Custom Kitchen Island

So I just wanted to do a quick post this week about my sister and her husband who are doing AMAZING things to their house. They bought a GORGEOUS old 1901 house, with tons of character, and tons of work to be done:) They have been doing lots of great projects, and their most recent one I saw was just beautiful, so beautiful I couldn't wait to share it here...

So this custom kitchen island used to be an old dresser, and this is how it all started:

sorry a little blurry:) but an old dresser ...

They took off the top, and painted the dresser and drawers.  Next they added an oak top and stained and framed it.  

They put some bead board onto the back, and some custom shelves to the lower bottom sides, stained to match the top:

Four painted legs, some painted bar stools, and some new hardware, and tah-dah! They have an amazing custom kitchen island!!!!

They really have worked wonders in this kitchen and it is so inspiring for our future home someday. These are some before shots of their kitchen when they moved in: 


oh my.....

Between the carpet, (or lack of in places), the peeling faux finished wall paper, peeling paint on walls, and faux wood grained cabinets, they had the work cut out for then...



Here is after the worked their magic:
mmmmmm.....

This is my adorable niece enjoying her new kitchen:) love her to pieces:)

New tiles floors, paint, and cabinets all painted, its BEAUTIFUL:)

My sister and her husband got some real talent, wanna see their house in progress? HERE is her Facebook link to the album to see more pictures of the process!!

Have a great week!!! See ya soon, hopefully Thursday, but maybe not. My little sister is graduating from college this Friday and I get to go see it!!! YEAH!

Dresser makeover

So I found this dresser that needed lots of love by a dumpster in an apartment complex. I gladly scooped it up and brought it home... where it sat for months and months, until the snow melted so I could make it over on our apartment patio. 
(I really wish I had a garage so that these kinds of projects didn't have to wait for the sunshine, but someday...someday....)

It was missing hardware, and a drawer, so I got creative... First I sanded it....

1.)

         I bought a hand sander at my local hardware store because I knew that I would need it for the future projects I have lined up anyways. It was $30.00 ! I thought that was pretty cheap, and a good investment for future stuff.

I also first used a de-glossing agent to remove the awful high gloss spray paint that had been randomly applied admist the crackle, and other craft paints..(uhg dunno what someone was thinkin'...) I just put it on a rag and rubbed all over... It works a lot like finger nail polish remover... first taking away the shine but not all of the paint... then you just wash it off with soap and water and let dry...  the rest of the paint came off with the sander.

2. Then I bought mini foam roller, and a quart of black paint, and started rolling... and did a few coats to paint it all black. 

3.) I moved the top drawer to the bottom drawer section, and removed the top space drawer hardware.

4.) Next came the backing for the top shelf. I went to my local lumberyard, and priced out bead board ( the look I wanted..) and it was SPENDY. So... I opted for tongue and groove planked pine. I got one plank for $5.00 for 8 feet.

 I had it cut into 5 one foot pieces, because this worked to fit the section behind the dresser where there was a void from the drawer I obviously had some extras. I took those 5 pieces, and glued them together in the grooves with gorilla glue, and layed flat to dry. Then I painted that black, and nailed it to the back of the dresser where the void was. I did have to cut the back board thing that was nailed in that area to be shorter and just cover behind the drawers. 

I got this picture online, but this is exactly what mine looked like cut into pieces...I just forgot to take a picture of it:)

This is the planks nailed to the back from a side view, it is slightly thicker than the rest of the backing...

5.) I purchased a piece of press board which is commonly used in shelving, with a rounded edge, the width and depth of my dresser, $4.00. Painted it black, attatched "L" brackets under it to hold it up, and put all of the drawers back into the dresser.

This is a close up of the backing nailed on and the shelf installed...

 I added hardware, and TAH-DAH!!!! 

All done. Total cost was $ $20.00 with all of the paint and sandpaper etc. not counting the cost of the sander. Since the dresser was free to start it brought the total cost down a lot. 

I love this new dresser and have it in my craft room now, holding all kinds of goodies.

                                                 

Have a great day!! See ya Thursday...

Side table makeover

Before

After

I repainted this cute little side table for my little girls room. I got it from my mother in law for free so cost was just paint, and paper. So cheap, and turned out so fun.

1. prep- work: (my least favorite part...) De- glosser agent applied, and sanded to even out surface.

2.) re-painted green. ( 2 coats.)

3.) applied some damask wallpaper I found on clearance $5 for a roll, with Mod podge to backing and inside of drawer.

4.) Spray painted a knob and attached hardware...

not an amazing pic, but shows knob...

 That is it!! So cheap and now a fun bold color!! Total cost: under $5.00, and only about 5 hours total.

We re- did our couch!!!

So Nick and I just re- upholstered our couch. This was a huge project, but it was totally worth all of the hard work and effort we put into it. This is what the couch used to look like.... and after a lot of sewing and building, this is the final piece. I sewed all of the pillows, cushions and actual fabric that is covering the couch, and Nick built the ottoman, did all of the stapling of the fabric, and putting all of the couch pieces together. We made a great team, and it was a lot of work, but we love it!!!!!