Bathroom Vanity

We are just about done with the master bathroom, which has been a very slow process once we started.  I think because it's tucked away (an out of sight, out of mind thing) and we are so used to using the bathroom down the hall; unlike the kitchen which we had to deal with everyday, so we worked our butts off to get that done ASAP.

My first taste at buying second-hand is a large french provincial mahogany dresser that i got from an antique dealer for around $250 (which is WAY more than what I am willing to pay today!). 
It sat there, moved around a few times (not far because it's damn heavy!), waiting for its day to shine. And after nearly two years, it's finally in its rightful place serving as a vanity for our bath.

The dresser had a beautiful  curvy top (which i am still wondering what can i do with it, too nice to throw away) that i wanted to copy onto the marble top (we decided on Carrara marble because I just LOVE it and it is not quite suitable for the kitchen...).  The stone company we used told us to do a template for them.  I tried drawing it free-hand but it was just too long and I couldn't get the symmetry just right.  So I decided to use some of that engineering skills and drew it up in AutoCAD, that way I could make sure the dimensions were exact.

The sinks are also one of those first purchases for the house, I might have bought them while we were still looking for a house!  They sat in my parents' attic for two years, I even forgot how they really looked like, all I remembered was that I LOVED them when they arrived.  The design in each sink was hand painted so there are variations.

We modified some cabinet drawers to accommodate the pipes.

So once we were done,  the DH decided to clean it with Windex and what do you know!? the patina I thought the wood had was just DIRT! YEARS AND YEARS of dirt.  The vanity is soooo much lighter now, it no longer look reddish brown but a reddish orange.  I like it because it matches the flowers in the sinks more.

Afterwards...which was like a few weeks later ( I told you we are slow on this project), I finally came around to buff it with Restor-a-Finish in Mahogany.

. 

Look at the difference!

Cleaned the hardware using Brasso.

And VIOLA!

We paired it with an antique (dresser?) mirror, which is a bit over-the-top but I like how it contrasts to the subdue tones and clean lines of the rest of the bathroom, which I will reveal soon :) .  And look at the shell design, it was meant for a bathroom!

We used kitchen faucets because we wanted the height.

Refurbishing a Desk

A few months ago, i bought this old desk that i thought would be the perfect size to fit in the little corner of the living room. That would be where I work when I have to work from home until my office is ready upstairs (which could be a while since it's on the low priority list).  

I love the curvy design of the legs and it was structurally sound, so for $30 bucks, it was a good deal in my books! Here is the original posting from the seller

when I brought it home and put in the chair, it was a bit too short to fit my legs under.  

Fast forward about four months and a lot of uncomfortable sitting before we finally had time to squeeze this project into our renovating schedule. 

First I wanted to take the bars on the bottom off and extend the legs from there but after taking off one bar, the hubby convinced me it would be easier for him to just attach something to the bars instead.  

So I came up with this design

As you can see the stain was faded and dull and there was chipping.  I gave it a light sanding before adding the new stain.  I had Cabot stains on hand from staining the doors, so i mixed Red Mahogany and Brown Walnut together to get a reddish brown.

After two coats

The circles are for a project i'll post later, just killing two birds with one stone :)

I wanted to add some pazazz to it, so i decided to use gold leaf paint and highlight some of the details.
For the surface I taped off to get clean lines but for the legs and drawer fronts, i just a drew free hand.

(the color here looks orange due to the light)

I applied the gold with a small brush

I am impatient so i did not wait long before peeling off the tape (one hour at most).

Now some After photos of it in its little corner :)

I paired it with the bamboo chair that I upholstered in the same faux leather as the coffee table.  I love how the curves on the legs mimic the ones on the desk's legs.  Of course only I appreciate this, i pointed the similarity out to the hubby and got the "whatever you said, honey" look. 

I haven't decided if I will keep it here or move it to my office later on.
What do you think? I love fast refurbishing jobs like this one, so much gratification for not a lot of work!

New Coffee Table

I have been in search of a new coffee table for the living room for a while now.  I wanted something brass with glass (storage on the bottom would be a bonus!) to open up the room a bit.  

Dmagazine  (i am so in love with this penthouse! *drool*)

Greg Natale

Decorpad

The problem was that I also wanted one with an upholstered top (Yes, we are the put-your-legs-on-the-table-while-watching-TV type of family).   I searched and searched but nothing came close to what i had in mind.  So i figured it would have to be a DIY, our current table is a DIY so why not this one.

I really like this table but the microfiber was hard to keep free of lints and crumbs.  I also wanted to change the rug to a darker color so having a dark table would not work.

I also replaced the matching side table a few weeks before.

One night searching through Craigslist, I found this table from Crate and Barrel on sale, which I ended paying $50 for.  It had some scratches to the finish but I didn’t care, I was going to paint it anyway.

And here it is after I sprayed it with Rustoleum Gold Metallic. 

The upholstered top was a really simple and quick task.  It’s just a piece of MDF topped by 4 inch foam and covered in faux leather I got from Fabric.com.  I didn’t want to take out the sewing machine, so I just did folded flap corners. 

Drop the finished top in and that was it.  

And here it is all finished on top of the new area rug.  The faux leather is super easy to clean and has hold up good so far.