Tray Chic!

As many of you know, I'm an Interior Designer and I love to transform existing items in my home to make them more customized to our color scheme or overall feel in a room. It's also a great way to create free projects which saves money while reusing and repurposing.

I have a dark espresso color serving tray that we received from my bridal registry a few years ago that has worked well until recently. Now that our new coffee table is the same dark espresso color as the tray, I thought it was time to paint it a lighter color so it would blend in better with the other items and at the same time, stand out.

I used some existing Behr paint that we had left over after painting our living room last year, so the tray now matches the wall color which is a great way to introduce a little bit more of the same sand-like color in the form of accessories. I gave it a light sanding and used three coats of latex paint (as I'm out of primer currently) and it turned out great!

BEFORE:

I was so excited to get started that I forgot to get a before picture of my actual tray. I pulled this one of the web as it looks identical in color and design, so you could get an idea of the transformation.

AFTER:

I love quick little weekend projects. I started this last Friday night and it was completely dry and ready to use by Sunday morning. I used a pale blue vase, a set of sand dollars, two books, one dark sand colored, one covered with white wrapping paper as well as a strip of cream and blue damask scrapbook paper. It is topped with a silver crab that I got for a $1 at a garage sale two weeks ago, that Potterybarn sold for $28 last summer! It's the perfect centerpiece for our new coffee table.

I was so inspired to paint last weekend that I bought a small white satin tester size paint can this weekend for $2.99 and was able to completely change the look of our bathroom undercounter space with just two coat of paint. It was a light beige color previously and white just looks so much more crisp and clean. It also matches the white framed mirror and some other accessories.

I hope I have inspired you to re-visit your old paint and find something wonderful to transform!

Have a wonderful Week!

Makeover Part Deux: My New Office Chair

It wouldn't be fair if I only TOLD you about my office chair and that you couldn't SEE it for yourself. I used the remnants of my fabric from this office chair transformation to complete the look of my vintage footstool, so it was very economical. Above is the finished set!

BEFORE: This chair was purchased on craigslist, I knew I could replace the fabric and it was in mint condition. Cost $30. Bought fabric from Calico Corners' sale for $4. Total= $34

The first photo is how I purchased the chair, then underneath the plaid was another layer of colorful fabric (which came with the chair when it was purchased by the original owner). It was very clean but did not match my decor. I wanted something in a transitional style fabric.



This was very simple to do. I measured out the fabric so there was about 3 inches all the way around an then started stapling each side from the middle towards the edges. Don't get too close to the edges though so you can create a little triangle to pull the corner fabric in. This will ensure that the corners look clean vs. bunched up.

I'm very pleased with my new chair!

Do you have a makeover that you are proud of? Share the link to your site/blog with us in the comments below!