We had a wine rack in the dining room, sort of tucked into the corner – you couldn’t see it, and it ultimately made the room feel a bit cramped.

One day I had an ah-ha moment, and decided that the wine rack would be the PERFECT solution for this area of the living room.  Moving it out of the dining room would open up that space, and re-purposing it for the living room would mean one less thing to buy!

It’s not some unique, heirloom piece (it was from Target to be completely honest) but it was the right height and width, so I was determined to make it work…

Blah.  Boring. Cheap.

I’ve long admired the look of campaign furniture – the brackets, and hardware really dress things up, and so with this image in my mind, I set out for a mini makeover…

Source

I needed paint, and hardware, but the weather had been really cold here, so I was in no mood to walk down to the hardware store and pick up a new quart of paint.

Feeling lazy, I decided to try mixing some paint I had laying around.  I had a dark blue-grey quart of oil based paint that I had used to paint the back of our bookshelves with, and another quart of taupe chalkboard paint that I had used on the console table in our hallway.  My little experiment could have ended disastrously but I figured that if it looked awful, or I ended up with peel-y paint, I could just sand it off, and start over.

I wasn’t quite sure how the paint would go on since it was half oil, and half chalkboard, but I have to say, the combination brought the best of both worlds.

The oil based paint made the application go on super smooth, and since the chalkboard paint was also in there, it dried really fast, and feels REALLY durable.  Time will be the true test to it’s durability, but after waiting 24 hours for the paint to “cure” it was ready to get some hardware!

While I really admire the look of the traditional campaign pulls, most of them require you to bevel out an indent in the drawer so that it lays flush with the piece.

 – Move the chair into the seating area (ultimately replacing the wicker with something else)
 – Get rid of that awkward short table next to the TV
 – Replace the awkward table with a bar cart or wine bar
 – Move the desk next to the window
 – Get a standing lamp
 – Put two small x-benches where the desk used to be

Of course, I’ve since added to the list…
 – Hang two additional curtain panels on the center windows
 – Replace wicker chair (with a white slipper chair perhaps)
 – Replace black and white Ikea prints
 – Replace or revamp coffee table

I’m sure as I continue to make progress, the list will continue to grow, but at least I’ve made some headway!!