Vintage Sidetable Makeover

I am so happy with how this refurbish turned out, in fact; if I had the space, I would definitely be keeping it!!  It would be perfect to display my tabletop Christmas tree.

Each piece that I do, I learn something new. Some lessons are pretty hard, meaning that I have a lot of sanding to do so I can start over. But the end result is worth it.

I didn’t have any hard lessons with this, which surprises me since I used a gel stain for the first time and tried a little different technique for the staining process.

Next project are a pair of chairs, and it involves upholstery. Yikes!!

Make it a great day, make some quiet time for yourself, and above all…be kind.

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Refinished Coffee Table with a Gold Mandala

I bought this coffee table at a yard sale a few years ago, with the intention of using it for the grandkids. I wanted to convert a little room in the basement into a game room for the grandkids but that didn’t work out. So the table has been sitting in my basement gathering dust.

Then I thought I would give it a new look. And I loved the new look so much that I almost kept it, but I just didn’t have the room for it.

It was a black table, I painted it white using a paint to block “bleeding”. Put 2 coats of a creamy white paint and then added a gold mandala in the center.

I love the look and will definitely be using mandala’s on tables again. What do you think?

Refurbished Vintage Wooden Ironing Board

I have had this lovely wooden ironing board in my basement, it belonged to my Gramma. She gave it to me probably about 25 years ago, she’s passed now and I miss her so much.

There is one little corner that has some penciled artwork, I am pretty sure that was from me!

Anyway, as much as I have treasured this piece, I never quite figured out what I wanted to do with it. I thought about taking the legs off and placing wood shelves on it to hang it vertically. But I felt like I would be destroying it.

I lived in a very small condo unit for a little and had no room to set it up as a side table. I moved to a small one story home and again, didn’t really have the space to set it up as a table.

So my next thought was to put some poly on it and set on my patio to use as a plant table. As I started putting the poly on, I was totally falling in love with the finish and knew I could NOT set this piece out in the elements of rain and sun and have it destroyed.

I knew I had to find a place for this beautiful piece. And I did. I rearranged the last cabinet I finished (post is here) and I unpacked my small bookcase and moved that piece and…. Put the ironing board in front of the large picture window.

I love it! I am so happy how it turned out and I’m sure I’ll have it filled with plants and family photo’s soon!

Refurbished Chest of Drawers

I was hesitant to post this furniture makeover. I still haven’t finished it, there is one little detail left to do that will make this chest of drawers amazing, at least to me.

I found this vintage chest at an antique shop and brought it home to refinish. I had been looking for something to store some of my craft supplies, even though it is not as big as I had hoped for, it still works. And it has eliminated some plastic storage tubs that were under my craft table.

I discovered this primer that is supposed to cover furniture with a shiny finish, so I gave it a shot. It also is good for covering paint and stain from bleeding through, which it absolutely did for the red cabinet that I posted earlier. This primer did cover the shine and the color well BUT, I did not seal the piece and the very first thing I set on the top as décor pulled the paint and primer right off. AGH!!!

I still have a lot to learn about furniture refinishing. Maybe next time I should still give it a little sanding just to play it safe.

So anyway, the one little detail that I wanted to do was to stencil or decoupage a floral design on the front. THEN I was going to put a poly over the entire chest.

But now, I am unsure if I want to waste my time and the materials to stencil if this isn’t going to seal well. Regardless, I do still love how the chest turned out.

If I decide to add the detail later, I will be sure to share it with you.

My Favorite Cabinet Makeover

I have to say, I absolutely love this piece of furniture that I just finished.

It’s the second piece I’ve done, and I love this more than the first. I made some mistakes on this piece too and learned a great deal from those mistakes.

This is the before picture, it was painted a colonial red.

I wanted to stain the top so I started hand sanding it, wasn’t long before I realized I could not do that! So off to the hardware store to purchase an electric hand sander.

My first mistake was thinking that the brand-new hand sander I bought, with the bag to catch the yuck, would “actually” do its job.

I quickly and happily got to work with my hand sander.

In my house.

In my craft room.

I was almost completely finished with sanding the top when I realized that little bag on the end does absolutely NOTHING! My craft room was coated in red dust. *SMH

So, I managed to hand sand the rest of the top. There was a small area of red that I could not sand off, and by that time I was so frustrated that I didn’t really care. And the stain sort of hides it. Sort of.

Then I started to research a primer to paint over and cover the red for the rest of the cabinet. I wanted to paint the base of the cabinet a creamy white. Thankfully, I found something that worked beautifully. I used two light coats of the primer and did a very light sand in between each coat.

After the priming was done, I went to work on staining the top. I played around with layering different stain colors on a piece of scrap wood that I had. I had a few small cans of stain on hand and figured I could save a little money and use what I have.

I finally got the color I wanted and did the exact same thing to the top of the cabinet.

After 3 days it was still tacky. Back to researching!

What I should have done was mix the stain in a different container, not add layers of different colors. I also should have wiped the surface after each layer. Thankfully it was only two layers but still…..

I used mineral spirits to remove some of the stain, and it worked great!

Next came the sealer. Believe it or not, I did NOT have any problems. I have 3 coats on the stain and I am really hoping that will be enough to protect it.

Then I put 2 light coats of paint on the cabinet, and again doing a light sand in between to help keep the finish smooth.

I put the doors on next, I still need to try to fix one of the doors, it doesn’t seem to be level and I am not sure how to fix it. I checked the hinges and the screws, I might have to just live with it.

I went with glass knobs vs the wood knobs that was originally on the cabinet. Just love the look. What do you think? This step was not without its challenges. I needed to use some washers to get the knobs secure.

The only way to keep the cabinet doors closed is with a small piece of wood that turns, holding the doors closed. I was hoping to come up with an idea to use something else, but I have not found anything I like yet.

I have 3 coffee tables, 2 side tables and 2 chairs to refinish. The piece I am working on now is a chest of drawers that I will store my craft and sewing supplies. I am getting a little creative with this one, I can’t wait till it’s finished! I’m looking into stencils so while I am trying to make my decision, I may have to start working on one of the tables.

The pictures are not the best, my phone doesn’t take the best pictures and the light in my living room is not the best. It didn’t matter how I moved lamps around to try to help, it just did not work.

What do you think of the finished product?

Furniture Refinishing

I have often admired the beautiful pieces of refinished furniture that I would see on Pinterest. And I secretly wished I would have the talent and time to produce the lovely painted tables and chest of drawers.

One of my favorite things to do is to browse through some local antique shops, over the summer I found a hutch with glass doors that I just loved! Except for the color of stain. Soooo that was my first piece to transform.

I learned a lot, and mostly from my mistakes.

The hardware on the hutch is the original, they were very tarnished. And nothing I used on them was working well at all. I was very upset and frustrated. Needless to say I ended up soaking them and then used a scouring pad with some cleanser and white vinegar. It helped some but I now have some scratch marks on them.

Below is the after picture, I forgot to take a before picture. Seriously! *smh

This picture is how I have it decorated for Christmas. Each shelf has a small string of fairy lights wrapped around the dishes and the decor.

A small, slightly mismatched nativity set. My Grandparents had the full set, but I found these few pieces in my Dad’s attic. It was always one of my most favorite things at Christmas when I was little!

I also have a lot of family heirloom glassware that I filled with Christmas ornaments.

          

I have my Grandparents everyday dishes in my possession, and usually this hutch is filled with the entire set but for Christmas I am only using 2 pieces. I wanted to use some of the other heirloom pieces I have for some Christmas décor. So, one of the serving bowls from my grandparents set of dishes is filled with snowflake ornaments.

My Mom’s Christmas Princess House glassware. Remember those?

A set of snowman mugs and a cookie plate that I used when my kids were small.

The rest of the décor are things I have collected over the years such as the bottle brush trees, the snowflake ornaments, the glittery star, the Santa’s and greenery.

The reindeer on the top of the hutch I found a few years ago, they have a texture of paper-mache but had some gold leafing on them. I spray painted them copper and just love them now!!

The greenery that they are sitting in was actually used around the entrance to my dining room but the area is too small and it seemed cluttered so this year I used it for the hutch.

I am just about finished with my second piece of furniture. I’ll post it soon, I need to find new door knobs, I’m leaning to clear glass knobs. Stay tuned!