It all started with a table...just a battered and scarred and water stained little end table, that had originally come from my parents home. This little table had been used in a cabin and gotten a little beat up. Then, the table ended up in our son's room and got a little more worn out. I decided to try using chalk paint to give it some new life, after seeing some stools that my friend, Pam, had painted. In fact, she even gave me a little left over paint and wax from her latest project to try...so now I had no excuse! The photo above has a coat of paint on it...I neglected to take a "before" shot...the table truly was so sad looking.

After two coats of paint, I decided to sand a bit of the paint off to reveal some of the little detailed scrolling and rope trim pattern around the top.

And then came the wax application...something I had never done before. Pam walked me through it on the phone and I did it. The whole process was actually pretty easy...much simpler than using verathane on stained wood.

I must admit...it's not perfect and has several little imperfections, but I think they just give it character. The little end table has been around for a while, after all. I was happy with it. Once I put the table back in my son's bedroom, I realized there was a little work to do.

You see, when we moved in two years ago, this bedroom was one of two bedrooms in the house that had beautiful, original, wide tongue and groove painted boards on the walls. I love this look! All I had to do was come up with a color scheme. We have a lot of grey days here in the Pacific Northwest, so normally I am not a huge fan of grey rooms. I had seen these grey and ivory striped curtain panels used in a nursery, however, and just fell in love with them. Since the walls would still be light and bright, I decided to purchase these Alston curtains from Crate and Barrel . Then, I looked for bedding and found this Barbara Barry comforter and shams on sale at Macys. Though they are not technically grey, more taupe really, they seemed to work just fine with the curtains.

So now I had curtains and a bedding...no head board though. Walking through Pier 1, I spotted this linen covered head board, again on sale, and brought it home. I already had an antique dresser I planned to use, so all I needed was some sort of chair. I think every bedroom should have a chair, so you can sit down to pull off boots...lay out your clothes for the next day...you get the picture. One night we were shopping at Costco, and there it was...the perfect chair for this room, in neutral tones with grey piping. You never know what you will find at Costco! I added a couple pops of color in turquoise, and that was it.

So this bedroom served as guest room and happily hosted several visitors, until our younger son returned from his year of adventure...living in Hawaii. This room became his bedroom.

Now I love my son dearly, but he has lots of stuff! He plays multiple sports so the sports paraphernalia and clothing take up a lot of space...baseball, basketball, indoor arena football, wakeboarding, snowboarding...you get the picture. Each of these require different shoes or boots, in addition to the normal work/play attire. Suffice it to say, that he had more stuff than the small closet could handle and so it tended to overflow into the room...a room I simply chose to avoid.

I know, I know...there may be some of you out there with younger children or even no children left at home that are thinking..."Well, you just need to teach him to be more organized!" And, you may be right. However, I have learned to choose my battles and this was one I chose not to fight. That's all I'm going to say.

Our son moved out in September to return to college in Seattle and left a few items behind. Can you believe it? I'm sure he simply wanted to leave me a little remembrance of himself when I walked by...don't you think? That's what I'm choosing to believe. Well, yesterday I walked by his room and decided it was time...time to restore the room to it's former glory.

After about an hour of sorting and organizing, I stripped the bed, washed the sheets, and fixed his room up a little. It felt so good to have the room ready for guests again...or our son, if he chooses to come home for a night. And my little table, that inspired me to restore the room to order, was quite happily nestled back into it's little corner once again. My touch of grey room is ready for you, so come be our guest! If you prefer, you could stay in our Norwegian room or the Nautical room...your choice!