Bedroom Set Undertaking

A friend of mine asked me to redo a dresser and bedside table. She wanted it white antique looking with a walnut stained top. When I took on this project I didn't realize how large the dresser is. This thing was a BEAST!

I had to sand down the tops of the furniture which was a huge task. 

After many many hours of work the furniture was painted:

I watched a tutorial on YouTube on how to use wood stain to antique painted furniture. You can find that video here. 

It's a very messy and smelly process. My wonderful husband did this step for me since I'm pregnant and can't be around the strong fumes of wood stain. 

After distressing furniture you wipe wood stain across small sections of the furniture, let it sit for about 30 seconds and wipe it off with paper towels. It's a very neat technique. I will definitely do it again. 

The knobs came from Hobby Lobby. Wait until their knobs and handles are half off which is basically every other week. 

Farm Table

I actually found this very heavy, solid wood farm table in the same yard that I got the desk from (Just on a different trash day). 

Once I cleaned off the table and picked all the dead spiders off it it was ready to paint. The top of the table was veneer so keeping it natural wasn't an option because the veneer wasn't in great shape. I decided to paint the whole thing white. 

The family that bought it own an old farm house so they're trying to use old furniture that coordinates with the house.

TV Stand Update

I found this solid wood tv stand for $75 on Craigslist. It has a good structure and I knew it would be perfect for my vision of a new TV  stand. 

I started painting by using primer first and the. Two coats of high hiding white paint. I let the primer dry for a whole day and let the two coats of basic white dry a whole day. 

I bought new knobs from Hobby Lobby @ $4.99 each (why are knobs so expensive??):

I distressed the edges with my electric sander. And here's the finished product:

Not too shabby... (Shabby chic, that is...)

Orange table makeover

I was asked to paint and distress a table for a friend. He chose the colors to match his house.

From this:

To this:

This is the table before I distressed it and added the painted knobs. I love the distressed look and I think it makes a huge difference in a piece of furniture:

 This is how my friend used it in his house:

Boat Oar Makeover

 

My husband pulled these old boat oars out of the shed to toss into the trash. I quickly rescued them for my next project. I started out using my electric sander to sand off the dirt, mildew and whatever else had made a home on these oars. 

With a little paint, sandpaper, and blue painters tape I turned these old oars into adorable shabby chic coastal decorations.

 

I love having an assortment of paint colors on hand but I hate paying $12 for a quart of paint. I recently discovered that Lowes can give you a 7.5 oz sample of any paint color for only $3!  It's the perfect amount of paint for small projects like this. 

From left to right: sea sage, tropical oasis, bird song blue, peaceful slumber 

Garbage Find Re-Do

At this point you may be wondering if trash digging is a favorite pastime of mine, but I assure you I have never gone trash digging. What happens is I see furniture in people's trash while I'm jogging or driving. This desk for example was found while out for a jog in my neighborhood.

This thing is solid wood and it was heavy! I could tell my husband didn't see the potential in the desk, all he saw was the fact that it was put at the curb for trash pick up. I knew exactly what I was going to do to this desk.  I started off by sanding it with my handy dandy electric sander. Then I painted it with three coats of a high hiding white paint. After the paint dried I distressed it with a sanding block. 

Before and After:

I sold the desk on Craigslist for $140! I put about 5 hours of work into the desk, had a great time doing it and made a little but of money!

Paint Stick Coastal Flag

I got this creative idea from Crafts By Amanda blog. She has a wonderful step-by-step tutorial on how to make this. My advice to you is to use 5 gallon paint bucket stir sticks and not the regular paint sticks. 

http://craftsbyamanda.com/2013/05/paint-stick-beach-flag.html

Here's the exact paint used in this craft. The oyster beige was used on the starfish.

This was a fun and basically free craft! I live in Florida so the starfish are readily available. I used hot glue to secure the sticks together by gluing a shortened paint stick across the backs of the sticks. Used twine to make a hanging loop. Done!

Shabby Chic Bedroom Set

I helped a friend re-do her bedroom furniture. I'm super bummed because I didn't get a before picture. The original furniture was white and it had an almost laminate texture to the whole thing, which worried me because I've only worked with solid wood in the past. I attempted to sand it down, but quickly realized I wasn't getting anywhere with it because it was laminate furniture. I was nervous because I didn't know how the distressing part would turn out or how well the paint would hold onto the laminate.  

As you can see we painted the tops of the furniture brown and the base of the dressers a blue/turquoise. We painted the knobs and handles the same brown color as the top. Next came the part I was most nervous about.... Distressing. This was a stop and go process because sometimes whole strips came off from the drawers due to the laminate. There were times we had to repaint a drawer because too much paint came off. We used matte Shellac to seal it, putting three coats on the tops of the furniture and two on the drawers and sides. I think the furniture turned out great!!! 

Inspired by this picture:

 

 We were inspired by this picture above. Those pieces were solid wood, but I think we came pretty close to achieving the same look. For more information on the above picture click here.

Shabby Chic End Table

I'm always looking for solid wood pieces that I can buy for cheap and re-do. I got this end table off Craigslist for $20. It's solid wood and very heavy.

After sanding it with an electric sander (which I have to say is the best invention in the world) I started painting it. I used eggshell paint that I had lying around the house from previous paint jobs. I let it dry overnight and sanded it using a fine grit sandpaper block (also a great invention). I sealed it using a shellac in matte that I bought at Lowes. I love how it turned out. I gave it to my friend as a housewarming gift for her beach-inspired apartment.