I wasn’t actually planning to get a new glider for Noelle’s nursery but I was lucky enough to have someone in the office offer me hers. When it was new it probably looked something like this honey/oak glider with beige cushions, but it was a little more worn out and covered with cat hair when I dragged it home in my trunk (7 months pregnant!). Nothing a little paint and new fabric can’t fix!

I didn’t take detailed pictures of the refinishing process, but it involved sanding down the original oak stain, grey-washing the frame (i used watered down grey paint and applied it almost like a stain, wiping off the excess), reupholstering the ottoman and sewing new cushions for the glider. Fabric was an indoor/outdoor fabric from Dwell Studio.

Frame, post sanding:

close up of the frame with its grey wash:

the end product works so much better color-wise with our grey and coral theme nursery.

I think Restoration Hardware occupies a very special niche in the home decor/furnishings market — it’s got a strong masculine aesthetic that appeals to husbands and at the same time preserves a charming rustic feel that appeals to their wives. My husband was hankering after an industrial looking trunk end-table in their previous collection that was just a little bit (a lot bit) out of our budget, so I decided to finish an old metal trunk in a similar vein, a sort of antique hammered bronzy finish.

This was a pretty simple project involving a fresh coat of paint and a new paper lining for the trunk.

For paint I picked up a can of Rustoleum in a Hammered dark bronze finish, mostly because I liked the color and it also said it prevents rust and didn’t need a primer — one coat does the trick! I cleaned and sanded the exterior to make sure it would adhere well. (There’s a part of me that really wanted to paint the trim a contrasting color, but maybe I’ll leave that for another time.)

The interior of the trunk was a lot more work, getting the paper lining off was akin to scraping old wallpaper off. If you’ve done this before, you know the trick is to saturate the paper with water from your spray bottle and let it soak in, then attack it with a scraper and it should peel off fairly easily. I found some gift wrap with a fun whimsical print and used a mixture of water and craft glue to re-paper the interior.

And we now have a hip industrial trunk to store blankets for our guestroom!