Quick update...

We found, or rather my husband found, another table on Craigslist for $20. It is also very 70's retro, but this one is round, and is big enough that it could be a small coffee table for a smaller living room.

It has great bones, but it does need a little more rehab than the other tables. I am totally seeing a two-toned color scheme here, with black hardware.

On another note, I found out that the mid-century modern table is, in fact from the early 50's. It was manufactured by Dixie, which I learned was swallowed up by another furniture company some time ago. This little table is worth a lot more that I originally thought. I am now leaning towards staining it the original color. We will see.

Next post, hopefully, is the finished bedroom set!

New projects...

I have been working to get the furniture set completed so I can get it listed for sale, and start working on a couple new projects. I recently lucked out finding a mid-century modern nightstand/side table on Craigslist for $20, and I found another funky 70's retro nightstand/side table for free on Craigslist.

Oh, the possibilities! I am actually undecided how I will refurbish the mid-century modern piece, but I am totally feeling a funky apple green with black knobs for the retro 70's piece. I even found a couple really cook back plates for the knobs I am still looking for.

I am going to paint them black. I am currently scanning eBay for some cool retro knobs, but I think I am going to check out the ReStore here in town.They have some really cool stuff, and more importantly, every sale benefits Habitat for Humanity. 

Hopefully, my next post is that of the completed bedroom set!

Progress!

I have been waiting for a few tools to arrive so I could push forward on the bedroom set I am working on. The little wire brush (and I mean little) finally arrived last night, and the new wax I will be trying arrived yesterday afternoon.

I was using Minwax paste finishing wax on all my projects, but when I went to apply wax to the blue desk drawers, the wax started taking off the paint. To say I panicked is an understatement, but I immediately stopped applying the wax, touched up the paint, and ordered a furniture wax my friend Holly recommended on her blog, Quinnspirations. I ordered Annie Sloan Soft Wax from a local store, Shades of Amber. 

This stuff is amazing! I am going to use Annie Sloan wax on all my future painted pieces, and stick with Minwax for the stained pieces.

So, I used the little wire brush on the corners of the nightstand I had to re-finish, and on all the little edges on the mirror and the feet of the dressers. The mirror is the biggest pain to redo because of all the little edges and crevices.

I also had to repair a spot on the bottom edge where it fell over and the mirror broke, but you can't tell now. I then stained the first coat on the mirror, and applied another coat of stain to the nightstand  and the dresser drawer fronts.

I got the first coat on the bed rails too, but I put them up out of the way to dry, so I couldn't get a pic of them. The coolest thing I found? On one of the bed rails, I found some writing. It says Full, Maple, and Mrs. something (can't make out the name) - the pic did not come out, but I will get a better one to show later! I am so going to keep that visible since it is part of the history of the furniture set.

More as I get the pieces finished and move on to the headboard, foot board, and the dressers!

Let there be light!

I wanted to try my hand at a lamp, thinking if I can do furniture a lamp would be a piece of cake.

Well...yes and no.

Instead of spray painting the lamp I found at DAV, I decided to use this gorgeous shade of paint i am going to paint a desk with. It is Swizzle Stick from Valspar, and it is yummy-licious! (I am really beginning to love all things Valspar - they have FABULOUS spray paint, and love their colors in their Signature line of paint!)

I followed my normal steps of cleaning up the lamp and then priming it with Kilz (love Kilz!) - the lamp was pretty ugly originally.

Blech, boring, and badly in need of tarting up!

So, three very thin coats of Kilz later (on purpose - when painting furniture I discourage a lone, heavy coat of primer - you run the risk of streaks and a clumpy final product after you paint.)

I also paint in very thin layers. I have found painting multiple thin layers of paint prevents drips, clumps and streaks. And the final product is so very shiny! (pardon the Firefly reference.)

Isn't she purty? No wax finish on the lamp - the shine of the paint is nice enough for me.

And since I had the paint out, I started on the drawers for the desk. 

I will chronicle this project at another time. I am going to push ahead full steam on the bedroom set I am staining. I hope to have a good portion of the set finished this weekend. The desk will be the next project I work on after the bedroom set is complete. (I am running out of room in my garage!)

More later...

Success! and other things...

Well,I listed the little blue tables for sale and they sold within 48 hours - I am so excited! Now that I have finished my next project, they are being listed for sale as well. I completed the twin headboards, and they look too cute!

They started life as really ugly, 70's-era brown boys headboards.

I had to sand them down pretty good to get rid of the horrid finish. I then applied primer. I use Kilz because it covers any stubborn spots, and also hides any odor, if, for instance, I score something from a smoker's home. The paint I used was Valspar spray paint and primer in one.

The color I believe is sage green. It sprays on nicely, and the satin paint leaves a nice, shiny finish. The best thing about this spray paint is that the final coat of wax can be very minimal. The final product is cute as hell!

I have them listed in my Etsy store, along with some vintage glass pieces I have been meaning to sell, but never got around to doing so.

Next project? A lamp I found at the DAV store for a steal! Here's a sneak peek of what it looks like:

More later...

New things coming around the bend...

Well, if all goes well in the next couple months, I will be a bona-fide business owner. I have decided to follow my bliss and go into business for myself. I gave notice at my current job, and I am aiming to eventually have either a brick-and-mortar location, or have a thriving online storefront in which to sell my up-cycled furniture, etc...

More to come...

Boring side tables now made adorable!

I have these two little side tables we bought for super-cheap some years ago, and originally they sat in my office, holding up a lamp and some knick-knacks. They were brown, totally nondescript, and boring. I haven't actually used them in years - they have been sitting downstairs in our laundry/storage room collecting dust.

Here's what they looked like several years ago - even tarting one up using vibrant colors on it didn't help.

Well, I decided to make a project of them a few weeks ago, and I finally decided they needed to be painted. I lightly sanded the tables down, cleaned them up, primed, and then painted. The results are pretty awesome.

 

I am going to sell them so someone else can enjoy them, so I chose a vibrant turquoise blue color. It took no time at all to transform them, but I will have to wait until tomorrow to add the wax coating to protect the paint job.

Next in line - the twin headboards. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Quick & Easy weekend DIY project...

My youngest son, who is now 17, had one remaining item from a bedroom set purchased for him when he was about 10 - a dresser. An ugly, blue and wood-toned dresser that is made purely of particle board. Over the years, we have had to replace his bed (he is over 6ft tall) and his desk (to accommodate a computer and space for homework). All the kiddo's new furniture is black. The only holdover was the dresser.

Ugly, huh? (except our Brewster - he is the cutest doggie ever).
Now when I say this dresser has seen better days, believe it. It is a tad wobbly (but overall pretty solid still) from being moved around so much over the years, and there are spots where the finish is worn through to the particle board. So, rather than sand the dresser (which I would normally do, except as it is older particle board I did not want to damage the wood in any way) I scrubbed this bad boy down with a bit of dish soap in a bucket of warm water. I then got to use my new paint sprayer to apply the primer. All I can say is WOW - it took less that five minutes to prime the dresser and all the drawers.

I have to say, I was not prepared for the over-spray. It was a good thing we had a tarp to put under it.
I primed it yesterday afternoon with the help of the hubby, who also wanted to try out the sprayer.

I waited until today to paint, but I did not use the sprayer. I had just enough black paint to finish the dresser off, but I would have run out had I used the sprayer, so I used a roller instead. The paint is also older, and had gotten quite a bit thicker that when we had initially bought it. As a result, some parts of the surface have little bubbles on them, which I am not happy with, but which my son neither noticed nor cared about when I told him. He was too stoked that his dresser would finally match the rest of his furniture. I also finished off the paint job with a coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.

I replaced the knobs with shiny silver ones I found on eBay for $.99 each. With really cheap shipping, my out of pocket cost was less than $15.00 for the dresser. And it looks pretty darn good.

I'm pretty sure I have the wrong drawers in the wrong spots, but the kiddo will put them back correctly when the dresser makes it's way back down to his basement bedroom.

Overall, this re-do took less that three hours total to complete. Not too bad a result for a really bad dresser.

Shopping Surprises...

Went shopping yesterday with the hubby. My goal was to get fabric for the chair project I am working on, find paint for the chair, the two twin headboards, the desk, the phone stand/side tables and my son's dresser, which will be going from blue and wood tones to black (pics to come). I also wanted to pick up a paint sprayer and a nail gun.

It turned out to be a fruitful day :-)

Fabric was found at JoAnn fabric. I had no idea fabric was getting so darn expensive. Next time I shop for fabric, I am shopping around first. The fabric I found was 40% off, so I am pleased with the price. And it is gorgeous.

The chairs are going to be painted white. I am also going to have to replace the pad - it is squashed down and in pretty bad shape. What's really bad is that pad is so expensive I about had a heart attack. It was $32.99/yard for 2" thick foam chair padding at JoAnn Fabric. Luckily, I found foam padding at Walmart at about a quarter of the cost. I can't stress enough when you are on a budget, compare prices! We are hitting a couple thrift stores in the very near future to see what they have available as well.

Unfortunately, Porter Cable does not manufacture paint sprayers (sad face) - so we compared prices and weighed options against what we are looking to accomplish, and we went with a Wagner sprayer.

I will be testing out this bad boy today when I start re-finishing my son's dresser. I will also be applying the primer to the twin headboards and the little phone stands/side tables. I bought spray paint for the little tables, and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

We also scored a nail gun/air compressor combo at Lowes by Campbell Hausfeld. The price on the Porter Cable set was too cost-prohibitive, so we did not go with their product (sad face again). 

I will update as soon as my son's dresser is done. In addition to painting it black (that's a great song, too!) I totally lucked out finding some awesome silver knobs on eBay. Can't wait to show you!