Playing with Jewel Tones

January 19, 2016 Cate | StyleMutt Home

Guys! I have a new apartment! More importantly though, said new apartment has a GARAGE!!! You know what that means my friends... I finally have my own StyleMutt workshop! No more slugging pieces up flights of apartment stairs [and by me I mean Caleb]. No more heavy chemicals in the kitchen. No more painting piece on the balcony - much to the amusement of our befuddled neighbors. And since we moved in November, I've acquired not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new pieces to work on at once... Praise the Lord for concrete floors, unloading in the driveway, and storage space. I promise to give you a decor tour of our actually living space this week, but in the mean time one of my projects needs your input ;) I have a STATEMENT of a dresser in the queue for furniture flip bucket list item number 5 [why do I always go out of order?!?]

Let's take a look at our pre-jeweled candidate. Ain't she a beaut? My super strong and oh-so-talented younger sister-in-law Casey [Chelsea's lil sis] helped me pick up this lovely lady.

With the help of some handy-dandy rendering, I have mocked up this dresser in some bright colors and would love your input! Some of these colors I've used before in refinishes but I'm not ruling any repeats out just yet. I want the dresser to tell me what color it wants [and you all too]. So first up, let's try on teal:

Yes yes I know what you're thinking - Cate, haven't we seen this color from you before...? And you're right. I have done a teal & gold one-two knock-out punch combo before with this lil bamboo number:

I just can't help myself. I look at that teal rendering and I get giddy. But I have more colors to try on so I'm open to being swayed... Next up: Poppy.

There's just something about a pop of red am I right? I could see her all done up in scarlet, making a statement in any room like this little she-devil:

But what about an enchanting emerald? Chelsea won me over with her emerald highboy last fall and I've been aching to give green a go of my own.

Green pieces are becoming more and more a symbol of luxe in the home - a saturated viridescent could be a winning hit for some shopper.

Or maybe I go really bold with a vivid magenta...

It's girly and glam and would be a show-stopping moment. But would it be too risky for a prospective buyer?

I've always been drawn to a rich Chartreuse! Anthro has the right idea here with a green-gold campaign piece.

But again, is citron too decor forward or should I say decorward?

And then there's navy. Another color I have played with before. Last year I put a navy & gold dresser on my 2015 flip list and I LOVED how it turned out on this campaign piece.

Even though the blue came out more saturated in these photos, a deep deep blue was such a winning look.

Perhaps it's indulgent to include navy in my jewel-tone prospects but I couldn't help but mock up this long-and-low in a deep navy. Where magenta and chartreuse may be too risky, navy is rapidly becoming the new neutral and so easy in integrate with any home's style.

so what say you? Which of these gems would you like to see come to life? I'd love your feedback in the comments below or on vote on instagram!

My 2016 Flippin' Bucket List

January 14, 2016 Cate | StyleMutt Home

Well 2015 has come and gone and I was one shy of a completed Furniture Flip Bucket List. When I laid out my aspiring projects this time last year, I vowed to do my best but also give myself grace if I couldn't finish all the items on my list so...

Grace.

Yeah I only got through 6 of the 7. And that's ok. Here's a look back on what I set out to do last year [with links to the ones I did actually complete]:

No.1: Build my own baker's rack
No.2: Wood shim surface treatment
No.3: Rivet something
No.4: Navy and gold dresser
No.5: Best vintage pull-down chart hack
No.6: White chippy dresser
No.7: Turn a swivel chair into an accent chair

Now even though I didn't get to finish every item on my list, I did decide I to lay out my intentions for another year of new challenges for myself. First up, surprise surprise, I'm rolling over the DIY baker's rack from last year - but with a new stipulation.

I think what kept me from starting this project last year was the cost. Wood is straight up expensive yo when you're building from scratch. Plus the best part of a vintage baker's rack is just that: it's VINTAGE. So my spin for this flip list item for 2016 is to try to DIY a baker's rack with salvaged wood. It might take me a while to collect all the wood I need so here's hopin' I can tackle it by the end of the year.

I have ALWAYS wanted to have the guts to reupholster a chair. Yes I've done benches like this one, this one, and more recently this one. But a whole chair is a whole nother animal. I think what intimidates me most is the piping. And the cushions. And sewing in general. So I'm finally pushing myself to give it a stab this year and document my successes or failures right here for your entertainment.

Now this one I'm rather excited about. I've seen a couple folks build their own hanging light fixtures on pinterest lately and I want in. I have an idea for how to do it but I have no idea if it will actually work. So hopefully that will entice you to stay tuned ;)

Now my original artwork isn't going anywhere but lately I've been thinking that there's something... juvenile about it. Maybe it's the scale or the placement, but this year I'm going to find out.

Yes I know I've done teal & navy dressers before but I am ITCHING to do another one. I just LOVE me some jewel tones. And I may be turning into a bit of a jewel-tone-obsessed addict bent on feeding her habit one dresser at a time.

I've done a whole lot of wooden tapered legs but not metal legs. So I'm hoping that this year, I'll find the right project to try this style out on.

And finally, the last item on this year's list is to experiment with some unconventional hardware. And by unconventional I mean anything but your standard knobs and pulls. I'm not sure if I'll try rope pulls like this one of Chelsea's or if I'll do something with agate slices but I just want to think outside the box.

Thanks friends for dropping by and I hope you check below on how these projects are coming along.

Modern or Coastal ||Flip List Item No.2||

November 9, 2015 Cate | StyleMutt Home

So I'm trolling craigslist [like I've been known to do] and I found a modern dresser in need of some TLC. Now normally, I would pass right by a laminate dresser but this piece was... special.

It's hard to tell in this pic, but this "white monster" as I've affectionately nicknamed it, had a weird cream/white two tone thing going on. But it was still a modern dresser with glossy-fronted drawers that slide like butter. It the perfect candidate for Furniture Flip Bucket List item No.2: wrap a piece in a wood shim treatment.

wood shims taper off to one end so that you can wedge them in to help level something. I could have used flat wood and gotten more of a butcher-block look, but I wanted to use shims to recreate this uneven affect in my inspiration photo:

Source:  The Rycotewood Furniture Centre at OCVC — Source: The Rycotewood Furniture Centre at OCVC

So I went about covering the bright-white yucky laminate portions of the dresser with the wood shims: the top, sides, and toe-kick. I started out with the intention of creating a polished modern look like the photo above but as I worked on it, it began to steer me in a different direction.

I liked how raw and rustic the cedar shims looked untreated (and not to mention the cedar smelled AH-MAH-ZING). So I just went with it and ended up with a piece that's both modern and coastal:

To play off the unfinished wood's beachy vibes, I styled it with some tropical leaves [that I may or may not have harvested from a decorative potted plant in a parking lot. I kinda felt like Chelsea did when "smuggling" home some paint sticks for this DIY project].

I then added a couple seaside touches like this piece of coral.

To play up the dresser's more modern side, I added vintage candle sticks with clean lines. Despite the uneven surface, the shims are narrow enough that items large and small can find a flat surface to rest on anywhere across the top.