The quiet lion of a living room

March 13, 2014 Chelsea | StyleMutt Home

True story: I was planning to write about coffee tables today, their strength in a room, and feature two in particular which I just refinished this week. As I sat down to write this post, an article popped up from Apartment Therapy asking readers for advice pertaining to a homeowners question about how to clearly define her living room.

Norma, I hope you don't mind my sharing your living room photo, (it's been seen by thousands anyway)!

When I saw Norma's living room I had two immediate thoughts: 1) Norma clearly has awesome taste as she chose the same IKEA rug that we chose, (Lappljung Ruta), and 2) Coffee table!!!

This space is fantastic and already has a great mix of pieces! As I read comment after comment, (some folks suggesting expensive new purchases and getting rid of some of these amazing pieces!), I was puzzled that no one simply suggested a coffee table, (I couldn't help it, I did throw my two cents in, along with a little furniture shifting idea). But seriously, stick a coffee table over that rug and Norma's got herself a cozy, bona fide living room!

Coffee tables are sometimes underrated I think. When planning a living room usually the first thoughts are of the seating. Deciding between armchairs and a sofa, sofa and a loveseat, loveseat and armchairs, (decisions, decisions). I'm not disagreeing with this, but be sure to save a bit of the budget for a clutch coffee table. Clutch, as in strong enough in the style of your room to bring it all together. Coffee tables carry a big responsibility and receive little credit.

So, on that sad note, here are two gorgeous clutch coffee tables I just finished this week and are now available for sale, (pick-up, only - I'm located in Northern Virginia): Duck Egg bamboo coffee table

My second bamboo piece in a month! I may be falling hard.. Piece has been painted in Duck Egg by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and sealed in clear wax. The herringbone construction pattern to the bottom 'shelf' is incredible; a truly unique piece!

39.5"W x 19.5"D x 18.5"H
SOLD

Paris Grey antique coffee table by Lane, (circa 1950s)
This beauty is a real rescue - constructed of solid mahogany wood and still sturdy as can be, the original finish was damaged by a handful of water stains. I painted it in Paris Grey, (also by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint), and distressed all the unique edges and corners to maintain the character and age of the piece. Sealed for protection in clear wax. (Sorry the floor looks blood red!? My new camera and I are still getting acquainted. This is the true color of the table, however).

48"W x 22"D x 16"H
SOLD

Thank you so much for reading!

~Chelsea

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

Our basement: Bummer to Brilliant!

March 12, 2014 Chelsea | StyleMutt Home

Hi All! Over the last two years of documenting furniture transformations and home decorating projects on this blog, I have probably showed you our basement once or twice...maybe. It's just always been the 'leftovers' room. That space where unused decorating accents ended up. I'm all about an eclectic mix, but our basement was not the good kind. There was nothing tying any one thing to anything else. Somehow this space, where we spend most of our time together as a family, ended up the most neglected. And as a result it was bumming me out!

Here it is before we moved in:

And now - after just a bit of time and creativity!

My favorite little touch down here is most definitely the window frames. Seriously, my new gold metallic marker and I are really hitting it off together...I highly suggest purchasing one for yourself and seeing what happens next... Anyways, I wanted to maintain every ounce of light coming in through these small windows, (which we are really grateful to have considering it's a basement), so rather than dress the windows up in fabric, I drew in a herringbone pattern on their frames with my gold marker!

It pays to be bold and try new things. You never know what you might discover! (you are looking at my most geeked out photo yet. I did tone it down before publishing...)

There's the ottoman I showed you how to recover recently, (how to create your own pattern with a metallic marker is also on that tutorial)!

The clock above the TV and the dresser-turned-media center are both refinished pieces using the same green spray paint. The clock I took apart, sprayed the frame, colored in the numbers, (with guess who? Mr. Metallic Marker), put it back together, and hung it over the old stove pipe which is exposed in the before picture. For the media center I removed the drawers, took them outside, and applied this exact same technique, except with spray paint!

As I was working on this room a pretty simple thought occurred to me. For the basic kick-back and chill-out room, the number one rule is comfort first. Furniture absolutely must be comfortable and functional. After that, there are no rules!!! Play with colors and patterns that you might not use elsewhere in your home. Grab a bunch of pillows with bright and funky patterns; throw some on the couch and stack the rest on the floor! Pull in some humorous art that would look ridiculous in your dining room. Be a little bolder than you would anywhere else and have fun with it; It'll probably work! Be brave, little flower buds.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Chelsea

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

{Before & After} Hot out of the Garage and available for sale!

March 7, 2014 Chelsea | StyleMutt Home

Hi All! So happy to have at least one refinished piece to show you this week! Like so many of you, I am just itchin' for warmer days under the sun. It's been quite a long winter and I feel like Chelsea's Garage has been in a hibernation of sorts as far as furniture refinishing goes. Aside from the issues of frozen, crystallizing and crackling paint which have made refinishing chilly pieces a challenge, the majority of my attention has been called indoors with my babes. Coming up with new indoor activities to occupy my brood of energetic little ones has been a challenge I tell ya! But, Lord willing, soon are the days when we can all be outside together again, playing and painting.

So the piece I've got today, (and now available for sale), is one of my new favorites. If you're relatively new to my blog you should know that I'm always looking for versatile pieces to refinish. I love those pieces which can float around a home, moving from dining room buffet to bedroom dresser to living room media center. Versatility is what I look for to use in my own home, so that's what I typically feel compelled to offer to others. When I find a beautiful piece that is multi-functional, I feel like I'm getting that much more bang for my buck. And who doesn't want that?!

I refinished this beauty in Old White by Annie Sloan chalk Paint, and then gave the three drawers, (which open easily by a lower lip), two solid coats of Duck Egg Blue, (also by ASCP). I finished the drawers with a thin. dry-brushed coat of Old White and distressed along the edges with a medium grit sanding sponge. With previous pieces that I've painted this winter I've fixed and smoothed out the crackling before sealing. This piece, however, just became all the more beautiful in my eyes with the crackling, so I decided to let it be. The piece has been sealed in Minwax Polyurethane clear semi-gloss, so the crackling won't continue and chip away onto the floor.