Small Changes Around the House

It's that time of year when I look ahead to the impending winter months trapped indoors and begin to wish that I had a home I enjoyed spending time in.  When we moved into our home about six years ago, it was supposed to be temporary, just for a year or two until we could build our dream house, so beyond slapping some paint on the dark walls so it looked less like a cave, we didn't really do anything to make it ours.  Well, six years later we have a giant pit dug for the dream house and no further progress. We can't get anyone out to our property to build one dinky little house when there are so many multi-million dollar building projects going on around us because contractors and all others in this skilled labor field, go where the money is and it is most definitely not here.

To that end, Mr. Bleu and I have had a long talk and decided that after six years of waiting, it's time to start fixing up and adding on to our house in order to turn it into our dream house or as close as humanly possible.  We don't need contractors for this, we can do it ourselves one room at a time.  This feels good.  I feel like I have a goal, (FINALLY!) and the gears have been turning.  I decided to start with this cedar closet which was given to me along with second, smaller closet about 20 years ago when I lived in a house that just like my current house, had teeny tiny closets.  I always promised myself I would repaint one day.  Today is that day.

It's a beautiful piece and in great condition.  The first thing I did was remove all the hardware and take the doors off.  Then I borrowed Mr. B's power sander and sanded it top to bottom.  This took about two hours and a whole pack of sanding sheets as the varnish kept getting warm and gumming up on the sanding pads to the point that they no longer worked.  After sanding, I wiped everything down with a damp cloth and let it dry.  Then Mr. Bleu and I glued these floral wood applique pieces which I purchased from Amazon to the doors and the center bottom panel.  I let them dry for an hour.

After that I began applying the Chalk Paint.  I did two coats to the entire closet and added a third coat to the doors and the cedar stripes bled through.  The third coat didn't really seem to help much, so I decided not to over paint the piece and accept that a little bleed through was probably to be expected with this type of wood.

After several hours of drying, Mr. Bleu and I watched ExtractIIon while we used finishing wax to seal the chalk paint.  Finishing wax comes in a variety of colors and is applied just like car wax (Mr. Miyagi style) by using a clean rag and making small concentric circles.  We left the dresser to cure over night and in the morning I used a clean rag to rub down the wax again.

(Look at that disgusting carpet!  It will be the next thing to go.)  After that it was time to put all the hardware back on.  We added some feet from an old chair that is on it's way to the dump, so that the closet now stands a little taller.  I also changed out the knobs on the doors for these polished brass numbers.

Is it perfect?  No, but nothing I make is perfect, so I have come to terms with that.  Do I like it much better than before?  Absolutely!  At some point, I may take it outside for one more coat of paint, but for now, I am content to leave it as is and it certainty makes the room much brighter than it did before.

While the paint was drying I also dry brushed some white over the top of this ridiculously fancy and hopelessly yellowed vintage headboard that I bought a year ago for a song.  And, I like it much better now too.  The home renovations continues and I will keep you posted as I tackle curtains, the fireplace mantle, and tile next.