My orange nightstand/end table

**Edited to join the Thrifty Decor Chicks Before and After Party.**

Well, I got home safe and sound a week ago and I'm working hard on getting my loft "re"done. I bought this cute nightstand back in the fall with the intention of turning it into a toy kitchen for my kids for Christmas (I got that idea from this talented lady). Our house closing and moving and everything involved in that put off that project. When I decided on what I wanted to do in our loft, I wanted an end table next the couch (that we don't have yet) and this is what I had on hand.

My before. It's the only picture I have for some reason, and I got it off the craigslist post.
I spray primed it and painted the inside of the cabinet and drawer yellow.
I originally chose orange for my nightstand because I have a TON of yellow paint and a lot of red paint leftover from painting my laundry room. This picture (below) is pre-mixing. I've got a lot to learn about mixing different colors of latex paint, because yellow and red make pink - and a very pretty bubble gum pale pink it is! I tried twice and mixing other colors/shades of yellow in with it but no such luck. It was still PINK. That's when I gave up and bought two cans of orange spray paint.

Here is my lovely orange nightstand. I thought the orange was a bit overbearing at first, but I knew that glazing it would tone it down a bit. I'd already glazed the doors and was about to start the drawer for this picture.


Here's another shot during my glazing step. I turned the nightstand over to glaze the feet first then flipped upright to do the rest.
And here it is all finished! It took me a bit to get the hinges back on and I had to replace a few stripped screws but I LOVE it! The black glaze I used really highlights the wood grain on this piece and makes the orange just a bit muted. LOVE IT!
I got the idea of glazing it with black from these talented ladies. LOVE their stuff!

Some things I learned about glazing: I bought a quart of the Ralph Lauren glaze and had them tint it black for me. This stuff will go a LOOOONG way. I probably didn't need to get that much. You can get smaller bottles of glaze and tint it yourself at a craft store. You paint it on and then wipe it off, but if you only want to leave a hint of glaze (like I did) then you need to wipe it off with a damp cloth, too.

It's still in my garage drying, but I'll show you what it looks like in the loft when I'm all done! Next up, I'll be stripping this buffet and painting it green with a black glaze. We'll be using it as a TV console in our loft. Can't wait!

Bathroom Vinyl

When I knew I was coming out to visit my mom, she asked me to bring some vinyl signs we'd worked on via email a few months ago for her bathroom. I got the idea for the monogram and the quote on Etsy.com but it took a while for my mom to find a font she really liked. I love doing vinyl so this was almost the first thing I did when I got to my parents' house on Friday. My parents have been remodeling their house for a few years now and they've really made their master bathroom special. I think the vinyl really adds to that feeling.

My parents have this awesome walk in shower, but I think the monogram is too small for the space. I plan on doing another one about twice the size for them sometime.

Doesn't this just make you want to take a nice long soak? I love this quote over my mom's jetted tub and I love the photograph too. My very talented cousin took these pictures. I wish he could come to my house and photograph when I finish a project - it'd look much better that way.

Well, I'm heading home tomorrow and really looking forward to seeing my husband and little boys again. I'm also getting excited to start full blast on my loft "re"do. Is it considered a "redo" if you've never really done any decorating in the room before?

My "new" craft table!

I finally finished my craft table! Here's the before:

And here is the beautiful after!

It's still sitting between my living/dining areas. I think it's going to be my "paint area" until warmer weather decides to stick around. I originally wanted to stain the table top, but after sanding and sanding and sanding, I discovered that parts of my table are no longer quite flat and even after using a stripper (outside), I couldn't get the finish completely off, so I mixed a nice dark brown and painted it. The wood stain was looking a little too reddish anyway, so I'm much happier with the way this turned out. The legs I painted in SW Evening Shadow color matched by HD in Behr paint. We bought the paint for the guest room and changed our minds so I have over 2 gallons of this stuff sitting around now. I like this color a lot though and might just use it in our master bedroom, when I get around to doing that room. I still haven't done the chairs, since we still haven't gotten new dining chairs to replace the old ones. I'll post that when I do it.

This table is the first step in making our loft a great usable space for our family. I'm really excited to get to work on the next piece of furniture - an orange nightstand/endtable. I'm going out of town tomorrow (without the kids, by myself to visit family and friends back home - I love my husband!), but when I get back I'm hoping to start making some serious progress in our loft!

And here's the first project I did on my new craft table (while the legs were drying). It's a cute frame for my niece. It's her birthday this weekend and I'll actually be around for it, so I thought I'd make a little something. Here's the frame, sorry it's sideways. I'm not sure how that happened.

Here it is finished and hanging on my wall. My mom told me she likes pink and I'd seen this tutorial (can't find it now) that I absolutely LOVED a while ago. I liked it so much, I read through it several times that day and hunted up all the supplies I needed just lying around the house. However, I didn't have a place to put the finished product, so I never did it. I was so happy to have an excuse to finally do this craft the other night.

I took a Dollar Tree frame and painted it pink. I hot-glued the glass into the frame and cut my niece's name out in reverse in vinyl. I put the vinyl on the inside of the frame. For the flowers, I used a compass to draw various sized circles then cut them out. I crumpled the circles up, then flattened them and "inked" the edge with more of my pink paint. I hot-glued the buttons and the flower circles together then hot-glued them to the frame. I really liked how it turned out and wish I had a girl so I could make one for her too. This little project cost me nothing since I had the supplies on hand, but even buying the supplies, it wouldn't be more than a couple bucks.

I'm off to finish a vinyl sign for my mom, since I'm gonna see her this weekend!