From Outdated to Farmhouse: Sideboard Upcycle

From Outdated to Farmhouse: Sideboard Upcycle

The dining set that I finished early this fall had a sideboard/buffet that came along with it. The piece was in great condition and I really love the idea of having a sideboard in the dining room for storage. You can check out the original post about the dining set makeover HERE
This sideboard needed some work to bring it into my vision and this decade so I'm giving it its own post to show all the steps!

This is a before shot of the sideboard. It is in great condition... the doors and drawers all work fine! The hard ware and the carving on the drawer fronts needs to go. So, the first step is to remove all the hardware including the hinges. All those pieces would be replaced later. Then. the doors were taken off and the drawers removed.

The top surface was then sanded down to bare wood.  Next it was stained in Carbon Gray wood stain and finished with a few coats of wipe on Polyurethane. The rest of the body was then painted a country gray calk paint, then wiped down with a dark glaze. It was then finished with a matte polyacrlic.

The drawer fronts were carved into pretty deep. So, to get them to be a nice flat drawer front, I had to fill the carved parts with wood filler. Once the wood filler was dry, it was sanded smooth by hand with a sanding block. This process had to be repeated 3 times to get the drawer fronts to look smooth because the carving was really deep and intricate. Then, the drawers got painted with the same chalk paint. When the paint dried I could still see where I had filled the carvings. So, I took a sanding block and lightly sanded the paint and put another coat of paint on. Once the paint dried, I could tell that I had the nice smooth finish I was looking for.

I added some brushed nickel hardware (Drawer cup-pulls and knobs for the cabinet doors) and new brushed nickel hinges. The cup pulls that I put on the drawer fronts are the same ones that I used for the bar cabinet that I re-did last year... Check out that project HERE

The finished project really gives this piece an updated look.
Here's another look at the before and after!

Don't forget to check out the full project!
From Outdated to Farmhouse: Dining Set Makeover

 

From Outdated to Farmhouse: Dining Room Set Makeover!!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!

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!

Fun Wedding Hair Styles

Just recently, I was invited to do the hairstyles for the wedding of a family friend. It is so much fun and such an honor to be the stylist for a wedding! I had a great time. Here is one of the styles I did that day!

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!

Smoothing Treatment for Frizzy or Curly Hair

Add caption

What's a smoothing treatment?

Do you have curly hair? Is your hair frizzy? Does it lack shine? Is your curly hair unmanageable? Does just the thought of blowing out your curly hair make you want to scream? If you answered yes to any of these questions, a smoothing treatment may be right for you!

For those of you who have not heard, A Smoothing Treatment is safe and can eliminate up to 95% of frizz while making curly hair more manageable. It is guaranteed to leave the hair healthier, stronger, and smoother while adding amazing shine. This can last for up to four months. So the big question... Does it work?  The answer is YES!!!! All I can say is WOW! I honestly did not believe that this product could deliver, but it did! The soft smooth look that the hair has after this process is more than AMAZING! The shine is unreal, like glass! The client can't stop touching it! While it is not a straightener, it has delivered great curl reduction so far on the clients I have seen. The clients have raved about how quickly they are able to blow their hair out straight. They are able to do it quickly, and barely need to flat iron to achieve a smooth look! I think I may be doing this on my hair in the near future!!!

Before

After

Window Valance. Easy Beginner Sew Project!

Window Valance Project!

The time had come for some new window treatments in my daughter's room. The bedding that she has is brightly colored so we wanted to choose something that wasn't to overpowering.  She and I decided to make a valance for her window. We went to the fabric store together and she picked out all the supplies for the project! She is a "tween" now and it is good for her to put her own stamp on her room.

A valance is an easy sewing project for beginners in my opinion because basically you are just sewing straight lines!

To get started, she chose a light green fabric. To determine our width we measured the window and multiplied the width by 3. She wanted the valance to be full. I suppose if you didn't want very much fullness that you could multiply by 2 or 2.5. The fabric was not as wide as we needed for our window so we stitched the sections together, right sides facing, until we had the width we needed.

 Next, I hemmed the bottom of the valance. This was done by folding up the bottom evenly. I used a ruler as I went along the bottom to pin it. Then, I ironed the fold nice and flat.

Then, I sewed a straight line along the fold to secure it.

I repeated this step along the top edge but I made the fold much larger, large enough for the curtain rod to pass through.

 

 

Next, I lined up the embellishment along the bottom edge. I pinned it in place and sewed along the bottom edge then the top edge to secure it.

Finally, we hung it up! My daughter is  super excited about the way it looks and she loves the idea of having her own personality in her room!

Let me know what you think! And share your projects with me:)