Dresser Makeover

Here was a quick update I did to a dresser I found at Goodwill for $50. The dresser itself was solid wood. All the drawers worked great except for three that needed new drawer guides (which I bought at Home Depot for a couple dollars).

I took the drawers off, removed the hardware and sanded down the paint where the flowers were. I wanted a nice smooth surface. Then I took a tack cloth to remove any dust and gave them a nice even coat of aqua spray paint.

I decided to keep the rest of the dresser the original color. Besides a few dings and scratches the paint was fine. And truth be told, this dresser was going in my daughters' room. My kids aren't always easy on furniture anyway!

I decided to spray the hardware as well. I had Heirloom White on hand which matched the rest of the dresser so I just used that. I had just enough to do the job. Overall, I'm very pleased with the result! It was a very easy update and it made a huge difference! And my daughter loves having a bigger dresser for all her clothes.


Happy DIYing!

DIY Bamboo Skewer Mirror

I wanted a mirror to go above our fireplace mantle but didn't want to spend big bucks for one, either. It seems that the larger the mirror is the more money stores want for it, which I understand. But my thrifty self couldn't justify spending a couple hundred dollars just for a decorative mirror. Well I found a way to spend less than $20 to get a nice large mirror to fit my space nicely. Here's what you need:

-a small round mirror (I found mine at good ol' Walmart on clearance for $10)
-a few packs of bamboo skewers ($1 each from the Dollar Store)
-a wooden wreath frame (at Michaels for a few dollars)
-a glue gun and glue sticks (lots of glue sticks)
-a pack of D-ring hangers (not pictured)
-metallic paint of your choice (I started with craft paint, as pictured, but switched to spray paint--so much easier!)

This was pretty simple to construct. I first went through the skewers and threw out any that were too bent. They're so cheap it was no big deal. I then started gluing bamboo skewers all around the wooden ring (pointy side in) trying very carefully to keep them even and trying even more carefully not to burn my hands. They aren't perfectly even but in the end it looked fine.

Once you have them all glued down, it's as simple as gluing the skewer frame onto the back of the mirror making sure it's centered. Then just tape off the mirror, paint to your heart's desire and add the D-rings onto the back. I know I don't have pictures of the rest of this process but it really is pretty self-explanatory. The key is lots of hot glue. You want to make sure the skewers are securely attached to your mirror. The D-rings can just screw right into the bamboo-wooden frame part. And that's it!

You can see how the original mirror on it's own would have been much too small for the space. The bamboo skewers add just enough to the diameter to make it fit perfectly. And having it all painted in a metallic finish makes it looks like one very nice (and expensive) mirror for less than $20! What other things could you substitute for the skewers to have a similar effect?

I'm sure the possibilities are endless!

Happy crafting!

Master Bedroom Nightstand Redo

Good things come to those who wait. And I've been waiting for a long time for a matching set of nightstands for our bedroom. In all the years we've been married, we've never had a matching set, actually. The past few months I've been searching craigslist and thrift stores for the perfect pair. Well, it's surprisingly difficult to find a matching set. There are tons of single nightstands out there, but matching ones? Not so much.

Well, my luck turned around when I found these glorious, hunter green, log cabin-style nightstands. Beautiful, right? They were solid wood and had minor dents and scratches. Did I mention they were solid wood? The drawers were also in good shape (nothing wonky or wobbly). And the best part? They were only $20 each. Yup. They just needed to be made pretty.

I don't have any pictures of the process, but it's pretty easy (you just need to be patient and wait the recommended time between coats of paint, stain and finish). I used wood putty on any dents and then sanded the whole piece. I completely removed the finish and stain on the top portion and just roughed up the rest. I added some trim to the drawers that was left behind by the previous owners of our house (thank you previous owners!).  I filled in any cracks or nail holes with painter's caulk. I used Rustoleum's Heirloom White on the body, and Dark Walnut stain on the top. After a few coats of Polyurethane, they're good to go. I also lightly sanded inbetween coats of paint, stain, and Poly to get a nice smooth finish. I bought simple oil rubbed bronze pulls to replace the old wooden ones. Now I just need to move them into their new home: my bedroom!

Happy thrifting and DIYing!

Clear Glass Lamp Redo

I am so thrilled to share my latest thrift store find. This lovely pair of glass lamps were definitely from another decade. But I took one look at them and knew they could easily be updated and be really chic. In fact, I quickly grabbed them off the shelf at Goodwill before anyone else had any ideas. These lamps were MINE!

They had a thin film of amber-colored glass glaze that was flaking off. So I used a razor blade to scrape it all off the glass so they were completely clear.

Better already, right?

Then I took out the old wiring (I was worried about them being a fire hazard) and replaced them with new cords. I also spray painted the bases and all the metal pieces with a Rustoleum Satin Nickel spray paint. After reassembling I just popped on a new shade and BAM!

Gorgeous.

Can you believe that these lamps were only $10 a piece? Add another $11 for each lamp kit and $15 for the shade and you have a grand total of = $36 per lamp!! That's a lot easier on the wallet than this one from Pottery Barn for $199...

(image source)

And that's just for the lamp base, folks.

Happy thrifting!

Revamped Lamp!

I had a lamp that was kind of blah. I wanted a new lamp for my desk--something with a bit more color and pizazz. So instead of spending a bundle on a nice new lamp, I decided to revamp the one I already had.

Here's my lamp. Boring. Blah. Uninteresting. The lampshade doesn't even fit in porportion to the lamp. It's in need of a revamp.

So with a little help from my friends Rust-oleum, Design Master, and Krylon...

I taped off (and no, I'm not advertising for Target...but yes, I really love to shop there!)...

And primed, painted, and finished...

And a $10 lampshade from Walmart with a little bit of $1 ribbon from Michael's later...
I now have this.

Ahhhhhh. Much better! Now if I could just give my desk a revamp. Sigh. Another project for another day.
Here's the before and after.

Happy DIY-ing!

 

Two-tiered Yellow Skirt

I found a top at Goodwill that was made from a fun yellow floral.  I didn't like it as a top (not to mention it was an extra large) so I turned it into a skirt.
See all this yummy yellow goodness?

I took it apart and put it back together by adding another layer of white fabric underneath.  It needed to be lined anyway plus I wanted it longer. The felt flower is one I made awhile back and is just pinned onto the sash part of the skirt.  I can easily remove it if my mood calls for more simplicity. (I happen to really like adding a flower to my outfits though!)

 I also added a little bit of elastic in the back to make it easier to put on.  I love it!

I know summer's almost over, but yellow makes me happy.  So I will definitely be sporting my sunny yellow two-tiered skirt well into the cold season. :o)

By the way, my eight-year-old daughter took all the pics of me.  A photographer in the making perhaps?

Happy sewing!

Footstool Makeover

Over the summer the kids and I made the long 900 mile drive up to Oregon so we could visit my family.  While there I took advantage of the numerous thrift stores available to those lucky Oregonians (it really isn't fair--I have one measly little Goodwill down here.) Anyway, I found this footstool at a thrift store for $3.99 and thought it had good photo prop potential.  So I happily paid for it and packed it away in the van for the drive back home.

I finally got around to transforming this ugly duckling of a footstool the other day.  I made a fun discovery while taking apart the seat portion.  It was padded with shreds and shreds of old newspaper from the 1950s!  How cool is that?  I got to try and piece together little advertisements like "gloves for $0.77" and "plaid shirts for $1.34". My favorite one was for "Rayve" permanent for your hair.  The movie show times were fun to look at... although the only movie I recognized was Disney's "Treasure Island".

Anyway, back to the footstool. I took it apart then sanded and painted the wood frame.  I decided to give it a distressed look.  Then I recovered the seat with some Amy Butler lovliness.  This is from the Midwest Modern collection.  Love her fabrics.

Using the staple gun made this a breeze.  Then attach the seat back onto the frame with screws and DONE!

This one really was easy peasy pie.

And guess who uses it to reach the play kitchen?

She loves being able to reach the sink and stove now.

Here's one last before and after!

Happy crafting!

Pillowcase Dress from a Woman's Blouse

I thrifted this woman's blouse for about $3.50. It didn't fit me but I loved the fabric and the colors (red and grey are one of my favorite color combinations). And I loved the pleated detail on the front. I bought it thinking I would cut it up to make a skirt for Olivia but changed my mind. I decided to make a simple pillowcase dress instead.

Here's the before and after.

Coincidentally, that little flower clip she's wearing, that just so happens to match this new little dress perfectly and that had been in my Etsy shop for months with no interest was purchased the same day I finished the dress. :o)  Oh well!

To see the a tutorial on how I made it, go here!
Happy sewing!

Refinished TV Stand

Several months back we started shopping around for a TV stand.  We had some money set aside as "fun money" to buy a new TV but we didn't have anything to put it on.  I don't know if you've shopped around lately for entertainment centers but most pieces that were reasonable in price were not even solid wood!  To get solid wood, you were looking at spending hundreds of dollars.  So we started checking craigslist.  We came across an old mid-century dresser for $100.  It had good bones and it was solid wood.  The finish was old but we had planned on refinishing whatever we found anyway. 

So we got to work. 

Here's what the old finish looked like (you can see I already started sanding the side).

This is after it was completely sanded.  Sanding is a lot of work, by the way (even with a power sander).

Here it is after the stain was applied.  Staining is a lot of work, too, ha ha!  There were some areas that the stain didn't want to "stick" to as well.  It just gives it a slightly distressed look which I love.

After the stain we applied three clear coats of polyurethane and then all the hardware!

And here it is in the living room with our new TV.

It holds all of our DVDs.  In fact, we have plenty of room to spare.  The drawers are deep enough to hold two rows of DVDs.

Scriptures go here...

Remotes go here...

Video games systems here...

And video games in here...

And lastly, we removed the drawer that goes here and converted it into an open shelf for our DISH receiver.  Our DVD player doesn't fit in there but it's so slim that we just set it on top by the TV. 

Overall, we're really happy with the way it turned out.  It was a lot of work but worth it.  We ended up spending about $150 total (that includes the price of the dresser, all new hardware, stain and supplies.)  We saved hundreds by doing it ourselves!  So next time you're thinking of buying new, consider buying old instead! It's a bit more work but very satisfying.  

Happy DIYing!