DIY Pedestal

So this week is a fun DIY project that has so many possibilities, and of course it is easy on the wallet too:) 
It has VERY few steps, and I use it everywhere in my home and love it.


Materials:

• Gorilla Glue or screws
• paints in color you choose
• paintbrushes

• Candlestick base ( wood or glass)
• Wooden or metal plate topper
• sandpaper

Step 1: Gorilla glue candlestick bottom to the plate. Which is what I had to do on one of mine,  because there was an indent in the candlestick, but if it is flat, then a screw would work great.


Step 2: Paint a base coat of paint to entire thing. I chose charcoal grey ( hard to tell in picture... but it is), and my coat of paint was not very even. 

Step 3: Paint second coat of paint covering everything. I chose white

Step 4: sand and distress to show the base coat color through the final coat color, focusing on edges and places with texture.

step 5:  fill with goodies:) and display!!!

Here is another one I made, and it is in my bathroom now.

5 easy steps!!! Enjoy!!!

See ya thursday!!!

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.

Re- Vamping my Urn & Glazing

So I was in our local thrift store the other day and found this great little urn for a buck. It was thick plastic, and had plenty of pretty designs. I snatched it up and brought it home to makeover. Here is how I did it!!

Before

After

Materials:
a urn/ planter
paint- I prefer flat but any sheen will work
glaze- tint-able or tinted
paint brushes/ foam brushes
a cloth or rag

1.) It was plain and had a horrible faux marble pattern on it. So I bought some flat white paint at my local hardware store, for 5 bucks, ( clearance paint :) and gave it a good 2 coats, 3 in some tougher areas. I left the inside black because I figured that it would just have stuff in it anyways.

2.) Next I took my clear glaze, wait...side note.... I also bought a quart of clear " decorators glaze at the same hardware store, artistic finishes. I bought clear because I wanted to be able to tint it any color I wanted depending on the project. I know that Valspar sells tinted glaze, which may be the way for you, but I wanted the versatility of clear. You can add any water/ or latex based paint ( like craft paint) to it, no oil based paints though...

So... anyways, I poured a little glaze out, and tinted it charcoal gray by adding charcoal grey paint. Then I used a paintbrush to paint the glaze over the textured parts of the urn. I paid close attention to the grooves and crevasses where I could let the glaze seep in. I let it sit for about 5 seconds ( literally) and then used a cloth to wipe it off. This allowed the high areas to be more white than the grooves, and lower area, creating some depth...

Left side glazed, ride side no glaze, just bast coat paint

right side with glaze applied and sitting on it

Wiping the excess glaze off with a cloth, letting some stay in the grooves

3.) I did this all over, and even some on the flat areas to help tie it all together.I wanted it to look like " stone" -ish, and more subtle/ romantic? : ) I am not sure if this is the correct way to apply glaze, but I liked how it looked, and went with it.. I can't wait to try it on other projects.

Thanks for stopping in!!

Amanda

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!!!!!