Master Bedroom Dresser Do Over

I fixed up a fourth and final piece for our Master Bedroom. I picked up this wonderfully large 9-drawer dresser at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $30 flat.

I removed the hardware, painted it white then screwed in all new brushed nickel knobs and pulls to match the rest of the Master Bedroom furniture. In total I have spent less than $100 to create this lovely set of matching furniture :)

A simple, cheap and quick fix for our final piece.

The Master Bedroom still seems a little bare, but I would rather it be that way then cluttered and full of stuff. As always, I intend on slowly collecting pieces for the house to make sure I get the right stuff, most importantly at the right price. Here are the other pieces in the MB:

Refreshed White Night Stands

Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Soon I will actually make the bed so I can take a picture of the room as a whole ... haha!

I am looking forward to going to the Women Business Owners Network (WBON) Williston chapter breakfast meeting tomorrow to meet with some wonderful people. Have a great day!

Check out a few of the most popular posts here at QuarDecor:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

August 2012 Photo a Day Challenges

I am challenging myself to participate in at least 2 photo challenges this month! Would you like to join in on the fun? Follow me on Twitter @TheresaMcCabe or Instagram @TheresaMcCabe to see my fun photo overload!! Here are the August Photo Challenges on the interwebs. If I find more, or you know of more, or you are hosting one, please tell me and I will add it to this collection. Good luck!

Fat Mum Slim August Photo a Day Challenge

Twitter: @FatMumSlim
Instagram: @FatMumSlim

Hashtag: #photoadayaug

Trendy Treehouse August Photo A Day Challenge
Twitter: @TrendyTreeHouse

Instagram: @tarajo4

Hashtag: #trendytreehouse

Daydreamer's Nest August Photo A Day Challenge
Twitter: @DayDreamersNest

Instagram:  @BOS3AYID & @ALMARZOUQ12 

Hashtag: #TheNest

Live More Awesome August Photo A Day Challenge
Twitter: @LiveMoreAwesome

Facebook: @LiveMoreAwesome

Hashtag: #AwesomeAugust

Thanks for visiting my blog :) Check a few of my popular DIY projects:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Happy Birthday Mike!

Today is my amazing boyfriend's birthday!!! Happy 33rd Birthday Mike!! You are the most amazing human ever and I am so grateful to have you in my life. Now enjoy these cat pictures....

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Ceramic Garden Stools

I've been on the lookout for the perfect side table for the sitting area in the master bedroom. I'm leaning towards a ceramic garden stool, they are all the rage nowadays! Here is a round up of some pretty stools from around the web. I'm not hoping to spend too much, so these would be out of my price range, but they are great inspiration pieces!

1. Finely Finished Ceramic Garden Stool
2. Neiman Marcus: Silvery Ceramic Stool
3. Emissary Home and Garden: Drum Garden Stool Prosperity Design
4. Neiman Marcus: Embossed Garden Stool
5. West Elm: Bubbles Ceramic Side Table
6. Chinese Green Turquoise Clay Ceramic Square Stool

Fresh White Nightstand

Good morning and welcome back to the work week! Mike and I were super busy this weekend. On Friday we finished staining the windows in the house. On Saturday we went garage saling and I found a bunch of cheap and some free items, including 2 file cabinets and a dresser! Then on Sunday we did a ton of yard work. We trimmed trees, weeded the gardens, moved the entire wood pile to the fire pit and cut more firewood. We also cleaned out the screen porch and started prepping the house for company this weekend.

Oh yeah! Friday is Mike's birthday so we are having at least 9 people staying with us on Friday and Saturday night to celebrate, including all 4 of my siblings! More on that later.

This is the story of the fabulous nightstand refresh. My mom found this nightstand for free, so she handed it over to me.

I brought it up to Vermont and gave it some TLC. Witness the power of (spray) paint!

I've been using spray primer to prep my pieces, and it's making a world of difference. The paint goes on smoother and more evenly, and in much less time!

And I've already sold it :) Woo-hoo! Meanwhile in New York, my mom is preparing for her master bathroom to finally be refinished! I can't wait to feature the before and after on my blog! Oh, and I was featured on West Furniture Revival! So check it out if you get a chance. Happy Monday!

Here are a few of my popular DIY projects:

Before & After: Fancy File Cabinet	File Cabinet Revamp: Snazzy Sister State Storage	Cool Blue Paint Chip Art	Freebie Revamp: Super 6-Drawer Dresser

Fun Lamp Revamp

I've recently started hunting for lamps while garage saling. My goal is to find the cheapest ones possible. Usually when I find them, they are broken, or missing a shade, or just completely hideous. No matter what, they are all in need of some major TLC.

Prime example: This lamp + shade combo I bought for $1.50.

When I approached the piece with wide eyes, Mike looked at me like I was crazy! But I have an eye for recognizing the bones of a piece and I can see the potential in every worn out desk and beaten up frame.

So I handed over my buck-fifty and quickly packed pinky into my car. When it was time for the revamp, I stripped the ruffled fabric from the lamp shade and spray painted the base of the lamp a light blue. Then I covered the lamp shade with fabric using spray adhesive and a hot glue gun to keep the ribbon trim in place. Voila! A brand new lamp :)

Here she is sitting on my refreshed nightstand... more to come on that project later! Happy Thursday.

Just Picked Blueberry Muffins

This morning I woke up early to tend to the garden. A crazy storm came through Vermont last night, providing plenty of rain to my deprived plants. I did a bit of weeding, then I picked a basket full of blueberries from the patch!

I rinsed them off and whipped up a batch of fresh blueberry muffins for the office :) After some quick internet research I decided I wanted to use brown sugar in the muffins, but wanted a sugary yummy crumble for the top. So I made up my own recipe! Enjoy!

Muffins:
1 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put liners in muffin cups. Combine butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently. Divide batter among muffin cups and top with crumb topping. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Zucchini Bundt Bread

My garden produced its first zucchini! There will be plenty more to come this summer, as it turns out the plant that I thought was a cucumber plant is actually another zucchini plant... so now I have 3!

It was too hot and humid last night to work on my furniture, so I decided to bake something instead. I made zucchini bread of course!

Meanwhile, the carrots are filling in nicely, but the recent drought has been tough on the poor broccoli plants. It's raining a bit today so that should bring them back to life. The blueberry patch is also producing, I am going to pick a bunch tonight and possibly whip up some blueberry something for the office tomorrow.

zucchini bundt bread (adapted from pete bakes!)

3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

1. beat eggs, add grated zucchini, set aside.

2. beat sugar and butter, add vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. mix well. add the flour mix to the egg/zucchini mix.

3. pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Getting the House in Order

According to the results in yesterday's business card poll, most people think I should print the detailed business card to let people know what business I am in!

So I will be printing up these cards as soon as I can. In the meantime, Mike and I have been working hard to get the guest rooms cleared out and in order for the guests we will be having over the next few weeks. Here are some sneak peek pics:

I also bought a paint sprayer which I look forward to testing out on the $30 9-drawer dresser Mike and I found last weekend at a tag sale! It's going to get a fresh coat of white paint and brand new brushed nickel hardware to match the master bedroom decor. Yay!

I won't be able to do much crafting this weekend since Janice and I will be meeting in Boston for the Color Me Rad 5k! Follow me on Instagram @TheresaMcCabe for some colorful updates!

Business Cards

Now that I have established the QuarDecor.com domain, I want make my business cards ASAP. I made a few mock up versions and have settled on the final two. The first card has a short description about my business, while the second one is lacking this little blurb.

And here is the back. Do you like?

So please vote in my little poll to help me decide if I should go with 1 or 2! And comment below with any additional comments or questions... Thanks!

Color Coordinated Collections

I'm back! On Friday I learned that our Uncle Jim (James McCabe) passed away, so I jumped in my car and drove down to New York to be with my family for a few days. The service was lovely, and it was great to spend some time with my family. (We missed you Rachel and Nathan!)

But now I am back in Vermont, ready to rock. Life is short, so spend time with the the people you love, and make time to do the things you enjoy the most. And  have a Happy Hump Day :)

[photos via 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 |