Our wild weekend

WOW! I think I’m still recovering and it’s been like 2 weeks ago! Sorry this is so far behind but things have been crazy around here and I had so many other fun projects, that our little blog got a little back logged! Anyways- We had a whirlwind of a weekend. Starting a little early with a root canal! FUN? Yeah, not so much… anyways- done with that now- but it certainly put me out of commission for a few days. I managed to still have a productive weekend starting with my Altar’d workshop that P bought me for Christmas (so sweet! I was floored that he even remembered it!) OMG It was amazing. Mandie and Colby are seriously the sweetest people ever and so helpful, creative, and just AWESOME. Her workshops have 5 or 6 students and you get to bring your own piece and in the course of ONE day, completely refinish it! Please check her out- she's on facebook tooThe minute P gave it to me; I think we both knew what I would be refinishing. DRUM ROLL please…

Ah the red crackle paint chest. It’s actually pretty cute; it just doesn’t go with ANYTHING in our house. Not that I’m anti-red- I do like red- on clothes, or shoes or a purse but not so much in decorating. This has been in P’s room at his parent’s house forever. I don’t know if it was always painted like this or if it has already been refinished once. We snatched it when we needed more drawers/ storage at the apartment. It was in the closet there so it didn’t really matter, but now that it is out in our guest room I wanted it to be more OURS.  


So I went to Mandie and Colby’s house where they have their workshops. (I’m sorry- side note- how cool is it that I found Altar'd clicking through blog to blog in blogland and they live right here in the metroplex, less than 30 minutes away! It blows my mind) It was seriously amazing. So informative and helpful and at the same time just FUN and sweet and I had a blast meeting everyone in the group and seeing all the cool pieces that they brought to refinish. I didn’t get too many pictures of the workshop- I was busy sanding and priming; painting and glazing! I have a few from early on. This is priming the piece after I sanded it down:

Then voila! DONE-

up close so you can see the distressing and antique glaze

There is actually some of the red showing through where it's distressed, and it's one of  my favorite features!

full body shot

Well almost done- I still needed to put the poly sealer on it and add knobs (pardon the tester knobs). I think I’m going to get crystal looking ones like these. Hobby Lobby has AMAZING knobs and pulls a lot of which look like they are from Anthropologie but SO much cheaper- and they go on sale 50% off one week every 4-6 weeks. So I'll be watching for those this week.


Then… oh you thought I was done. HA! Hardly! So while I was out fixing up our little chest of drawers, P was hard at work too. For Valentine’s Day I gave P an elfa system for his itty bitty closet (best stuff ever, btw) so we finally got around to putting it up. BUT before we could put it up, we P had to take down the flimsy shelf and rod that were currently up, spackle up the wall where they were with drywall mud, and then sand them down to be perfectly even with the wall.

 He did all of this while I was out at Altar’d then Sunday we realized that the crazy people previous homeowners had decided to paint the closet walls the same color as the bedroom. And since we already know I want to paint the bedroom walls, I just HAD to go ahead and paint the closet walls too. Otherwise it would look funny once we finally painted the bedroom. So, I threw up a coat of Sherwin William’s Misty (the current color choice for the bedroom)

Oh my goodness- it is PERFECT! So hard to tell on a computer screen, or even capture it on a camera but I LOVE it- definitely what we will be painting our bedroom. EXCITEMENT PEOPLE!! MAJOR EXCITEMENT!

While it dried, which was super fast by the way, we relaxed- SHORTLY (and stared at the paint color- well that might have just been me....)Then we got to putting in the closet system- which is super easy by the way. Just hold up the top track and make sure it’s level, then mark in all the holes so we know where to drill. Then we P drills pilot holes to see if there is a stud in that spot or if we need a drywall anchor.

Hi P! Can you tell how small this closet is now- this is how close to him I was!

Check out that drywall dust on his arm! SEXY!

Side note- if you put in an elfa system PLEASE use the Container Store’s drywall anchors- they are super heavy duty and the only thing I have ever found to work WELL. Very much worth the money
From there, you just have to put the drywall anchors in place where they are needed then hold up your top track and drill in the screws all the way across.

Check for level:

WOO HOO!!! Perfect! We’ve found that it’s so much easier to level it one time while you mark your holes, then you never have to worry about leveling again!  Then you throw on the hanging standards, but keep them close together to put all the brackets on so you know you are hanging everything at the same level.

 Then pull everything into place, install your shelves and rods and BOOM! You’re done

Well,, Its a little more full now!

BTW- any elfa system also comes with SUPER detailed and easy instructions so you don’t have to go by my quick version. So jealous, now I REALLY want to elfa my closet as well! In time...

And that folks was our weekend! WHEW! Exhausting- but so worth it!  
**UPDATE** the knobs are on sale NOW. I’m off to the Hob Lob! More on the knobs I pick next time J