Furniture Redo's

Obviously I have been a very bad blogger the last six months.  As you all know, my first semester of college had me swamped.  

What you may or may not have known was that I was also very busy doing a whole lot of other things that I just never had time to sit down and blog about.

One of those things was redoing some furniture.  

I'm sure you remember the dated entertainment center I redid last summer.  From this:

To this:

The little table I bought for a $1.

To this:

But what I haven't shown you was a $5 chair I got from Goodwill last summer.  I don't have a before picture.  Not because I didn't take any, I know I did!  But because until recently I used to jump between 3 different computers, making my organization AWFUL!  

I'm sure you can image what the chair looked like.  Dated wood and super nasty navy blue fabric.

But it was not gross anymore after I spent a few days working on her!

I absolutely loved this chair!  I've had it in my living for months before I finally sold it on Craigslist the other day for....$35!

I wish you could see the distressing...it was by far my best to date.

I also redid this piano bench which I also bought at a garage sale for $1 last summer.

To this:

Oh yes my dear friends.....that is vintage key printed burlap!!!  GORGEOUS!  I got that at Joanne's with a coupon.  It's a little more expensive than plain burlap, but not much, and definitely worth the little extra money.

And the last one was the little footstool I picked up from another garage sale for $5.

To this:

I actually stenciled this key onto a swatch of drop cloth.  I got the image from Graphics Fairy.  Then I used my Cricut to cut out a stencil from cardstock and used fabric paint and a foam stencil brush to apply the paint.  It worked like a charm.

Just a few things I did in late summer/early fall.  :) 

Little Yellow Table

Months ago I picked up this little, extremely sturdy, plant stand/table at a yard sale.

As with all my projects, it sat in my garage for.ev.er before I got around to redoing it.

This is certainly not an overly spectacular piece of furniture, but I absolutely LOVE the color! (Strawflower...with a slight bit of distressing thanks to Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze.)  And it is one of my favorite redo's to date!

Tomorrow she is going to a new home (via Craig and his list)...which is a total bummer to me.  I really want to keep her.  But alas, the downside of a small home, I have no room for her. :(

Isn't she just precious?!?  

I know she is a "she" because she is so dainty and yet so strong...she could be nothing other than a "she".

And it's amazing how resourceful we can be when need be.  My little vase of "flowers" are actually weeds that are growing in the yard of the abandoned house behind mine.  And yet in a cute Goodwill vase, they look beautiful. 

Such a sweet little lady.

I adore her.

Entertainment Center Redo

Can I just say, this is a project that has been in the works for MONTHS!!

And I do literally mean months!  

It was still cold and possibly snow still on the ground when I bought this lovely 80's three piece entertainment center off Craigslist for $125.

Even though my house is small and I don't like clutter, I didn't have any display space either.  Nowhere to put my pretties.  Nowhere for the things I've collected over the years.  Nowhere I could change things up for my favorite seasons like Fall, Halloween and Christmas.   

I really wanted something that felt built in, but with the flexibility (meaning, nothing actually built in so when I change my mind 1000 times once in awhile, I'm not forced into anything because I do have some ever so slight tendencies to change my mind.) ;)

This is my beauty in her original state.

You can even see in the bottom right corner, I even had the huge 36", 500 lb, tube TV to go in it. 


Over the MONTHS that it sat in my living room, I slowly finished off a bookshelf.  Then a door.  Then MANY weeks later, another bookshelf, etc.  


The huge TV died shortly after I purchased this unit.  But luckily for me, I'm too poor to buy a big TV, so I got a flat screen that would fit inside.


Recently I finally got enough motivation to finish the middle piece!  


But I had a sudden epiphany!  With the whole upcoming foster care thing, I really felt like the computer should be in the living room so I could always monitor what was being looked at.


After moving every piece of furniture in the house around (that might be a slight exaggeration, but it felt like it) to get a feel for where to put the computer and the TV, that's where the epiphany came in.


I turned the center entertainment unit into a computer desk!!!

Yep!  I did!


And all by myself at that!  I'm pretty tickled with how it came out.


For now, I just have the leftover fabric from my no-sew curtains hanging on a tension rod to block all the "ugly stuff".  I plan to cut it to the right length and possibly add a ruffle to the bottom.  I don't know we'll see.

I did not have to buy a single thing to make the transition from entertainment center to desk.  I reused everything I could from the original unit.


I moved one of the shelves up to desk height...even using the cleats from the shelf.  And I used the molding from the bottom of the unit to cap off my desk front.

I painted it the same white as my kitchen cabinets and antiqued everything.


It was A LOT of work!  But it has so much function now and I just love that all the components are hidden and that my computer can be in the living room with style and without looking like an "office".

Now to find a chair...which will have the added bonus of extra seating in my living room!  :)

My Nemesis

Do you ever have a project that just kicks your butt every direction you turn? 

I have lovingly referred to this cabinet as the "Project from H E (double) L!!! ;)

I think it is the first furniture piece I have ever taken on.  But after seeing all the wonderful redo's in blogland, I decided I had to do it too!  You know how that goes. LOL

So it started with this $15 Craigslist find...LAST SUMMER!

Yes....I have been slowly redoing this cabinet for well over SIX MONTHS!!!  Maybe nine?

Now you know why I call it my nemesis!

Here she is before:

AWFUL!

It used to be an old bathroom cabinet.  It would have hung the other direction....like this:

Is it weird that turning the picture upside down like that makes me nauseous? LOL

Anywho....it had a crackle finish.  I 'think' some type of oil based paint.  And had painting on the back.

It was B.A.D.

The inside was covered with old contact paper.

And let me tell you....that stuff was STUCK!

So, as a furniture novice...first I removed the contact paper.  Which turned out to be a nightmare!  It was down so hard, I couldn't just pull it off.  I had to use wallpaper remover and a scraper!

I was frustrated before really even starting. 

So I let it sit awhile before coming back to it.

When I finally got up the nerve to revisit this project, I tried sanding it.

But I decided pretty quickly that I was going to need to strip it!  UGH! 

I wasn't sure what kind of effect that crackle and oil (I think) paint would have on my finished product and I sure didn't want to do all that work to paint it and have it messed up.  And sanding wasn't getting me anywhere fast.

So, I bought furniture stripper and went to town. 

Furniture stripper was actually pretty easy to use...but it took me several coats to get it acceptable.

So....I got frustrated....and it sat....again. LOL

Next, I decided spray paint was the way to go. 

Doodle's room needed more of the grayish blue color spread around, so I figured the cabinet would be a great way to do that.

Unfortunately, the color I 'thought' would work, turned out looking like 1985, let's add some ducks wallpaper!!!

Thoroughly FRUSTRATED.....yep......it sat for MONTHS!!!!

Then finally, as Doodle's room was coming together, I knew she was going to need that cabinet for storage.  So, I repainted it.  This time with a quart of paint I got at Lowe's, a close match to her throw pillow.

YES!!! 

Finally!!!

Something I was pleased with.

BUT.....I did NOT want to tackle stripping the doors!!!

So, it went in her room, without doors, for MONTHS. LOL

But, FINALLY, with my new found freedom, I got the gumption to finish the whole stinkin' thing!!  It moved to the top of my list very quickly. :)

And last week, with a huge sigh of relief (and possibly some dancing and whooping), I finished the cabinet that was once my nemesis!!!

And I am in LOVE!! :)

I added feet I got at Lowe's to the bottom of the cabinet to make it look more like it was meant to be standing on the floor and not hanging on a wall.

Of course I distressed it.

I was a bit overwhelmed when picking out the knobs.  So many things would have looked great on this cabinet.  But eventually I decided I wanted a somewhat vintage, but understated look for the cabinet.

I got the adorable knobs at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 (I think, they may have been $3.99 each).

And now Doodle has a ton of hidden storage for her books, movies and bead supplies!!

And most important of all.....I can finally mark this project off my list!!!  LOL

Staged, before I had to add all her tween girl stuff: ;)

And here with the stereo, her beloved shells, and collectible she loves. :)

I got the little lamp at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $10.  That place is so awesome.

I have a few more things to finish up in her room, but it is almost complete!!!

And I have some other functional ideas I used in her tiny 9x9 bedroom to show you soon! :)

(Check out the tab at the top of the page for the parties I attend and will be linking this project to.) :)