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Iron Headboard Gets a Coat of {HOT} Pink Spray Paint

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Christy

It took me awhile to work up the courage to do this project. For some reason, I have absolutely no problem spray painting a piece of furniture that I buy on Craigslist, or at the thrift shop, or from a yard sale, but I freeze up when it’s time to redo a piece that’s been in my family for years. I wonder why? If it takes a coat of paint for me to love a piece more–and it’s not a valuable antique–then why not just go for it? After all, paint is cheap, and I can always change it up again down the road!

This twin-sized iron headboard was mine when I was a girl, so it is NOT an antique–it’s just a little bit old (like me)! It’s been in my daughter’s room since she moved out of her crib, and here’s what it looked like BEFORE:

The creamy white was perfectly fine when my daughter’s room was pink and green (sigh), but now that she’s embracing a different color scheme, the headboard didn’t work. I figured that instead of tucking it away in the attic for my grandkids–this could be decades away, mind you–that I’d just paint it a jarring shade of watermelon pink. Here’s the AFTER (put on your sunglasses!):

At first, I taped off the marble medallion and left it unpainted, but it just looked wrong. I wound up painting it and the decorative brass balls. Honestly, my daughter loves it and that’s the most important thing.

We played around with the pillows on her bed a bit. Here’s another shot:

I never thought of aqua blue and hot watermelon pink as a color combination, but leave it to my daughter! The whole room reveal should be coming up next week…we’re just putting the finishing touches on it. You can read about her new table HERE…

…And her new tray HERE.

While the color palette and design choices aren’t what I would have picked, it’s not my room, after all, and I like that she’s fearless about using bright and happy colors. She may only be nine, but she sure knows what she likes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Friday

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Posted in Before and After, DIY, Home Inspiration, Kids Rooms, Real Spaces | Tagged aqua, bedroom, Girl, headboard, iron painted, Pink, room | 28 Comments

~Thrift Store Tray Gets a Bright Makeover~

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Christy

A few months ago, I was making my usual weekly stop into Goodwill, when I came across the cutest breakfast in bed tray. It was dark red and $5, which seemed expensive to me (for a thrift store, at least!) but I saw potential. I debated painting it white or black, my usual colors, and using it in the kitchen or the screened porch, but then I thought it would also make a cute piece for my daughter’s room, which we’re currently updating with pops of watermelon pink (read my first post on her room HERE). Enter my trusty can of spray paint…I used Krylon’s “Watermelon” gloss and gave it a couple of coats. Here’s how it turned out:

When I first sprayed the top, it looked a little bare, so I used my Silhouette Cameo and some white vinyl to make a monogram to put on top. The font is a free one called “Contribute” and it’s one of my favorites for monograms. My daughter is a Francophile and wants to bring a little bit of Paris into her room, too, so I debated putting something French on the tray, but I want to avoid “Paris Overkill” if at all possible!

The more I get to know this little tray, the happier I am that I spent so much $$ on it. The legs fold under and secure so it can be used as a regular tray, too, if we ever want to put it on top of her bookshelf or desk as a display piece.

I’ll continue to share pieces from her room as we go, and hopefully we’ll have the full reveal for you in a week or two!

Thanks for stopping by.

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Posted in Before and After, DIY, Kids Rooms | Tagged bedroom, diy, Girl, Monogram, paint, Pink, thrift store, tray, watermelon | 4 Comments

Carnival-Striped Side Table for My Big (Little) Girl’s Room

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Christy

My 8-almost-9-year-old’s room is getting another facelift–not a huge redo, just a little tweaking. When we moved to Nashville last summer, she told me she was done with the pink and green bedroom she had in our old house (below):

Sigh. I loved that room! But, I understood that she was ready to be done with pink. She chose a pale aqua for the walls and we paired it with white and celery green. It was nice and peaceful, but that’s not really what she had in mind. I talked it over with her and we decided that bold punch of color would help jazz the room up a bit. After much deliberation (red? peach?) she actually decided on watermelon pink. Yes. PINK. Again. Granted, a brighter shade than she’d had before, but still, pink. I had a quick giggle and got to work.

When I grabbed this little table at a yard sale for $3, it was brown and kind of homely. The first time I painted it, it wound up with a pink top (Krylon’s Ballet Slipper, I think) and white legs, and an awesome pom pom fringe trim.

Sometimes this little table was used as a nightstand, and sometimes it went at the foot of the bed, depending on the time of year. When we moved to Nashville, it lost its pom pom fringe and gained a celery green top:

In case you’re wondering, I loved both of those previous iterations, but hey, you’ve got to roll with the changes! It’s her room, after all, and for $3 I can’t exactly complain that it’s an expensive antique.

When we decided to add pops of watermelon pink throughout the room, I thought about painting an awning stripe on the table top. I simply measured the width of the top (21″) and divided by 3″ as I thought that would be a good width for the stripes. I decided to use three different colors: aqua, pink, and green. After measuring and taping off my stripes with blue painter’s tape, I got to work. Here’s the result:

The paint colors were kind of random. I didn’t paint the green at all as it was already there–that was Krylon’s Celery Green spray paint. The blue was from the wall paint we used in her room (I think it’s Behr’s Ionic Sky) and the pink is actually from one of those little acrylic paint bottles that costs $1 at the craft store. If you wanted to use spray paint, Krylon’s Watermelon is a close match. I used that color to spray the big “A” over the table–that used to be celery green.

Once I added some knick knacks to the table, the look was done. I moved the multi-colored fabric strip shade to her nightstand as it competed too much with the table. You’ll see it soon enough when I reveal her updated room.

I just noticed that her cord cover is missing…it must have gone with the other lamp. Oh, well, that’s how we roll–there’s always SOMETHING that needs fixing up!

I’ve loved all the “lives” of this little table and don’t doubt she’ll get another makeover or two before my girl grows up and moves out. The moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to change things around every so often. Paint is cheap!

Stay tuned for more–the room will be done (again) soon. Thanks for stopping by!

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Posted in Before and After, DIY, Home Inspiration, Home Tours, Kids Rooms | Tagged aqua, awning, bedroom, blue, Girl, green, Pink, spray paint, stripes, vintage, watermelon | 4 Comments

Girls in White Dresses (with Red Ball Fringe…)

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Amy

By Amy

I can only say that inspiration for this little dress for my daughter struck me in the middle of the night. And, that would be because my social butterfly is ”visiting” in the middle of the night so random things pop into my head as I am up with her at all hours these days! She had received these darling le Top red and white tights as a birthday gift and I knew I wanted her to wear them with something for Christmas. They were too casual for her ”dressy” Christmas dress but way too cute not to wear.

The tights that started it all!

I remembered I had picked up a very plain white cotton dress at a Consignment Sale last year, which she never had worn. It was just really boring, I suppose I bought it just because it was like $3 and in perfect shape.

I am of the belief that you can monogram anything (actually I think that’s a direct quote from Christy?!), and I definitely know that you can add ball fringe to just about anything and make it cute. So, I ran the plain, boring, white dress by my local embroidery shop and 10 minutes later it had her initials on the top in red. Instant improvement.

I picked up some red ball fringe at JoAnn’s, and stitched it around the bottom inside hem. Now, I know that I could have used something to fuse it (or a machine) which would have been quicker but its a small dress, so hand-sewing it didn’t take very long but it did seem like the hard way to do it. Regardless, it was one show worth of something to do while watching TV.

The Ball Fringe Magic

I also thought I could really jazz it up with some red Ric Rac around the sleeves but it was the week of Christmas and that– along with MANY other things– didn’t happen (like the second half of my Christmas Cards!). But, she did have an adorable dress for our family Christmas gathering on Christmas night, all for about $10. And, its going to be perfect for Valentine’s Day too!