From Outdated to Farmhouse: Dining Room Set Makeover!!

A dining set project can be an immense amount of work but the payoff can be huge when it turns out just as you hoped. I had been thinking about re-doing a dining room set for a while. I had looked around for an old set that needed some love without luck. The “modern farmhouse” tables are so nice because they have great character and I really wanted a dining set that captured that style.

I stumbled upon a set that a family member was getting rid of... Here are the before pics...

The table itself has that farmhouse table feel with those thick turned legs. It looks really solid and sturdy! Perfect look and it has 2 leaves to make it bigger!

Not sure if  I need the hutch... but maybe I will be inspired once I start working.
The chairs are nice, there are 2 with arm rests and 4 without.

Here’s the base of the hutch,(or sideboard) which  I definitely wanted for storage. The drawer fronts were a little outdated with the carving patterns but I decided that I could figure that out.

The first piece of the set that I worked on was the side board. Full details HERE With my sander, I removed the finish on the top surface down to bare wood. The next step was to smooth the bare wood to a nice finish by working my way up to a fine grit sanding disk. I worked up to a 220 grit to get a nice smooth finish. 

Because it was summer and very humid, I moved on to sanding the seats of the chairs, the tabletop and the 2 leaves. Every piece that was sanded was to be stained. I wanted to wait for the humidity to drop a bit before the staining and finishing process.

This was what the finish looked like before I started sanding. It was outdated.

Here is the sideboard.

 Here are the chairs with one of the seats sanded down.

Sanding took FOREVER!!!! It felt like the sanding was going to last the rest of my life! The weather had cooled off a bit too (after weeks of spare time sanding) and finally, it was all done and it was time to move on to staining. Thank goodness!!! I chose to use a carbon gray stain. It’s pretty dark and is very cool tones the top of the table and the top of the sideboard had a lot of warmth left in the wood so this stain really toned that down and worked great.

The next step is to put a finish on the sanded areas to seal it up. I chose to use a wipe on poly. It’s got a satin finish so it is not too shiny. To apply, simply take a lint free cloth and wipe the poly on to the surface. It was really easy to do. The tabletop required more layers of poly so I did lightly sand in between coats and when the final coat was dry, buffed it to a nice sheen. OH SO SMOOTH!

Now that the staining portion was done, I moved on to the next phase which was painting. I chose to paint the rest of the surfaces with chalk paint. I used Rustoleum's chalked in country gray for the sideboard, two chairs with arms and the legs of the table. For the 4 armed chairs I used a navy blue chalk paint to match them to a cabinet that I had previously done for the dining room. You can check out that post HERE After the 4 armless chairs were painted, they got a coat of Matte finish poly-acrylic.

The rest of the surfaces that were painted gray, were then wiped with a dark gray glaze to give them a more antiqued look then finished with matte polyacrylic.

It looks absolutely amazing!!! Her are the after photos...

 Before and After comparison of the sideboard. There was a lot of steps to this piece and I will be explaining that in another post! Check that out Sideboard Upcycle

The set in the dining room!

Before & After of the table.

My little pup wanted in on the pictures. This project was a lot of work but I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Don't be afraid to give this furniture project a try!

Thrift Store Finds: Bookcase to Bar Cabinet Upcycle

Thrift store Finds: Upcycled Bar Cabinet

Book Case to Bar Cabinet Upcycle!

I love finding unique furniture at the local thrift stores or garage sales. The pieces I find always need a little DIY magic and can be re-purposed into anything. Most of the time I am looking for something for a specific need, this time I was looking for a piece of furniture that my little mini-fridge could live in. I decided that it would be cool to have a bar cabinet idea, where I could hang wine glasses, store beverages in addition to hiding, I mean, housing my mini-fridge.

I came upon a beauty at the local thrift store for $40 bucks!

I got lucky that it has enough space in the bottom cabinet to house the mini-fridge while being narrow enough to fit the room it would go in.

the first thing i did was to remove the old, out-dated hardware. In the picture above, I had already removed the hardware and patched the old holes with wood filler. I then marked and drilled the holes for the new hardware I had purchased.

 The next step was to replace some of the door latches that weren't working properly. I was surprised to find new replacements at the local hardware store. they were pretty cheap too, like a buck or less depending on the size. They were easy to install because I tried to get the same size and then just put the new ones in the same spots as the old ones.

 Once the cabinet doors were working properly, I began to paint the cabinet. I chose a navy blue chalk paint. I used a brush for the detail and hard to reach areas and a small foam roller for the rest.

 Then I applied a back splash to the open part of the cabinet. I used a product that looks like tin ceiling tiles but is actually plastic. It was easy to cut to fit the cabinet, and then glued to the back using liquid nails. if you are noticing the cords coming from the top: this sweet cabinet has lights that are behind the shelves to illuminate the top 2 shelves and one light in the pull down cabinet. (love it!)

 After the paint was dry, I applied a coat of clear wax to the entire painted area. I applied the new hardware, a wine glass hanger, and moved the cabinet into the house.

 I love the way it turned out and I also love that it has lights in it! It is so much better than the mini-fridge on an old TV stand that was there before! I already have more cabinet space in my kitchen since moving all my wine glasses to the glass hanger!

Here it is with the lights off

 Here is a shot with the doors open.

the wine glass hanger.

The cute glass knobs:)

Before and after!

Check out more of my thrift store Upcycle projects:

Vintage Kitchen Table Upcycle

Upcycle a Thrifted Chair for $10

Thrifted TV Table

Upcycle Console Table

Under $5 Desktop makeover with vinyl tiles

Do you have a desk or craft table that has a trashed top? I did!

This is my daughter's desk. The top is actually stained! She is very artsy and crafty and is always working on some kind of project. As you can see her desk has taken a beating and no amount of cleaning can save it.

My husband and I couldn't stand looking at it anymore! So while straightening up her room one day I had an idea!!!

Vinyl Peel and stick tiles!!!!

My Father-in-law had just given me a box that he didn't need anymore!!! Yay! So I set to work!

What you need:

• A crappy desktop

• peel and stick vinyl tiles

• utility knife

• heavy duty scissors

• pen

• ruler or straight edge

• chalk or charcoal 

I started with a full tile in the middle of the desktop and worked my way out to the sides. The tiles go on easy, peel off the paper backing and press into place. When I got to the edge, I marked the paper side of the tile with a pen so I knew where to cut. 

Then, I just cut the tile either with the utility knife or scissors.

On some of the tiles, I used the ruler to make sure my cut line was straight.

And that's it! Easy! Also super cheap! For me it was free:) The tiles I used can be bought for 39 cents a tile. I used 8 tiles so it would have cost $3.12! It only took about 30 mins to complete:) I am very happy with how it turned out and can't wait for my daughter to see it!

Kitchen Makeover: New Granite Counter Tops in the Kitchen!

The kitchen makeover begins!
Where to start? That was the question for me. There is so much I'd like to change in this kitchen but I can't do it all at once. So we figured that new counters would give us a different look and pave the way for future projects!  The original counter tops were just your regular-everyday laminate... 12 years old and a light beige color... kind of off- whitish. They have served their purpose for the last 12 years. It was time for them to go.

This is the BEFORE

I quick snapped a picture before the installers ripped out the old counter tops!

And here is the AFTER!

 

The color we chose was called black pearl. It was so hard for me to imagine the way it would look in the kitchen from only seeing this tiny piece. I love the way it turned out with the straight edges and the rounded corners. The way it looks makes me want to redo everything in the kitchen to look as awesome as the new counter tops do!

Clever Kitchen Storage Solution! Tilt-out Sink Front Drawer

I am always looking for somewhere to stash my dishwashing accessories (a.k.a the kitchen sponge, dish rag, and drain stopper.) All those things are always sitting around the edge of my sink cluttering up the counter, or tossed in the bottom of the sink, under dishes where they can't be found when needed.

Now, thanks to a little trip to the home improvement store, I stumbled upon this solution! Tilt out Sink front drawer!!!!

I found a kit that comes with everything that is needed to turn the "fake drawer" into a useful storage space! The best part- It was under $20 bucks! 

It only took about 30 minutes. The directions were very easy to follow.

The fake drawers in the bathrooms... beware... You are next!

Spruce up that Naked Wall!

Last year we got with the program and bought a flat screen TV. It was a very big deal for me because I had one of those wall units that surrounded the big boxy flat screen that we had, and with that being gone I hated staring at the big NAKED wall behind the new TV. I love my new red TV table which you can check out HERE But I needed something to dress up the wall. So my husband suggested doing some kind of rock on the wall and that got the wheels turning!!!

We headed over to the home improvement store for some inspiration and we found that there was a lot of options. There is stones that can be put up with mortar and then need to be grouted, similar to tile flooring. There is stone that can be put up using mortar that doesn't need grouting. And then there is stone that can be put up using no mortar or grout but uses these "clips" instead. It all depends on the look that you are going for and the price range your budget allows. We went with the "clip" stone because we liked the look of it and we felt the application of it would be more our speed than having to mortar and grout all of the stone.

The first thing we had to do was to put up some plywood on the wall as a base for the stone. This was something that the guy at the store did not tell us. It was a good thing we called the manufacturer for some installation tips!

We had to make cuts in the stone to accommodate all of the electrical wiring. This was the most tedious part of the process because the stone is very thick! I apologize for not taking step by step pictures! I was still in a cast from my ankle surgery at this point and also very excited about this project! You can see one of the clips there that is used to secure the stone to the wall, it is the black "bracket" in the picture below.

This particular "stone" that we chose is a stone veneer that can be used indoors or out. It comes in cases that have bricks in 3 different lengths. The bricks need to be staggered in such a way that no joints will line up vertically in consecutive rows. 

 

 

The finished product!!!

 

Amazing! We love the new look in our family room! It really breaks up the huge naked wall.

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