Sunday, July 8, 2007

Tina's room redo - from drab to fab or While you were out

If you read the blog a post or two ago you will recognize these pictures of my Tina's room. Well she's been away on a visit and while the owner's away the mice will play. She had been saying for quite some time that her room was due for a redo. So I decided to surprise her. I knew that she wanted a vintage, historic Paris type theme. We had already started to collect a few pieces last year. I'm a little slow. With the help of family (Seth and Neil) and my two best friends, we set out to revamp her room. First you will see the before pictures. This is after some things were removed. Then there are some during pictures and of course the after pictures. Enjoy your tour of Tina's room. By the way she was seriously surprised upon her arrival home.

Before the muck out.
You can see a few of the finds here. I paid $2 for this little nightstand a few years ago at a yard sale.
Tina's room is seriously small at 8x11. She really wanted a way to have friends stay the night and a daybed was a chore because we always had to move the nightstand to get out the trundle bed. So last year for her birthday with some money from Nana and parents she got a cute pine bunk bed. With future plans in mind.
Tina's bookcase corner. Her room was shrunk to accommodate the hallway to the master bedroom sometime in the late 1960's. Her door opens in such a way that you have to close it to turn on the overhead light. I'm betting a man thought of that genius plan. ;-)
Here's the $2 nightstand sanded and ready for primer.
Here's the desk chair and desk. If you look at the before bunk bed picture you can just see it tucked into the corner complete with blue Naugahyde top. The chair was given to her by her Nana awhile back. The desk I took out of the living room. It sat in front of the big living room window. The tea cart came back this week, so while thinking about what I wanted to use for a desk in there I remembered this little $6 table purchased about 12 years ago. These are sanded and ready to prime.
This mirror belonged to a set that my father-in-law, Tina's Pop, had during childhood. I added the little wooden applique. While doing the mirror, Pop stopped by. He looked at it for awhile and then asked if that was the old mirror from the ranch. Yep, I said. He says "I don't remember that thing at the top though." Nope I added that or rather Seth added that and I thought it up.
Here's the little applique.
Here's the bookcase again. I paid maybe $10 for this bookcase at least 8 years ago.
Here's Kelly, one of the best friends anyone could have. See she's getting help from Rascal who knew it wouldn't be complete without his help.

And now for the transformation. We started Sunday by mucking, I mean clearing, out her room. Monday I went and did all the running around for the stuff we would need. Tuesday I primed the walls, goodbye Pepto Bismal pink walls. Wednesday I painted them Pale moon by Dutch Boy from WalMart and celebrated the 4th of July. Thursday we, Seth and I, kicked it into high gear by sanding and priming the furniture. Kelly and Janie began the sewing. Friday was a repeat of Thursday, except we did paint the furniture Dark Kettle Black by Valspar from Lowe's. That was coat #1! I have a new respect for painting furniture. Ugh! Saturday was final coat day and the last of the sewing. Not to mention the decorating, hanging the shelves, put it all together because she comes home Sunday day. I think we started everyday by 6 and ended by about 9 or 10 that night. Oh, did I mention it was like 113 on Thursday and that paint does not like those high temps? No sirree! It tends to bubble quite nicely. Tried moving it indoors but the first big paint spill of black paint sent us back outside. But the room looks great and you can see that for yourself. We'll start at the door and work around the room clockwise.

The coverlets were made from a queen matelasse that Kelly had not used in awhile. We split them in half and sewed a ruffle to the edges because they weren't quite long enough. The thing hanging above the desk is an old cork memo board. I painted the edge black, sprayed adhesive to the cork and applied quilt batting (scavenged from stash) and added left over fabric from the valances. The lamp Tina already had and the prints just needed frames. Thank you Michael's for having a frame sale this week. The desk and chair were painted.


A new cushion and cover were made for the chair. The cover is removable so it can be washed. The cost of redoing the chair about $4.


Here's the bed again. The guys installed the shelf Saturday night and we added some cool, frenchy nic nacs that were either thrifted, gifts or found on sale. There's a little corner table that Kelly didn't need anymore and she donated it to the cause. It fit like it was made for that spot.


This little clock is so cute! I found it at a yard sale for 75 cents. It actually has a working pendulum and keeps pretty good time.


Hopefully you can click on this to get a better look at what went on the shelf. Seth arranged it by the way. He's got a good eye.


Here's the little night stand again. All painted black. The rocking chair sat in the living room until just this week. The rocker had belonged to my Granny. It's pretty old. We recovered the chair cushions and added a new black gingham ruffle. The lamp was a $3 yard sale find. The shelf was once white but received a coat of black paint for the new look. The pictures are really cool, old Paris pictures that I tore up a 2006 calendar for. We purchased it at Barnes and Noble the middle of last year for next to nothing. The little mirrors I paid a couple of dollars for at a yard sale. They say made in Italy. We won't tell the rest of the room they're not from Paris. I purchased the valance fabric at Hancock's on sale last week. Kelly sewed the valances. She also donated the lace panels and black curtain fabric from her stash. Close up of the rocker. It's a platform rocker.


The closet was not for the faint of heart, so there are no before pictures. But the curtains were made from left over chair pad fabric and some that Kelly found in her stash. They turned out great. Seth cut the dowel needed for the curtain and Neil installed the hardware. Bye bye clutter. There were no closet doors when we purchased the house in case you're wondering. Who knows where they disappeared to!
Last but not least the bookcase and mirror. The paint is still pretty tacky and will be for awhile due to the swamp cooler. That's how we cool our house out here. Some of you won't recognize this method especially if you live in the South. A swamp cooler is basically a large blower that blows air over water cooled pads. It saves us a ton of money. Anyways no books for a little while. She can use the top to put her hair brush, etc on.
Dad gives the all thumbs up, yeah we're done, can we please go to bed now signal? Now we just have to wait for the owner to return. There's still a few little things to do, but the majority is done. Thank you so much best friends and family. I couldn't have done it without you.

Sorry you get kind of a weird photo. My friend, Kelly, took the picture of her walking into her new room. My best friends came over before we got home with the final touches and to take her picture. They had the door shut so she couldn't see it until she opened it and walked in. Hopefully you'll be able to click on it and get a close up. I had to scan the copy of the photos Kelly gave me. Tina was seriously surprised. Not bad for about $160. Not bad at all.

2 comments:

Southern Heart said...

What a wonderful redo! Very sophisticated and pretty! You all did a fabulous job, and should be proud. I definitely agree with Dad's thumbs up! :)

Donna, The Decorated House said...

Oh I love the Dad's thumbs up pic. How cute. You did a great job on this room redo. Congrats!