Changing Table -Turned Dog Bed

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a beat up, run down changing table on the side of the road. It was no longer safe to put a baby on. It was missing two shelves, and was super rickety. Because it was made of real wood and had interesting spindles, I felt the need to bring it home and make something out of it.

The hubs was obviously unhappy that I was bringing more junk home;o) Story of our lives, right?

Anyway, I thought it would make a perfect pet bed.

 This is how it started out. 

I used an electric hand saw and chopped the legs off. That was definitely an experience. Note to self...use a sharp blade next time. I was literally shaking so hard that I had blurred vision while cutting this piece because the blade wouldn't cut through the wood:o) 

I sanded down the feet to get a nice edge.

I then ripped the safety buckles off of the bottom.

And then spray painted it.

The cushion is made from painters' canvas and two large pillows from my couch in the bonus room.

I made the cover removable by adding a zipper to the back. That way when it gets dirty, I can just throw it in the wash.

Not bad for a roadside rescue?

Coffee Table Redo-Part3

Our coffee table serves many purposes. It's the place where the kids do homework, make crafts, sometimes eat their dinners. It's also a foot rest, and occasionally used in pillow/blanket forts.

It's used A LOT, and had been showing lots of wear here lately.

This coffee table has gone through a couple of transformations.

To see the actual before, you can go here.

I had not been planning on re-doing the coffee table. It sort of just struck me last Friday that I needed to strip all of the nasty paint off of it. 

This was part two...the center is chalkboard paint. I had found some inspiration on Mrs. Mustard Seed's blog with some chalkboard tables she had created. At the time of the second re-do, my children had a nasty habit of writing on furniture. I came up with what I thought was an ingenious idea to paint chalkboard paint on the top of the coffee table; that way they could have at least one piece of furniture in the house to write on with out mommy fussing.

Well, it's been a few years and the kids are past the graffiti-on-my-furniture phase, thankfully. However, this table has been put through the ringer.

 As you can see there are tons of nicks, and scratches all over the top. There was also this weird film that developed...not exactly sure if it was from the chalkboard paint, or if we're just that nasty.

Regardless, it needed to come off. 

After two coats of paint stripper and a little bit of sanding, I was able to restore the wood to it's natural state.

 I applied the same stain I used for the old bench.

I let the stain sit for 15 minutes before wiping it off. I'm not one for waiting hours to reapply coats of stain to get what I think is basically the same result.

And this is the finished result. A beautiful stained wood top.

A much needed improvement.

I haven't applied the coats of poly yet. We had way too much going on over the weekend to get that done.

I love my big coffee table, and love that it serves so many purposes. Styling it, is an issue all on it's own. Because it has so many jobs, leaving things on it isn't an option.

But, the kids and the hubs are away, so mommy gets to play around with some fun styling:o)

 I love these old Bibles. I think they are so beautiful. The thicker ones belonged to the hubs' grandfather. The smaller one was my mother's cousin's Bible that was given to him when he was fighting in the war. They were to put them in their pocket to figuratively and literally protect their hearts.

Definitely a treasure.

 I can't get enough of these old blue mason jars either.

I have them scatted throughout the whole house. 

I have three more projects that I am in the process of finishing. I can't wait to share them with you all!!

Busy Beaver

I have been working the day away trying to get several things done. Laundry, cleaning the house, hanging things on the wall, stripping paint off of furniture(as seen below), sanding, etc. This is the first time since my surgery that I have felt well enough to tackle multiple projects at once. I actually have 3 in the process of being completed. And I'm just a little jazzed at how they are turning out:o)

The weather couldn't be anymore perfect for this sort of thing either. So grateful for Fall-esque weather.

We have a big weekend ahead of us. We have 2 kids' birthday parties to attend, a soccer game, and the hubs is having a birthday on Sunday. 

Busy, busy, busy.

Today I just wanted to fill you in on what's going on behind the scenes with my blog. 

As you have probably noticed, the appearance has changed over the past few weeks. I have been working really hard trying to spruce things up and make it seem more appealing. I have scoured the internet for different tutorials on how to make these changes. 

If you check out my Blogger Tutorials Pinterest Page, you can see where I have gotten all of these great ideas.

I have been playing around with this blog for a little over 3 years now. I have had so much fun learning, creating and sharing with you guys.

Now that my kiddos are at the age where they are in school full time, I have a few extra hours in the day where I can get through more projects.

I also have more time to dedicate to this blog and trying to make it grow. 

Growing will hopefully mean turning a profit...yep, I said it. I want to earn an income from blogging. I absolutely love crafting, sewing, DIY'ing, and everything that goes along with blogging. Why not try to make money at something I love doing?

So, hopefully in the not-so-distant future, I will be looking for sponsors. People who I feel my readers, that's you, would want to purchase from.  That part is still in the works right now. Other ways I am earning, is through ads. Every ad-click counts towards me earning a little extra..so if you see something that interests you, click on it:o)

I appreciate each and every one of my readers. I am so thankful that you guys take time out of your day to see what I have been up to. You are what makes doing all of these projects more enjoyable. It's fun when you get to share something you're excited about with other people who will get excited right along with you. I hope that you will stick around and help this little blog continue to grow!

Old Bench Makeover

I started playing around with picmonkey.com today...yep, I know I am behind the times. 

I'm going to have lots of fun with this new-to-me site! Notice the B & A collage picture...well it's more like A & B because I'm new to this collage making business. I'll get the hang of it...eventually.

Anywhoodles, today I am sharing a little bench makeover. 

This little guy was a yard sale find. It belonged to a little old man, and he used it as his work bench. As you can tell from the top, it got lots and lots of use. He passed away, and his wife had no use for it, so she sold it to me for $1. 

I'm really digging the painted furniture with the wooden tops, so this bench seemed like the perfect piece to try out that technique.

The top & sides of the bench seat had a thin veneer surrounding MDF. The seat had to go because, well, just look at it. It has seen better days. The 90's ivy green paint was definitely an eye sore as well. 

But there were good bones, and lots of hidden potential.

 Since I wanted the base to be white, I primed it with Valspar Primer from Lowes. Between coats, I had to rush the bench back inside because the humidity in the South is at 1000% right now. Terrible conditions for spray painting.

After the primer dried, I sprayed 2 coats of Valspar flat white paint. The reason I used flat was because that was what was sitting in the spray paint basket:o)

While the paint was drying, I worked on the bench seat. We had some leftover 2x6's from a previous project, and I cut them down to size. 

Then I used pressure treated 1x2's to brace the underside of the seat. No reason for pressure treat..just had that in the scrap stash.

The top was stained with a walnut stain. 

To keep from having to apply multiple coats of stain and waiting 3-4 hours in between coats, I let the stain sit on the boards for about 5 minutes before wiping away the excess.

That technique worked perfectly for me. I've never been known for my patience;o)

Once the stain had dried, I attached the base to the new seat. The power drill wouldn't reach inside the tiny holes for the screws, so I HAND screwed it to the seat....good thing I don't have carpal tunnel...yeesh!

I'm so pleased with the results, and I love how the wood grain pops on the seat. 

This bench will reside on our very miniature front porch. I can't wait to dress it up for fall. I have some really fun decorating projects in the works for fall decorating. 

Here's a sneak peak of one of. Make sure to come back to get inspired for your fall decorating!

Partying Here:

Half Bath Makeover

We put the finishing touches on our half bath this weekend. I am thrilled with the end result. It's definitely more my taste than the "before".

I found my inspiration from The Lettered Cottage. I absolutely looove their blog, and if you haven't checked them out yet, you should really take the time to do so. You'll be glad you did. 

I get so excited every time I walk by this room.

This was the before. Chocolate brown, and it looked like a hole in the wall...literally.

We are putting in an in-home salon because I am a hair stylist, and one of the requirements is to have access to a bathroom from the salon area. Thankfully, the half bath is right beside the area we will have the salon. The hubs cut out the drywall, and made an opening for the new door. He made a brace above the frame to make sure everything was stable. 

                                                          This view is actually taken from the laundry room, where the salon will be. The laundry room is next on the to-do list. I'll probably do a step by step of that room because there will be some MAJOR changes in there.

 Once the door was in place, the hubs started adding the horizontal wood planks. The hubs and I debated on whether to make our planks go vertical like the inspiration room, or to do horizontal. Cost was the winning factor, so we chose to go horizontal. We went with the 

 cheaper version, instead of what we used in the kids' bathroom. If we do this in any other rooms in the house, we will be using the pre-made stuff. It's not nearly as cheap, but it's definitely more mechanical engineer friendly;o) 

Most bloggy DIY'ers were using a nickel to space their planks, but we went with a dime. Just a personal choice...

This shelf is one of my faves in the room. In it's previous existence, it was a drawer.

 I found the drawer on the side of the road about a year ago. A true trash to treasure makeover. Later this week, I'll share the steps I went through to achieve the final look.

My original intent was to strip the paint off of the drawer and repaint it. After stripping most of the 4 coats of paint off, I decided to stick with what was left on the drawer. I loved the vintage look of the chippy paint.

 We added a robe hook to the side of the shelf to hang a towel on. By keeping the towel off of the wooden planks, it will hopefully keep the boards from getting as wet, and having those nasty drip lines running down the wall. 

This light fixture was a Lowes purchase. I wired it myself...I felt kind of pumped afterwards;o) The mirror was also purchased from Lowes.

In the inspiration bathroom, they used wallpaper at the top of their walls. I am quite fearful when it comes to wallpaper. It tends to go in and out of style, and I have yet to hear of someone who just LOVES taking it down when it comes time to change. This is the second time in 4 years that I have redone this bathroom, so I went with something a little less permanent...stencils. The stencil was purchased from Hobby Lobby. It took me 4  PAINSTAKING HOURS  to do this tiny space. I hated every.single.minute.of.it. Like for reals. I'm so glad that I stuck it out, though. It turned out exactly how I had hoped.

This is the new door leading to the laundry room. Looks like it's been there the whole time, doesn't it?

I'm so glad to have this tiny space complete. The hubs and I had a few moments where we felt claustrophobic, but our hard work paid off!!

Here's a list of the items we purchased, if you're interested.

Oval Mirror-Lowes

Light Fixture-Lowes

Soap Dispenser-Marshalls

Towels-Marshalls

Robe Hook-Walmart

Stencil-Hobby Lobby

Wall Color on Planks-Wedgewood Grey-Benjamin Moore

Basket-Walmart

Make sure to stay tuned to see how I transformed the roadside drawer into a shelf!

Participating in:

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LEGO Table

I have been in major build mode this week. I have stepped away from the sewing machine, and have been trying my hand at power tools. I have had so much fun, and I LOVE that my husband keeps a well stocked garage:o)

I have had this table in the attic for about two years. I purchased it from a local yard sale page for $5. It was an awkward sort of table and very dated, but when inexpensive furniture presents itself to me, I buy immediately and ask questions later...it's not always the best approach, but my approach, nonetheless;o)

A couple of nights ago, we were all in the playroom building LEGO scenes, and that's when the idea struck me that E needed a LEGO table. 

And, so it was.

This was the before..a very dated, very drab piece of furniture.

 I used a jig saw to cut out the top....very LOUD, I might add...and, no I was not wearing any ear protection.

It was a hot and humid day, so the red spray paint didn't want to dry. I had to spray a coat, and then bring it inside between coats. My house smelled delightful...NOT! If you follow along on Facebook, you got to see what red over spray will do to blonde hair. I'm happy to report that Dawn dish washing liquid stripped the paint right out of my hair, thankfully!!

I found the LEGO plate at Target for $14.99.  The plate was attached to the base of the table with liquid nails, and trimmed out with quarter round.

I'm so happy with the end result, and so is E.

 Now it's the perfect little end table.

And if you're wondering...those are marker lines on the side of the couch...it's a playroom..anything goes, or so it would seem:o)

Participating here:Lady Behind the Curtain

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