Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

Budget Friendly Office Makeover

There’s something about the months of January and February that are therapeutic for me, how about you? It’s the best time to do projects around the house, organize, clean things out … it’s sort of what I look forward to after the holidays.

One of our winter “projects” this is year is kind of a mini-makeover of our office. It is a good sized-room with a large window and lots of light but it has always felt kind of drab to me. When we moved in we left the builder’s paint color, a kind of khaki green, and then just filled it with an older rug we had and a of hodge-podge of furniture, including a very nice computer armoire that was perfect for city-living when we didn’t have a dedicated room for an office. It was kind of an office in itself with all sorts compartments, drawers, pullouts, etc.  But in this new space, where we finally had room to spread out, it just kind of felt like everything was crammed into one corner.

Ultimately, we’d like to do a whole room of built-in bookshelves and desks with multiple workspaces … but I finally decided that, in the meantime, we still needed make the place more functional … not to mention pretty!

So …  this past week … I sold the armoire and the rug on craigslist.  We are going to get a new rug, paint the room and get a new shade for the window.  And since we aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger on a new construction project, we are going to try to replicate the look on a budget using white Ikea desks and bookshelves that can hold us over for awhile but still give us plenty of storage and workspace.

So here’s my tentative plan for the space …

1
Benjamin Moore’s Blue Daisy Paint
2
Westminster fabric for window shade
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Chalkboard paint for the one arched nook in the room.
4
Ikea desks + other white storage and shelving
5
A couple of Jackson Metal Tub Chairs for the boys’ homework area
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A nice comfy chair for reading … maybe like this Manchester Club Chair
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An upholstered Parsons Chair on casters in a fun animal print
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Then … adding in the fun little things, accessories, artwork, photos, my vintage typewriter, linen bulletin boards … all of the personal touches that make it just right.

I just found out today that the rug is back ordered until April (so bummed)… but we will hopefully start to make progress this weekend with new paint! Stay tuned.

Here she is … my little desk makeover.

My experiment with chalk paint.

Here’s the before …

And the after …

If you read my previous post on chalk paint, you know that I decided to try it out an a little desk I have that was pretty scratched up … (At one point, I liked the hand-painted details … now, not so much.)
I purchased the Annie Sloan paints in French Linen, Louis Blue and Old White, as well as a jar of dark soft wax (they also offer it in clear) from Carter’s Cottage Interiors.  Over our warm(ish) Thanksgiving weekend we carried the two piece desk out to the garage and got to work. 

Dan filled in the deep scratches with wood filler and once it dried I sanded over those parts (but nothing else) and then painted on the first coat.  Pretty good coverage after even just one …

 French Linen on the outside …

And Louis Blue on the inside …

It dried pretty quickly, within an hour, and so on went the next coat. It definitely is a very matte, flat finish … which is why I think it needed a little distressing …

I took a very fine sanding sponge and lightly sanded over everything … giving it a slightly weathered look, especially on some of the edges. This part was easy and fun.

 Next step … the soft wax

I only used a tiny bit of this for the whole project … so one can of this would probably last a lifetime. You could definitely share this with a friend, or two or three!

I took a little paint brush and made streaks wherever I saw fit, rubbing each one in with a cheesecloth before it dried to blend it in for a softer look. This part was really fun … you are kind of able to give it your own artistic look.

It’s very subtle, but you can see the difference on these two doors.  The left side has no wax and the right side does.

At this point, I wanted to soften it a bit more, so I mixed a small amount of Old White with water (about 1 part paint to 8 parts water) and then with a large paint brush I painted over everything for a kind of whitewashed look.
Perfect! This was totally the look I was going for.

Then … to replace the hardware … 5 small knobs.  I kind of wanted to add a little bling to my desk, so I searched “tiny crystal knobs” and found these on ebay.
I loved the crystals … but the knobs themselves were still a little too chrome and shiny for my liking. So I took a little tube of Rub’n’Buff (purchased at Hobby Lobby) … 

… and rubbed it over the chrome.
Voila! A more vintage look … (but it really does a number on your manicure.)

 So that’s it! What do you think?  It makes me swoon now whenever I see it. 
Although now I am trying to find just the right place for my new little desk … it seems to get a little lost in our current office … definitely doesn’t stand out much again the green walls. But we are planning a mini-makeover of that room including new paint … so we’ll see if it stays in there or finds a new more prominent place in the house!
Experiencing how easy and fun this was has definitely got me wanting to find some more old furniture and start painting! I guess I will hold out for warmer weather and some of my favorite antique fairs this summer.
Sounds so far away doesn’t it?
Hope everyone is having a good Back-To-Reality-Week!

Hangin’ out …

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I’ve been taking a little bit of a blogging break to hang out with these two …

We’ve been busy and lazy all at the same time. Lots of presents, food, a night in the city, family get togethers, board games, movies … all the makings of a perfect Christmas Break … except no snow!
I’ve been drooling over some of the pictures in this new book Dan got me for Christmas.
Would you believe … that is NOT wallpaper. It is made of burlap fringe and plaster!

Just a very small sampling … I’ll have to scan in some more favorites for you later.
I also finally got the new hardware for the little desk that I painted with chalk paint back around Thanksgiving, so I’ve been working on a post to show you how I did it. 
Look for it next year …
Hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year’s Eve!

How will you set your Christmas table?

Are you hosting a meal for the holidays? I love setting the table for Christmas. It just seems like the perfect occasion to go all out. I love the deep rich traditional holiday colors, and it’s the perfect time to bring in pretty metallics like silver and/or gold.

I pulled out a few pictures of my table from Christmas Eve last year to share.  Because we do a multi-course traditional Czech Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with my husband’s side of the the family, I usually set the table in our kitchen, along with another kid’s table because it is our biggest open space where everyone can sit together and there is a lot of going back and forth with different kinds of soups and traditional foods for each course.

My centerpieces were surprisingly easy to pull together … just some fresh pine boughs, a red rose, an amaryllis and a little gold ornament cluster tied together and placed in those square glass vases we all tend have several of. Then I added a few pomegranates and artichokes I bought at the grocery story and a few dried berries and nuts I had purchased at Crate and Barrel.
Add in some sparkly, votives, some berry napkin rings, some placards I printed out with a fun font and a favorite tablecloth … and there you have it.

Regardless of how you set your holiday table, I hope it is filled with people you love and foods that make you smile. Enjoy!