DIY Herringbone Dresser

First off, let’s take a minute and acknowledge two things.

1. Herringbone is different from Chevron, and definitely different from Houndstooth. While looking for an actual Herringbone pattern on both Pinterest and Google, the number of incorrect images was surprising! I will say that Herringbone is the most open to interpretation. There are lots of options of stripe thickness, and some people put a seam between the stripes. However in no way should you confuse Herringbone with Houndstooth, as they really look nothing alike. Get it together Pinners!

I made ya’ll this little cheat sheet for fun!

2. This is the trendiest thing I have ever made. I pretty much made this exclusively for Pinterest. Kidding…kind of. It just encompasses all of Pinterests favorite things:

      -Chevron/Herringbone/stripes

      -Grey and Peach

      -Dipped gold details

      -DIY

      -FREE!

You read that right! This project in total cost me $8. Total.

The dresser I found in an ally with a free sign on it. I made Mr. Gaunt strap it to the roof, as it wouldn’t fit in the trunk or back seat. DAMN I NEED A MINIVAN! The Peach paint was leftover from the Laundry Room. The white paint was leftover from the house trim, and I already owned a sander and all the painting equipment. The only things we bought were a $1 can of OOPS paint (the dark grey) and a can of Rustoleum Gold Spray paint for like $7. Obviously this project would not be this cheap if you were not a paint supply hoarder, or a back ally furniture scavenger (in which case, we have nothing in common)

Time wise this project took an embarrassing amount of time. I did spread it out over about 4 days, to let each coat really cure before painting more. That’s really important when doing a lot of taping off. I started with washing, lightly sanding, and painting the whole dresser peach and the drawer fronts white. I removed the knobs and the feet (which unscrewed with ease).

Next was the taping off. Oh lordy this was tricky. You may not know this about me, but the only thing I hate more than math, is measuring. Remember the stripes I just eyeballed in the spare room. However I knew that if I picked a geometric pattern on a small space, I really needed it to be accurate. And really I just shouldn’t be so lazy.

I looked online for a pattern for a while but couldn’t find one. Then I just sat down and drew out what I wanted on a piece of cardboard, then started measuring. I did this wrong twice before getting it right. I didn’t want to have to tape twice, so I had to make sure I calculated both the white and grey areas accurately. I wrote “G” in the grey areas so I wouldn’t get confused. It was tedious, and probably took me a solid hour just taping. ): ALSO: Frog Tape is soo much better than blue tape.

While it dried I painted the feet and knobs all metallic gold.

When it was all done, I was so in love! I made Mr. Gaunt come out to the garage to stare at it with me! I have plans to put a polyurethane (waterbased) coat on it too, but its like $15 for a can, and I’m poor. Plus no one will really be using this dresser. It’s been placed in our spare room, and will belong to future babies…lucky bastards.

GRAY Bridsmaid Dresses TAKE TWO

As the wedding is now only 4 months away, I am doing a follow up post on possible dresses for the Bridesmaids. I have 2 down, 4 to go that need dresses.

GAP - $40

GAP - $45

OLD NAVY - $27

OLD NAVY - $31

BANANA REPUBLIC - $150

BANANA REPUBLIC - $80

J. CREW - $79

J. CREW - $138

TARGET - $18

TARGET - $40

TARGET - $30

MAURICES - $40

NORDSTROM - $160

BLUE FLY - $78

MOD CLOTH - $55

MOD CLOTH - $100

MOD CLOTH - $50

LULUs - $60

ANN TAYLOR LOFT - $50

ANN TAYLOR LOFT - $50

ANN TAYLOR LOFT - $80

ANN TAYLOR LOFT - $70

ANN TAYLOR LOFT - $90

Alright I’m done. Hopefully this helps.

Also while browsing Ann Taylor Loft I about crapped myself ALL the dresses are soooo cute! I know I’m going to need a few new dresses for wedding events (Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Rehersal Dinner) and I’m pretty sure I will be getting them ALL at Ann Taylor LOFT…drool. THIS, THIS, and THIS must be MINE!!!!

Spare Bedroom, and why mauve is not cute.

I just finished painting (and photographing) the spare bedroom, which for a TEENY TINY room, took FOR-EV-VER (Sand Lot anyone?).

It all started one day when we were at Home Depot, and their “GREEN” Paint was on clearance for $5 a gallon, apparently no one really wanted eco-friendly paint. However it only came in a select number of colors. There was a lot of pressure to pick a color for the spare room fast, so I went a little crazy and picked Mauve. But not a cute purple Mauve, more like un ugly grandma Brown Pink mauve. I don’t know why, I just did. I don’t pick colors under pressure well.

The bedroom previously was BRIGHT Robin Blue with dark brown (almost olive-y black) trim. Once the mauve went up I immediately hated it. My mom and sister kept saying “When the blue is all gone it will look better” and “when the trim is all white it will look better” well, after almost completing the job we realized…nope…its never gonna look good.

This is not the first time I have painted an entire room only to hate it and re-paint it. In our old house I painted our bedroom Navy after seeing a picture like this however mine room didn’t really look like that, it looked like a dark blue cave. I had a god cry and then Mr. Gaunt convinced me to just suck it up and re paint it, which I did.

So that’s pretty much what went down here too. I scrapped the Mauve and bought a nice gallon of OOPS (a miss-tint that is discounted to $6) Paint at a local paint store. Only problem is that it’s a flat finish which is not my favorite, but its a spare room so I’m not that concerned. In the end I couldn’t be more thrilled with this decision, it looks sooooo much better.

The stripes came at the end, when I got hair up my butt and decided I needed a little pizzaz! Id like to say I measured and spent hours taping off, but that’s just not true. I did tape off, but I eyeballed it, no measuring at all. Shockingly they look pretty even, yay good eyesight!

NOTE: In the “Before” pictures, it looks like a blue/grey wall color, but its way brighter. The most accurate representation of the color is the one of my sister on her knees painting over the bright blue.

As you can see, this was quite the process. I should have primed the trim as well, as it took about a million coats of white to cover the brown. The whole thing was very frustration, so I did it slowly when I had the time. It took me about 3 weeks to finish…lol! It’s going to be a very cute Guest Room/Office/Craft Room.

Bridesmaid Apparel 2 – Accessories!

I did a previous post on the dresses here, but wanted to do a 2nd post for my girls on Accessories! I’m strongly encouraging all of my bridesmaids to be fun and unique with what they wear. Here are some examples of fun bridesmaid Accessories that I like. All items are from Etsy because its good to support the handmade community!

Click on the photos to go to the source.

 

Bridesmaid Dresses (ungodly long post)

Originally I had wanted my bridesmaids to wear funky vintage dresses, but I realize that it’s really mean to make them all hunt for vintage dresses. My bridesmaids are all very different sizes, and I want them all to feel comfortable and beautiful in their dresses. I’m not very partial to traditional bridesmaids dresses. I HATE that shiny fabric…eww. I also hate the matchy matchy thing, and how structured and weird they look. So I have decided to let all of my girls pick out whatever kind of dress they want. With the following rules:

1. Knee Length or Tea Length

2. No shiny “bridal fabric” like THIS I’d prefer something more organic and less cheap and tacky looking.

3. Must be gray. Shades I like are THIS or THIS or THIS none of THIS though.

4. Prints, Lace, or any other detailing is GREAT! I love THIS or THIS or THIS. Be creative!

5. Please no linen (it wrinkles) nothing slutty or too short

6. Shoes should be Gray, Peach or Mustard! Heels, Flats, Sandals, Cowboy Boots (obviously don’t have to be in the color selection), are all OK! Sorry ladies, no tennis shoes or flip flops (unless VERY dressy)

And to help my bridesmaids out I have found a number of places online to purchase such dresses CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE WEBSITE!

J Crew makes adorable Dress (some starting at $49.00, but average $175-$250) Sizes go from 0-16. I am partial to this dress:

This dress from Hot Topic (i know) is only $32! And super soft and cute!

Lulu’s.com has tons of cute grey dresses almost all under $50!

Modcloth.com also has lots of cute dresses. There prices are good, but there sizes are a little limited.  I really like these:

They also have really cute shoes!

Onestopplus.com makes lots of cute dresses in bigger sizes! My faves:

This ones only $20!

Nordstrom also has great regular grey and plus size dresses:

And last (yeah its almost over) I leave you with more shoes! Again click on the picture to go to the site:

Of course these are all just suggestions. We HIGHLY encourage our bridesmaids to shop used/consignment clothing stores, etsy, ebay, clearance racks, and anywhere that saves you money and keeps things green!