Repurposing furniture Archives - Page 2 of 2

Chalkboard DIY, Country Style, Curbside rescue, moving, Repurposed Furniture, Roadside Finds

Curbside Headboard Into Garage Chalkboard

June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 Karen

The best time to go trolling for curbside finds is Saturday afternoon just before dark. The very best time to go hunting is the weekend of the huge neighborhood garage sale near our current city house. The garage sale occurs every spring and the finds over the year have helped furnish our lake house and have provided materials for projects in our city house. People tend to throw out items that do not sell. I love items that do not sell.

The most recent garage sale weekend we collected a dresser totally junk but the drawer fronts were solid wood and will be reused along with brass hardware, a pink chair- it now has a home with a teenaged young lady who loves thrift shopping, and this wooden twin headboard that wonder of all wonders- Hubby wanted to make into a project! Of course I let him run with it! He decided to make a chalkboard out of it. Wow. I know. I must be rubbing off on him after 32 years.

This was tricky. He cut the spindles so that they followed the curve of the wood, cut out a piece of hard board for the chalkboard and turned it over to me to paint. I painted the chalkboard four times, then painted the frame with a jar of 25 cent green paint from he Lowe’s clearance section.

Hubby connected the chalkboard to the frame with construction adhesive he. Had on hand and clamped it in place.

In our clean out to move I found 6 hooks that were wrapped in a sack. I hold on to hardware when I find it. I never pay more than a few cents for hardware and save it in a cabinet at the lake so I really have no idea where this came from or what project I bought it for. Whatever the circumstance, Hubby put three of the hooks, painted dark brown onto the bottom of the frame. This is going in his garage by the door so he and hang hats and write notes when he is trying to remember measurements.

I am so proud of his work!

DIY Furniture, moving, Painted Furniture, Silliness

Confessions of a Neurotic Furniture Repurposer

June 11, 2013June 12, 2013 Karen

Here is the deal. I am selling stuff that won’t work in our new house. Most of what I am selling is at garage sale prices. I have heard from some of my blogger friends that I need to stop selling my painted work so cheap, but I do what I do for fun. One of the pieces I sold super cheap was a chalkboard painted armoire. It has been around the block a time or three. My plan was to turn the inside into my craft closet but it hadn’t happened yet when the big move started to commence. The outside of the cabinet was cute. I loved the vintage hardware spay painted silver, the funky moulding that hubby put on the front of the doors and the whole vibe of the piece.

I sold it to a youngster who is getting married for her new home. I laid awake the night it sold thinking about how ugly the inside looked. It was just not finished.
The next morning when I should have been packing I actually untaped my craft box, dug out fabric, batting, wire, my staple gun and got busy while hubby was making a trip to the storage unit. On one side of the door I always saw a picture/idea hanger side and a white board/bulletin board side.
While hubby was gone I cut the fabric stapled the batting to the door and got busy with the fabric. In my haste to finish when I should have been packing, I turned the stapler around backwards. I actually managed to staple my tummy.

Yep. I stapled my very own body with a staple gun. It hurt! Hubby doesn’t know so don’t tell him, please! I applied antibiotic cream then got back to work.

When Hubby got home he was impressed with my effort and attached the white board and cork board to the other side with no complaint. He even went to get a can of spray paint for me while he was out. I spray painted the inside ( it could use another coat but it almost looks good).

It is not exactly my vision, but it is closer.

Here is the inside of the cabinet.

I really am pretty neurotic when it comes to my furniture. But, isn’t admitting you have a problem the first step? Those of you who want to show your husbands/ significant other that it could be worse, you could be like me, feel free to show him/ her this post. They will be thankful that you are not as far out the crazy scale as you could be.

glazing, Painted Furniture, painting, vintage style

Sewing Cabinet Gets Ready for School

April 30, 2013May 17, 2013 Karen

We worked frantically this Saturday afternoon and into the evening Sunday to get the GarageMahal cleaned out and ready for a huge project that will be done before we leave for The Southern Belle’s Wedding June 1.
Tonight you get to see my awesome sewing cabinet. My friend Kandy gave me the cabinet and it is going to be going into my office soon.
When I got this sweet cabinet the top was split, there was a loose leg and one knob was broken. Hubby ripped off the top piece and used some glue and clamps to put the top back together.

I am going to use vintage school items to decorate my office and am using the color pallet from the 1950’s Dick and Jane book pages for my painted pieces. I am framing some Dick and Jane posters that will be art work on the walls.

I loved this color yellow it is called Jackfruit (Behr,of course). I only bought a sample sized container so it cost me less than $3.00 to paint the cabinet.
I found a new set of knobs that looked similar- only a little larger- at the Habitat for Humanity garage sale. Yay! I feel like I got them for free because I got several pieces of hardware for $2.00 that will be used for numerous projects. I moved the smaller functional knobs to the top drawer and gave the larger bottom drawer the bigger knobs.
I lightly distressed the finish then glazed it with my charcoal colored glaze.
Here is the beauty with a couple of coats of Rustoleum Urethane.
My office is going to be so much fun!

Curbside rescue, DIY, DIY cushion, Dresser, home decorating, mudroom, recycled furniture, resale finds, Roadside Finds, Roadside Rescue, Style, The City House, tufted cushion

Dresser to Mudroom Bench

March 3, 2013March 10, 2014 Karen

My mudroom bench started life as a dresser. I found it on the side of the road waiting for heavy trash pick up. It was a mess! The top was in pieces and two drawers were broken. In spite of the shape that the dresser was in, it was solid wood and had dove tailed drawers. It was late at night and we were headed home from visiting friends. I had to beg Hubby to stop, back up and get out to look at the dresser. He was less than impressed with this one.

Here it is with one of the working drawers out. The top has a split all the way down the length.

After staring at it a few weeks, I decided to turn it into a piece for our entryway that could serve as a sort of mudroom. A place to take off shoes, hang jackets and hats and hide junk…I mean Hubby’s treasures.

First, We removed the top two rows of drawers from the dresser and created a bench by adding a plywood top.

Next, we created a separate top piece from the two remaining solid drawer fronts. Because of the height, we had them open on hinges. We could not have used it if it were drawers. A sheet of beadboard paneling, 2X4’s, and a plywood box.

The mirror was a thrift store find. Hubby chopped the top off the mirror frame and routed the 2X4’s so that they matched the mirror. We reused the top in a later piece.

Then, Hubby created a board and batten over bead board back to connect the piece visually. The bead board and top are connected together, but they float over the bench. Sneaky huh? This allows easy installation and access to electrical without cutting holes in the wood. You never know where it will live next! All the hooks were installed last because I wasn’t sure what I wanted. In the end I went with plain hooks because they worked for the piece.

Finally, we painted, added crystal knobs and made a tufted cushion. I love the soft green color!

This is by far the most unique piece of furniture in our home and is a great conversation piece.

Here it what it looked like the morning that I wrote this blog. I did not do anything so that you can see how we really live.

This is the best shot I have taken of the bench. Now I wish I had removed Hubby’s hat, camera, and jacket!

Decorating, DIY Painting and Glazing Furniture, DIY Projects, home decorating, Painted Furniture, recycled furniture, Repurposed Furniture, resale finds, Roadside Finds, Roadside Rescue, Thrifting, vintage style

The Real Cost of Repurposing Furniture

February 14, 2013January 5, 2014 Karen

I have wanted to write this blog for a while. I go to craft shows, shops and our local trade days where I sometimes hear shoppers commenting on the cost. “I could do that.” is frequently heard as well as comments about prices. Now you know that I am always looking for a deal! And by deal I mean a steal. I love to find furniture, cheap or preferably free, then repurpose the piece into something unique. It is my hobby, and I am not trying to live off selling my goods. We would STARVE! I always try to let you know the cost, which is usually less than a brand new piece would be, but I think that there is a misconception from time to time about the real cost of repurposing the furniture.

Right now I am redoing a piece of furniture I literally picked up on the side of the road. The cost for the furniture – ZERO DOLLARS AND ZERO CENTS.

In order to get the piece repurposed I decided to buy everything new for this project. I needed to replenish supplies anyway and sometimes even I forget that this is a hobby and the supplies are expensive because I only buy things as I run out.

The costs are rounded- because I am lazy!
Purdy paintbrush- the best and worth the cost- 12.00
Behr Revival Mahogany paint with primer- one quart- I could have probably gotten by with two samples @ $3.00 each, but I knew I would need the left over for the faux fireplace I am doing- $16.00
Behr Innocence- one quart- the giant dresser used almost a whole quart- the leftover paint was used to paint Baby Boy’s bookcase. $16.00
Zinzer Primer- one quart- $10.00
Glazing medium- one quart Behr Faux Finish glazing medium. I use this all the time and it lasts forever but it was time for a new container- $15.00
Sandpaper for hand sanding and the palm sander $5.00
Rustoleum Poly- one quart- $15.00

Hours spent on the project- 1 hour checking it out, calling Hubby, getting the beast into the vehicle, out of the vehicle and home. 3 hours sanding. 4 hours priming, re sanding, then priming again. 4 hours painting the creamy white color. 1 hour painting handles. 1 hour painting the top. 1 hour glazing. 3 hours polyurethaning the whole thing. Oh! This does not include dry time, moving time and reassembly.

So all in all we have close to $80.00 in supplies and the equivalent of one hard weekend’s worth of time invested. In a free piece of furniture! The next time you see someone’s work online, in a shop, or at a vendor’s booth and you say to yourself… ” I could do that WAAAY cheaper, the truth is provided you find the right piece, you might could save a little money doing it yourself but it won’t be as cheap or easy as you may initially believe and your time is worth something.

If you are in a shop when you see this piece also figure in overhead costs.

It is a lot of work to re-purpose furniture, but it is ever so worth the effort! I love the satisfaction of doing a good job and bringing something back to life.