Evolution of a front entrance {in an open floor plan!}

Hi dear readers! I always enjoy a good before & after, but our front entrance is a three-part story with a before, middle, and after.  We have what is called an open floor plan on our main floor. This means there are no walls creating separate spaces between our front entrance, living room and dining room. They're all one, beautifully airy shared space. Open floor plans have become quite the trend in architectural and interior design, but figuring out how to work the shared spaces to create separate but cohesive ones takes a touch of strategy. I'd love to share a short series of posts discussing various arrangements with open floor plans, how to float furniture, and the spaces that inspired me, but today's is about a specific area in our open floor plan that I had some trouble with for a while: The front entrance. 

I wanted to have a defined entry way for both guests and us to stop upon walking in and unload. We don't have a shoes-off policy, but I wanted a cozy spot, warm and welcoming, for folks to hang keys, purses, jackets, winter accessories, etc. The closest closet we've got to our front door is across the room, so not the most convenient, (especially for kids with dirty shoes). 

What we had when we moved in was this nook behind our front door that has this weird, low arch cut into the wall - An arch that drops over 5 feet on the other side into our basement; not ideal for crawling and teetering little ones, (we had 10 month old twins and one on the way when we moved in so this was just not going to work for us). It was an awkward spot to me and my first priority was covering that toddler-kiss-of-death in our wall.

Move-in day in September 2010

Play #1: We immediately backed this big ol' bookcase up against the wall to cover the arch and protect the kids, (and then people voiced concern about the bookcase falling on the kids. New parents just can't catch a break!). It was kind of an eyesore in our light and airy open floor plan, and definitely an eye sore if you were sitting in the basement staring at the back of the bookcase, (not to mention it blocked natural light).

Christmas 2010. Photo skills are in the natal stage.

Play #2: Acquire this antique cabinet from a friend, paint it grey to go with our light and airy space, and cover 3/4 of the arch. We figure the kids won't think to crawl up onto the cabinet and climb through. Place a stack of books in front of peeking arch just in case, (because books are a great barrier between young children and danger).

Fall 2011

Play #3: I see an inspiring picture on Pinterest and a vision is forming. I grab some branches from outside to build upward interest, move my homemade paper wreath elsewhere, and replace it with this fabric-stapled-to-frame masterpiece... Books are successfully saving the childrens' lives so they stay.

Summer 2012

Play #4 - Checkmate: The vision is complete! Matt's a rockstar and helps me 'seal' the open arch with chicken wire. We move the coat rack, (made from thrift store spoons screwed to a floating shelf I had), above the arch to hang jackets and hats. I luck out by finding this vintage fire-engine-red toolbox sitting outside this dumpy antique shop for a few bucks, (it happens to be the perfect size for my little ones to use as a bench to pull shoes on and off). I create the funky yarn heart art, (how-to here), and arrange a few branches in a jar just for fun.

2014

We used a staple gun and muscle to stretch the chicken wire tight against the sides of the arch and attach it to the wall.

The basket I found on clearance at Target and painted the bottom white, (inspired by baskets I'd seen by Serena and Lily at the time).

It was quite the process finding something that we feel comfortable with, that's functional, and is in tune with the rest of our home. It's no longer an eyesore, but now a fun, breathable nook that I love seeing when we first walk into our home. And more natural light to our basement doesn't hurt either!

Have you had any challenging nooks or corners in your home? How did you tackle the issue? Share and link, (if you have one), in comments below or on Facebook!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Ombre flower pot {A DIY gift}

Happy Friday, amen?! It looks like a lovely weekend up ahead - perfect timing for this last minute gift idea which you could take along to any barbecues or birthday parties on your weekend calendar!

A few weeks ago we had a friend's 4 year birthday party looming, and after a busy week, no gift to bring by the last day before the party. I gathered my brood and we went up the street to our local Safeway, (grocery store), where they have a surprisingly large and fresh floral department. Shire picked out the flowers, all three kids picked out a piece of candy, (a Friday tradition), and then we hopped across the street to the thrift store. There, I found the perfect sized pot for the flowers, (along with an epic piece of furniture which I'm waiting to share here until it's finished - catch photos of the progress on Instagram if you'd like)!

First, I painted the pot white to get one even color across the entire surface.

Like the pink trunk, I wanted to create a bit of texture to the finish, so I laid the paint on thick and in all different directions.

Then it was time for some ombre! If you aren't familiar with ombre, it's the art of shading, or graduating from one tone to another. I thought it would be cool to match the pot to the flowers, so I grabbed my Valspar sample of Plum Legacy, some white, a bowl to mix them, a couple spoons and a couple brushes. Shire helped both stir the paint and brush it on. It was really fun! We weren't aiming for perfection by any means, but I think we did a pretty decent job!

We had the pot flipped over so the bottom was facing up. We painted the darker, pure version of the purple on first, just around the edge. Then spooned in a dallop of white, mixed it up, and painted the lighter color right below the dark. We repeated this process, lightening the color with each next section of the pot.

Like I said, it's not perfect, (and I think I spot a couple finger smudges), but it's sweet nonetheless.

For a whimsical touch, Shire and I added this little flag using a wooden skewer broken in half, and some scrap paper. On it I wrote, "Friends are flowers in the garden of life".

Pool party ready!

Have yourselves a splendid weekend, friends! Thank you for stopping by.

~Chelsea

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Freshly refinished dresser {and a contest!}

Hi All! Today's makeover might not be brand new if you followed the process on Instagram or Facebook, but I've really been looking forward to debuting it here and sharing all the juicy how-to details. I am SURE you've all seen this dresser at some point in time:

BEFORE

It's a very common, run-of-the-mill piece. I've refinished a couple exactly like it over the last few years and I didn't really have any interest in doing another, (unless someone brought it as a custom order). I passed it at the thrift store three times before I started to see it as something different. Something fresh.

 Immediately, in my mind, I removed the scalloped trim on the bottom and saw the piece completely sanded with beautiful bleached wood underneath. All of a sudden I couldn't wait to get this gem home!

Since I was working on another piece at the time, this one had to wait a bit. In that time I received an email from a super kind ScotchBlue representative who had seen this rug

and wanted to see more! She generously sent me a couple samples of ScotchBlue Multi-Surface Painter's Tape with the challenge to use them creatively. I really wanted to use the tape in a new way. That's when it occurred to me that painters tape is always used to get straight, accurate lines and edges. So I began to think outside the straight lines and came up with a fresh way to use ScotchBlue tape! This idea was just the perfect touch to add to the dresser.

AFTER

Quite the makeover, right?!? So let's get on with all the deets!

First, I used 60 grit sandpaper in my electric sander and removed all the stain from the body and drawers of this piece. I didn't bother with the scalloped bottom since my plan was to remove that part.

Then I had some fun with one of my samples of ScotchBlue Painter's Tape for Multi-Surfaces and a box cutter!

I used the box cutter to carve a scallop into the roll of tape. The scallop peeled off beautifully!

The bottom drawer shows my first attempt at creating a scalloped edge with the tape. I cut it too thin, so when I started carving the scallop for the second drawer, I just made sure to carve a thicker strip. This made the painting in the next step much easier!

I placed straight edge strips of the tape about a half inch to an inch outside of the scalloped edge and dabbed a thick artists brush into my paint and carefully brushed between the two pieces of tape.

It worked like a charm! I wasn't sure that the tiny 'points' of each little scallop would stay put, but ScotchBlue stepped up to the challenge. The tape, even at the sharpest of points, stayed put, and when I peeled the it off I had exactly the scalloped trim that I'd imagined!! If you refinish furniture regularly, you know that after a while you start discover it's best not to have an exact, precise plan when tackling a new piece. There's a lot that is unknown about a piece until you really start handling it, and sometimes you may change your mind about the overall look after you get started. This is all well and good; I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl anyways. But, it's awesome to have a tool like ScotchBlue Painter's Tape that won't present any surprises. You'll get exactly what you plan. It's just nice to have precise when you want precise, you know?

Moving on. Once the sanding was done, the trim was done, and I added some cute sisal rope pulls, (I just used the existing hardware holes to stick the ends of the rope in and secured it inside and out with knots), Matt helped me turn the dresser over on it's side. This was the gamble. I wanted that scalloped edge on the bottom gone, but wasn't exactly 100% sure how that would be accomplished. I assumed we would use the reciprocating saw to just cut it off. 

When we turned it over we got a surprise, (typical)! That scalloped trim was glued on!

We removed it by tapping a flathead screwdriver into the 'seam' that the glue created, and prying the trim off piece by piece.

Almost finished! The last thing to do was sand the legs to remove the stain.

 All said and done!

Working on your own project using ScotchBlue painters tape? Submit photos to ScotchBlue by July 15 for a chance to win $5,000 to put toward a home makeover!

ENTER

Thank you for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.