Miranda Priestly Would be Proud

So, I recently spent quite a bit of time in airports trying to 1) visit my sister in South Carolina, and 2) return from visiting my sister in South Carolina. All this free time meant I got to catch up on reading EVERY fashion magazine available. Turns out, oxblood is going to be a big fall color again. It was last year, all the magazines and fashion blogs were filled with spreads like this one:

And this is what they looked like this year:


I also noticed that leather accents were continuing to trend this fall. Just look at this picture from Piperlime's 10 Fall Trends page.

Now if you know me, then you know that I like to pretend that I'm a bit of a rocker chick and therefore like my black jeans, leather and deep red nail polish. (If even that much color.) So, of course, these two trends appeal to me and I guess they appealed to me so much that I set myself on refinishing some furniture in line with these two trends. When I found a set of reproduction Mission style nighstands at a flea market, I knew I had found the perfect pieces.

*

Just looking at them, I could tell they were just the right shape and had the right hardware to pull off a dramatic look. So I bought, them sanded them down, primed them and painted them in Behr's premium Oxblood paint in semi-gloss. (Yes, the actual paint color is called oxblood and really it looks almost brown with just an undertone of red.) I spray painted the hardware with Rustoleum in high gloss black to mimic the leather accent trend and also modernize the pieces.

I didn't really expect it when I went for something that was based on a fashion trend, but these pieces turned out more chic and modern than they were when  I met them at the flea market. Honestly, I picked pieces that weren't vintage so I didn't feel bad about them being "trendy" over "classic". However, I've had these pieces sitting in my house for several days while I try to sell them on Craigslist and I can say that they go with ANYTHING--my grandma's blue velvet, floral couches, my red and gray duvet cover, my Target bookshelves in espresso--anything.

What I Did to the Nightstands:

• Sanded: 220 grit to scratch finish enough to take primer
• Primed: 1 coat of Zinsser Bulls Eye
• Painted: 3 coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Oxblood Semi-Gloss
• Topcoated: 2 coats of Minwax polycrylic in Semi-Gloss
• Refinished Hardware: 2 coats of Rustoleum in High Gloss Black

Here's hoping they find a good home with some knowing fashionista.




Ongoing Projects:

• Windows: These have turned out to be quite the pain. Between stripping the paint off of them and gluing together broken bits it will take me almost a week just to prep them for painting. 

• Vanity: It's primed and ready to go. I'm working on the color right now...can't seem to find the right shade of gray-purple for them. 

*Sorry, I seem to have not taken any pictures of the pieces before I started refinishing them. You'll just have to take my word for it that they were dated and boring.