Dresser Face Lift

I went to the ultimate yard sale the other day, it was so much fun.  I love hitting good one's like this once and a while.  Everything was priced so good.  I got a really funky buffet table for fifteen dollars, brand new curtian rods (enough for five windows), for only a dollar a piece.  And I got this dresser for five dollars, Big score!  It was more beat up then it looks in the picture.  Several doors had fallen off and the drawers were coming apart.  The bottom drawer wouldn't close because the middle support board had come undone.  As if all thats not bad enough, there were stickers every where. 

The drawer front was in one of the other drawers so I assumed that the missing handles were too.  I was wrong,  There were three of them missing.  I went on a search to find the exact handles so I could save myself some money by not having to buy all new one's.  I couldn't find anything like these so I bit the bullet and bought some new one's.  Darn.  I wanted to update it though, and the new handles did just that.I found some knobs that I liked but of course they didn't fit the exsisting holes so out came the wood filler. What I used was Elmers wood filler that I've used a lot and really like it because it dries fast and is easy to sand off.  It also paints really well.

While I was waiting for this to dry I started to glue the fronts on the drawers and clamping them together.   Then I painted the body of the dresser a high gloss white.  I like it for dressers because it washes so well.  I already had some paint on hand and just used that.  Love it when I don't have to go out and spend any money on a cheap project.

I finished sanding the dry wood filler off the fronts and painted them as well.  It was really starting to look nice.  My hubby drilled new holes for the knobs that I had picked up, while I finished the last coat of paint.  Yeahh, time to put the new knobs on.  And here it is.  The stickers are all gone and it has a new coat of paint as well as sporting new knobs.  It turned out really good, and what I like best is the way the knobs gave it an updated look.  Doesn't she look pretty, nice and clean.  and so sturdy.

Beautiful Settee

Two weeks ago my hubby and I went yard saling, and I spotted this little jewel.  My hubby looked at me with the, "are you sure you can help this one", look.  I hit the jack pot that day at most of the yard sales we went to.  I got two plastic adirondack chairs that I knew with a little spray paint they would sit beautifully next to this little couch.  I have to admitt though, it took a lot longer then what I had thought it would, but now that they are done I'm feeling like it was time well spent.

So I started taking her apart.  The bottom came out easy but the top was another issue.  I had to pull, twist, get pilars out and use some leverage to get the back off.  I fiinally just started sanding her down with the back fabric still on because I knew I wasn't going to use the fabric again.  It sanded so easy, the whole thing only took about a half hour.

Yip I finally got her off (the back that is),  and started painting it.  I wanted to paint it white and not distress or age it, because I wanted it to look fresh and bright.

Remember the adirondack chairs I got at the yard sale, well I am priming one here so that it will be ready for some Rustoleum Green Apple spray paint about the same time I'm done with the couch.  The primer I used on the chair specifically said it was primer for plastic.  I'm still a little nervous about how well it will work, I'll let you know later after we've used it for awhile. 

                                             

Isn't the fabric pretty?  The original couch had buttons on the back and I  liked the look so I wanted to keep it.  The problem is, as you can see, some of the heads pop off the buttons.  No matter how careful or how hard I hit the little do-hicky that joins the back to the front of the botton, some always come apart.  Does anyone have any advice here, or a good brand of buttons that don't come apart?

And here she is, didn't she turn out pretty.  I love that fabric, I got it at JoAnn's.  It's kind of spendy but I used a 50% off coupon and that helped a lot.  I put trim around the back and slid the bottom back in.  Now lets see her with her good friend, the adirondack chair.

A perfect match, can't wait to get the other adirondack chair spray painted and on the other side of her.  I really love the color of this green, it matchs my material perfect.

I lent out my sewing machine or there would be some throw pillows on them already, can't wait to do them.

Happy Father's Day (to me)

So last summer my husband was in Alaska for awhile and wasn't here for Father's Day.  I was doing all the yard work and decided since I couldn't start our old mower ever......... (I had to ask our neighbor to start it every time).  Well, I just knew my hubby would love a new lawn mower for Father's Day!  What a great idea!!  I did some research and this baby was the one for me/him. Once I assembled it I took these pictures and email my guy.  He's a great sport and laughed.  I have loved it so much, he has too.

The yard really did look great when he got back.  Okay their flowers, but their close to the grass.

Hmmmm, I wonder what he wants this year???

So Many Stains...

I saw this end table at a yard sale for $2.  Yip, 2 dollars!!! I grabbed it, well I really didn't need to grab it, no one else wanted it.  I could see the top restained and the rest in a cream.  Of course I would fix it all up and then age it.  I was at my Mom's the other day and she had bought an end table almost exactly like this one except her's was all cream.  She told me she thought it was new until she looked closer at it.  What she was noticing was the sanding and the aging that the painter had done.  When I told her that the seller had done that on purpose to give it a "older, used look", and that I loved that look also.  She looked at me like I was crazy.  She asked me more then once, "now why do you do that"?  But she loves her table and I love mine.

Here she is with some sanding.  My favorite part in discovering what is underneath all the ugly stuff.  The wood is so pretty, I think it's maple, not sure though.

So here goes the first coat of stain, looking good!

I've stained it once here and then added some poly. 

Here she is, I really like how it turned out.  I always hate the distressing part, but it seemed like the more I did it, the more I wanted to do it.  I sanded some and then used the same stain, Minwax Special Walnut, to distress it. 

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Love That Blue

I have been working on my spare bathroom trying to lighten it up a bit.  I had a burgundy, yellow, and cream striped shower curtain in there, which I really liked when I put it in but it was time for a change.  I found this little hand towel hanger in a shop in Salt Lake at that time.  I really liked it and it fit the color scheme perfectly.  Well time marchs on and I have been wanting to put some aqua blue, green, and tan in there.  I found "Thee" shower curtain  at Kolh's that I love!  Later I found the rug that matches the shower curtains color, yeahhh!  So I decided to give this little towel hanger an update as well.  I bought one of those sample sized cans of paint (which I love, that Lowe's offers, because usually that's the paint I need).

I primed it to cover up the dark burgundy and then tried a cream color on it.  It was too light for my walls so I then went for blue but, Oops, wrong color of blue.  It really looked bad.  Back to Lowe's for the right color.

I love the new color, it's just what I wanted.  Since the bathroom is used mostly by my grand kids I decided to make it a little whimsical.  The saying says "Just when a caterpillar thinks the world is over, he turns into a butterfly".  They love it, so I have received the highest stamp of approval as possible.

 

Sugar & Coffee to Beautiful Vase

I saw these canister's in Goodwill and grabbed them right up.  I had already bought some really fresh looking flowers at Micheal's and was looking for just the right vase, and these were the right one's, with a little work.  Sorry about the dark picture's.

I washed them really good and then primed them.  that was all the prep I had to do, (no sanding, yeah)

 I chose to use Valspar black and cream spray paint.  I sprayed them twice  to get a really good, even coat.  Then I went down to our local craft store and bought three decals.  I put the two  together and........TAAADAAA.

As you can see they aren't exactly on my fire place mantle (but they could be), but they're on a more important mantle, the back ot the toilet!!!  You know when I walk in the bathroom and see them with that beautiful green flower in them, well I just smile.

Old Fashioned to Modern

I found this beauty on Craigslist and snatched it up.  I was needing a chair for one of the corners of our bedroom.  I have had a table chair there for a long time waiting for just the right chair.  It looks kinda cute but close up it is really dirty and a bit out dated.

                                              

I took off the tack strip but didn't need to take off the fabric, yeahhh!  I added some batting because there were two low spots on it and I also wanted to give it a crisper look.  I already had the fabric and the batting so this project was fun and cheap from the start.  I started out using an electric staple gun and it was a, "piece of crap", (my husbands words) and I agreed.  So I switched over to my great staple gun and the compressor, so, so, much better.

I got some trim at JoAnn's and glued it in place.  It matched the material so well.  I am very pleased at how it turned out, and the best part is that it was such a fast project.  I did want to add a finishing touch with a pillow.  It was also fast.  I just wrapped the pillow form with the fabric that I had left from the bed skirt.  I finished it off with a trim that I already had and then made a flower for it. I left the finish on the wood, (even though I was tempted to paint it), because it goes with my bedroom furniture.  It looks so beautifl in my bedroom.