Sideboard Refurbish- a Long Time Coming.

I have been working on...

or meaning to work on this sideboard since November.

It sat in the basement for a while. Meanwhile we actually finished the basement and she took up residence in the garage, and my husband had to park in the driveway.

And that is a sad state of affairs at our house because it is a pet peeve of our household when people can't manage to park their cars in their garage.

She finally got finished up last week.

Here is what she looked like when I got her.

I found her at the local thrift store where they were asking $100. I talked them down to $80 seeing as how somebody had cruely cut off two of her feet.

After lots of clean up, putty and sanding, the top was taped off and got four coats of stain.

It could not have turned out prettier, and I almost wished I would have stained the whole thing.

Though I doubt those beat up legs could have ever come out so smoothly.

The majority of the piece got high gloss Behr Creamy White paint left over from trim painted in the basement. I know some funky emerald green paint would have made people swoon, but I wanted it to be classic and I didn't want to have to repaint it in a year or two when trends change.

Because it took hours and hours and hours to paint.

HOURS.

Even my husband pitched in to help, as his 8 month pregnant wife while sat on the cement garage floor trying to finish the project.

I tried to cover the piece in KILZ first but it did nothing for it.

I ended up having to paint and sand and paint again five or six coats of the white paint.

The handles were spray painted rustoleum hammered metal.

again- before

After.

You could call this another before picture as well. This was the old tv stand, with the old tv.
Though the black stand had been functional and well enough looking for the past 8 years, I am not sure Shopko furniture is meant to be used that long. I actually took it to Savers to try to donate it and they wouldn't take it. Sad sad sad.

Thrifty Find- Sideboard

 Last weekend my husband was packing for another camp out with the scout troop.  Packing his sleeping bag, extra clothes, the food I had purchased for them at Coscto... and my nice pots.  This happens often, and sometimes I end up not getting them back.  So together we decided I would run to the Catholic Thrift Store to see if I could round up some for them to have permanently.  I didn't find any.
But I did find this.
$100 and I couldn't convince myself to buy it.
I thought about it all night long.
And then I was in line before the Catholic Thrift Store even opened for the 1st time in my life hoping it was still there the next morning.
And it was.
I sat there for a second, noticed more flaws then I had remembered, contemplated how I would get it home, then offered $80.
And they went for it.
 

 She needs some work no doubt.

 Somebody cut off two of her feet even.  Who does that?

But I think she will clean up very nicely.
I think some walnut stain on top, hammered bronze spray to the pulls and creamy white to the body perhaps glazed over and distressed a bit.
But I am not sold on that if you have any better ideas?
She is too large to just stay all wood stain I think.

I have searched high and low but have only been able to find the stamp "buffet no. 98" across the back.
I want to know more about her.  Does anyone have any ideas?

$1 Project- Modern Lodge Art

I have been working on a few pieces for my bedroom.

I found these at the Deseret Industries.  $1 for one and .75c for the other.  Go figure.

Some antique white spray paint over the frames.
Some avocado spray paint over the red velvet mats- which turned them brown.
Some deer silhouettes made by the help of google images and photoshop.

I found this mirrored vanity tray for $1 at Deseret Industries as well.  It was bronze and got the same spray paint treatment as the frames.  It helped complete the set.

linking up

$1 Project- Graphic Soap Dispensers

Cute soap don't you think?
I found these white ceramic soap dispensers at the Dollar Store the other day.
When I bought them I thought I might just fill them with soap and place them in both the upstairs bathrooms where we just have the plastic one use (but I keep refilling them anyway) kind.

Then I thought I should give them a bit of personality.

What you will need-
Foam brush
Mod Podge
Scissors
Soap Dispenser
Graphic-  I made mine in about 1 minute on Photoshop.

What do do-
1. Create and Print Graphic.
2. Cut out graphic.
3. Mod Podge graphic onto soap dispenser.

Yup that is it.
I am a bit worried they might not hold up to tons of water, but if they look horrible in 6 months or so, I can always make more again for $1 each.

I went with a hand washing graphic in blue for the kid's bathroom-  they could use the extra instruction, and for our bathroom the roman numeral four- for the four of us.

Bathroom Makeover

This was my half bathroom before.
The only bathroom on the main floor.
The most used bathroom and the only one people not living in the house ever use.
The biggest eye sore of the entire house.

Nothing was liked about it except for the tile floor which we installed last spring.  Not the builder block oak cabinets, laminate counter and  boring mirror.  Not the fact that it had silver fixtures when the rest of the house has that hideous brass  nor the fact it was so very  off white all over.

That is much better.

Another before.  Like is usually looks, with a toddler's pull-ups filling the trash.  I did not intentionally make it look worse by leaving the toilet paper rack bare.  It just happened to be that way. ha!

 After.  It feels funny taking pictures of a toilet.
This is the truest photo in regards to the paint color.

What we did
Re enamel counter tops in better color
Replace faucet, towel ring, and TP holder
Paint cabinet high gloss white
Give cabinet handles
Replace mirror and repair wall behind mirror
Paint trim in new high gloss white
Paint walls so they were not white.
Paint accessorize to match

The details.

1/4 gallon Behr High Gloss in Creamy White. $7.24
1 gallon Behr Semi-Gloss in Garden Wall.  $23.47
1 can antique white spray paint for accesorys. $3.44
9 foam brushes and one roller  $10.94
Oil Rubbed TP holder  $9.99 on Amazon
Oil Rubbed Towel Ring  $8.99 on Amazon
Oil Rubbed Faucet  $58.23  new on Ebay
Counter Top Enamel Paint in Cobblestone $19.48
Cabinet Handles   $0  Left over from Kitchen.
New Mirror  $25 (I bought a mirror at TJ Max, that was a better color but a bit smaller.  I told my Mom and she said she would trade me this mirror that was on her dresser for my mirror I had purchased for the bathroom.  Hers was taller, and I kind of like that it doesn't match perfectly)


Total 166.78

A close-up of what is one the wall.    I sprayed this white so that it added some light to the room.

Let me say that this took 10 days to complete.

We ripped everything out, and decided to start with the counter top.  We wanted to try to apply new enamel to change the color. But if it didn't work we were willing to buy a new counter for the space.  It did work out eventually.I put the 1st coat of enamel on using a sponge brush and fine roller.  It went on too thick, it was heavy and started to sluff off the vertical surfaces.  I started to cry out of frustration.  Jake came, sanded it down  and fixed it.  Sounds about like every project I start.  Then it had to dry for three days before we could do anything else in the bathroom.

Another thing we found out about re finishing this room was that it was too small for both of us to work in at the same time. It was actually hard for me to paint just by myself because the room is too small to really fit a ladder in because it is an L shape.  I kept bumping into the walls and would have to touch up the wall over and over again.

The hardest part of the whole thing though was patching up the holes in the sheet rock that bringing down the old mirror caused.  It was industrial strength glued on there.  When we tore it off  we also tore off tons of the wall.

Like when we finish all home projects I am glad it is done, happy with the results, but not sure it was worth all that work and stress.
Also it is a little sad that a bathroom is now the nicest room in the house.

linking up

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

F is For...

This is a picture of some garage sale items I picked up for .50c to $1 back in May.
I had hoped with batteries the clock would work again. But it did not.
So it got a makeover.

A little white spray paint.
A little personalized Photoshop word play.
And ta-da.
Well I like her, especially seeing as how she was $1.

Finally A Chair

I mentioned once how I found this guy for $3 here and showed you some of my progress.

   

Did I show you this seal that leads me to believe my chair to have been born sometime between 1857 - 1957.

I had given up for a while on her because when she was finished I put some varnish on... it was old varnish... and it ruined the stain on the seat.  I had to start over.  I had to re-sand and stain the entire seat- which is not hard, but takes days of drying and re staining.  There was one point when I was not sure the $3 chair deserved all the work I was putting into restoring it.   But I am glad I came back to the project and finished her.  Next up.... the desk to match.

Desk Chair in Progress

I found this baby for $3 at a church rummage sale.
Sadly I was told it had three siblings- and they had all been sold just moments ago.
Who buys three chairs of a set of four?

She was rough.
Somebody had tried to rid her of all her turquoise beauty with paint stripper... it was not a success.
But she was sturdy.
And I liked her roundness.

I used her as a chair for my little studio for a while.
Just the way she was... with all that character.

But then it was time for her to move inside to replace the broken neon green plastic folding chair I bought at Wal-Mart almost 8 years ago.

She was sanded down within minutes with a power sander.

The plan:
Glossy white with a dark walnut seat.

Here she is without the stain and just the white.
I was tempted to just put some finish on that natural wood and call it good.
She had already come so far.

but she is not done yet.
Stay tuned for her big reveal.

Upcycled Cake Plate

Remember these items I purchase for $4.00 at the thrift store the other day?

Now they have been fused together to create a one of a kind vintage style dessert platter.
I needed another dessert platter.
I need lots of dessert platters.
I love pretty desserts.
I only wish I had glass cabinets to display my cake plate.
Then I would make a lot more of them.
I will likely make a lot more of them anyways.

Epoxy glue is recommended to adhere this sort of thing,
but my sister told me she just uses hot glue and has never had any trouble so long as she only washes her plates by hand.
So that is what I did too.
I just put a ring of hot glue on the candlestick, centered and pressed the plate on top, let dry and then adorned with a cake.