Furniture for the guest bedroom

I think the bed in the guest room needs some company, it’s a sad lone piece of furniture in that room.  I would like to get a decent dresser to put in there for storage.  I also thought a chair of some sort would be nice and of course a nightstand/end table, you know you need a spot for your nightly glass of water.  So a few weeks ago I was checking out craigs wonderful list again and came across something I thought might work.  Consider me on the craigslist bandwagon, I can’t get enough.  That something I found was…

Yup, another rocking chair.  Who woulda thought I was a rocking chair collector.  I got this guy for $20, serious bargain. When I got it home it desperately needed a good cleaning, so I got out the murphy’s wood cleaner and started scrubbing.  You wouldn’t believe how much dirt came off this chair.  Eventually I will lightly sand the arms and restain them because they are so worn.  As for now it is good and clean and now the bed in the guest room has a friend.  I got the navy throw pillow from a store called One World Goods in Rochester, NY.  They sell all sorts of hand made goods from all over the world.  I think it goes well with the bedding in a not so matchy matchy way.  I still thought the guest room was looking a little sparse, so I added a couple stools/end tables that Sandy gave me.

They are so rustic looking which I’m a big fan of and get this… Justin’s great grandpa made them.  I mean come on, can this family get any handier?  I think it’s pretty sweet that we now have things in our home that were made by family members.  It makes me love those certain pieces of furniture that much more.

I added a little white ceramic fish that holds a votive candle and a picture of me and my dad.

I put the other next to the bed, you know, for the nightly glass of water.  I would still like to get a dresser for this room and who knows those tables/stools may travel around the house.  Don’t worry though, I will keep you updated!

Rocking Chair

So I am officially addicted to craigslist.  I can’t help it, I want to buy other peoples junk and make it awesome.

I was keeping my eye out for something that would work well in the bedroom.  We have one nightstand and I wanted something to balance out the other side of the bed.  I decided a chair would work well because it would be a good place to throw our pillows that don’t get used while we sleep.  I was checking craigslist regularly for some kind of old chair that I could clean up and make my own.  A few days later I found a pretty cool rocking chair.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the chair before I made changes. Shucks. Well I found a picture of one that looks similar.

So it looked something like that, just a little more filthy.  So I cleaned it up and sanded it down.  I knew I wanted to paint it but I couldn’t decide between gray and white.  I figured if I went with white I could move it around the house in the future if needed, and it would still match since our trim is white in the house.  So it was originally a semi gloss black that wasn’t painted very well.  I went with a flat paint because I just thought it would show less imperfections since I was painting it with a brush.  So I started painting, did a first coat, then second, then third, then fourth.  Then a few days later I did a couple more coats and it looked like this…

It was late and dark again.  So basically I could still see black through the many coats of white.  So after 7 coats it looks like this…

Yes that pillow says I love dogs… because I do indeed love dogs.  Thanks Jess!