Friday, October 18, 2013

Rachel's Nightstand Project and Stepping Out of my Comfort Zone

As my thrifty decorating mission continues on, I just finished Rachel's night stand. Before I show you the before/after pictures, let me share a little drama that happened during the picking out of the color for this project.

As you might already know, I love white. If I lived alone, I would probably have a LOT more pure white in my house and when I paint a piece of furniture, 98% of them would be white. Though in reality I live with my lovely family, one husband and three munchkins, who have different personalities and likes. So, I want to make sure that it is comfortable for everyone.

I have been working on the kids rooms little by little ever since we moved in. As with their personalities, their rooms look very different because I want to honor their likings...

I found this nightstand for Rachel at a thrift store for $10 over the summer, and I have been planning on painting this white. One day, Rachel asked me, "Mom, are you going to paint EEEVERY thing white?". I asked her why she asked such a question. Then she said, "Well, when I grow up and have my own house, I will paint my stuff with bright colors."

Hmm... that made me think. OK, maybe it's not such a bad idea to have more lively colors in her room...

At Home Depot, I picked out a couple paint chips for her to look at.

Aren't they pretty colors? Usually, I am always drawn to more soft, muted colors. Attempting to use bright colors like these for painting furniture is a BIG step out of my comfort zone. I was hoping that Rachel would choose "Coral Expression" but Rachel chose "Lip Stick". Which is more orange-y and brighter in color. I asked her several times she if she was sure; she was so excited and adamant about the color. Well, I have to admit, the color actually suits her for her fun, vibrant and larger than life personality. Oh, alright I will paint it with Lipstick.

Here...

After painting it, I kind of liked it. Ok, breath... it's not bad... I put it in her room. Then at night we turned the light on then to get her ready for bed...

"Ka POW!!!"

The strong hue of orange... I mean the Lipstick attacked my eyes. Wow. I wasn't expecting that. Also, right next to the muted light blue comforter, the strong and bright colored night stand looked really out of place. Though, I didn't say anything because I wanted to respect what Rachel liked. Then, as I was tucking her in that night I was gently stroking her hair and asked, "Rachel, do you love your new night stand?".

She scrunched her face and whispered, "Um... I don't want to say, you might get mad..."
What?? So I said, "What do you mean, I don't get mad, tell me what you really think." She was hesitant and then said, "I think the color is tooo bright... it's like KA-POW!!" and she made a hand gesture.

I just started laughing. Mother like daughter I guess we have some adjusting to do. Yesterday, I picked out a bowl which had both of our colors. My muted color blue, and her bright lipstick color. Putting that on top of the night stand has already made a difference. I am planning to make pillows and such in the future, and kind of excited to see what the room will look like. This is one of the small moments where the kids push me to try new things, and most of the times the outcome is great and I appreciate it so much.

Though, let me say this one last time... "Ka-POW!!" right in the eyes!


11 comments :

  1. I like it! My husband is Maltese and painted our walls bright colours when we first married! Now they are cream :-) I am sure you will get used to having more colour in your house. I love your blog by the way and have followed it for ages.

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  2. La mesita es preciosa y tu forma de escribir maravillosa.

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  3. I like it, too, though it's not my color. Recently, we painted a wall in our kitchen orange and my husband is still getting used to it :) I love to read about how you decorate your home, you must have an idea of the overall picture to do that!

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  4. This post is hilarious!

    I think the colors go very well together - you do such a great job with decorating!

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  5. Wow, that it really bright. You could probably put a thin coat of a lighter colour over it to tone it down too. That's a beautiful bowl.

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  6. Love it!s A pop of color always make me smile and I really like it next to the muted blue.

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  7. Hooray to you for opening yourself up to what appeals to your daughter. Ka-pow is right.

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  8. I think it's cute! Tell Rachel she did a good job. :) I have to know... what thrift stores do you go to? You must have some secret ones that I haven't discovered yet...

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  9. Kristin-

    No, I have no secret thrift stores. It's just good old DI and Savers. I just stop by so often that people at the store remember my face. When they ask you a question like "have you found anything today?" that is a sign of you have been there too often...hahaha

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  10. It kind of matches the drawer liners of her desk. Maybe you had it in you all along you were just hiding it in drawers ;)

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