Before and (Almost) After

by Susan McBride aka Mrs. Fix-It

By special request, I'm back to (almost) finish up my home improvement tales. The to-do list has gotten rather skimpy, which makes me quite proud; although I still have a little ways to go on my re-vamping of the guest room project. Still I thought I'd share some "before" and "after" pics to show you what's been done. Okay, first, an old pic of the minty green room:

The Victorian chair is to the right-hand side (I know, you can barely see it!). It's covered in a really pretty leaf and lily pattern that just didn't work with the new color scheme. The ottoman's in front of the window since the cats used it as a perch to look outside. It doesn't match the chair except that it's green. I bought it for about $10 at a really dusty "antiques" shop near where my grandmother lived. You can also see the white-washed dresser bought for about $60 at an antiques mall, when I just needed something pronto to fill the room and to store away old manuscripts. Also, the window has no curtains, just a mint-green sheer I got for about $5 at Linens-n-Things and draped around a little metal rod.

Now for the re-done chair, for which I used Waverly fabric that was on sale for $15 a yard (and I needed three to cover it and the ottoman). Happily, since the curtain panels are Waverly, the dye lot in the chair fabric and the curtains work together great! Note the matching white paint on the ottoman's feet. I tell ya, that epoxy spray paint for appliances has the perfect sheen! What a lucky mistake using that turned out to be.

Not bad, eh? You can kind of see the toned-down color of the green paint on the walls behind it. Below, you can glimpse the curtains that hang from the re-purposed wooden curtain rod I spray-painted. And there's the rehabbed dresser newly dark-green and now with feet! I think I mentioned before that the "feet" were made from a pair of drapery finials I got at Lowes for under $4. Ed cut the pointy tips off, which worked beautifully!


The dresser isn't quite finished yet. It has a spot on the back where you can tell some type of molding used to sit. I remembered my mom had a piece of molding to put over a doorway and had never used. So she donated it to my cause, and here's what it looks like, although it needs to be cut down (it's 62" long!) and painted. But when it's done and attached to back of the dresser, it's going to be gorgeous!

It's amazing what you can do with a little elbow-grease, paint, and fabric...and a creative mind! I can't wait to get the room completed. Another weekend of work, and I think it'll finally be done! Weeeee!

P.S. The dresser is finished! Here's the proof: