Woven Bench for Guest Room

I had been in the market for some sort of bench for our guest room as a place for guests to place their luggage or take a seat to put on shoes. The requirements for said bench were that it needed to be thin & long to fit in the space across from the end of the bed and have some added storage on the bottom. I really like the woven bench look like this and this but the $100 price tag for such a small bench that I honestly thought I could make myself just wasn't cutting it for me. Thankfully, after some perusing I found this tutorial for a woven bench by The Merry Thought.

I kept that tutorial in the back of my head all through the holidays until I finally had some time and motivation for a DIY project after we got back from our late honeymoon cruise in January (a post soon to come). I followed the tutorial to a tee except that instead of buying pre-made table legs I actually just picked up a 4th 2x2x8 Furring strip which I cut into 4 16" legs. This change alone saved me about $18 making my total for the entire project come in at just under $30. So much better than the $100 I could have spent! 

Follow Your Passion sign- Hobby Lobby
Triangle Wall Hanging- DIY from an old pool table triangle

This DIY came together pretty easily up until the weaving part where I had to go back through and re-tighten my jute multiple times due to the wood bowing slightly in the center from the pressure. Don't let it get you down though cause the finished product was well worth the monotony and the cotton cord helps make the center much sturdier than just the jute alone (FYI I have sat on it and it can hold a good amount of weight!). I attempted a smaller aztec pattern than The Merry Thought for the center of my bench only because I was running low on upholstery tacks. 

Overall, I am smitten with the final product! It totally goes with my modern vintage theme for the rest of the guest room! Now I just need to paint the room and I am calling it done-zo. For the tutorial on how I updated my grandparent's vintage bedroom set to white & brass check out here. 

Do you love it as much as I do?! 

Peace, 

Allison 

Gold, White, & Brass, Oh My!

Two weekends ago our guest furniture got a long overdue makeover! The bedroom set is a solid wood set that used to be my grandfather's who actually owned a furniture store called VanNoy's furniture in Mansfield, PA back in the day, so it really is near and dear to my heart. Sadly, the wood pieces had lots of scratches and needed some TLC and a little updating to bring them back to life. 

This was my first time painting large furniture pieces and although it was definitely a time consuming process, it went surprisingly smoothly. The painting process was done over a series of two days in the garage. 

 Brandon sanded the furniture lightly with our electric sander and then I painted 3 coats of Benjamin Moore White Dove on all of the furniture which included a dresser, set of drawers, 12 drawer fronts, a full bed frame, and the dresser mirror. I really liked the matte look of the eggshell finish paint, but after moving the furniture up to the room, there were already fingerprints and a few chips visible so I ended up having to do one coat and touch-ups of Miniwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss which really ended up making the pieces look completely finished.

Left to Right: 1, 2, & 3 Coats of Paint

 Once it was all painted, it was time to put on the hardware I had purchased from 
D. Lawless Hardware. Unfortunately, with the old wood pulls taken off, it became apparent that the new handles were not going to fit the old holes. I ended up just placing the handles where they completely covered the old holes and were not visible from the outside of the drawers. Once I drilled the holes, it was a quick job to screw all of the handles in. 

I am pretty psyched with how they turned out though! The brass mixed with the perfectly warm White Dove paint makes for some easy looking. Here's just a reminder of how the guest furniture used to look...

And now here they are in all of their white and brass glory!

While I was already in painting mode, I picked up this old window from one of our nearby thrift stores called His House and painted it the same White Dove color. I like how the window kind of takes the place of a large headboard since the actual bed headboard is quite short. 

I whipped out my sewing machine I had gotten for Christmas finally too and made this quick and easy fabric banner using leftover fabric from my sister's Bridal Shower last month. I messed around with some of the stitches my machine can do since I wanted it to look handmade anyways. It's not fine sewmanship by any means but it does the trick! (Just don't look too closely ;) )

So much fresher looking, right?! I love the look of wood and stain, but that white and brass sure does look classy. 

Peace, 

Allison