Gorgeous Green and Gold Vintage Dresser

I'm so excited to finally share one of my favorite furniture transformation to date. I'm currently working on design project. My sister enlisted my help with in decorating her new apartment from start to finish. I'm thrilled to design a space for my sister that she'll love. In many ways this is my sisters first grown up space, where she's making a few investment pieces and going with what she really loves verses just filling up her home with items that are so-so to her. I'm sure we can all relate, that it can take time to hone in own your personal style and that's where I come in to help her create a stunning place that she'll love all on a budget. 

We're starting from scratch replacing items in her space that no longer works or she no longer loves. Since she moved into a small home, storage is essential. We decided to work on her living room first, transforming a basic box into a multi-functional, a place to lounge, visit with friends, a spot to pay bills / study area for her son. My sister loves the look of our vintage campaign dresser and all the hidden storage it provides. I think in small spaces how furniture needs be both swoon worthy as it is practical. I started my search on Craigslist and within a week, I found THE dresser that I knew would look so good in her living room. My sister bought the dresser for a steal, paying only $160.00. 

Since my sister can't paint the walls, we decided to go with a bold makeover. After going though several paint swatches, painting the dresser a shade of green was the perfect choice. I painted the dresser Green Grass by Behr in semi gloss. The color is such a pretty bright happy shade of green. I applied to coats of primer before painting the dresser and sanding in between coats. Since the color is so saturated, it took three coats of paint for full coverage. 

Here's my sister's new dresser turned TV Stand. The lower drawers are the perfect depth to hold her DVDs, and the upper storage provides a spot for 'paper clutter.' 

The hardware on this dresser is stunning. I cleaned the hardware gently using Bar Keepers Friend, removing the grime and tarnish buildup.

I'm in the process of working on some more projects for her living room, and can't wait to share some updates along with the design layout and ideas. I must confess, it was so hard to give my sister her dresser after I re-finished it, thankfully I get to visit the pretty green and gold dresser when I'm at her house. 

What do you think of this vintage dresser, turned TV Stand Makeover? 

My Favorite Pillow Inserts

Over the weekend, I was sewing some pillows for a project [click here to getting a look] I'm working on and wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on pillow inserts. There are a two types of popular pillow insert for pillow covers, down feather filled and 'down alternative' poly-fill inserts. 

My absolute favorite pillow insert to use for pillow covers are feather down pillow inserts. I love how much fuller and nicer pillows look using them. Not only do pillows look better using feather down inserts, they also have the 'bounce back' factor. When using poly filled inserts, pillows often look flatter and poly fill can have a tendency to clump creating lumps, no thank you. Here's a visual on feather down vs poly-fill inserts, the difference to my is extreme. In the past I've had a few pillows that where poly-fill and they were the worst, always lumpy and clumpy, never again! 

Here's another view of the of both pillows with different inserts. Again the poly filled pillow on the left pillow is much flatter verses the feather down pillow insert. 

When I'm shopping for pillow inserts, I typically buy my inserts from Ikea for the 20x20 squares  (super affordable) their pillows are filled mostly with feathers so there may be more feathers popping though. I also love pillow inserts from Crate & Barrel, they have a huge assortment of sizes at great prices too, their pillows are the perfect balance between feathers and down. Fabric.com is also another good source for feather down insert pillows, and bonus they're on sale right now. I've also purchased inserts from Home Fabrics, they have a huge assortment of sizes and at good prices. The only downside of feather down inserts, feathers! I usually find a few feathers coming though my pillows during the week, which doesn't bother me. The feather down insert used in my pillow is from Soft Plus and came with the pillow. 

When shopping for pillows in person or online look for pillows that you can use inserts. If the pillow you buy has a poly fill insert, check and see if you can replace that one with a feather down insert or try and buy only pillows that already have feather down inserts, trust me! 

What are your thoughts on pillow inserts? Which ones are your favorite to use in your home?