Side Table Makeover

This project is one of the ones that I started before I had Troy. I was sitting on my couch in the living room, trying not to melt in this heat and I was looking at my side tables. They were boring white.

I got the tables second-hand and when I first got them, they were a dark wood tone. Not bad, but really not my style and it didn't match with anything. So I painted them white.

Not bad, just not interesting.

I picked up some spray paint with primer built right in (awesome stuff!) in a mustard yellow colour and got to work. First I cleaned off all the fingerprints and stains that had accumulated. Even though all the prep work isn't very exciting, it will leave you with a nicer product at the end.

Unfortunately, one of the cans that I picked up decided it was the exploding kind and proceeded to pour huge amounts of paint all over my hands any time I pressed on the nozzle. And let me tell you, spray paint is not easy to get off!

I was originally going to give the table two days to sit and cure but I went into labour instead and it ended up curing for a week. The tables only took two coats of spray paint.

And here is the finished product:

I love how it brightens everything up in the room. 

Eventually I want to change the wall colour to Benjamin Moore Nimbus, but the will be a massive job since it's basically painting half our house... with two toddlers and a newborn to watch at the same time. I'm trying to decide if I'm  crazy enough. In the meantime, I'll look at my "new" side tables and smile.

Have you been up to any painting projects lately? What colours are you loving? 

A Little Bench Makeover

When I was a little girl, I went to Sunday school in a portable building outside of our main church building. I remember it had a cool puppet castle in the corner and lots of wooden benches that we sat on during Bible time.

Skip ahead a few years...okay...more than a few years...and it was decided that these little benches weren't the safest to have in the children's area anymore. I offered to take one off of their hands and brought a little bit of history home with us after church one Sunday.

Once the warm weather arrived, so did the spray paint. I moved the bench outside and prepped the area for this great red colour. Valspar got a little makeover over the winter months. The spray button is so much nicer and it now has a primer built right into the mixture.

Oh the things that make me happy.

I love having this little bench in our front entrance. It has been perfect for sitting Gavin on as we put on shoes before we head out the door.

I also love that I have a bit of my history in our home that I can share with Gavin and Cameron.

Happy weekend!

{DIY} Bulletin Board...For Cheap!

 

I have always loved the look of a nicely framed bulletin board. Every time I saw one in a store, I would pick it up...contemplate buying it...turn it over to look at the price...and put it right back on the shelf. I seriously could not justify spending $30+ for a bulletin board. 

Then I found this little $3 beauty in the thrift store: 

  (I had already taken the picture out of the frame)

First I thought I would use it for a chalkboard. Then because I made this chalkboard out of our old bathroom mirror, I changed my mind to a bulletin board. The only problem was to find a big enough piece of cork material for the frame. 

I searched around in a couple of stores (too expensive and not big enough) and then my dear husband said they had tons of extra lying around in the warehouse from old flooring jobs. 

After spray painting the frame antique white, I rolled out the cork and measured it to the frame. I used heavy duty tape and a staple gun so it would lie flat on the back of the frame. 

Not too shabby for $3! 

Now it's the perfect spot to pin up Scripture, words of encouragement and any other reminders that we might need.

Happy weekend! 

A Thrifty Makeover

It's no secret that I like to wander the aisles of a thrift store. I love the hunt and the find of something that you had no idea that you were looking for! For cheap! 

A little while ago, I pulled into the parking lot of one of our local thrift stores with the intention of looking for more embroidery hoops for this project. I always start off with the book section, then I go to the baskets, containers, huge ugly frames, material, and then end up in the furniture section. 

And that is where I found these beauties: 

I didn't mind the colour of them, besides the fact that they were disgustingly filled with who knows what kind of dirt and the metal legs looked horrible. But for $4.99 for each, I knew I could use them for our small entrance way. 

I spray primed and painted the legs a dark blue that actually matches the large mirror above (not on purpose). I then covered the seats with one of my favourite patterns that I have found at the thrift store, which is actually a double flat sheet. 

 It brings some cheerfulness to a small entrance wall and a place to put on our shoes. 

Not bad for $4.99! 

What have you made over from the thrift store lately? 
 
Oh and Happy Canada Day! I hope you get a chance to play outside (or read), do some BBQing and watch some fireworks! If the rain stays away, those are our plans too. Here's hoping! 


Happy weekend!

 

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A Little Red Wagon

Gavin got a new toy the other day. 

 Okay, so it's not really new, but it's new to him. 

My grandma called me up the other day and said that she is really wanting to clear her house of some things and wondered if Gavin would like a little red wagon. What little boy wouldn't want a wagon!? 

It isn't in the most perfect condition. I'm planning on spray painting it red to get the stains covered to look nice and clean again. 

 (He's pretty psyched about his new wheels)

Besides the obvious fact of having the wagon for walks around town, I saw this cute idea that I would love to try out, maybe in the winter months. 

 {Organizing Homelife}

How cute is that? I might regret that idea though when I see Gavin doing this to his bookshelf now: 

Right now though, we'll give it a nice coat of fresh paint and keep it for walks and modeling. :)

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Ta-Da!

Now that I've dragged out the suspense of my yellow dresser makeover, here are the official "before and after" pictures: 

I've been finding myself just opening up my craft room door and just smiling because this dresser makes me so happy! Is that weird? 

I wish I could give you the colour name of the paint, but I have no idea what it is. I bought the paint last April when I was getting Gavin's room ready. But I never used it, which I'm glad for! 

I gave the original wooden knobs a coat of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, which was leftover from our dining room light makeover. 

My scrapbooking books and albums went in the wire basket on top of the dresser. I stuck my paintbrushes in a little ceramic jug that I had. In the far wire basket (which is barely showing) are my sewing supplies.

I have fabric, stamps, scrapbooking supplies, extra decorating items, staple guns, and whole bunch of other crafting goodies in the drawers. I love having everything organized!  

So that's the story of the yellow dresser! Who knows...maybe I'll get some scrapbooking done now in my nice clean, organized space. I feel like I have said that before though...

Happy weekend! And Happy Mother's Day!

 

Sharing A Little Light

I know that I have shared before that when we first moved into our house there were a lot of things that we loved and there were things about our home that we knew that needed to be changed. Some pronto (like the paint colours) and others that would need some time (kitchen, bathroom, floors, basement, etc.). 

One of the things we knew that needed to hit the road was the light fixture in our dining room. 

If that isn't enough ugliness for you, here's a close up (sorry for the really bad nighttime quality): 

I don't know how someone could have seen that in the store and said, "Yes! That is the light for our dining room!"

My first vision to replace the fixture was a drum shade pendant light. After we tried it out though, I wasn't feeling it. 

So we lived without a light for almost six months. Yup. six months. We only had the lamp behind the couch and floor lamp as our light source in the living room/dining room. Very romantic. 

Until we went to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore last week. Then I saw these beauties: 

 Instantly this lantern image started flashing in my head:

 {source}

and this one:

  {source}

I looked at the price tag and it was $15.00. Say what!? I told Jesse my plan (it's a good thing that he trusts me) and we scooped up that little lantern and took it home with us. We made a quick pit stop at Home Depot for some Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. Then I got to work making the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

Here it is before in all it's 1987 gold glory: 

 Before I could go crazy with the spray paint, I needed to prep the fixture. After I took the lantern apart and taped up all the pieces that I didn't want covered with paint, 

I cut out templates of the glass area out of newspaper. I then taped each piece on with painters tape. 

I also made sure to stuff the inside with newspaper and tape around the bottom so that the inside wasn't covered in paint. 

After it was all painted, it needed to "cure" for a few days so that the paint wouldn't scratch off as we hung it up. 

Then came the fun part of taking the paper and tape off and cleaning the glass. (I'm being sarcastic.) It literally took me almost 2 hours to clean it up. Even though I had taped it so carefully, paint still seeped through in some areas and only nail polish remover (thank you google) would only remove it. 

Fast forward putting it all back together, figuring it out the proper length that we wanted it over the table, cutting the chain shorter, cleaning the glass again, here it is!

After I took the paper out of the inside, I realized that the top part of the inside was still gold, so I just sprayed some of the paint into a small container and painted it on with a paint brush. 

I can't stop staring at it. I love that it doesn't over take the small space and that we can see right through to the window. 

 One more picture to show you how it glimmers at night: 

 So the price lowdown was: $15.00 for the lantern and $9.99 (plus tax) for the spray paint. The total was around $25.00! Compared to the ones that I showed for my inspiration that are roughly listed around $250- $300 (American), I think we did good. :) 

Have you ever been to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore? If not, it's worth taking a meander through! Sometimes it's a hit or miss, but you can find some neat treasures hiding out. 

Happy weekend! 

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