Dresser Makeover

Hello Friends,
We are less than one week away from the first ever Fletcher Finds and Designs Pop-up Sale! I mentioned the sale in my last post, but I want to give you all the details now:

What: Refurbished furniture, found decor and handmade gift items
Where: 1030 Sanchez Street, San Francisco
When: Saturday 21st, 10am-2pm

And now for the reveal of another item that will be sold at the Pop-up this Saturday. This dresser belonged to my twin brother, Max. You might remember it from this previous post, in which I toured his tiny room.

When he moved to New York over a year ago, he passed this little beauty onto me. It's been sitting in my hallway ever since. I wasn't offended by its look in any way. Black and white is classic. It was just a little boring and needed some schuzzing. I decided to use a favorite color combo of mine, blue and gold.

I used Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Napoleonic Blue for the dresser, then spray painted the handles with Rust-oleum's Metallic. This rich cobalt blue, paired with glitzy gold gives the piece a mature and elegant feel, like it belongs in a stylish French woman's boudoir.

I had fun styling it with various items from my wedding: the slip that I wore getting ready, the cloth handkerchief that has "something blue", and a photo taken by my brother of my sister and me before walking down the aisle. I also borrowed the gold elephant from my mom's collection. I want it for myself. The standing wood mirror was found at an antique store in Healdsburg. I scored it for about $20 and am in love with it.

You may notice Emily Henderson's book, Styled, in the above shot. She is a favorite designer of mine and her book is full of helpful tidbits, especially about styling a space to tell a story.

If you're interested in making this dresser a part of your home, or just saying "Hi", stop on by this Saturday. I'd love to see you!

Wood Crates as Shelving

I'm excited about this post because I am announcing the first Fletcher Finds and Designs Pop-up! That's right. On Saturday, November 21st, I will be setting up a sidewalk sale filled with re-furbished furniture, knick-knacks and fun finds for your house. My lovely childhood friend, Laura, will be hosting it at her place in Noe Valley. More details to come, but write it in your calendar now and hopefully I'll see you there!
In the next two weeks I will be blogging about some of the pieces you will see at my pop-up, the first being these aged, wood crates.

I spotted these beauties on the street in Alameda. They were in pretty rough shape, with rusty nails popping out and splintering wood; I'll admit, I almost left them for the next furniture schmuck. But I couldn't resist and took them home. The great thing about these is:
1) they were free
2) they didn't require much work
3) they can be used as mobile shelving or storage
When I got them home they needed a good cleaning and sanding. Then I reinforced the crates with some new nails and wood glue and finished by painting them with a coat of polycrylic.

The fabulous thing about these wood crates is that they have many uses. You can use them for storage: housing blankets, records or plants. You can use them as shelves for books, artwork or for your collection of rocks in jars(OK, maybe me and Diane Keaton's character in Something's Gotta Give are the only ones with a collection of rocks, but you never know). I think the styling of these crates should be called, "The Rustic Professor." I used a lot of James' things and tried to set the scene for his ideal afternoon: reading and drinking tea.

If you want this look to be yours, don't forget to come to the Pop-up on November 21st!

Changing Table/Dresser Makeover

Hi Friends! Sorry it's been a while since my last post. So may things have been happening. First, I broke my right pinky playing Ultimate Frisbee. Oops! That kept me from picking up a paint brush for a while.

AND on May 28th, my sister, Claire, gave birth to Fletcher Annabelle Brown. Yes, her name is Fletcher, which is awesome and potentially confusing. It's our family's last name and my sister and her husband thought it would be a nice way to use both surnames. I'm slightly sad I didn't have a baby first so I could have used the name. Also, if you have a baby and the nurse asks whether you want the bow on the hat, I vote bow all the way.

So what have I been doing with myself? All the fun jobs of an aunt, like burping, changing, holding, marveling, and generally "loving every minute with this damn crew(great quote from The Royal Tenenbaums)." So on top of all this baby rearing, my sister and her husband were in the midst of a kitchen remodel. As a result, they lived with my parents for the first three months of Fletcher's life, and now they are finally moving back in. By the way, I highly suggest living with family with a newborn-- lots of people who want to help!
One of things Claire and I got super excited about was planning the nursery. One of my good friends, Kathy, was moving out and donated some furniture to me for my refurbishing addiction. Thanks Kathy! One of the pieces was a sturdy wood dresser that is the perfect height for a changing table.

It was fairly plain, so it was a great canvas for doing something more fun for a baby's room. I pondered many ideas, but knew that I wanted to introduce color in an interesting way. Finally, with the help of Claire's approval, I decided on the design. Check out some of my rough sketches below.

First step was sanding the dresser. After removing the old varnish, I found that I really liked the coloring of the natural wood, so I wouldn't be staining the drawer fronts or the top. Next, I painted the frame of the dresser with Annie Sloan's Pure White chalk paint and sealed it with Annie Sloan's clear wax. The next step was the trickiest-- measuring and taping out the lines for the design on the drawer fronts. That took a lot of patience and the help of a patient husband, who politely pointed out when my lines weren't matching up right. When I was finally satisfied with the lines, I jumped into painting. I used my stash of various chalk paints and mixed my own pastel colors of pink, blue and turquoise. After painting a few coats of the colors, I painted a primer on the other lines that I was going to spray paint GOLD. Yay!

Before I could spray paint, I needed to cover the freshly painted pastel colored lines. Should I have done those steps backwards? Perhaps. But spray painting gold and then pulling off all the tape was super satisfying (except for when I found that the paint had seeped under the tape, argh! I took a box cutter to scrape away the extra paint and was good to go).

The final step was sealing the wood with Polycrylic and we were ready to bring it over to my sister's house. So here's the big reveal. It looks awfully cute in the nursery, and much more cute with Fletcher laying on top. One of Fletcher's favorite things in the world is getting changed. If she's in a sour mood, the quickest way to put a smile on her face is to put her on the changing table!

And just so you know she wasn't laying there by herself, thinking, 'Why isn't anyone changing my diaper?', here she is with mom.

The felt bunting is a leftover homemade decoration from our Double Wedding. And the pretty bird painting is by an Italian artist named Irene. You can purchase her original watercolors on etsy.

I hope you noticed the fun, freshly painted pink door. The rest of the room was painted white, except for one wall that was painted with black chalkboard paint. I look forward to revealing the rest of the room when it is all set up. Bye for now!

Little Desk Makeover

In our San Francisco one bedroom apartment, we are beyond lucky to have a "bonus room." This little room sits between the kitchen and living space, and the layout is quite quirky, which makes it hard to arrange. On top of the tricky design, we use the room for many things-- working out, painting furniture, playing banjo, displaying our Christmas tree(which I would keep up all year-round if it weren't for James reminding me it's a fire hazard). You get the picture.
Originally, we had an old, wood drafting table in the room to serve as a desk. I liked the look and the idea of having a drafting table, especially when I was drawing and painting more often, but it soon became obvious that the table was too large for the space, and we just didn't need it. So, goodbye to the drafting table and hello to a little desk. We still wanted a place that James could write music at, where I could blog, etc., so I found this petite desk on craigslist and swooped it.

Pretty cute, right? But it was definitely in need of a fresh coat of paint. First I removed the knob from the drawer and found metal ring knobs that my uncle gave me. I spray painted one knob gold, and tested it out on the desk. Bringing in the element of metal to contrast the wood updates the desk from country cottage to urban modern (sorry for the lack of photos of the process).

Next I painted the entire desk with a couple coats of graphite by Annie Sloan. I wanted to do something to accentuate the tapered legs, so I painted the bottom of the legs white(about 6 inches from the bottom).

Then I taped the legs 4 inches from the bottom and spray painted the legs gold. I used the same gold as the handle, and the finished product looks cohesive and modern.

I'd like to say that I now spend my early mornings blogging at this desk with a cup of chai, rather than on the sofa in front of an episode of New Girl... But it is getting well-used by by song-writing, banjo-playing husband. So I'll call that a success.

Coffee Table Re-vamp

One of my favorite pieces of furniture is my simple, wood coffee table. It's not too tall, not too short, not too big, not too small. Like hard-to-please Goldilocks, I find it "just right." Sidenote: What's the message behind Goldilocks and the Three Bears anyway? A girl breaks into the friendly bears' house and goes through all their stuff... Actually I wish I could just go inside people's houses to get a look at everything.
Throughout my childhood, my siblings and I would eat at this table, watching TV. Yes, we were the kind of family that sat around the glow of the TV, bonding over our love of The Simpsons and The X-Files. Did you hear that The X-Files is coming back?! As long as Fox is back from his alien abduction, I'm in.
My mom said the table was made from an old door, so the wood is thick and sturdy. But after 20+ years of loving wear and tear, the table was showing it.

James kept asking, can we re-stain the coffee table? Paint it? Something? After resisting (as I do with change), I finally gave in, knowing he was right. The table needed a facelift. Little did I know that the facelift would be so simple.

James was so excited about working on the table that he quickly took it outside to sand. As I watched him sanding away from the window, biting my nails, I started to like it much more than before. The unfinished wood still looked aged, like it had a story, but not an ugly one. Also, the lighter wood peeking through lightens up the small living room. Perhaps we could sand it again, and make the color of the wood more uniform, but I'm digging the variation. We both agreed that for now anyway, we will keep the table like this. Easiest makeover ever(and James did all the work, muahaha)!

So what do you think? Should we re-stain it? Leave it unfinished? Or do something completely different?

Color Meet-Cute: Orange and Green

If I learned anything from watching the movie, The Holiday, it's that those British kids are the best part, and that a "meet-cute" is the part of a movie when the romantic leads meet in an adorable or funny way. It's like when Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton meet in Something's Gotta Give. She finds him in his underwear, digging in her fridge. Thinking he's an intruder she prepares to call 911, until he tells her, "I'm dating your daughter." If you haven't seen it, cuddle up with some cookie dough and watch it!
Why am I talking about movies, you ask? First, they are my favorite. Second, this post is all about meeting color. When you're walking down the street, do you ever notice a color combination that seems to wave you over, saying, "Well, hello stranger. Let's get to know each other." Maybe you don't, but I do. So I'm starting these posts about my meet-cutes in the world of color.
Every Sunday, James and I do our weekly grocery shopping at TJ's and the farmer's market. I love seeing the changes of the seasons through the produce at the market. This past weekend, I was pulled in by all the variations of orange: tangerines, oranges, and carrots, against backgrounds of green leaves.

Now I don't have a lot of orange happening in my apartment. So I went on a hunt for inspiration, finding ways in which to incorporate the "carrot" color scheme in a home. Orange is a bold color, which can feel a bit domineering if used in excess. I suggest using a pop of orange to bring a hint of pizazz, and then counter-balance it with a soothing green. It all depends on the tones you go for, but I gravitate to subdued, mint green, paired with a bit of rich tangerine.

1. The Socialite Family /2. Apartment Therapy /3. Domino /4. Magical Thinking Kaleidoscope Sham by Urban Outfitters /5. Nesting Bowls by KarinLorenc

How would you incorporate these colors in your home?
And I invite you to share your favorite movie "meet-cute"?