my paint supplies and headed upstairs without a clue as to what I was going to do.

I started by painting the mantle with the three bottles of butterscotch paint I found. (What is that........about 9 ounces??) I didn't really care much for that, so I dry-brushed over it in black. Of course I got the black too heavy, so then I had to wipe it down with a warm wet cloth to back some of it out.

It was starting to look better now, but it was still a little 'too dry' looking for my taste. I decided to go ahead and whip out the glaze. I mixed that half and half with water,and went to town with it.

When it was all dry, I sealed it with a matte topcoat.

Here's what I ended up with:

A Close up:

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I added this wood embellishment to it before I started.

And here's a close up of the corbels:

A simple an easy project that can make a big impact in a short amount of time!