Outdated Chest of Drawers Updated Masculine

Oh boy!

Old furniture and a growing boy. I've had my work cut out for me. 

While updating our son's bedroom from little boy to young man, we chose to keep his furniture. In doing so, painting was a must. 

To make it masculine, I decided to do a two tone finish. Keeping the original wood top and painting the rest with Country Chic Paint in Liquorice.

After a light sanding of the chest of drawers, I applied two coats of this yummy Liquorice shade. It's perfect for the masculine look of the room. 

Once the paint dried, I distressed the high areas and rubbed in clear wax.

Then I attached the drawer pulls I found at Habitat for Humanity Store.

I love the aged look of the finish.
Looking old but new... the difference in the room is knocking it out of the ball park.

The chest went from outdated to exactly what we are looking for... young man.

Our son can use this throughout his teen years

It has a classic look.

Now I'm off to paint the matching dresser and mirror to do the same.

The rest of the room currently has piles of organizing and redoing going on so you're not getting the whole picture, so to speak ;)

Painting Walls and The Toy Guitar Week 2 - One Room Challenge

The Tween Bedroom Week 2 

Between working on the plan and eyeing my inspirational board during week one, the progress of painting walls was successful. 

After looking through several brands and 50 shades of gray, I finally selected  Sherwin Williams in "Repose Gray" for the walls. A light shade with the hint of blue. 

In eggshell finish. 

The light shade is perfect! 

Daylight shade (painted walls have different shades and that is concerning)

Bouncing light shades are working. 

Nighttime shade with lights on:

Both day and night works fine.

Trying to work my son's moonlight and telescope into the new theme is a bit tricky... but I think it will fit in after all.

My son has outgrown his little guitars. Having the intention of upcycling two of them, one for his room and another for the music room, this Pinterest inspiration had the perfect Americana theme.

This little "first" guitar ...

"grew up-cycled". 

How I did this is posted "here". 

The room is off to a great start!

Let's head on over and see how everyone else is doing at the

One Room Challenge™ Linking Event, Spring 2015, Week 2

Check out the links showcasing the work and progress of all the talented participants here: 

and here:  

Jana Bek

Autumn Clemons

Coco+Kelley

The English Room

Vanessa Francis

Greige Design

Hi Sugarplum

I Heart Organizing

Jenna Sue Design

Stephanie Kraus

The Pursuit of Style

Julia Ryan

Savvy Home

Simple Details

Simply Grove

6th Street Design

Jill Sorensen

Swoon Worthy

Waiting on Martha

Kimberly Schlegel Whitman

Thanks for stopping by today!

One Room Challenge: Tween Boy Bedroom

One Room Challenge™ Linking Event, 

Spring 2015, Week 1

If there is anything I need, it is motivation...

...motivation to get at least one room completely finished in our fixer upper home. Participating in the One Room Challenge event with Calling it Home will do just that!

I chose to do our son A-Man's room. He's growing rapidly before our eyes so while we still have our youngest in the nest, his bedroom is first.

A couple of years ago, we started modifying his room because he has had a lot of stuff piling up in his space while growing. With three bedrooms on the second floor, our little A-Man moved into the largest to accommodate his bunk-beds, never ending toy piles, and friend sleepovers. Well, the largest room still wasn't enough for him and his growing needs. So he got two rooms. Making the adjoining room into a play area was only double the clean up work and the bedroom was still way too small.

The only solution was busting through the wall and make the two rooms as one.

The "playroom" before removing the wall between the two rooms was awkward for head room and strange for furniture placement.

And because the ceiling angled (roof-line) to the floor without a real wall, we utilized the entire left side and turned it into a wall to wall closet. It's great for A-Man's toy storage along with hanging clothing. 

The left corner where the globe and chest of drawers are, is where the door was to come into this second room. Removing it, making it wall space and tearing out the large wall opened up a whole new bedroom. 

Designing the room for better use of space has helped contain his things. We added new carpet, door trim, window trim and the closet so far.

We had Disney Cars theme going on with bedding, lamps and decor.  Those are now donated, as it was just a quickly outgrown phase.

His bunk-bed bedroom set was donated so he could get a big boy room. And that is as far as we have gotten. There is as much of a mix of furniture as there is A-Man's interests.

Now our growing boy is ready for some style to suit his teen to manhood years. I'd like to tweak it to his interests that will continue to grow with him. He is a music playing, gamer dude, an all American sports fan, a motor-head and a dog lover with the favorite color of red.

The plan: 

1. Paint the room.
A boy color; to accentuate his favorite color red. So it's going to be gray. I really am looking at 50 shades of gray and trying decide which will be best.

2. Modify and paint furniture. 
In a contrasting red and blue his current bedroom set can become male inspired. An all American boy can still keep these colors to adult years. Americana style would be the best choice.

Possibly build or re-purpose furniture for a media center to accommodate his gaming and musical instruments.  A combination desk and chair for school studies can be extended from the media center.

3. Add decorative accents.
Lighting, window treatments and bedding with red, white and blue combinations.

4. Display decor.  
His dog collection is something he won't part with. It's got to be cleverly incorporated without clutter.

5. Clean out belongings. 
Using the sort, keep, toss, donate process, some of his favorite items can be up-cycled into decor that matches his new space.

The Inspiration Board

Wall, furniture and decor colors. Shelving, display and furniture ideas. 

I am already exhausted looking at what needs to be done. It will be worth every hurting muscle. This is the best time to get started with spring coming and warmer weather.

This exciting event is going to make me focus on getting a room completely finished! Join me and all of the participants of the One Room Challenge to see if we accomplish our goals in the next six weeks!

One Room Challenge Linking Event at

Wednesday ORC Participants