Constance Spry

Found this on designsponge, one of my favorite design blogs. Constance Spry (1886-1960) was a teacher, "society florist", best-selling author, and social reformer.

It reads:
Do what you please,
follow your own star;
be original if you want to be
and don't if you don't want to be.
Just be natural and gay and light-hearted
and pretty and simple and overflowing
and general and baroque and bare
and austere and stylized and wild
and daring and conservative,
and learn and learn and learn.
Open your minds to every form of beauty.

My first project

Before

After

New Knobs

Old

There is something so special about re-furnishing something old. My last blog played with the idea of pretty things. I feel strongly about surrounding your space with things you like to look at. I took an old nightstand and turned it into something new and fresh all for under $50. I originally bought this nightstand at the local Goodwill shop for around $20.00. I always had the intention to fix-er-up, but like so many things, I put it on the back burner. The whole transformation took a total of 5 hours (including my trips to Home Depot and Anthropologie!) Here's a brief synopsis of my project:

1. Scrubbed it clean. Whether you're painting a canvas, wood, or piece of furniture you want to make sure you are working with a clean surface. Dirt and dust will clump up with paint. So, unless that is the look you are going for, clean up first!
2. Removed the old knobs with a screwdriver.
3. Coated the night stand with two coats of white paint. I used a can of semi-gloss white paint from Home Depot and a new paint brush. Brushes are important! If you are ever going to paint furniture it's worth a few extra bucks to get a higher quality brush to get a smooth coat of paint. The paint and brush together were $24.00. (Lots of paint left for my next project)
4. I left my nightstand out in the sun and let it dry. In the meantime, I drove over to Anthropolgie and bought two new knobs. Anthro has a huge selection of adorable knobs making choosing only one style pretty tough! I went with black knobs with a white etching of a skyline. The skyline reminded me of Florentine architecture. Florence is a city with personal significance and brings me back to a beautiful time in my life, so the knobs were a must. Oh, and did I mention they were on sale for $2.99 each?
5. Thanks to the San Diego sunshine, my nightstand was dry once I returned home. I screwed in the new knobs and completed my first project.

My favorite part about my new nightstand is that it is completely unique. I could have bought something from Ikea for under $50, but there's just no charm in mass production.