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!

A Mother's Day Gift!

My wonderful husband found this cute little statue by the dumpster in the alley at his work! He knows me too well and brought it home so I could give it some love! Thanks, Jim!!!

 

I showed this picture to my mom and she said' "No way! You are so lucky! I have been looking for a garden statue like that!". So, needless to say I just figured out what to give her for Mother's Day. 

It was a simple upcycle. First, I power washed it to remove all the crud and dirt. Then, I let it dry. Next, I spray painted it. Finally, I planted some flowers in the little buckets! And here it is!

 LOVE YOU MOM!!!!

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!

 

Mercury Glass Pumpkin!

I love how mercury glass looks! I saw these at pottery barn...

Aren't they GORGEOUS?!?!

But.... they were a little $$$$ for my liking so I was on a mission!

While at the local thrift store, I stumbled upon a cute little glass pumpkin jar! I picked it up for $3.05! Sweet!

I bought some looking glass spray at the craft store with a coupon...so like 6 bucks.

Then, I got to work. I washed and dried the glass pumpkin. Then, I grabbed a spray bottle of regular water. The spray sould be done on the inside of the glass to get the "mirrored" look, so I LIGHTLY spritzed the inside of the pumpkin and the lid with water. Next, I gave the inside a good coat of the looking glass spray paint and let it dry for about 10 minutes. After the drying time, I wiped the excess water dropplets out with a bit of dry paper towel. Then, I repeated the process starting with the water spritz. Keep doing this until the piece gets to the desired look!

Here is my version!

 

 

 

Spray Painting Switch Plates! Easy and Cheap Home Update!!!

I bought another can of rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I really love this stuff! I can update things in the house so inexpensively!! My hubby and I were tiring of the plain switch plate covers and the vent covers on the main floor. We wanted to change them from plain white to the oil rubbed bronze. Well... It was $10.97 at home depot for one switch plate cover in oil rubbed bronze! No way! I really didn't think it would cost over $100 to do this simple update. So I was bummed. Then, my hubby said, "why don't we spray paint them like you did for the light fixtures?"
Awesome!!! So I paid $7.28 for the can of spray paint and got all of the covers done! I love it!

before

after

I love Pinterest because of stuff like this!

Pinterest is my new favorite thing! I have been obsessed with it since I joined back in February. But when I saw this pin.... I was  amazed!!!

Check out this Awesome Paisley Table HERE

Check out this Awesome Paisley Table HERE! or click on the picture!
This was the coolest idea that I have ever seen! Thank you to Ashley and her Blog, Domestic Imperfection! I have been hunting around my house since seeing this to find something to transform!!!
I found this table...

It was a hand-me-down piece that I got when we moved to this house 7 years ago. It has been a very functional piece but I have never loved it. (Not really my style) Sorry MOM! So it was a perfect choice to refinish! My friend had a stencil that I borrowed and I got to work!

I then had to decide what color I wanted this baby to be. I sampled a red color that I had on hand and I wasn't impressed... So I went with orange! I followed the tutorial from Domestic Imperfection And I am so happy with the results! What a fun project! I just need to get new knobs for the drawer and it will be complete but I couldn't wait to post the transformation!

It is such an awesome feeling to complete a project like this! I really love this piece of furniture now!

Please leave a comment telling me which knobs you like better!

Painting Light Fixtures!

I had such a great result when I restyled my dining room chandelier, that I was inspirest to do something with the other fixtures in my house.

This is what my flush mount lighting fixtures used to look like. I really wasn't in to the gold rim that they had. Other than that they were fine. So, I bought some oil rubbed bronze metallic spray paint. I took the fixtures down and removed the glass domes. I did a little light sanding to the golden rim and wiped it clean with a damp cloth. Then, I took them outside and sprayed them. I gave them 2 good coats.

This is how they turned out! It cost me like $15.00 in Spray paint to do 3 of these. To buy new ones, it would have cost me at the very least $80.00! I love how they turned out!