Hi there, My Way Home readers! I’m Diane from In My Own Style, a blog where I write about all things creative, colorful, and DIY. My background in display introduced me to the wonderful world of DIY decorating and design. When my husband and I bought our first house, we didn’t have a big budget so I used tricks I’d learned over the years. My blog is where I continue to share budget-friendly decorating ideas. With a bit of ingenuity and resourcefulness, I think anyone can create a home they love.

I can’t pass up pretty and stylish things and have amassed quite a lot of decorative items and furnishings over the years because of this trait. As trends come and go, I have gotten rid of many things, but I focused on saving the sturdy and classically-designed items in my basement for my daughters to use someday when they move out and into a place of their own. Well, that day has finally come.

My oldest is off to medical school and is renting a house with two other students. They are on a tight budget and needed lots of items to furnish the house. I was so happy I saved the hodgepodge of furnishings as I knew with a bit of vision, some elbow grease, and paint I could transform them into stylish pieces that they would love.

My daughter shopped the basement. She chose the pieces she wanted and I got to work with my paint, rollers, and brushes.

Photo Credit: In My Own Style

She loves vivid and bright colors and I helped her choose a color scheme of turquoise, navy, and lime green for two of the rooms in her new place. The pillows in the first photo are for her bedroom.

One of the items she chose to furnish the dining room was this set of chairs.

Photo Credit: In My Own Style

I used a Valspar glossy spray paint in Exotic Sea and moved them outside to get down to business. The seats were in good condition so I masked them out with painters tape and newspaper, and placed them on a big plastic drop cloth before I began.

Photo Credit: <a href=”http://inmyownstyle.com/” target=”_blank”>In My Own Style</a>

Since the chairs were previously painted I didn’t need to prime, so I simply roughed the surface of each with sandpaper and then cleaned them off with a tack cloth.  After multiple coats, I ended up using about one can of spray paint for each chair to completely cover the white.

Photo Credit: In My Own Style

To complement the chairs, my daughter chose a table my husband and I had acquired when we were first married. I had stenciled in the ’90s with vines and grapes…that was the “in” thing. To make the table even more functional I found a Lazy Susan at a thrift store and painted it so it would look like it was part of the table when both were painted the same color.

Photo Credit: In My Own Style

After: Very simple, yet modern looking furniture for my daughter’s dining room – thanks to the power of paint.

Photo Credit: In My Own Style

My daughter and her housemates can now call this house their warm and loving home and I can use my basement for something other than storing unused furniture. WIN/WIN decorating for both of us.

My best,

Diane

Finder's Keepers

A bright and cheery area rug under a table or grouping of furniture will provide a colorful focal point to a room.

Dinnerware that makes entertaining FUN!

Prest-O-change-O: Instant way to add a pop of color to a wood chair.

Easy and festive way to make a simple table setting go from boring to WOW!

Elegant, yet no fuss vases that only require one or two flowers to look pretty.