In Progress

As usual, I have a few things that I am working on.  Unfortunately, most of what I am doing right now are bigger projects so they take me a lot longer to complete.

Firstly, I got this cabinet/media center/sideboard/whatever you want to call it from my brother-in-law a few months ago.  He & my sister bought and moved into his childhood home (which his mother was selling) and some of his parents' old furniture was left for them. 

They were getting rid of this and when I saw it, I figured with some fun colorful paint and some new screens etc., it could be really cool.  I've seen tons of redos likes this on all the crafty blogs I read and I really like the way they end up looking.

Here is the before photos...

 A close up of the detail.

 I plan on painting a bright turquoise or aqua and then using a glaze to bring out the details.  I think we will be using it as a sideboard in our dining room for the time being but eventually it may move to the living room as a media center (once we get a flatscreen in there).  At this point, we have removed all hardware & screens and have sanded and primed it.

The other big project I am working on is for my sister and her kids.  Gabrielle has kept her old dollhouse that my grandfather built and all the dollhouse furniture we used to own.  She wanted to redo it but she is bit hesistant when it comes to crafts (and I think she doesn't enjoy crafts as much as I do).  So I said I would give it a whirl as long as I could do whatever I want with the house in terms of paint, wallpaper, etc.

I have tons of ideas (thanks Pinterest!) as to what I will do with it. Just need to actually do it.  Also been inspired to finally start this after seeing Emily Henderson's I'm a Giant Challenge.  Can't get my act together to actually participate in that, but I am loving all the dollhouses that people are doing.  Very cool!

BUT before I can repaint the exterior of the house and reassemble it (sorry no pics of it), I need to determine if I can repaint our existing dollhouse furniture.  And I have to determine what colors.  Because this is what our vintage furniture looks like and right now it dictates a whole "late 70's/early 80's vibe" that I just don't want to go with.  Way to orange/red for my tastes.  Although I do love that Gabe actually kept all this furniture for 25+ years.  She's a crazy pack rat.  Sometimes that pays off.

The living room set (have to say I actually don't mind the orange in the bookshelf, but the brown has got to go).  I really envision a more gray/blue/modern vibe for the house.

 The bathroom set.

 The bedroom.  Love the rolltop desk, vanity, and dresser complete with mini hangers.  The only doll she still has is also in desperate need of a makeover.

 The kitchen.  I forgot how much detail is actually in these pieces.  For instance the fridge opens and there are little slide out bins and the dishwasher has baskets that slide out.  I may try to paint the fridge with chalkboard paint as I think that would be cool. You see that a lot on the internet and although I like that idea, I would never do it in my real house.  That is what this dollhouse is for...doing all the fun stuff I either wish I could do in my house or like but would never do in real life.