Storage Crates

As a part of the guest room update, I needed some storage in the closet. I found some unfinished wood crates on sale at Menards and decided they would be perfect.

To finish them, I used a gray stain to make them look weathered.

Here's how one of them looks in its new home:

I think it's a great solution for the guest room closet. The stain gives just a hint of color while still showing the wood grain. I think I need to use this stain more often! I will be revealing the entire guest room tomorrow.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

Pinspiration: Key and Sunglasses Drop Space

Hey y’all! I’m back!! I started a new full time job in December, and things have been crazy! I now have a daily commute, so time for projects has been limited. But, I do have a few new things to share and I’m hoping to post them all in a semi-timely manner!

I decided to start things off in this renewal of posting by starting with another Pinspiration for you. I saw this pin (a project by Gina over at Shabby Creek Cottage).

I thought it was a great idea since my hubby is forever looking for his keys. The instructions are pretty straight forward. I used a board from the Menards odds and ends bin ($1.79!) I bought the pipe straps and coat hooks there as well. I opted for 1 inch straps instead of the ½ inch Gina suggested, mostly because I like big sunglasses and I have many pairs. I liked the copper straps, but none of the coat hooks Menards had matched. Instead, I bought the cheapest nickel plated ones and spray painted them with metallic copper paint I had on hand. I think they match pretty well.

I ended up painting my board off white and then dry brushing it with gold chalk paint. I think it turned out pretty good. It's got just a hint of a metallic sheen. Here’s the final project all loaded up:
 

And here it is in the entryway next to another former Pinspiration project:

What do you think? I think it was a fast, easy and satisfying project. Don’t settle for dull, live a refinished life!

p.s. Sorry the pictures are a little dark and off-colored, I tried multiple ways to get these to turn out, but I've never been able to get decent pictures in my entryway! 

Red and White Stencil Side Table

Hi. I'm finally getting a few projects done here and there that I can share with y'all. I bought this little gem for cheap at a local thrift store.

The doors were made with super flimsy press board and kept falling out, so I ditched them completely. I painted it colonial red by RustOleum and tried out my new stencil on the top in heirloom white. 

Add a cute gray fabric bin and this little beauty is ready for storage duty! 

I love it when a project turns out exactly like you envisioned, don't you?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life! 

*Planning to share at: Metamorphosis Monday;  Made by You Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party;  Whatever Goes Wednesday; Wildly Original Linky Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop; 

Jewelry Organization

Whew! Summer has flown by so far with not enough hours in the day. I've gotten a few projects done that I just haven't been able to share. Better late than never I guess!

I recently decided to get rid of the large jewelry armoire that I had in our bedroom and put as much of the jewelry on the wall as possible. I made two pieces to help accomplish this.

The first was a wooden drying rack that I just lightly spray painted sunshine yellow by Rustoleum. I wanted the wood to show through a little and luckily, it worked out perfectly.

I've hung all my necklaces on this and it works great. It's a lot easier to see what I have instead of digging in a drawer.

Then I took an empty frame and spray painted it brilliant blue by Rustoleum. Next I used a staple gun to attach chicken wire to the back.

I use this to hang all my earrings. I haven't figured out how I'm going to store stud earrings yet, but luckily I don't have that many of those. 

This new jewelry method had freed up so much space in the bedroom! That jewelry armoire was seriously the size of a narrow desk, so it's nice to get that out of our relatively small room! What about you? Have you come up with some creative way to store and/or display your jewelry?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life! 

*Planning to share at: Metamorphosis Monday;  Made by You Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party;  Whatever Goes Wednesday; Wildly Original Linky Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop

Blast from the Past #1

I have too many works in progress that I can't really show right now. Boo! But, that doesn't mean I can't show you some projects I've done in the past, but never shared before. I have a lot of those projects at my office.

For this first edition of Blast from the Past, I want to show off a little piece I did for my office bathroom. I got this cabinet for free. It had already been stripped (bonus!) so I got right to painting.

I painted the piece a nice gray, distressed and antiqued it. I also painted the insets of the doors with Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint:

It gives the doors a nice reflective quality and looks like old mirrors. Love it! The top of this piece was laminate, so a quick scruff with sandpaper and more spray paint was in order.

At first, I was disappointed with how yucky the top got every time water got on it, but actually it's growing on me. It almost looks like a distressed zinc top now.

Overall, it's a nice little storage piece for the bathroom.

I'll be sharing more Blasts from the Past in the future (and hopefully so new projects) very soon!

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday; Give Me the Goods Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure; The Power of Paint Party; Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Shabbilicious Friday; Start at Home Paint Party; Funky Junk Interiors' Party Junk; Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Outdoor Bar Cart

I'm still cleaning like a mad woman for the company coming tomorrow. This one is the biggest and most exciting I've been working on for the occasion.

I got a cart on wheels at an auction a long, long time ago that was just waiting for some love. The sides are brass. The top, back and bottom shelf are all press board. I thought the brass would look nice with coral paint, and I was right! I didn't take any in progress pics, but here's the finished project:

I ran out of coral spray paint (only bought one can and that press board sure soaked it up!).So I decided to pair it with a gray stripe on the bottom.

I added a brass wine glass rail I found on Amazon to hold my plastic (outdoor) wine glasses.

I thought the brass ice bucket and glass decanters finish the look quite nicely. I'll have to take a picture of it all decked out this weekend for the party.

I'd almost forgotten I had the coral martini shaker until I was digging for bar accessories. It matches so well!
This project took a little longer than some of the other spruce up ones, but all in all, I think the effect was worth it.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday; Give Me the Goods Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure; The Power of Paint Party; Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Shabbilicious Friday; Start at Home Paint Party; Funky Junk Interiors' Party Junk; Clever Chicks Blog Hop

What did I do with it? #5

Remember this post, where I asked what I should do with these three aluminum pans? I decided to make a three tiered storage piece to hold craft supplies.

First, I painted each of the pans a fun color. I used spray paint and painted them upside down. I decided I didn't want to spray the insides of the pan to leave some fun contrast.

A side note here; I tried using a different white spray paint on the top initially, but it turned out horrible! I didn't like the color (too white), the paint dripped badly and all around, it looked terrible. This happens for me almost every time I use a-brand-I-shall-not-name. I've since noted to myself, stick to RustOleum Painter's Touch!

Meanwhile, back to the project: I found some candlesticks that I had in the basement and spray painted those as well. (Pretend I actually remembered to take a picture of this step, mmkay?)

Next, I printed out numbers (1,2 & 3) using a font I liked and cut them out. I Mod Podged them on the front of each pan. (I was going to do something clever, like cut a funky stencil or use a transfer technique, but this was fast, easy and looked great.)

Finally,I used E6000 to glue everything together. I decided because of the way the candlesticks were that I would just glue the tops of them to the pan above it. That way I can take one level out and move it elsewhere if I need to.

What do you think? I can wait to start putting bits and bobs in it. This is the first of many projects to help me organize and contain my craft supplies into one area in the basement (a monumental task for sure!).

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure; The Power of Paint Party; Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Shabbilicious Friday.

Chevron Side Table

I've been in love with chevron patterns on furniture for awhile now, but too nervous to try. I got a set of side tables at an auction recently and decided to try it out. I'll do my best to lay down how I did it step by step in case any of you out there are brave enough to try it as well! :)

I'll start by saying this project probably would've turned out better by rolling on latex paint and not using spray paint, but I had the spray laying around in the colors I want.

Here's a before shot: (well, not technically as this is the other table which you will shortly see is a hexagon shape and not square like the other one, but you get the idea)

I really like the rope detailing on these. I wanted to do the rope detail white and alternate with the blue. (Of course I would pick colors to make for a lot of tape work!) The first thing I did is tape over all the sides I wanted to be blue (which I forgot to take a picture of) and painted the white base on the top.

Then I tried to cut out a chevron pattern with my cricut on freezer paper to use as a stencil. Total fail. But I did get a small chunk of it to work and just traced it on my top:

Until I had this:

Then I started taping the pattern:

After I had everything taped, I sprayed over it with my blue (Krylon Oxford Blue). I let it dry a minute and peeled the tape to reveal this:

Not too bad. Way better than I hoped for sure! If you go around and measure the lines, they are crooked, uneven and not at all the same size. But, I'm not worried about perfection.

I was going to paint the base white, but I decided I liked the blue better. (I mean is it just me, or should this blue really be called Tardis blue?) So I painted the bottom, distressed it and rubbed a super light coat of poly + stain (Minwax Polyshades in American Oak) over it to seal everything.

Here's the final results:

Some details:

A tip to note on this one: I just barely sanded the bottom before spray painting. Just a quick rub with a sanding block to make it a little rough. The result of this is when I used the sanding pad to distress the paint, the original finish showed through quite nicely. If you were not distressing the piece, more sanding before painting would be required to make sure the paint adheres without flaking or peeling down the road.

What do you think? I love the chevron and I think I need to do more pieces that way (but not the sister table to this one. I think chevron on a hexagon is my limit!).

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Shared at:

Knot Too Shabby Wow Us Weekends

Garage Sale Finds

This last weekend was city-wide garage sales. I didn't get to many, as it was my birthday (a momentous one and leave it at that!) :) However, I did score a few finds I thought I would share with you.

From left to right...a drawer made from an old wooden Fels-Naptha soap box!, a white and red tin, and small wood box. I have plans for most of this already. I want to hang the drawer on the wall in my laundry area in the basement (which needs some serious makeover love this winter!) for a shelf. The tin goes perfectly in my kitchen. The small wood box I haven't decided yet. I'm thinking about either hanging that one on the wall as a mini shelf or using it to organize stuff on my desk at my office.

On a different note, I apologize for missing last Wednesday's What Should I Do With It? I will be posting what I did with that fabulous tray and a new project tomorrow! Come back to check it out.

Have you found any great garage sale finds lately?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Shared at:

Map Boxes

Many projects lately have revolved around my office. Recently, I needed storage for my conference room. I found some unfinished wood boxes at Joanne Fabrics. I also had a whole stack of National Geographic maps my Grandma had given me. I decided to stain the boxes and modge podge some map sections on the sides. Here's the results:

They make a nice addition to the bookshelf.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!