With just a little elbow grease

This past weekend, I took Friday as a vacation day and headed to the cabin with some friends for the weekend. In my mind, and filling the truck, was a project. The cabin and, importantly, the linens and towels are about 25 years old. Several weeks ago, I decided that room-by-room, I was going to devote some time and energy and moderate funds (shopping discount stores) to make some upgrades. The first room I decided to tackle was the one that was my room when we built the cabin and later became my niece's room. Below are a couple pictures of that room taken before I completely dismantled it and hauled the furniture and headboards outside to be painted.



There's nothing wrong with it really, but it was screaming to me that it needed new linens and a fresh clean look. Over a couple weeks, I found some great deals on the linens. I bought paint to brighten up the furniture and I bought two new lamps that I fell in love with because I can put things inside of them, such as pinecones or seashells or anything we want to put in them, including terrarium plants. I opted for seashells and starfish, wanting to give this room a slight seaside feel.

I was all ready to start painting the moment we arrived, but my friend reminded me that we would have to sand first. So, we sanded. And sanded. And sanded. And then I decided to wash and dry by hand the new drinking glasses I bought for the kitchen and wash and dry the new towels I bought for the bathroom and to fold those towels because I realized that I really don't like sanding at all and would rather wash dishes by hand and fold towels any day.



And then the painting began! But guess what, it turns out that I'm not very good at painting. I put too thick a coat on and that creates unwanted drips. I learned that applying several thin coats, and letting them dry between, was the proper way to get the look that I wanted, a nice, smooth, even coat. This is something my father used to tell me but there's the little issue I've never outgrown, the one of my lack of patience with taking my time. So I painted a headboard, the drawers, and the surface and sides of one small table, and then found other things to occupy my time with while my friend meticulously and patiently painted the rest. She's very thorough that one, and doesn't at all mind taking her time to do a project right. Late Saturday afternoon, the freshly painted furniture was ready to be re-assembled and put back into the room.



There are a few more changes that need to be made. I need to get new drawer hardware on the furnture and I'm replacing the blinds with one-and-a-half-inch wooden ones. I'm also looking at some botanical prints of grasses or shells to hang above the beds, but all that will be in a couple of weeks. For now, I'm delighted with how the room is shaping up.



A couple of others seemed to be pretty pleased as well.