Now for sale: Buffet + Bar cart {traditional with a twist!}

Happy Friday, folks! I'm excited to kick the weekend off with a couple of entertaining pieces - a matching buffet and bar cart! I've actually never done a bar cart before - the ones I see while out thrifting are glass and brass/gold and don't need any of my attempts at improvement. But, when I saw an all wood bar cart in perfect condition on old casters, I grabbed it with not the faintest idea of what to do!

Fortunately, I also snatched up this buffet on the same day which gave me a great jumping off point for creating a set! (I'm gonna go ahead and apologize now for the quality of the pictures - I had a tight window to get them done and it was during our darkest, rainy day this week while my kiddos ate lunch. These pictures were the least of our disasters this week, however, and I'm already looking forward to starting fresh come Monday! Just don't stare at my blurry pictures too long, I'd hate to awaken your vertigo.)

BEFORE

AFTER

I really wanted to maintain the traditional integrity of the buffet and decided to go with a classic color - a very soft, creamy grey. One of my favorite custom color mixes is Paris Grey and Old White, (both by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint), about equal parts of both. Rather than do any deep distressing, I just painted on two solid coats, applied the clear wax with a brush, and then buffed with a clean cloth. When buffing, I pressed a little harder with my cloth along the edges and details to pull some of the paint away, but it's nothing harsh. 

Seems a typical, lightly distressed grey buffet, right? But wait! There's more...

I'm not a totally traditional gal - I appreciate traditional pieces and design, but I personally prefer to put soft, unexpected 'twists' on such classic styles. Nothing that screams "whoa there, big fella!", (name that Seinfeld episode), but enough to give such sophisticated pieces a more casual, edgy look. I am in debt to Cate for helping me with this one - I knew I wanted to do something a little different with this piece, but I really didn't want to cross the crazy line. Cate's fresh eyes were so helpful and when she suggested leaving the inset panels in their natural wood state, I knew she'd hit the nail on the head. It was just enough of a twist without going overboard, maintaining the classic integrity of the piece.

And with a matching bar cart to boot, we're quite classy, indeed, today!

For a touch of glam I added aged brass pulls which I had removed from another piece last month. It was one of the easiest updates considering the impact they add to the simple cart. (NEVER throw out old hardware...unless you feel it's truly quite hideous!)

This set is now available for sale, $525. Email me at chelsea@stylemutthome.com if interested! 

To see what else we've got for sale please hop over and browse our Garage Shop!

Enjoy your weekend and thank you for stopping by!

A before+after, cool painting tip, and where to go

Hi guys! The last week and a half has been a little busy around here - in the very best way! The garage is filling up with new pieces awaiting their second chance at life, I've been restocking paint, and taking advantage of the plethora of Fall festivities this area's got goin' on. This was our entire afternoon after church last Sunday:

Shire Grace, 4yrs

The Temple Hall Farm Festival in Leesburg, VA. We think it's the best kept secret around! While many are fighting the traffic and crowds at Cox Farms and Pumpkinville, Temple Hall has so much more to offer and far less 'congestion'.  And camels. Because what's a Fall festival without camels!? They obviously go hand in hand. ;)

Mason James, 3yrs

It's also a great place to snap a Christmas card picture, pending you find someone with a steady hand. Last year's pic is at the right, this year's on the left. We had a better photograstranger last year. Oh well. I think the stone background is washing us out anyways...and by 'us' I mean everyone except my dark and handsome husband.

2014

2013

Moving on, (because I KNOW ya'll didn't come by to weigh in on whether or not we should use that top left picture for our Christmas card. We definitely shouldn't. Right?)! I've been a painting fool over the last two weeks and just wanted to share some recent pieces!

First up, this very special custom order for a very special lady - my Grandma Livi! She found this dry sink in her mother's basement years ago. She did a wonderful job restoring the wood, but recently wanted to give it a fresh look.

BEFORE

AFTER

I just love me some distressed aqua. It's the Best of the Best! ;)

This piece started off with some gorgeous, textured wood grain. When working with a real wood piece with grain like this, you can still play up the wood even when painting over it. On this dry sink, for example, I never once loaded my brush up with too much paint. I did 3 super thin coats until there was even coverage all around. Sounds like a waste of time, right? Why not just do one thick coat? Well, if I were to lay the paint on too thick the paint would have settled right over the wood grain, thus hiding it's beautiful texture. Using more of a dry-brush method, where I only dipped the very end of the brush in the paint, I was able to cover the piece with three thin layers and preserve the grain. Win, win! 

Since this is a super-duper old piece I wanted to give it some fresh, current styling. I surrounded it with my slow-grown Anthropologie kitchen collection which compliments the soft aqua color and contrasts well with the new rustic makeover.

Collection tip: When you love a store or a particular item that you can't afford large purchases from, just keep a sharp eye for items on clearance, or indulge in smaller affordable pieces every now and then. The stacked bowls were the beginning of my collection - as our family grew, we would add one new bowl per family member. 

On deck for tomorrow is my first ever buffet + bar cart set! You can expect the pieces to be traditional, but with a cool, edgy twist. I can't wait to see what you think!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Plain, white pillows ---> Three ideas!

Hey guys! I've got a good three-fer for today - three ideas for one product! Tis' the season for quick and easy design swaps to get your homes ready for the holidays up ahead. I don't know about you, but I've been swooning over the hundreds of decorative pillows overwhelming Pinterest, Etsy, and my inbox of emails from West Elm, Pottery Barn, Anthropoligie Home, and the like. There are so many. So, so many. One could easily drop several hundred dollars on seasonal pillows alone!

A few months ago I swooped into IKEA for a quick stop and grabbed a few plain white GURLI pillows while I was there. I didn't quite know what I was going to do with them, but at $4/pillow, I figured something good would come from them. After an in-n-out trip to JoAnns, I had just what I needed, (for an additional $4 as all items were on sale), to dress up my plain white pillows!

IDEA 1: Block printing

Block printing is one of my favorite techniques. There are so many creative ways to use block printing - curtains, tea towels, (which I gave as Christmas gifts one year), chair cushions, aprons, stationary, napkins, lampshades, (which I did on our old bedside lamps), and as we'll see today, pillows! You can use any number of objects as your shape and then you just need a bottle of fabric paint.

For my first white pillow, I used a green pepper, cut straight across about two inches from the top. Squirt some fabric paint onto your paper plate or paint tray, stick the cut end of the pepper into the paint, and stamp it right onto the fabric! 

When I was finished with the block printed pattern, I felt like my pillow needed a little something more.  I dabbed my finger into some red fabric paint and made a few dots in the center of each stamp. Now it looks like flowers!

IDEA 2: Leather Cord

This next idea was inspired by a pillow I saw at Target by Nate Berkus, (the 'Decorative Braided Pillow', now discontinued). I bought the leather cord from JoAnns, (on sale for around $1), and then measured and cut the pieces I'd need for my design. I layed the two criss-crosses side by side and stitched the ends. That's all!

IDEA 3: Leather fringe

This last idea almost went in a different direction using chunky pom-pom trim instead. But, when I saw this camel leather fringe on sale at JoAnns, I couldn't resist and changed course right away! A simple, trimmed-out pillow is a great anchor to a long couch full of various patterns and textures. I used fabric glue for this idea and it has held up beautifully, but of course if you have a sewing machine that would work as well. I glued along the outer edge of the pillow, carefully lined up the leather fringe, and pressed down. Then I snipped off the end hanging over the edge of the pillow cover and started on the next side. 

Here they are all together - three identical pillows dressed up three different ways! For $4/pillow and $4 total for supplies, I now have three new custom pillows for a total of $16! This was an easy project to tackle in a single afternoon while my little ones napped. Estimated project time: 60 min!

Thank you for stopping by!