I love a quick and easy furniture DIY, don’t you?  I made a few little updates that made a big difference prior to our home being photographed for The Everymom, so I thought I’d share some before and after photos with you today.

All (of the good “after” ) photos were taken by Stephanie H. Photography for the home tour.  Aerial canvas photo below was taken by my friend Kait Hanson.

3 Easy Furniture DIYs

Painted Bamboo Ladder

First up is this old bamboo ladder.  I bought it on Facebook Marketplace recently (I was actually picking something else up and this caught my eye and it was available) but the blah natural yellow color contributed absolutely nothing to the room.  I paid $40 for it.

I knew that it should be used in this really important yet difficult to fill space (the small wall right as you walk into our bedroom) so something had to be done…and fast!  I thought about painting it just on the lower half, like this cute teak ladder from Serena and Lily but then changed my mind because earlier that day I’d seen these ladders at SoHa Living at Ka Makana Ali’i (one of my favorite shops on Oahu) and I liked how they looked a bit like driftwood.

I ran to Home Depot and decided it was finally time to try my hand at chalk paint.  I’d never used it before because I typically like the shinier finish of glossy spray paint, but because I’m pregnant, we don’t have any real room to do spray paint projects here, and I didn’t want to sand it, I decided a can of chalk paint was the best option.  And oh my goodness it made such a big difference!  I think it looks a bit white-washed, which is nice and beachy so it fits perfectly in our home.  I used a can of Rustoleum Chalked in Linen White with a synthetic brush.  It’s definitely stark white and matte but I like it a lot!

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It took 2 or 3 coats to provide full coverage, but it was super easy and I just painted it on some cardboard in our kitchen after the kids went to bed…the day before we took our home tour pictures.  I’m obsessed!  And it’s nice and practical too!

Painted Faux Bamboo Side Table

Next up was this vintage faux bamboo side table that I’ve had for YEARS and for some reason have never done anything with.  It’s actually part of a pair of nesting tables (this is the smaller one) and I still need to get around to the larger one that currently lives in the garage.  I like the look of brown wood on true antiques or when it’s natural wood, but this color of brown just looked dated so it needed to go.

I decided to use the same chalk paint that I used on the ladder (no sanding or anything, just wiped it down with a wet cloth first) and after 3 coats it was the perfect little table to place in between Jack and Caroline’s rooms, under our family gallery wall.  (I love having a table here because I place clean clothes on it when I don’t have time to put them away or if they’re napping.)

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Faux Bamboo Dresser Hardware Update

Ok so I have a full blog post on the transition of this thrifted piece of furniture, and you can find that here.  However, I put off replacing the majority of the hardware until now.  Here is what the dresser looked like when I found it at a thrift store in Maryland a few years ago:

Then I painted it when we lived in Kansas (full tutorial here) but replaced only the missing hardware and put them all on top.  The new paint made all the difference and it looked great for a while…

until the top knobs broke off because they were super fragile and cheap (hobby lobby).  So this is what it has looked like for about 2 years because I’ve been too lazy to replace the hardware:

I ordered all new hardware this time, and I went with Plain Ring Pulls from Lee Valley Tools (burnished bronze in size 57mm x 49mm).  They were super affordable, at $4.95 a piece and I love that the gold finish really pops now.  Look at the transformation!

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All of the pulls work well now and they’re nice and secure too!  (I did have to replace the screws with something a little longer because the wood was a bit too thick/the screws that came with the hardware were too short.)

So what do you think?  I think these 3 easy changes made such a big impact and I’m so glad I finally tackled these lingering projects!