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contemporary

Before and After: Grey and Gold Painted Vintage Dresser

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted a painted dresser makeover, but the honest truth is that I haven’t had any projects! I’d be looking for one to work on every week with no luck, sure there were lots of very expensive dressers, solid teak cabinets etc, but my focus is to bring new life to vintage plywood dressers that I don’t feel guilty painting. Plus it just feels great to make something ugly beautiful again.

Here’s what I recently got my hands on, it’s a simple 6 drawer plywood and particle board dresser, nothing fancy really, but better than nothing! My neighbour was getting rid of it and all I had to do was wheel it into my apartment and it was mine.red painted dresser before and after
I had to save this dresser! I couldn’t let this badly worn red paint live this way in someones home. It needed a makeover, even if it wasn’t perfect, just something simple to freshen it up. A few coats of white paint and some new hardware would do the trick. The drawers were in really rough shape and so was the top surface, I did what I could to fix it, but even after patching it and sanding, it’s still pretty rough, but the fresh coats of paint really helps.Read More »Before and After: Grey and Gold Painted Vintage Dresser

under bed storage

Bed Frame Inspiration

Not too long ago we upgraded from my old queen size bed to a king size. It was a big change, but necessary because my mattress was old and there was a big sale so we got a really good deal. We opted to get the box spring that comes with the mattress because my old IKEA frame would be too small and it was falling apart. We then decided to just get one of those cheap metal frames that come with the mattresses because we didn’t know what else to do at the time and we had zero budget. I immediately missed the under bed storage we had from our previous bed frame, so we made some wood boxes and attached low profile caster wheels to roll under our bed. It’s not aesthetically beautiful, but it’s super functional.

I’m actually kind of embarrassed to show this photo with the ugly box spring showing, but it’s reality. Maybe just focus on the pretty night stand and lamp instead, haha.

under bed storage
We still don’t have the budget to change things, so we’ll likely just put a cover on the box spring and have it that way for a few more years, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream, right?

I’m a big fan of a Japanese style bed that has interlocking joints so there’s very little need for screw or nails. These beds are commonly known as tatami mat beds, because there’s usually an option to sleep right on a tatami mat rather than a mattress. The first example below shows what I’m talking about, note the wood joins at each leg post.

japanese tatami mat bed frame
(source)
Read More »Bed Frame Inspiration