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

Vintage Table Upcycle!

While browsing the local thrift store, I came across this cute little table and chairs set. A sweet vintage drop-leaf table with two little matching chairs. It needed a bit of work, it was painted a terrible brown. I was so excited to get started on it that I never took a before picture. :( So this is the best I have.... I took this picture after I began to sand the paint off of the table top. As you can see, the top was in bad shape. My initial plan was to just stain the top with a dark stain like "Kona", But the marks on the top were still visible after I had applied the stain so  I decided on applying a stencil to the top as well. This is something I have done before and you can see it HERE  on this piece, since it has the drop sides, I started the pattern in the middle of the table and followed it out to the edges so that the pattern flowed across the entire top.

After finishing the table top, I painted the legs with a light gray chalk paint and topped that with clear wax. Then, I distressed the legs with sandpaper for a rustic look. I repeated this process with the chairs.

It turned out awesome! I'm really happy with it. Now, I just need to find a place for it!

Upcycle a Thrifted Chair for Under $10!

After buying our daughter a desk for her room, we realized she was going to need a chair. I guess the thought didn't occur to me until the desk was in her room that there needed to be a chair! So being me, I said I would find her a cute chair or fix one up. The search began, it took a while but I finally stumbled on this beauty at the thrift store for 5 bucks!

It wasn't wobbly, stained or smelly! I felt that it needed a paint job and new fabric for the seat and it would be great!
I had the paint at home and the brushes. All I needed to buy was some cute fabric that coordinates with my daughter's room. I found some great fabric at the local craft store and was able to use a coupon so the fabric only cost me $4.30. My total expense was $9.30! Sweet! This is a great project to try if you have never painted or tried to upcycle furniture.
This is simple explanation of what I did to upcycle this Thrifted chair:

 

Supplies:

Chair

Paint

Fabric

Paint brush and/or roller

Sanding block

Screwdriver

Wet rag possibly with soap.

Hammer and Tacks or Staple Gun

• Lightly sand the chair with a sanding block. You don't need to go crazy with this step. Just "rough up the finish a bit.

• Wipe down the chair with a wet rag. (You may need some soapy water) Then, dry it with a towel or let it air dry.

• Remove the "seat". Use a screwdriver to remove the screws that secure the seat. Take out the seat and set it aside.

• Paint the chair. It took me 3 coats to cover the chair the way I liked. I used a brush and a small roller but you can do it however you like. I also gave each coat about an hour to dry before applying the next coat.

• Cover the seat cushion. Lay the fabric facing down. Place the cushion facing down in the center of the fabric. Starting with one side fold the fabric over the cushion and tack it down. You can use a hammer and some tacks, as I did, or a staple gun if you have one.  Do the same on the opposite side making sure to pull the fabric snug.

 

• Fold over the other sides. The other sides will be folded over kind of like you would wrap a present. Make sure that the fabric does not bunch up and then secure them in place.

• Reattach the seat cushion. Once the paint is completely dry, put the seat cushion back onto the chair using the original screws.

And that is it! Now enjoy that new upcycled chair!

 

Garage Door Update!

The Garage door. For us, it is the entryway to our home. We enter and exit primarily from this door because that's how we get to the car and the car is how we get places! My question is: Why are garage doors so BLAH? They are the entryway to people's homes. I thought about this a lot. I think that is why I made over the laundry room; Because it was our "Entryway". You can check out the Laundry Room Makeover HERE  Now that the laundry room got some TLC, my attention was drawn to the "BLAH" garage door. Everything about it screamed for a makeover! The white paint was scratched and had all kids of stains, the steps- well the steps were a hot mess!  So here is what this hot mess Blah door looked like before!

 

Fortunately, you can't see all the ugly marks and scratches on that door! I know- That's bad! So with a little creativity and a little wandering around Home Depot, my husband and I came up with this!

 

It really looks so much better than before. I painted the door and the step a soft black, and the trim around the door a bright white. My husband cut the metal sheet we bought into strips with tin snips to fit the steps. Then we glued the pieces in place and tacked then in with little nails. We even found the matching switch plate covers! That's what I call garage chic! Ha!

 The best part is that a project like this is something that can be done in one afternoon and some of the materials we already had on hand like the paint! Now, I realize the rest of the garage is still just a garage... which just made my list of projects longer! I'm thinking Garage makeover in the future!! ;)

The Laundry Room to Mud Room Makeover! The Reveal!! Finally!!

My Laundry room makeover is finished! Summer is in full swing and I have been slacking on my projects; So, I mean, I have finally taken some pictures of the laundry room so I can reveal the final look!

Here is before-                                                                               And After!

Another Before-                                                                              And After!

The Wooden Shelf is a piece that we made very cheaply. The wooden part is a stair tread that  I stained and finished. The shelf brackets I bought at the local Hobby Lobby. Notice the sweet Mason Jar Pitcher that I bought from Cost Plus World Market! I fill it with laundry soap and use a cute baby mason jar as my measuring cup. I think it looks much better that having the value size plastic laundry soap container setting on the counter!!

Before-                                                                                         And After!

Before-                                                                                          After!

 

This is by far the most dramatic change of the room. This is the view that you get when you enter the house from the garage. We took down the utility style wire shelving, found a new home for the mini fridge, added a bench and a stylish shelf with storage. The door was taken off, painted and then rehung as a sliding door! Check out that step Here: Laundry Room Door

 

You can also check out the floor redo Here: Laundry Room Floor

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so thrilled how it turned out. I feel like it looks more Foyer like rather than utility room. I am no longer embarrassed when people enter or exit the house through this room. (Well except when there are delicates hanging to dry over the sink! )

Let me know what you think of this laundry room transformation! Post a comment below! 

Be sure to follow me on this blog or on Bloglovin!!

Ta-dah! The TV Table!

OMG!!! It turned out great!

I have surprised myself! The "hunk of junk" that I bought at the thrift store turned out better than I had imagined! When I brought this beauty home most of my family and friends laughed at what an eyesore it was. I heard a lot of "Well, you have your work cut out for you"!

It was definitely ugly, but I saw the potential! When I was looking the cabinet over before buying it, I noticed that there was a cord coming out of it with a plug on the end! After further inspection, I realized that it had a light "feature" that I figured since this was in pretty bad shape wouldn't work. But, it totally does work!

 On the inside of the cabinet doors, was this weird avacado green velvet! Then I realized that the velvet panels were meant to face outward!

This cabinet just kept getting better and better to me! Ha! So, I decided it had to be mine, and for fifteen bucks, why not? YES!!! It was ONLY $15!!!!!!!I could afford to put some work into this baby!

Some cleaning, this thing smelled super musty! A little sanding, almost 10 cans of spray paint, glaze and polycrylic, and a few more finishing touches and I was done. Here it is!

I laugh when I think about the fact that I spent under $100 on this piece! It is seven feet long! Let me know what you think!

Here is a close up of the "bling" knobs!

And below is a picture of the light "feature" on with the new red glass!

 



And here is the before and after comparison!