Renewed, Upcycled, Recycled , Cube Footstool

I can't even begin to tell you how long I've wanted to do this sort of project.

Let us hear the story of how it came to be...

 

So Derek and the two older boys went on a men & boys camping trip this last weekend.

Fun for them, fun for me.

Now those of you who have been around for a while will remember I have a third son.

My in laws (who are awesome btw) called and asked if they could keep him for the day.

I may have interrupted them before they finished asking with a hearty yes!

 

I love my kids.

I do.

But in the back of my mind I've been wishing for a trip to HomeGoods.

I wanted it to be the kind of trip that memories are made of.

But not the kind where memories must be paid for because they were accidentally broken.

 

I browsed through HomeGoods at my leisure.

I. looked. At. Everything.

Twice.

At the end of my browsing then I set one measly item on the counter and asked if they could mark it down even more for me since the lid was missing.

They did.

Nice people those HomeGooders.

I rushed home with my burn-your-eyeballs-pink-cube.

I yanked out my burlap coffee bag that I had been hoarding for just such a moment.

(Not sure who I was hoarding it from? Perhaps myself?)

I realized as I lovingly draped my coffee friend over the pink cube that the pink cube was still showing through.

I ran outside with my pink cube and quickly sprayed it down with some black spray paint.

Then I went to stapling....

 

 

 

The lid was next.

Not very exciting.

I cut.

I screwed my planks to another piece of wood.

I stained.

I stuffed.

I stapled.

I banged tacks around it. 

 

And I was happy.

Chair Renew- Fabric Painting

Don't drop your teeth.

Yes it's me.

Posting more than once in a weeks time.

Miracles (and sick kids) do happen.

 

You may remember about a year ago I picked up this little number from a local junk shop.

You can see the post about it here.

.

 

I did a semi-good job of disguising how dirty the fabric really was on the chair, despite my best scrubbing.

I had plans to paint the fabric, but I am anything but fast!

I've lost to the snail on many an occasion.

 

 

So yesterday I had three sick kids at home and needed something that was easy to do, not much mess and I could be right there with them.

Enter...

the chair.

 

Now let me make a few notes here if you plan on doing this kind of little redo.

 

1. Make sure you have a chair that has the kind of history where the only way to go is up.

2. Make sure you're not looking for perfection. (what's that?)

3. Make sure you don't want fuzzy soft fabric when you're done.

4. Make sure you're sure.

 

This is a simple easy peezy project that I didn't even take "how-to" pictures of.

You just need:

A spray bottle with water in it.

Acrylic paint (I mixed my own colors)

Water.

Paint brush.

Rag to keep things un-drippy.

And this:

 

Do I know if you could do it without Anita's Textile Medium?

No I do not.

I've only done this once and since I already had the medium then I thought I would throw it in.

You can throw it out and see what happens since you only spent pennies on the dirty chair that you're getting ready to paint too.

Right?

So I mixed up some paint, some medium and a fair amount of water.

I shook it.

Watched my arm flap.

Thought about working out.

Decide shaking the jar was a pretty good work out.

 

I sprayed the fabric till it was damp to the touch.

Dipped my brush in my concoction and gently applied,

I say gently cause I mean gently.

Don't go slopping it on like chili on a hot dog.

Use some grace.

Some finesse.

 

Do that all over and let it dry some.

Do it again if you see some spots you missed.

I did it about 3 times.

Making sure my fabric was damp each time.

 

 

You can see on the front of the chair that I should have gone back and done it a little more.

It actually doesn't show as much in real life though.

 

So the variations in fabric color and all that was actually like that before.

It is a velvet kind of material (a good one to paint).

So it changes when stroked in different directions.

 

It isn't hard or poky.

Just not soft and velvety either.

 

It isn't perfect.

Just perfect for me.

The snail.

With floppy arms....

 

I'm going to go work out now.

 

Hutch Redo - Before & After

 

Okay so you know those kind of projects that are going to be super simple and you'll have them done and posted to your blog in about 2 days.

 

Start to finish...

 

Or perhaps almost a year or so will go by.

 

I'm an awful procrastinator.

 

I actually bought this hutch in a package deal off of Craigslist.

I redid the desk here and then just stalled for a while.

 

This thing is oooollld!

And HEAVY!

It was also dog mess brown.

Excuse my language but it was that ugly.

 



So the first order of business was to remove all the doors.

The bottom two doors were really falling apart and wouldn't close without some serious pushing and pulling.

I decided to just "remake" them instead of trying to fix them.

I took them apart and and removed the middles from them.

I decided to just chicken wire the whole toot'n thing.

 

I finally reassembled it and painted it.

The colors are all custom mixed with various paints I had sitting around.

The inside is a grayish blue.

The outside is just a normal white

I use it to store all my sewing stuff in.

As I look at this photo then I consider the fact that I should have straightened it up a bit.

Anyway, it's old.

It's big.

It's staying.

For now... 

 

 

Old Dresser = Kitchen Island

Some very dear friends of mine got married last month.

As with most marriages, this one came with the expense privilege of furnishing a new home.

(actually an old one, but "new" to them)

I was lucky enough to throw a few ideas at them as they redid it.

I love throwing ideas at people.

Sometimes they splatter all over the place and it's just not cool.

Sometimes they turn out halfway decent.

 

Toward the end then Derek and I had the opportunity to make them a wedding present that we hope will earn us freee babysitting until our kids are in highschool.

You think I'm kidding.

I am.

Sorta.

No really I am.

 

sorry I didn't crop the photo. It slipped through before I got the chance. Plus you get to see that I live life on the edge with my "in the red" battery symbol. 

 

Pretty cool eh?

 

This is the dresser I found on Craigslist to do the job.

It needed a few fixes but they were all pretty easy.

The part that had me thinking for a few days was what to do to the back of it since it would be facing the living room and it's current face just wouldn't do at all!

Some people can go au'natural but some need a layer of makeup between them and the rest of the seeing population.

This one was no exception.

 

 

I actually enlisted Derek's help here.

He was kind enough to add some bead board to the back and trim it all out for me.

 

 

I removed the original top from it and got to work on a new one.

(the old top will be made into a sign at some point)

 

 

I used end glued wood from Lowes to do the job but since it wasn't wide enough then we cut the whole piece in half and attached them together in more of a square instead of a rectangle.

As you can see I just used some T brackets to do the job.

(two of them)

 

 

 

I custom matched the original paint by throwing some paint in a cup and continuing to throw some in until I got the right color.

It took a long time...

I like mixing my own paint though so that it's pretty much impossible to ever tell someone what the color is.

People love that.

If you really need to know though...

It's a creamy white color.

More creamy than white.

That help?

 

 

I wanted the distressing on the back to match the original, old chippy distress marks on the front.

So I painted them on:-)

I've done this a few times when I want a more chippy look.

It's not hard to do but you can either make it look authentic or really cheesy.

 I hope I got the authentic choice here...

 

 

Obviously I also added corbels for charm and support.

 

 

The kitchen still wasn't finished at this point so Curt

(the man of the new home)held up one of the cute little lights

(he custom spray painted) over the new island to give us a taste of what it would look like when all done.

 

 

I'll be sure to get updated photo's when the newlyweds come out of hiding and let me come stalk their house.

They did a TON of work to the place and I'm hoping they will let me show you some before and afters of it!

 

Meanwhile, go find yourself an old dresser.

You need a new kitchen island.

 

Bathroom Redo for Under $50!

Do you ever notice those billboards with the beautiful juicy looking steak with perfect grill marks on them, yet when you get to the restaurant the item on your plate resembles a chewed up, flattened hamburger patty that an anorexic dog wouldn't touch?

Anyway...

I get these visions of projects to do in my head sometime.

Beautiful.

Perfect grill marks.

Them we dive in and hope we'll have a juicy steak at the end...

BEFORE

I love it when your steak comes out perfect.

Maybe even better than expected.

All thanks to Derek on this one.

I told him my vision and he made it happen.

We were able to do about 75% off the planks with the leftover cuts from our living room redo.

The wood on the shelf was from the dumpster when my sisters house was built.

The paint was also from the living room redo.

It's Alabaster (color from sw) in Behr paint from HD.

The corbels are from HD.

They were our biggest expense.

Bringing our total redo cost to around $35-$40 buckaroos.

I'm cool with redo prices like that.

That's my idea of doing it cheaper;-)

The shower curtain is a drop cloth.

I decided to raise the shower curtain bar and that was the only fabric I had that was long enough to do the job.

I'm kinda diggn' it.

Now if only we could actually keep the bathroom door open to enjoy the view.

That must wait until our 1 year old learns that the toilet is not his own oversize sippy cup.

Set Yo-Self Here - A Chair Redo

I was meandering around town the other day when I spotted some junk.
I heard it calling my name.
I stopped.

This little chair cried out to me and as I glanced at it's price tag I knew it would be mine.

$3.95

 Just my price.

It did protest a little as I tried to smash it into the back of my van.

I should always keep the back of my van clear for furniture rescue missions such as this.

I took it home.

I didn't even go inside other than to retrieve my camera and painting supplies.

It was sunny and hot outside.

Perfect for painting a sloppy coat of paint.

I sanded and glazed it.

Settled it comfortably into its new home.

I photographed it and then quickly decided I needed to move it somewhere else.

That happens.

I am going to attempt something I have yet to try.
Paint the fabric on it.
It's actually not as stained as it appears in the pictures.
It is swine colored though.
I'm thinking a grayish, tan linen color.
What does thou thinkest?

Chippy Heaven {Before & After}

I have been rolling through the dresser options lately and finally (after weeks of searching) scored this dresser on CL for a great price.

(When I say great price then I mean less than $75)

I was happy to see that it was already painted an ugly copper color.

I hate painting an old piece of furniture when it is in perfectly good, unpainted condition.

I have been slow cheap about jumping on the bandwagon and trying out some of the new paints that everyone is loving.

I decided to go for the Old Fashioned Milk Paint that I had seen Marian from Miss Mustard Seed use.

I used the color Snow White.

I was very unsure of how it was going to work with the previous paint.

I sanded it up a little since the copper paint was super smooth and I knew this paint was not a paint that sticks really well.

Can I just say...

I fell in Milk Paint Love.

Achieving that very old, chippy look has been something I've worked towards for a long time.

Never could quite get it.

Milk Paint was my missing ingredient.

This paint has a mind of its own for sure.

It chips where it wants to.

Just like regular old paint would.

I used two different waxes to finish it off.

Minwax clear wax and Fiddes & Sons in Rugger Brown.

The hardware I removed and then painted with Caromal Colours since it gives a super hard finish that I knew would hold up well.

(I gently brushed the hardware with a little wax to add color when the paint had dried)

I found a local store that sells the Milk Paint.

I am super excited to try it out on some signs!

And I have just the right sign in mind...

Stay tuned.

(By the way, if you've been around here a while then you've heard me talk about Milk paint before, but I have always been referring to the COLOR Milk Paint that I like to use from Lowes. It is normal paint. The Paint I am referring to in this post is actual Milk Paint.)