painting, Thrifting

Estate Sale Bedside Tables

Last weekend I visited a great estate sale.  The sale was for a young family that has moved from their starter home into an awesome custom built home that one day soon I will give you a tour of.  The ceiling in the family room alone is worth the virtual visit.  I get sidetracked when I think about that 18 foot grey coffered ceiling with white molding…

Back to her estate sale.

At the sale I collected four great items that will be coming up soon and checked out.  My buddy, The Social Planner (TSP) did pretty well, too.  As we walked out,  TSP spotted stuff in the garage.  I have to admit, I reluctantly headed in.  I had already blown my budget ($20.00) and it was raining.  Even if I found something, it was going to have to be small because I had already rounded up Mr. Math for a large item pickup and there was no way I was interested in interrupting his mowing again.

I noticed two 1970’s side tables, but frankly I was ready to go and the were moldy. (Wooden furniture that stays in a humid area sometimes gets a white mold on it.)  I really didn’t give the pair another thought until we got home.  TSP pointed out that they would go with my 70’s headboard, and that when I am ready to move up to the country full time whoever wants the headboard will probably want side tables, too.  No way am I parting with the table in the picture below because my dad saved it for me.

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She was right…as always.  We headed back to the estate sale and asked about the tables.  $5.00 for the pair.  It is hard to pass up two tables at $2.50 each. They came home with me.

Here are pictures after they were cleaned up enough to come inside the house.  I used paint thinner, Goof Off, and Fantastic on them just to make sure the mold was gone, the stickers on top were removed, and the gummy varnish was gone.



  

Aren’t they beautiful?  Seriously, they were sturdy, they had all the hardware, and have closed storage which our current tables don’t have.  We are messy folk so closed storage is good.

I happened into a Walmart looking for blue tape one evening.  Along the way, I spotted something new to me.  Walmart carries chalk paint now.  What?  Did my eyes deceive me?  16 ounces of chalk paint for less than $6.00.  I had to give it a try.   I bought two bottles of Parisian Grey and anticipated opening it up this weekend.  I am not much of a chalk paint fan.  It is crazy expensive usually, I like polyurethane on top of my stuff and the idea of not using primer seems crazy to me but I figured, what did I have to lose?

After cleaning them with everything but the kitchen sink, I removed the cabinet doors and got busy.

One coat and I was impressed.  It is a great option for painting inside.  The paint is thick so it is a little less messy.  It is water based so I could clean up easily.  The whole no priming thing sort of freaked me  out.  It took three coats for me to be satisfied, and I did not like the brush strokes left after each coat, but sanding lightly minimized the brush strokes.


  

After getting them all painted, I distressed the edges lightly then waxed it all with clear wax.  To get both of these done completely I only used one 16 ounce bottle of paint.  I was impressed how far the paint went.

This time I decided to put the tarnished brass hardware back on, just as I found it.  I like the look.  

Don’t judge the bedroom right now.  I have curtain issues, blind issues, harry dog concerns, and bedding problems this winter.    I do however love the quilt my buddy crocheted for me as a Christmas present.  Those colors will be coming to this room soon.

  

For those of you, like me, who don’t always have the time to shop in Walmart, they do have online options for the paint.  I always choose site to store option because shipping is free.  I pick up my items at customer service.  In and out quickly and no one gets hurt.

I am not going to say that I am now fully in the chalk painting camp.  I still think using a sprayer to put quality latex paint on a project gives the most smooth finish, but this will for sure be my winter/inside choice.  I did not like sanding, and I for sure did not like waxing.  I must have done something wrong because it took hours to get the wax to look right.

I am definitely going to try it again to see if I get better.

Thank you for following along on our journey.  This past week was the one year anniversary of the day we put our beloved Star Hill on the market so we could buy this place.  It is hard to imagine that in the three years I have been blogging we have sold two homes and purchased two others.  Are we crazy?

It is nice to know we have settled on our forever home.  Now, back to work making it wonderful.

 

Blessings,

Karen

DIY Projects, painting, reclaimed wood, vintage style

200 Dollar Bedroom Makeover 

Have you ever read the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff?  I was an elementary teacher a long time so I relate to a lot of children’s books.  In this particular book we learn that if you give a mouse a cookie, he is going to ask for a glass of milk which leads to a straw, then a napkin… the list grows.  

My master bedroom is a lot like that book.  Mr. Math finally convinced me to get a king sized bed.  Since we were already switching from a queen sized bed to a king I thought that it was the perfect time to do a mini makeover for the bedroom.  The change in bed size meant that we needed a new headboard, bedding, pillows, etc.  Add to the new bed that a friend just gave me a load of 12 inch wide reclaimed cedar and a plan started to form.

I have had this particular picture Pinned for a long time. Viva Terra

 

I love the rustic bed, the blue bedding, and the ship lap wall behind the bed.  Viva Terra calls this particular bed Gustavian and a king bed is $2195  with a $200 delivery fee.  It is a stunning bed but the chances of me paying that much for a headboard and footboard are almost nil.  I also love my bench at the foot of the bed to put on shoes so no footboard. 

I remembered that I had see this tutorial on Remodelaholic.  Curvy Reclaimed Wood Headboard Tutorial

 

I had also seen  this tutorial on how to make a faux shiplap wall using this plywood.  Sweet Pickins and knew it would be the perfect backdrop for the bed.

 

Well, this very rainy weekend we got the room done. The bed got delivered Monday but has been hanging out in our hallway until we could get the room makeover completed.  We did it and all in, the makeover- less the cost of the new bed, pillows, mattress pad and sheets, was  under $200.00.  As usual it didn’t go as planned, but I like the happy accidents.  I will have pictures and instructions this week. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Blessings,

Karen

Curbside rescue, home decorating, master bedroom, new home, Painted Furniture, Repurposed Furniture, rescuing damaged furniture, Roadside Finds, The bedroom, Thrifty decorating, upholstery

A Bench for the Foot of the Bed

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This project has been a long time in the works. A year ago, before I even considered moving to the burbs, I literally picked up these legs out of the trash at a garage sale. (I did ask first.) They once were legs for a side table and were solid wood.

I did not have a plan for them but they were too nice to be trashed.

table legs

When we moved into our new house I knew I would want a bench at the end of our bed. The room is big and I love having a place to sit and put on shoes in the bedroom. I stalled on completing this project because I am trying to keep the cost down in decorating our room. I am way over budget in the den and guest room. (Like double my $100.00 per room budget in both rooms.) Before starting the bench I had spent about $80.00 on the master bedroom and I still have a few things to do. The holdup was upholstery foam. It is expensive. Crazy expensive. The foam for the mudroom bench tufted cushion was $32.00. A friend of my daughter told me she bought foam on Amazon, but it was still going to be $20.00 with shipping.

A trip to Ikea solved the problem. Have you ever been in the “As is” section of an Ikea? It is a great place to find what you didn’t even know you were looking for. Table legs, cabinet doors, scratch and dent furnishings, hardware…the place is fun to look around in for the unexpected. I found a huge cushion for a couch or chair marked $5.00. Plenty big enough for my bench.

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I sliced the thickness of the foam in half using an electric knife then used spray adhesive to attach it to a scrap of plywood pulled from the hoard and cut to fit, added a layer of batting then wrapped an old sheet around the foam and attached it to the plywood with my staple gun. This step keeps the foam in place and smooth while the upholstery is being attached. It has been so long on this project that I could not find a photo of the cushion or the big slice job. I will keep looking.

upholstery diy

In order above: sheet on bottom, then a layer of batting, then foam, then plywood

upholstered bench

use a sheet to line upholstery

Hubby built a frame for the bench base and attached the legs with thumb screws. The frame and legs got painted a couple coats of Behr Revival Mahogany.

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square corner tool

This is a cool tool. It holds the wood at a 90 degree angle so you can attach the parts.

bench frame

legs on bench

bench

Here it was while we were fitting the bench top on the base. It looks like we did not have it on evenly.

The upholstery brings a little color into the room. it was $15.00 for two yards. Well it looks like I am going to go over on this room also, but not by much. The bench ended up costing $22.00. Not bad.

bench from side table legs

 

repurposed end table legs

 

teal bench

I love how this looks.

teal paisley colored fabric

 

master bedroom with bench

 

teal master bedroom

I really want to paint the wall behind our bed a darker color. I believe it is going to be Garden Wall by Behr.

building a bench from table legs

 

master bedroom

Here she is in all her beauty. Hubby wanted some color in the room. I think this fills the bill.