Country kitchen to pinterest pretty!

My besty who shalln't remain nameless... Shalln't shorn't Rachel Smith from shoptrendyties.com had a solid country style table. She has had this for about 5 years now and it was a hand-me-down back then. There is nothing wrong with this table structurally or functionally, but cosmetically it needed a little work. So that's exactly what we did. I was visiting her and she showed me what she wanted on pinterest. I'm trying to learn all about the thing but still using the old interface on blogger so I doubt I'll be successful, anyways we headed off to the home depot and we were on a mission! We started this project around noon one day and it would have been done that very night if it weren't for those pesky kids and their snooping dog, wait nope that's not quite what happened. Actually the pesky kids thing is somewhat true, but we had other obligations. It was finished the next day by Rachel and it turned out Mind boggling beautiful, tastefull and terriffic!
As for the tutorial I'll give it quickly, but if you want a full detailed one just ask in the comment bar and leave your email and I  will give you the full rundown!

We completely sanded the top of each surface, chairs bench and table top.  Then we used a walnut stain.  We didn't even sand the legs we just painted them this pretty turquoise color.  Then we sanded the legs down past the black underneath paint and added the same walnut stain.  Then put a glaze on the blue and a polyurithane coat on the stain!

Addressed!

Yes this dresser was old school, plain, cliche of a boys room in the 80's, but I loved it. I was excited to work with this. I've been craving (I know crave is a weird word for redoing furniture) anywhoo I can only speak the truth and I truly was craving to work with planked wood like this. Why? Well if it isn't obvious why, then I'll tell ya, it's because there is something so planky about it. No really it's just very natural and old fashioned. It's fun to re-invent furniture and give it a new life, but sometimes just sometimes it's fun to restore furniture instead of of redoing it. Now I know it's original life wasn't completely the same but just painting the wood and staining the planks felt like it was suppose to be this way instead of giving it a new life altogether. Am I rambling? Oh well NOBODY EVER comments on this blog anyways, so it's sort of like I'm talking to myself..... Maybe I'll make a comment, then it will be like I'm not only talking to myself but now I'm answering myself too!

What is black and White and you can sit down on it?

My next post.... okay very lame, but true. These sad and extremely weathered chairs were destined for the dump but all they needed was a little remix and imagination and they are now ready for a photoshoot!

The chairs seemed like they had been outside in the weather for a while I wasn't sure if the wood was rotted but at 6 bucks a chair I figured I could take a chance. When I got them home my husband was (as usual) a doubting debbi, but as soon as we got the sandpaper on these bad boys we saw that the wood was actually really good and sturdy. Remember y.ou can NEVER go wrong with black and white. In selling furniture that is the #1 thing I have learned. Black and White however boring or usual it is WILL SELL!!!! I have redone masterful, unique, playful, beautiful and fun chairs... I love them and so does everyone else but most of us are too afraid of those adjectives. We tend to stick with the "status quo" whatever is safest. I went out on a limb with these and chose a zebra print. I think it makes the chairs a little more daring! They have since found a new home and what was once junk is now a jump up to fabulous!

This little lamp of mine!!!

This plain old boring lamp once sat on the shelf of a thrift store.  I noticed it's condition and thought hmmm, not bad.  Then when I looked inside and saw that there was a lightbulb with it and that the price tag was 3$ I thought... "Yes, I will buy you, I will paint you, and clothe you and you will be happy" 

So that's exactly what I did.  A can of spray paint from the Home Depot, some leftover scrap fabric, a hot glue gun and some patience and this is ready for a botique!~

FROM ANTIQUE 2 SHEEK

1989 Called and they said this was ugly even back then!

Now that's just mean. I'm sure in some office in some walk of life at some point this was the MAC DADDY of office waiting room chairs. I'm just sure of it. But because of their obvious hideousness I got them for 4$ a piece... not bad for real wood and soft cushions. So I sanded down the chair recovered the seat and now it's like modern and fashionable and all around fantastic! I love love this makeover!!! By the way the tag on the bottom that you're suppose to leave on or else you'll go to jail.. ya that one, well somebody took that pretty seriously because the original tag was on i and it said June 1989... So I thought it would be fun to see what was happening in 1989
Well Reagen was president (ah the good ol' days) Kelly and Zack were being broken up by A.C. Slater, The Berlin wall was coming down, Hurricane Hugo (which I lived through) hit Charleston S.C. as cat 4, New Kids on the Block were hotter than Katy Perry or Beyonce and apparently this chair was an asset in any up and coming office place. Go figure

"If it aint broke....you can still fix it"

So I'm visiting my old stomping grounds in South Carolina. My mom's house is chuck full of lovely cherry wood furniture. It's everywhere. So as I walked around the house in each room I asked her what I could refinish or what needed refinishing. She told me that one of the chairs could use a re-do. She told me that she was replacing this pretty piece of furniture. I have never refinished anything that wasn't trashed!!!! So I actually felt a little weird hauling this outside and sanding it down when it was a perfectly pretty shinning cherry finish wood... even more so while all the kids were swimming in the pool next to me. I went for it anyways. I decided to sand down the whole thing and paint the base white and adding a WALNUT stain to age the legs and also that same walnut stain on the top of the sofa table! How do you think it turned out???

So fun I was very happy with the way it turned out. My mama loves it too but I'm probably going to sell it on craigslist since as previously mentioned EVERYTHING in the house is cherry wood and this beachy, antiquey, cottagey piece doesn't quite match anything!

Gettin' Trashy!!

SSo I bought a trash can at the thrift store... I've never done that before and my husband was seriously considering taking away my shopping priviledges. However I thought maybe I would use it as a hamper. I've decided that it'll be my outside trash can. I know I know. That's lame, but I made it girly and it just doesn't go in the boy's room as a hamper. Dang it I'm wishing I had done it boyish. Oh well moving on....

So here she is all dressed up with no where to go but the garage!! It was a rainy day when I was painting this one and I just had some fun with it!

I bought oops paint at the Home Depot for 50 cents and used a stencil I got at Michaels. This probably took me a total of 45 minutes. So easy so cheap... wait all of those words sound "trashy" oh well ALL true ;)

Just messin around

I bought this first as my very first project. What was I going to do with it? Absolutely no idea. What was it's previous purpose? Uh no clue. How did hubby feel about it? That I do know. He thought it was hideous ridiculous odd and useless. So I put it in the corner of my garage for a solid 4 months that is until I got super bored the other day and made it into.... drum roll please. prpprprrrprprpr (that's the sound a drum roll makes)
And now it's a little bookcase/organizer for my little boys room. It cost me 6 dollars and although it may not be featured in a marth stewart magazine it is featured in their room and I love it.. That's all that really matters anyways right?

I lightly sanded the bookcase then painted the whole thing this Jade color and then using painters tape taped off one stripe from end to end and painted it white. Simply, tasteful and fun!

Best Dinette I've ever loved!!!!

Sweet deal on this classic round table. Real wood only cost me 5.60.

This ugly chair had a twin, honestly I didn't even see the potential in it but I figured it could be of some use sometime. I had another set of chairs but sadly I cannot get the before uploaded.

With a little imagination and some paint and fabric this has become dare I say my most favorite transformation. This again was kind of insprired by my husband. He is really getting an eye for design I don't know if he would like to admit that but he doesn't mind cashing the checks from selling these. The fabric was from Joanne's and the yellow paint was Bher Solar Fusion and the red was ummm like cherry red or something from Bher, the brown on the table was from Walmart and is called Decadent. I used a gloss and then we brushed on a mini-wax. This is so fun and cute and I envision it in somebody's home making them happy everytime they see it.

15 dollar boring coffe table

Now one of my very favorite pieces of furniture in the house

How did it make this fantastic transformation? Well I'll tell you. I sanded it down with an electric sander. I bought the Ryobi 30$ sander.. Totally worth the buy if you plan to do any big project or multiple projects. Then I just taped off the design with regular painters tape and picked out my colors and went to town! I love this unique piece that went from Super lame and boring and brown and 80's to fun, different unique and blue, brown & white (just in case you can't see that those are the colors ;)

Does it cut the mustard?!?

Found these cuties at a local thrift store for 30$, they are antique sheeky and have cracked leather on the top!

So....What do you think?

This was sort of a nightmare because I had initially decided that I would sand this down, despite the beveled edges and cracked leather I thought I was up for the task. However 99% of my work takes place in the garage and since I live in the desert I was getting worn out pretty quick. I was going to do an antique white and stain on the details of the legs. My husband walked outside and saw what I was doing and said. "Don't cover up the leather, bring it out by doing a mustard" What??? Who knew? He is a smart, hot and savy guy!!! I like how this turned out especially because I was about to stick in the garage and start a new project!

DONE BEEN FEATURED AGAIN!!!

I was lucky enough to have been featured on betterafter.blogspot.com it's seriously my favorite blog. It's hilarious and ever changing and posts the most random creative re-do's ever... She has featured me twice and it has sky rocketed my stats! Thanks betterafter!!!!

Love handles!!!!

BEFORE

This dresser was at the D.I. and I knew it had potential, but I didn't know how hard it would be to paint!!!! I also have no idea why everything is underlined!

AFTER

This dresser turned out LOVELY! However I don't know that I would ever paint on solid pine again... for me it was kind of a nightmare. Maybe it was just this particular pine, but either way it soaked up my paint so fast it took several coats where it should have only taken two. I'm loving the handles added to the drawers. Plus they were less than 2 bucks a piece and if I would have gone with the knobs I would have had to double it up since there were double the holes!!! I'm too smart, and cheap for all that mess, so the "love handles" won out! Hope you like it too. Paint color was Glidden Pink Carnation. I was originally going to only do pink, but when I was finished it looked too much like pepto bismal!! Yoinks :/ I think the white outlines really make it stand out!

The Best Desk Ever!!!

Like the gum or wax on desk? I thought it was supposed to go underneath, anyways sanded right off so boo ya obstacles!

I knew this desk had potential of being great the second I saw it. Jeff actually agreed with me on this one. He has no vision! I didn't even feel like I would have to do much to it for it to achieve greatness. And I was right. I barely put any money into it. A quart of paint and that was it, considering I already had the varnish, glaze and sandpaper! I sanded down the whole thing, then decided to go with staining the top and painting the rest. Hope you like how it turned out.

Oh how I love this desk, have I mentioned that? I think it was great on the before, but after a little sanding, some stain and paint with Martha Stewart glaze it's like a dream come true for me. I love this look and style of desk with the aged affect. Hopefully it'll be a dream come true for someone else cause Jeff says we gotta sell it instead of keeping it for ourselves! We'll see. I'm not going to lower the price on this one if it doesn't go, because I absolutely know it could go for over 400.00 in a furniture store! So I'll stick to my guns on this one.

DYNING!

Before****

After***

This dining table was old school and dying for a makeover. I purchased the whole bit, which was a table with leaf and six chairs for 135.00 on Craigslist. Again ALL REAL WOOD. That's all I can really work with. I was excited to get started on this project but then it sat in my garage for a week talking smack to me about how I wouldn't be able to sand the legs and chairs and that it was going to rule me..... So finally I scraped up the courage and went after it. I loved working on this cause I could feel the table starting to feel better about itself with every stroke of my brush!!!! Tell me if you feel the same!