Antique dining room chair makeover...

Hey guys! So today I'm coming at you with another home post. I'm going to *try* to at least do one per week from now on to mix things up! I just think they're so fun.

Anyway, today's post involves something that made me quite nervous. If you guys know me at all by now, you probably realize that when it comes to home stuff and diy, I get my hands dirty and take chances. Painting rarely makes me nervous.  Well this project totally got me.

See, when we moved into our last house years back, my Grandma gave me her dining room hutch, table, and chairs that were in storage. She had not used them since she moved from her house years back (she's lived with my parents for years), so I jumped at the chance to use them since I always loved them growing up and have so many memories of Thanksgivings, family dinners, and game nights around it. Hey, I even used the chairs to make some killer blanket forts in her living room as a kid, just saying.

Now I was a bad blogger and didn't really take many before shots because this project came about sort of quickly and I just jumped on it.  So I came up with a serious throwback "before" shot.
WAAAAY "before" I like to call it.
Here we are circa 1992 at Thanksgiving. I'm the one stuffing my face in the background...

Classic.

At our old place, our dining room was VERY brown. I loved that dark and dramatic room. I lovingly refer to it as "cinnamon" rather than brown of course, but I always felt like the brown chairs, brown table, brown hutch, brown brown brown... was too much. So I slapped some cheap chair covers over them in white to give the room some contrast.

It was ok, but definitely not working at the new house.
Mostly because the new dining room is much lighter and brighter than the old. So the white chair covers weren't really doing the dining room's vibe any favors.

So I removed the covers for a while. Again, too much brown. Maybe if the walls were a lighter and brighter white or cream, but the walls are a really warm golden tan. So not enough contrast to do the pretty brown finish any favors. FYI... the wall color is still a mystery to me. Some of you asked about it in my "office redo" post. The painters who repainted the house before we moved in left all the paint except for this one.... Which they used in about 90% of the house. Awesome, guys. Awesome.
I'm thinking it may be Tobacco Road by Sherwin Williams. Just because they used all other SW paints and I've compared a ton of photos of it and it's pretty darn close.

Anyway, back to the chairs. I decided I wanted to repaint them a rich, glossy, onyx black.  The room has other black accents (black chandelier shades and lampshades) and a black little sideboard piece of furniture, so I knew it would look fab.

The problem?? Convincing Grandma. I know she gave them to me and all, but I still felt like I needed to ask her permission before possibly ruining the chairs she loves so much.

The initial conversation didn't go super well.  I asked. Grandma got scared. Before she could hear me out, I could hear panic in her voice at the thought that I was going to whip out a paintbrush and slap black paint all over her beloved chairs.
So I sent her some photos of similar chairs in black and she started to come around. Permission, granted.
I got started.... And it took FOREVER.

This process was pretty tedious just because the chairs have so many spindles. I began by cleaning them super well and then sanding the finish to remove any of the glossy texture they had so the new paint would adhere.
We had such great luck with the Glidden Interior/Exterior high gloss paint in Black Onyx on our banisters (check out that transformation here), that I knew it would work great on the chairs.

Well, it totally did!
...and Grandma's diggin' it too.

I used an angled brush (one typically used for "cutting in" around trim) to paint all the spindles and edges. For the flat "ladder" pieces on the back, I used a small foam roller to get super smooth results since those reflect the most light and would show the most brush strokes.
I used a tiny brush to get around the areas where the wood meets the woven seats. I covered the seats with aluminum foil (hey, it worked) to avoid any drips or splatters. Only once did I drip paint onto one of the seats on an exposed area. Which almost gave me a heart attack. I saw my Grandma fainting in my mind.  I decided to just let it dry and peel it off later rather than smear it around.  I was shocked that it actually worked!

The trick was being patient between coats. I let each coat fully dry before starting the next. Which wasn't usually a problem because there are 7 of these bad boys and it took quite a while to make it through each one.

After painting them, even when the final coat had dried for hours, they were still a bit "tacky" to the touch. High gloss paint typically does that until it's fully cured for several days. So we were really careful with them for a few weeks and didn't touch them or sit on them for a long time. Which wasn't difficult because we don't use that table every single day.

I painted them about a month ago and they're perfect now! The paint is super hard and durable. I thought about maybe adding some clear lacquer to them to help them hold up better over the years, but I'm not sure that I need to.

I also added 2 of our new "Kubu" chairs I purchased from Pier 1 a few months ago to the ends. I talked all about them in this recent post about some home updates. They're so unique... I. LOVE. them!

I think the black added so much contrast.  At our last house, we always had such dramatic dining room walls... From super deep red to the dark and dramatic cinnamon-brown.  So I'm LOVING this brighter space that still feels cozy.

Oh and I'm also literally loving the SPACE. Seriously this dining room is huge. At the last house, I always had one of the leaf inserts out and had it set up for 6 place settings. Just last week it totally hit me that I could use the extra leaf section all the time and have it set up for 8.

Still with PLENTY of room... I told you this room was huge! Look how tiny the table still looks even extended for 8!

So I'm really loving this room now. Can't wait to host Thanksgiving this year!  The new look even inspired us to make it a point to actually use this room more often. We use our kitchen table every day for most meals, but it's fun to actually use this space when we want to, rather than feeling like it has to be so "formal" all the time. 

So what do you guys think?? Have you guys done any big diy projects? Painted antique furniture that made you super nervous? Any upset grandmas?  

Adventures in 90's Wallpaper...

Ok so that sounds much more fun than it actually was.  Oh and a little warning- This may be the longest post ever.

Truth is, I knew removing wallpaper was known to be a more difficult and tedious task. So when we moved into our new house and inherited a powder room that was covered in the stuff, I sort of subconsciously willed myself to like it. Because the last thing I wanted to tackle after a stressful move was picking layers of paper off the walls. Kind of low on the old priority list. Let me give you a brief bit of background with the new house...

It was built in the late 90's. So when we bought it and the previous owners had recently de-90's-ed it, we felt like we were walking into a brand new house. Think new hardwood floors, new fixtures and faucets, new granite... Heck, they even replaced every single knob and door hinge. That took some serious dedication because there were TONS. The basement was newly finished, new carpeting upstairs, new paint everywhere, new screened-in porch... Seriously, I feel like we hit the jackpot.
However, there were a few things even they didn't touch. The wallpaper in this powder room and the gold-marbelized painted faux finish in the foyer (I sort of lived with that long enough and am tackling that soon as well... stay tuned!).
Not that there's anything wrong with the 90's... I just like my home to reflect my taste and most of the typical 90's finishes where homes were concerned isn't exactly my jam. Although, I think brass finishes and fixtures are coming back... *must stay on topic, Tiffany*

Here's a closeup of the culprit...

You're welcome.
Now that I look at it closeup, it's sort of reminds me of a skin condition. A bad skin condition... wait, are there any good skin conditions?  That or a closeup of the veins in the heart or a diseased bloodshot eyeball.  haha sorry, I had to.
But I mean, dang... Look at all those reds and dull greens.

So like I said, wallpaper removal is tedious. Think when you remove a sticker, there's sometimes that little white adhesive paper layer that's left behind that is a you-know-what to remove. Think about that covering an entire room. Good times.  However, I did discover a great way to remove it that worked for me. After a lot of trial and error. And the occasional break-down or two. More on that in a moment...

Now don't get me wrong... The right wallpaper can be awesome! I really wanted to like it because I've always dreamed of a little powder room covered in a pretty pattern. However, this was definitely not the pretty pattern I had in mind. I even toyed with the idea of putting up wallpaper in a different pattern. Then after messing with this stuff for days, I was kind of over it.

This is what it looked like before...

This room is actually pretty sizable for a powder room. It's crazy that this was maybe one of the most-used and also the ugliest room of the house.  It's the only bathroom on the main floor of the house (we have a couple more upstairs and one in the basement) and because of that, it gets used most often, especially when guests are over. So it just made sense to finally fix her up.

Ok, this next photo needs some a lot of explanation.

Hey, I worked with what I had, people.  Look at all those sink-top accessories...lol.

You see those little crazy sconce/candleholder/weird things on each side of the mirror? Yeah, those babies totally came with the house too. Even the previous owners had no time for that. They were attached with these huge crazy hooks. Think the type of hooks you'd attach hanging plants to a porch with. How and why I left those up almost three months, I'll never know.

Also, notice (how could you miss) the hand towel holder. From the day we first looked at the house I thought that was awkward. The first thing you see when you come into the room is the side of hand towels hanging at a very awkward and low angle. It was much lower than it seems in the photo. For reference, check out where the light switch is and how far below that it's hanging. Not that I would even want it higher. It was just weird all around.  

Oh and I didn't get a great shot of it (because it was nasty and I spared you), but you've gotta love the bleach streaks coming down the wall below and behind the sink from cleaning products of the past... Ain't nobody got time for that.

The only redeeming quality the stuff had are the cool little "hidden" iridescent stripes you can only see in certain light.  Not redeeming, you say? Maybe I'm crazy? Yeah, now that I look at it again, I'm definitely glad it's gone.

Here's the other side of the room. Look closely for the open seam that started it all.

This, my friends, is how all the madness began.

SO this is where things get sketchy. This piece came off in one big strip. How and why I have no idea. So I bopped into the basement (Brad's lair) and proudly announced I was starting a huge undertaking... Removing the wallpaper in the powder room. He said I was crazy.  To which I bragged to him how easily I had removed a big piece already. The rest had to be just as easy right?
Wrong.
It was so bad, in fact, that I didn't take any photos of the actual process because I was sure that there was no way I was sharing this massive failure with anyone. Especially on here!
Then I discovered a great way to remove it that made the rest of it go much quicker.

But before that, I need to tell you what was going on underneath the wallpaper that probably led to all the difficulty I had. The wallpaper was basically applied to bare sheetrock with no primer. I also discovered the wallpaper was applied before the toilet and sink were installed.
This was a custom job, baby! (dripping with sarcasm)

So I googled and asked around for tips and was bombarded with the whole "fabric softener and warm water" trick.
It worked. Sometimes. Let me explain...

So first, you need to cover your floor with old towels or a drop cloth. The fabric softener makes things slippery and when you start picking off wet (and glued) wallpaper pieces, they can stick to your floor.

Go around the baseboards (if they're caulked to the wallpaper like ours were) with a small utility knife. This helps the wallpaper remove cleaner at the bottom and prevent your caulk from peeling up with the wallpaper.

About the actual removal, you NEEEED one of these sprayers to apply the fabric softener solution. You can get them around $15 at Target or home improvement stores like Lowes.

You must use the little cone shaped attachment to apply it. It sprays an even and large area without splattering everywhere.
Grab some fabric softener (I used our Target brand that I love) and mix it with hot water in the sprayer. I mixed about 3 parts water to 1 part fabric softener. I was working initially with much less fabric softener and found it wasn't working as well. Mix it in small amounts so you can always have a warm mixture.

Next, spray one section (strip) of wallpaper at a time, making sure to really saturate it.  You may want to make sure your towels on the floor are really shoved tightly against the baseboards or even lay down a few extra as you work. This will keep the solution from running down the walls all over your floors and seeping through the towel.

This next part is key. You really have to be patient and let it sit for a while. Some sections, I could peel after maybe 5 minutes (probably wasn't initially stuck as well), some sections I had to apply the mixture like 3 times and wait FOR. EVER. Like 30 minutes later. So be patient.  20 minutes is a good rule for each piece, but make sure you've applied enough so it doesn't just dry.
I would start peeling from the top or bottom, at the seams, wherever I could get a good grip on it. The idea of the fabric softener solution is to make the adhesive come off cleaner with the actual top layer of the paper. Did it always work, heck no. But maybe 60% of the time I was able to peel larger, clean strips. The other time? The top layer of the paper would come off and leave the white papery adhesive layer.  Sometimes I would keep going. Sometimes, I would spray some more solution and wait. Sometimes, that didn't always work. This is when the process started to get horrible and panic ensued.

I even started experimenting with my garment steamer. I've heard of people who have great results with this, but I didn't notice any difference.

So what turned it all around?
Luckily, a twitter follower angel suggested that if you used regular old Windex on the white, papery, impossible to remove layer, it practically "jumps off the walls" she said. She was right!

THE WINDEX IS KEY, PEOPLE! I went through 3 bottles on this project.
So I would peel what I could (some coming off in large sections), and if I could only get the top layer, I didn't sweat it. Because a quick and even spray of glass cleaner to those areas made that layer come right off with little to no effort after a few minutes.


But the process wasn't perfect. Remember the whole un-primed walls thing? Yeah, it caused me to run into some significant problems.
So imagine hunks of sheetrock coming off. Sometimes down the the brown papery seams between the sheetrock pieces. It was so sad. I was sure I had ruined it. The walls were rough and uneven. But I pressed on. I figured the wallpaper at least had to be removed before any other progress (or repairs) had to be made.

Here's a shot of one of the walls...

Gorg, right?
Imagine it feeling as rough as it looks. The white paint you see around the mouldings around the ceiling and windows is where the trim was sprayed when the house was first built and painted. So Brad and I grabbed some 100-grit sandpaper (with wall-sanding handles attached because it made it much easier), tied some shirts around our faces (because inhaling sketchy wall dust is never good), and in about 2.5 minutes, lightly (and quickly) sanded the walls.

I was still left with a rough-looking situation so I took some Dap and spackled all the spots that looked sketchy. I also spackled over the spots where the brown papery sheetrock seams were exposed.
This is the type I used and it worked perfectly...

While I was at it, I also removed the sketchy sconces and huge (even sketchier) hooks, and the awkward towel holder which all left behind huge holes that I spackled as well.

I just realized there's a ton of "sketchiness" in this post... lol there really is no better word for this situation.

When it dried, I sanded over all the spackle to smooth it out.

This type is nice because it goes on pink and dries white when dry so you know exactly when to sand (as you can see in the pic below)....

...which also depicts possibly the sketchiest thing I found underneath the wallpaper. Apparently someone decided it would be appropriate to declare their love for each other on our bathroom wall...literally. The "4 Life" part just really pulls it all together.

Ok so on to the paint. I knew I wanted to do a light gray. Seriously I lucked out because after going to the store and purchasing a primer and a few new rollers, I remembered I had a brand new can of paint in that exact shade just sitting in our garage. I had purchased it in the last few months living at our old house when I thought about repainting our front living room. Which never happened. Score!

So I'll keep the whole primer fiasco brief. I've painted countless rooms before, but I rarely use a primer. In this case, with walls that looked that rough, I knew I needed one. So I purchased a primer which said it was for "damaged, uneven" walls, which only turned out to be.... CLEAR. Yeah. I definitely didn't continue to use it. I only did a few swipes and gave up. I've never returned paint before (you usually can't), but since the guy in the paint department recommended it to me because it "covered awesome" (and it was kind of pricey), that stuff went right back.
So I got crazy and decided to just go for it with the paint I had. I used the Valspar Signature Paint and Primer in one matched to Benjamin Moore Abalone.  The Valspar Signature is awesome. I used it several times at our old place and it covers amazing.

I was skeptical, but it covered everything (with 2 coats)!
I couldn't resist taking photos immediately when I was done, so here is what it looks like at night.

aaand here she is in the sunshine...

I love how this color made all the moulding and windows look much nicer and stand out so much more.

The two little screws in the wall where the mirror was were sunken in with plastic anchors and any mirror covers them anyway, so I didn't bother removing them.  I am now currently on the hunt for an amazing mirror...like this one.

via bamboofurnitureblog.com

However, they're kind of tough to find for sale online and they're a bit expensive. I'm convinced I can find a great deal on one at a consignment shop or yard sale. IT WILL BE MINE! Just gotta be patient! ...and find one that fits perfectly between the electrical outlet and light switch. Awesome placement, guys.

Oh and I did spruce up the light fixture as well. Brad and I played around with the thought of getting a new one, however, when we hit the usual spots (Home Depot and Lowes), they didn't have any that stood out. Then our choice to keep it became clear when at Lowes, we actually liked the one we already had better than all the others. I realized the problem wasn't the fixture, it was the glass shades. So we picked up a few $5 replacements that go much better with the new walls and feel of the room.

Lights on.

Lights off.

Much better huh?

While I haven't really done much decorating or hanging anything on the walls, I've got a few ideas and I'm just taking my time! I'll for sure update when I make a little more progress.

**edit: CHECK OUT THIS POST FOR ALL THE DECOR DETAILS!

I do have a few things I know for sure are staying.
First, this gorgeous and fun rug I've had for years from Anthropologie. It's never had a great spot that it really "worked" with.

I love how it looks with the paint. I think it's finally found it's perfect spot.

And then, this little sweet antique table I've had forever. It lived in our powder room at our last house. Before that, it was always in my parents' house in their powder room. Before that, I'm not sure where it came from. It used to be dark wood and a little banged-up. So I gave her a coat of pretty gold spray paint.

Yes, that is a Starbucks thermos. Cute vase, no?

So to wrap up this crazy-long post, here are a  few things I ALWAYS do when I paint:

Cover the paint tray in aluminum foil. This is an old but great tip that's pretty much everywhere on the internet. This makes for easy cleanup and you'll never have to buy another paint tray again.

"Cut-in" around doors, mouldings, and the ceiling (if you don't have crown) with an angled brush. I never use painters tape.

Store brushes and rollers in big zip loc bags between coats so they don't dry out.

Nothing too crazy or groundbreaking. I just keep it simple and try to be careful!

Let me just say.. Thank GOODNESS this is the only room of our house that has wallpaper. I couldn't imagine doing this again. I mean, I could if I had to, but let's just say it wasn't the best few days of my life.

I hinted at possibly re-doing our foyer in this post as well. I'll for sure keep you guys updated on that as well! Since it's a 2-story foyer, I might have to leave that job to the professionals...  I'll keep you posted!

Updated CLOSET TOUR & Organization Tips

Call me crazy, but I'm one of those people that are deeply fascinated by closets. Especially other people's.  Considering I started my YouTube channel from our first walk-in at our previous home and filmed in there for a few years, that's probably no surprise to you.

So I'm girly, nosy, and I love closets. Big surprise.

However, I'm also a bit of an organization freak. It calms me to organize things and be in an organized environment. You definitely DO NOT have to spend a fortune on a custom closet to have an organized one.

Check out my video below for a tour of our walk-in at our current home and hopefully pick up some organization tips along the way! ;)

Video FAQ: (basically, where things are from)

-rug: Pier 1 (no longer available....womp womp.)  *Similar one from West Elm, here.

-tufted storage ottoman: Overstock.com

-shoe racks: Container Store

-other little stool: from an antique store

-hangers: Huggable Hangers (or find similar ones from stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and TJ Maxx)

-closet systems: Lowes or Home Depot, customizable closet systems - see the video for more details, not sure of the exacts

Let me know if I left out anything!  Also, what are YOUR biggest closet organization challenges? Any great solutions?

xoxo, 

Tiffany

Tiffany Builds Cafe Shelves...

Yes, you read that right. A couple months back, I started feeling pretty handy and decided to tackle a small building project. So I figured I'd record my brave little feat for my vlog channel, TiffanyDtv.

It all began because I had been eyeing these cafe shelves from Ballard for quite some time. However, I wasn't mentally insane prepared enough to pay $99+ for each one. Lets be real, kids. Once I got three of those babies, plus shipping, my total would be at least $350. That is kind of terrifying.

Just for the sake of comparison...

My version (left)- less than $50 for all three vs. store bought (right)- $350+
I mean, the price says it all for me. Mine may not be perfect, but I get the extra bonus of getting the warm fuzzies when I look at them and know I made them.

So for less than $50 total (and with minimal handyman skillz), I built these
great looking shelves that, I have to say, look just like the Ballard version. I'm so proud of them.
Best part is they're totally customizable. You can make them as deep and long as you want and finish them with any color paint you like! I swear, it's super easy!

Check out my video tutorial below.