Changing Table or Nah?

First of all, I was SO honored and amazed to be featured today over at Road Kill Rescue with our Yoga Mat Turned Kitchen Runner. You have got to go check out her amazing blog! She has so many ideas and treasures!

This weekend, we finally accomplished a tad bit around the house! There’s something about sunshine that just makes you want to DO something! This first official sunny spring weekend we knocked out so many little projects! I cannot WAIT to share them with you this week!

Today, however, I began with a project that was a COMPLETE fail at first, the title of this post could have really been: How NOT to Paint Furniture.

I knew when we bought this piece at the Habitat ReStore last year that it would be Cray’s changing table because I had dreamed of what I wanted his room to look like. But as all things renovation go, we were wayyy behind schedule and didn’t move in until September. So, at that point I just decided to stick to the dresser we were already using because I couldn’t even think straight and just wanted to be in the house.

Finally, finally a year later, we got around to painting it.

This could be a whole post within itself but I’ve been doing a lot of design soul searching and I’ve had to become okay with the fact that dark wood furniture is not for me (you’ll see further evidence of this later this week). Please don’t misunderstand me (and notice I didn’t say all things dark wood because I LOVE my floors and butcher block island.). I think dark wood is beautiful. I appreciate its texture and wood grain and its purity. But I just can’t make it fit in my house.

For so long I tried to make it work because so many people around me liked it and said, “You’re going to PAINT that?!?”

So, I painted this.

And I’m obsessed.

But how did it get here?

FIVE darn coats of paint.

I tried two coats of good white paint. Seriously. We actually paid for good quality paint for our cabinets and for some reason, this cabinet wouldn’t take it.

I tried to spray paint it after two coats of the good paint didn’t work.

Finally, I was so frustrated I asked my neighbor for some grout because he has been remodeling his bathroom and took that grout and mixed it with a sample I had (I had read before you could use unsanded grout and a bit of latex paint to make homemade chalk paint.).

At this point, there was really no way I could screw it up any further.

And y’all! It worked.

There was no measuring to creating this paint (even though I’m sure there’s a formula)……just a scoop or two of grout (who knows if it was even unsanded!) and a sample of some paint I picked up at Lowe’s on clearance a few weeks ago.

And as I was painting, that’s when it hit me…Russ helped, actually. He looked at me and said, “You’ve finally figured it out! This is your style!” Coastal. Comfortable. Cottage.

I truly love all things white and I have found that I love muted colors, not bright. Do I love seeing them? Yes! Do I love looking at eclectic features! Yes, but I’ve had to learn, it’s just not my style.

And to think, all it took was an original vision of a changing table and some grout to help me figure this out.

Linking up here:

http://elizabethjoandesigns.com/2014/03/designs-time-no-3/

http://diyshowoff.com/

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com

http://shabbynest.blogspot.ca/

http://www.cozylittlehouse.com

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