{a silver leaf dresser: an ikea rast hack}

My teen daughter's room is finally coming together.

The latest improvement to her room is a new side table dresser. It is my version of an Ikea Rast hack. My inspiration was this photo from the September issue of Chatelaine magazine {another great Canadian publication}

I loved the bevel mirrored chest of drawers, which was from Ethan Allen. Wanting to replicate the look I called around for prices on custom cut mirrors. What I found was that most places charge a minimum fee per piece cut, around $40 a piece, then charge $5 per hole, which meant it would cost me $150. The Rast dresser was only $29, so $150 was too much. My daughter also thought the mirrors would be hard to keep clean, she didn't want to be constantly shining them.

Good point.

Glad I consulted with the client.

Instead I used a coat of black paint, silver leaf and crystal knobs to give it the glam it needed.

 The Rast dresser went from this:

to this:

My cost:

Rast dresser from Ikea: $29

black paint {Benjamin Moore Aura paint}: free {leftover}

silver leaf: $7 with 50% off coupon from Michaels

sizing medium: free {leftover from silver leaf lamp project}

crystal knobs: $6 each from Home Depot

Wipe-on poly: free {leftover from previous projects}

Total:$72

I am thrilled with the look. My daughter is glad that her room is finally getting the finishing touches. 


Now I am waiting for the fabric that is on back order to come in so I can make her some drapes!

Visiting:
Metamorphosis Monday@BNOTP
Power of Paint Party@Domestically Speaking
Transformation Thursday@The Shabby Chic Cottage
Finding Fabulous
Frugal Friday@Shabby Nest
Weekend Wrap-up Party@Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase@Under The Table and Dreaming

~Red Chair~

I have a love affair with red.

 I love bits of red all over the house. I think my love of red goes back to the day when I had colouring projects at school and I loved to use my Poppy Red pencil crayon whenever I could.  I think most Canadians know what I mean - we have a brand of pencil crayons called Laurentian (named after the St. Lawrence River - I think?) that was in almost every child's desk. The Poppy Red name comes from the colour of the poppies we Canadians wear on our lapels before and during Remembrance Day. You can read about that here.  So now I pop in red whenever I can. 

I am S-L-O-W-L-Y  re-doing my son's room.

I love the vintage, Ralph Laureny look for a boys room with red accents. Most of the furniture has been re-painted. If you want to see a glimpse you can check it out here. One small painting project was to paint a chair I found on Craigslist for cheap. I wanted to paint it red - so off to my favourite paint store - Benjamin Moore!  They know me quite well, so they have given me a great discount! Can't complain about that! I chose a beautiful red, Caliente, from their new Aura line (paint and primer in one!) You can check out another project I did in my son's room using Caliente here.

~before~

~after~

 I absolutely love how it turned out!

This project is going to join the many other inspiration projects at:

Metamorphosis Monday at  Between Naps on the Porch
and visiting Kimba at DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

~Simple dresser facelift~

        I am slowly working on re-doing or improving my childrens' bedrooms without spending too much. I have been re-painting furniture they have and trying to source a few pieces on Craigslist. So far I bought a great desk for one daughter's room. I am going to re-paint it and add a touch of glam by replacing the utilitarian handle with a crystal one I spotted at the local hardware store. I have yet to take "before" pictures.
     What I did manage to do this week in between the rain showers was touch up the other daughter's (henceforth named D) dresser. I am slowly working on her room. Her dressser was black already but after taking a trip in the moving van all the way from the east coast to the west it took a beating. 

Here is the before

     I re-painted it with a softer black, Black Beauty (you guessed it - my favourite paint store -Benjamin Moore!) To jazz it up a bit and add a bit of teenage glam I created a damask stencil from some fabric I had laying around. I then used my exacto knife to cut it out. 

    I laid the stencil across the drawer fronts and using a roller and white craft paint, I rolled paint over the stencil. I didn't like the way it turned out, the edges weren't crisp. I guess card stock doesn't cut it for a stencil. I then hand painted it all in to give it more depth and a hand painted look. After I painted a coat of Poly to give the white paint a bit of sheen.
     I have yet to "finish" her room (are you ever finished when decorating a house?). I am trying to find her a desk and some hot pink paper lanterns to add to the white ones we have hanging. Not to mention - it is always a mess (busy teenager)!

Ta-da!

Oh - and the lampshade is a basic white Ikea lampshade that I simply hot glued a dollar store feather boa along the bottom edge!

Ooh-la-la!


I will be linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch

and

 DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

and 
Thrift Decor Chick's

and
Today's Creative Blog

and
The Shabby Chic Cottage's

**edited December 19th: visiting Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday
***edited April 30: visiting SNS @ Funky Junk

The "after" photos

Voila!

The dresser and bookcase in their final glory. I am thinking of getting a new frame for our one-of-a-kind print of Wayne Gretzky (on wall above bookcase) that my dear friend's late father made for us. FYI: There are only 3 prints made - and Wayne Gretzky has one! 

Before - sanded and primed

This was my childhood teak dresser. It was stained on top with no hope of rescue. The soft black paint looks great. The colour was a mis-tint from Benjamin Moore.

The desk before and after. I am going to paint the oak chair a beautiful deep red. I found it on Craiglist for $15! I am also shopping for a great big bulletin board and some shelving to put above the desk for my son's ever growing rock/shell/bug collection jars. I think his sisters are playing a joke on him - note the whoopie cushion on the seat!

***edited Oct 15/09: I linked up at the The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday

and to Kimba's A Soft Place To Land DIY Day!