Everything New is Old Again

I discovered my love for refinishing furniture when I was 11. I found an old steamer trunk and a few cans of paint in the basement - I painted the body light blue and all the trim in white. I even redid the hardware with metallic gold paint (come to think of it, why did we have metallic gold paint in the basement?) Anyway, I dragged it up two flights of stairs to my room and put it under my window to make a window seat and I thought I was quite glamorous. Sometimes, I would prop the top open with my stuffed animals artfully arranged. If there had been such a thing as a preteen home decor magazine, I would have been a regular subscriber!

Over the years I redid a few pieces here and there but once I moved to Toronto and lived in a tiny house with tiny people, I didn't have the time, space or energy. I bought whatever was least expensive at IKEA including this corner cabinet for our 10 x 10 living room. It was made of wood, not melamine, the base fit in the corner, the TV fit nicely on top and best of all, I could lock the doors and prevent the tiny people from sliding a peanut butter sandwich into the VCR. I always thought the top part of the unit  was hideous and it stayed in the box until we staged the house to sell it and I needed to make the living area into a dining room.

When we moved from Toronto, the thing somehow ended up in my house and try as I might, I couldn't get rid of it - I would glare at it every time I walked by and had every intention of selling it on Craig's list when I took these pictures

Blog surfing one day, I spied a dresser repainted in Behr Pyramid Gold and was instantly smitten with the most gorgeous warm yellow. Once I become obsessed with a paint colour all unpainted furniture better run for cover... I bought a can the next day and the first thing to catch my eye was the corner hutch - makeover time!

I gave the whole thing a really quick sanding with a course sanding sponge being careful to sand every which way with varying degrees of pressure and no particular pattern. Then I slopped on the paint with an old brush paying special attention to the sides of the hutch to ensure there were some really nice brush marks and texture in there. Broad flat spaces need character and I like things to look hand painted. My house has light issues so I can't always get good photos of my furniture where it lives. I actually had to move it to the opposite side of the hall just to get enough light!

After one generous coat, I gave it 24 hours to dry and went at it with the sanding sponge. I don't usually use Behr paint, I find it peels when you remove masking tape, etc., but in this case, it worked in my favour. I also discovered that the parts I sanded changed colour and looked deeper. I have never seen that happen before but it really added to the old, worn look and I love it.

I wiped it all down with a microfiber cloth and then a generous coat of walnut stain, left it for a few minutes, wiped it down again and finished with clear water based varnish. This was in the days before I discovered wax, which is my new favourite thing.

And now? I love it! I love the colour and I love how the refinish brings the character to the piece that it never had. It actually has quite a bit of personality, it just needed to be coaxed out and now it brightens up the space and gives it warmth and light. Yay!

I moved it out of the dining room and up to the top of my stairs where the three kids' rooms are so we styled accordingly and here it is in all its yellow glory! I love that I could take something new and make it look worn in and comfortable. The best thing is that this hutch has a sister desk that is getting painted this summer and I will be sure to share.

My favourite part was styling the shelves. My 5-year old was on board right away and helped me find all the pieces including the sweet little wooden car we found in a thrift store and his beloved wheeled puppy and of course the baby photo of... guess who?

I love the colour so much that when I did my Numbered Staircase, I used it again. So, if you need a gorgeous warm yellow, grab yourself a swatch of Pyramid Gold and cast your eye around the house. Surely, you own something that would look better in yellow?

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New Life for a Tired Staircase

My house was built in 1875 and the years have not treated it kindly. It has been subjected to multiple renovations, including being carved up into apartments in the 60s and then turned back into a family home a decade later.

The front stairs were built in 1975. Each step is a different size, it has Victorian railings, improvised wainscotting and rustic pine stair treads. Much like the rest of the house, it doesn't match itself and it needed help. I knew I could never afford a custom stair runner so I started researching painted stairs and fell in love with this photo from a Pottery Barn book on Kids Rooms.

With only three feet between the stairs and a wall, and no windows in the front of the house, it's hard to get a nice shot but this shows the steps taped off.

I wanted my "runner" 25 inches wide, so based on the first step, I had 7 inches on each side. I measured 7 inches from the right edge of every step and placed the second band of tape so that the outside edges were 25 inches apart. To tape the risers, I measured straight down from the outside edge of the tape on the top tread to the outside of the tape on the next tread. I marked it with a pencil and applied the tape along the line. Three coats of yellow floor paint from my local hardware store, colour matched to Behr Pyramid Gold and it was looking better already.

When the yellow was dry, I ran a strip of very narrow tape up against it, basically as a place holder for the stripe. Two coats of primer and two coats of white floor paint - can't remember the exact colour, just a warm white that I thought went well with my yellow. When the white was dry and cured (three days), I put a band of tape on either side of the narrow piece and removed the narrow piece to paint the navy blue stripe.

Now for the numbers...the font for the numbers is Century and I made the numbers 5 inches tall using the "ruler" feature in Word and and increasing the font size until the number was the size I wanted. 

I used contact paper to make stencils for the numbers. Print the numbers on paper, trace the numbers onto squares of contact paper (I used carbon paper from Staples). With a sharp blade, cut the number out of the contact paper. For 4, 6 8, 9, etc., I cut the middles out and then used a piece of masking tape to middles in place until I stuck them on the stairs.

Center each square on the riser, peel the backing off and stick it in place, if it's not perfect you can reposition it. Once all the squares are in place paint the first coat with whatever colour you are painting over. In this case I gave every number a quick coat of white paint - it seals the stencil so the colour coat won't bleed through. Three coats of navy blue craft paint - I needed so little, I didn't want to buy a big can - one coat of clear gloss on top. I taped off the stripes (one piece of wide tape on either side of the narrow, then remove the narrow tape) and used the same approach. Resist the urge to peel off the tape until everything is really dry.

When all the paint is nice and dry, you can start peeling! Isn't this everyone's favourite part? And now it's time for the big reveal!

  

I still can't believe these are in my house! I am so pleased with how they turned out and my kids love them. I had to do a little bit of touching up when the new paint peeled off the old, but overall it came out really well. 

We are lucky because I have two staircases in my house so having this one out of commission for two weeks was no big deal. Even if you are painting the only staircase in your house, a project like this goes in phases so there's very little time when you can't use the stairs at all and each step doesn't take too long. 

Now for that back staircase....

It's my very first "link up" post!!! 

The Lettered Cottage  Skip To My Lou  Polly Want a Crafter  It’s So Very Cheri  Under the Table & Dreaming  Cherished Treasures  C.R.A.F.T  Craftomaniac  Keeping It Simple  Handy Man Crafty Woman's  Boogieboard Cottage   Somewhat Simple  Flamingo Toes  I Heart Nap Time  Polish the Stars Dittle Dattle Sugar Bee Crafts DIY by Design Vintage WannaBee  Sassy Sites  Ladybug Blessings  Running With Glitter  Domestically Speaking  Blue Cricket Design  Savvy Southern Style  Primitive and Proper  Debbie Doo’s Faded Charm Cottage  Elements Interiors  The Trendy Treehouse  A Creative Princess Lil Luna Somewhat Simple  The Shabby Chic Cottage  Catch a Glimpse  The Frugal Girls  36^th Avenue  Romantic Home  Chic On A Shoestring Miss Mustard Seed   Simply Designing  The Shabby Nest  Remodelaholic  My Simple Homelife  A Little KnickKnack  Whipperberry  The Girl Creative  Funky Junk Interiors  I Am Along for the Ride  It’s a Crafty Life  Bubbly Nature Creations   Touch of Yellow