
Bella Dahl Top (c/o — Also available at Tuckernuck. You can shop Bella Dahl at Bloomingdales and ShopBop, too!) / Daniel Wellington Watch (c/o) / BlankNYC Jeans /Hazel & Marie Pearl Bracelet (Similar here) / J.Crew Pearl Earrings / Kate Spade Bow Ring (On sale for $19, and free shipping!) /Chinese Laundry Booties / Miriam Merenfeld Necklace (c/o)
Goodness. It’s snowing again.
To tell you the truth, the winter is really only now starting to get to me. Up until this point, I’ve braved the cold and snow, and I’ve made sure to get out of my apartment every day, whether I’m shooting with blogger girlfriends, walking Noodle, attending meetings, grabbing dinner with Mitch, or working at coffee shops. But this week, Chicago is in for some really rough weather, and temperatures are projected to plummet into the red.
Yesterday was rough. In the morning, Mitch and I wanted to walk Noodle to Barker and Meowsky for a Valentine’s Day treat, and we almost didn’t make it, haha. Everything hurt! Getting downtown for dinner was a disaster, too. In the words of my good friend Maya, my bones were cold.
Ugh.
But yeah. This week, I kind of foresee myself holed up in my apartment. And while I always put in at least eight hours of work, I’m certainly not interested in putting in 16-hour workdays!

(Source)
So this week, I plan on tackling a big project: redecorating our tiny office. Right now, it’s a complete mess. There are boxes everywhere, our one set of Kallax shelves is overflowing, and our gallery wall is–well–pathetic. So many of the frames are still empty, and it’s been a good six months since we moved in! Sigh.
Last weekend, I bought two more Kallax shelves, and I hope that three of them fit across the back wall. (Probably should have measured, but whatever.) Above is what I have in mind. (And this was the inspiration!)
I’ll be sure to share the finished product this week. :)
And while we’re on the subject of redecorating, our living room also needs some help. I’m so over our black furniture. We’ve had our coffee table, television stand and end tables for about six years now, and they’ve made five moves. (One of which was cross-country!) While they’ve held up incredibly well for Target furniture, I’m ready for a white refresh. That said, I’m not ready to drop the big bucks on new stuff, as Mitch and I are hoping to buy our first home in the next couple of years. So I’m thinking about sanding them down (they’re solid wood!) and painting them. This blog post says that sanding might even be unnecessary! Am I crazy?
Have you guys ever refinished furniture? Is it worth the hassle?
Happy Sunday! Stay warm!









I actually spray painted an old wood end table and it turned out awesome and wasn’t a lot of work! Definitely recommend trying it.
Nikki Ann Blog
http://nikkann.blogspot.com/
Hi Nikki,
I would LOVE to do this, but I don’t have a place where I could spray paint. :( Oh, the woes of small spaces!
I heard about Kilz primer… which might work! I really don’t want to sand, haha!
So exciting to hear that your end table turned out great. I love the idea of repurposing old pieces instead of investing thousands of dollars in new stuff!
xoxo
That picture of a cute tiny office looks perfect – that’s definitely similar to the type of office space I want when I eventually get my own apartment! Kylie over at AbsolutelyArkansas redid her office space and it looks great if you want to take a look at it!
xx, Mikkaela
Mikkaela,
Thank you so much for passing this along. I certainly need all the inspiration I can get… I can’t wait to check out Kylie’s work! :)
xoxo!
So cute! Love that mug.
The Starving Inspired
Can’t wait to see your office make over!
-Meg
http://www.smalltownsisters.blogspot.com
Definitely sand before you prime if you want it to last longer. Some might be lucky to get away with the bare minimum, but I’d hate for you to put in that kind of work and then have it not turn out!
(And, yeah, it’s super cold in Madison too. I didn’t leave the apartment once this weekend. The perk of having a cat instead of a dog… ;-) )
http://bedknobsandbaubles.com/
Okay. You’re totally right, hehe. Do you think I need a sanding machine? (Hahaha. I’m sure it has a more official term than that.) Or can I just rub the furniture down with sandpaper by hand?
When I was younger, my dad and I refinished an old dresser, and it was hell. Hoping I don’t have to spend hours sanding! Haha. But if I must, I shall… ;)
Thanks so much, Jessica!!
Yay for tackling big projects! A word based on my experience… I bought an unfinished dresser when I moved last year and stained it. I opened the windows and thought that would help but the smell was SO STRONG and miserable! Not sure what method you’ll end up using, but just beware that some of them can really stink up the place, especially if you live in a small space. And I’d imagine leaving the windows open isn’t on your agenda right now :) Good luck! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
This is SUCH a good point, Monica. We definitely can’t open the windows at this point… Hmmm… I’ll raise this concern with the Home Depot employee I choose to torture tomorrow. ;) xoxo! Thanks, Girl!
I can totally relate, taking pictures outside yesterday was miserable and this morning it was -11 degrees. I was already looking into flights to Chicago for August so I can have something to look forward too, haha! Stay warm Kelly!
-Alex
http://www.monstermisa.blogspot.com
If you want the paint to last, you need to sand the wood first.
Good luck, Kelly! We have a couple of pieces we’d like to refinish, I figure we can’t make them any worse than they are now!
Heidi
http://www.wishesandreality.com
I recommend trying Annie Sloan Chalk paint. It contains really low VOCs and has basically no odor making it safe to use indoors. It sticks to ANYTHING….no sanding required!