DIY Inlay Dresser

I love mother of pearl inlay furniture. The layer of texture it gives to a room is so COOL, but is it really worth the price tag? Larger pieces are several thousand dollars (sometimes more than $10,000 for repros!)

 

I bought this dresser at the flea market last fall for my girls bedroom. It fit perfectly between their twin beds and made a great joint nightstand. I thought the size and shape made this piece a great candidate for an inlay DIY. I was super excited when Sherwin-Williams invited me to join a group of talented bloggers to spread the word about National Painting Week. Each of us was assigned a color and I was thrilled to get purple.

 

Inspired by the lilac wall color in this amazing Katie Ridder room, I chose Rhapsody Lilac for the main color of the dresser and Minuet for the highlights/faux inlay.

 

I used Sherwin-Williams waterborne interior alkyd enamel in both shades. It wears as well as full on oil-based paint, but cleans up like latex paint. It's low VOC and there is hardly any smell, (though you'll still want to keep your windows open or do the painting outside). It really is a great paint. It's made for trim and doors, but the hard-wearing formula is awesome for furniture as well.

 

I lightly sanded the dresser and gave it two coats of Rhapsody Lilac in semi-gloss with a foam mini-roller. Once the base coats were fully dried, I took a glance at some inspiration inlay pieces online and just started doodling with an artists brush. I tried a couple different brushes and quickly discovered you only need one for this project - a 1/4" wide angled artist's brush. 

You can see on most of the real inlay pieces that the patterns are simple - a couple of circular stylized flowers with vines and simple leaves, all inside a border.

It feels like an intimidating project, but I found that the more relaxed you are, the better and more authentic the result is. I was over-thinking the design on the top of the dresser and that's my least favorite section now.  Also, don't go over the leaves twice. The real bone or mother of pearl inlay pieces have a lot of color variation, so you don't want solid white design here either. The real inlay patterns are often not exact and are even a little crooked. Don't worry about perfection here. No painters tape needed!

Here's a little 10 second video to give you the sense of the speed of the project. It takes a couple hours probably to cover every surface with the doodling, but it feels like quick, light work.

Can you hear my kids chattering in the background? This was happening on the other side of dresser :)

Once all the big surface designs were done, I went back and added small leaf patterns to all the edges and sides. This was the fun part for me and the look really started coming together with the addition of the smaller patterns.

It doesn't really matter what design you paint or where or how, the idea is just lots of movement and pattern, in varying shades of white. The result is folksy and pretty charming. Perfect for a child's room!

Oh - and a quick note about the knobs. After I started the project I realized I would need new knobs to replace the super traditional brass pulls. I was planning to just pick up some of those round unfinished wood knobs, but then I remembered I had a bunch of these green glass knobs from the clearance section at TJ Maxx. They already had a flower design on the fronts, so I just painted those white.

I love the dimension the knobs give!

One of my girlfriends stopped by our place last week, coincidentally after some shopping at ABC where she saw lots of inlay furniture in pastel shades. She noticed the dresser as she walked past the girls room, gasped, said "Oh no you didn't" as she ran up to get a closer look at the inlay. Trickery = Success! Insert evil laugh and tapping together of finger tips! 

Later my friend confessed she was pretty confused at the thought of me spending five grand at ABC. She said that's not really my style, which I *think* I'll take as a compliment. :)   I'm happy with the dresser, even though it's clearly not perfect, and super glad I didn't have to spend thousands to get the inlay look.  Especially for something in my kids' room! 

 

Have you checked out the other National Painting Week participant projects? Tomorrow is Aicia and Bruno from Curbly, so be sure to pop over there in the morning.

Also, I just wanted to thank you guys for all the sweet comments and emails about our super sick Gracie girl. I'm happy to report she is on the upswing today. Thanks for the suggestions and for giving me a little time off to take care of her. Have a GREAT weekend! xoxo

Copy Cat Design: Lilly Bunn Weekes Living Room

It's Friday! My lovely assistant Colleen from There Comes A Yes is joining us for another round of Copy Cat Design. Lilly Bunn Weekes is an amazing NYC designer and just an all-round lovely person! She blogs at Lilly's Notebook. Here's Colleen's twist on her gorgeous work:

I adore Lilly Bunn Weekes' full-on commitment to color. She doesn't mess around. Color on the walls, color on the furniture--this is not wimpy stuff!

1. Purple Ikat Throw Pillow, Zazzle, $68

If you're feeling some trepidation over color or pattern, start with the baby step: a throw pillow. Pillows are gateway decor.

2. Arrowroot in Hyacinth; Decorator's Best, $27.50/roll

Grasscloth is a genius wallcovering. It works wonders for rooms without much architecture, but there's no pattern to potentially get sick of. Perfect!

3. Meurice Square Table Lamp; Jonathan Adler, $325

A nice, simple brass lamp.

4. Quartz Crystal Cluster; Blue Moon Crystals & Jewelry, $20

Another lamp option: get some crystal clusters, a lamp kit, and drill a hole through the clusters to fit a lamp pipe. DIY instructions here.

5. Ektorp Loveseat; Ikea, $379

Ikea to the rescue for this sofa. Bemz has a range of slipcovers for this style, including an orange cotton.

6. Chambord Velvet in Mango; Fabric Guru, $14/yard

Or have the couch upholstered in this lush orange velvet!

7. Ikat Pillow Cover in Pale Plum; Uzbek Alive, $28

More purple ikat!

8. Auberge Chair; Ballard Designs, $649

A bergere ready to be upholstered.

9. Cotton Ikat Fabric; Fabricadabra, $24/yard

Lilly's chairs (and pillows) are done in Madeline Weinrib fabrics, which are spendy. This fabric is a brilliant alternative.

10. Winston Gold Leafed Coffee Table; Worlds Away, $1375

I like that the coffee table is architectural and not overly pretty--a counterpoint to all of the feminine elements.

11. Quatrefoil Mirror; Shades of Light, $329

With a coat of brown-black paint, this mirror is a dead ringer for the inspiration one!

12. Mid-Century Nightstand; West Elm, $249

Simple wood end tables, another smart juxtaposition.

13. Dash and Albert Woven Diamond Rug; Wayfair, $514

A black and white rug for that punch of graphic pattern.

Thanks so much, Colleen! Feel free to email us if you have an inspiration room you'd like to see interpreted.

Room Tours: A Noelle Wright Living Room

Noelle Wright is a super talented decorator based out of Salt Lake. I LOVE this room she submitted for my call for Living Room tours! Here's Noelle, sharing all the pretty details!

This is one of my favorites rooms yet!! The family that I did this for are good friends of ours, so of course it had to be perfect. They are young and hip and he heads the company Skullcandy, so I wanted it to have a very unique and edgy vibe that represented them and their lifestyle. This family entertains like crazy...so flow and the placement of furniture was crucial. They also have two little girls and one on the way, so the trick was making it beautiful and practical all at the same time. To be honest, I was really sad when I finished this project, I had such a great time doing it!!

Here are some pictures of the front room.

I love this view of the room, it captures all the unique details that make this room so great! Although we started with a clean slate, I wanted to make sure that it felt like the pieces that we used felt unique and eclectic. Every detail came with a lot of thought! It is a melting pot of styles with pieces found at Anthropologie, HomeGoods, local contemporary boutiques, custom made pieces and local vintage stores...to name a few, to create the overall effect. One thing my client was set on having was a zebra hide. That became my starting point, and was fun...because I could add color to the black and white. We also added all kinds of fun tables to provide a place to set down drinks for all their entertaining.

I had this chair custom made. I love custom made items because you get exactly what you want, it's uniquely yours, and in most cases doesn't cost more than buying it. Isn't the classic houndstooth paired with the sleek lines of this chair great?

The throw pillows and cushions in this room are also custom made. I love an unexpected mix of fabrics!! Fabric and texture are so crucial to a room. The raspberry color is a little unexpected, and so fabulous... one of my favorite parts of the room. I tried to create symmetry in the room by using similar shapes and flow lines, the petals on the pillow and the petals on the mirror. This creates a needed balance.

We used an unusual combination of chairs in this room because we wanted to! I wanted this room to represent my client. Rules are made to be broken.

Don't be afraid to mix it up!

All photos taken by Ashlee Raubach

These old books and urn add an unexpected touch that I just love.

List of Sources

Sofa: Bob Williams Mitchell Gold

Rug: Safaveih

Zebra Hide: Horchow

Black and White artwork/photography: Roma

Coffee tables: Pottery Barn

Chests: Hooker furniture

Lamps: Circa Lighting

Wall Color: Bennington Beige by Benjamin Moore

Mirror above fireplace: Anthropologie

Lotus mirror: available to the trade

Houndstooth Chair: custom made. Houndstooth fabric, available to the trade

Black Accent Chair: Horchow

Cushion on chair: custom made with Robert Allen fabric available to the trade

All Pillows: custom made with Robert Allen and Beacon Hill fabric available to the trade

Mosaic occasional table: Plantation Design

Horn-leg table: ZGallerie

Round Cigar Table: Worlds Away

How to Upholster a Framed Diamond Tufted Headboard

This DIY is sponsored by Home Depot. I'm so proud to be working with them on this content series where I'm reinventing old furniture and giving it a new life. I truly believe the best way to get higher quality furniture at a lower price point is to buy vintage pieces and repurpose them. Home Depot is dedicated to being eco-friendly and I think this type of recycling is a great step in the right direction. Thanks, Home Depot!


I really wanted a pair of tufted headboards for my girls rooms, but tufted pieces can be especially expensive! I picked up a pair of these vintage headboards for next to nothing at a thrift shop and thought I could probably come up with a way to reuse these rather than buying something new.

I took a quick photo and then played around in photoshop with the placement of the tufts. Since there are a lot of curves in this piece it wasn't just a matter of doing some math, like with most tufting projects I've done.

Once I had the tufting placement down, I started pulling off the old upholstery.

Underneath the top layer was a realllllly old piece of silk that was super sunbleached. I always love pulling apart old upholstery to see what fabrics are hiding.

The part that hadn't bleached out was a gorgeous lilac. Played to my ombre obsession :)

I used this underneath fabric to mark out my tufting design. The basic idea is to keep everything in straight rows and then offset the rows, like laying bricks or drawing polkadots. The rows will line up diagonally and horizontally.

Then I pulled off that bottom layer of fabric and batting so that all that was left was the wooden frame.

I used some of the batting to mark off the shape of my foam. I used the batting instead of the fabric because I needed to foam to be cut a little short so it would be pretty far inset from the bed frame.

The foam I used here was a repurpose too. I used some camping foam! It's such a cheap way to buy 2" or 3" foam.

I used a serrated knife to cut out the shape, but I wish I had an electric knife. Those work so well for cutting foam.

The foam fit perfectly inside the frame, right where I wanted it, about an inch in.

I used a combination of the serrated knife and a pair of scissors to shave down the corners of the foam at about a 45 degree angle.

I cut some small holes in my fabric guide so I could draw some registration marks on the frame.

I had jotted down all the measurements on the fabric guide too, so it was easy to quickly double check my marks.

I drilled through the frame with a 1/4" drill bit. It's a good idea to drill pretty large holes in your frame backing to make the tufting go faster.

Once the holes were drilled, I layed the frame on top of the foam and marked the tuft placement by poking a sharpie through the drill holes.

The next step is vital to getting the deep-tuft look. You have to take out all the foam where each button will go. I just use a little paring knife to cut a simple hole around the registration mark. You want the hole to be sort of angled so the opening is wider and the bottom of the hole is about the size of your buttons.

One the foam is cut in an angled circle, you just have to grab the cut piece, pull, swirl and rip. This part goes so quickly!

You can cut or pick out addition foam as needed to created the right shape for the tufting holes.

I used my trusty can of spray glue to affix the back of the foam to the bed frame. You really want the foam to stay put during the tufting process so this step is important.

Cover the foam with a layer of high-loft batting.

Lay down your fabric on top of that and round up an extra long needle (mine's about 5") and some upholstery thread (Don't use regular thread here. It needs to be upholstery thread).

Turn on a show and enlist a cute little helper who is eager to push back bedtime.

I skipped explaining the step about making my own buttons because there are lots of different companies that make button covering kits and they all have different instructions. So just pick up a kit and some refill packs and follow the instructions on the back. I used 5/8" buttons here. Also I always use a little dollop of Magnatac glue when I make my own buttons, just to reinforce the hold, especially when using thick fabrics like velvet.

Okay so here's the tufting process:

1) Double up your upholstery thread and thread your long needle. I use two arm-lengths of thread each time and I can get two buttons done with that.

2) Your first tuft should be the middle hole in the very top row.

3) Your needle should pass first through the back hole, through the middle of your foam divot, and finally though your batting and fabric.

4) Leave about six inches of thread hanging in back and then thread your button in front. Because you doubled up your upholstery thread, four individual threads should be on your button.

5) Trying to keep all your threads tidy, pass the needle back through the foam and hole in the frame. It might take a few pokes to find the hole again since you're searching blindly, but it gets easier after a few tries.

6) Now pinch your button and sort of push and wiggle it down into the foam divot. At the same time, pull the threads from behind the frame.

{Next, get excited because that looks like a real, legit tuft. Also, send your little helpers to bed because it's after 8:00. Then enlist your sweet sister in law, who's in town visiting with her cute new husband, to lend a helping hand.}

7) With your helper pushing the button as far in as possible, pull the threads in back very tight and staple them down on to the frame. Pull the threads in the opposite direction and staple in again. Repeat a couple times and tap in the staples with a hammer to make sure the staples are flush and in there tight.

8) Here's the most important thing I can share with you here: Work in rows. Start with the middle button and work your way out in the row. Then start the next row in the middle again and work your way out.

Once you finish your first row and are ready to start the next row, play with your fabric and start making folds in a diamond shape. It's surprising how easily the fabric naturally folds into the diamond shape. The goal is for the surface of the upholstery to be smooth and as tight as possible. For a professional look, you want all the extra fabric to go in the folds.

Rather that placing your tuft wherever your needle appears and having to deal with the consequences with the folds later, CHOOSE where your button will go by making the folds first and sort of pushing your fingers in the foam divot. You'll know exactly where to put that needle and the button.

Keep working away, going row by row, starting from the center and working out.

Once all the tufts are done, the back of your frame looks like this:

9) Staple around the perimeter of the headboard between the foam and the frame.

Another important part: Keep in mind that all interior folds should be in the diagonal/diamond shape. All the extra fabric around the perimeter of the headboard should go into vertical or horizontal straight line folds. Try to keep everything tight and smooth.

Almost there!

10) Next I trimmed away all the extra fabric and batting. Try to get as close to the staples as possible.

11. I decided I wanted to lightly touch up the frame. I always love the look of a crusty old frame with bright and clean new upholstery! But this frame was looking more dingy, less patina-ed, so I brushed on a little bit of white glaze and some of my favorite Ralph Lauren paint in Parlor Gold. Just a little bit of each though, so the frame still looked old.

All ready for the last step: trimming!

I used these steps to make matching piping out of the same velvet. I think the cording I used was 1/4". Nice and thick so it fills in the gap between the foam and the frame with all the staples and the fabric/batting mess.

I just used my favorite glue, Magnatac, to glue the piping in place. Use a generous amount, but be careful not to drip. It's really hard to get this glue off velvet especially.

All done! I know I always say this, but this project was so fast and easy. I started the project last night just after dinner time and was done after the Republican debate and two Walking Dead episodes. Not too bad!

I was so glad to be able to reuse those old headboards to get the exact look I wanted for my girls bedroom! I love the shape and it makes me so happy to have these special pieces in my home rather than a pair of more expensive and generic headboards from a place like Target or Urban Outfitters.