Desk turned Nightstand

Well, here it is. I'll show you the after before the before.

I am in the process of redoing our master bedroom. Last weekend I finally painted the walls a nice neutral greige, after being gold for more years than I wanted.  I just needed one thing to get the ball rolling, and I finally found a bedspread I loved, so it has begun.  

My best friend and personal decorating consultant stopped by last week and told me I needed a nightstand on my side of the bed that sort of matched the dresser on the other side

. 

Here's what I was using, an antique sewing cabinet.

So I started checking craigslist for something cheap or free I could remodel to work. Then it struck me. I had a french style desk in the basement I bought a few years back to paint and resell.  I think I paid $30 for it. The wheels started turning, and I got to thinking maybe I could take the top off of it, cut it back and just use the drawer side as a nightstand.

Here's what I started with.

It's a cheap piece with lamitated particle board for most of it, and the top is like a formica.  I started by removing the top and right leg section.  Most of it just came apart pretty easy, and I was left with the drawer end and a couple of supports that just needed to be cut flush with the chest part. 

I cut the long pieces off, and was left with a nice 3 drawer chest.

The biggest hurdle was figuring out how to reuse the top, or make a new one.  I considered a couple options, and decided I could cut the old top in 2 pieces and screw them back together. That way I retained the cute, curvy shape that it was.  Luckily, my hubby came home just about the time I had decided that was the plan. He hauled out Grandpa's old (seriously antique, I think!) table saw, and made the cuts I needed. I went back downstairs and fastened the pieces together. 

It's what I was thinking, but the rough, laminate joint in the middle's not going to cut it!

So, off to Lowe's I went to try find a thin piece of plywood to cut to lay over this. I found a 2'x2' piece of birch plywood for $4.58, and new jigsaw blades for $3.08.  A little over $8.00 with tax, and I'm a happy girl!  Back home to my basement 'shop' and I traced the shape of the top on my plywood. Cut it out with a jigsaw with a new blade, so worth the money, and it came out great.

A little sanding and adjusting, and it was perfect.

Fortunately again my hubby came home just then. We tried to think of ways to attach it, as it is too thin to nail or screw. I was going to buy a tube of Liquid Nails, but decided he would surely have something that would work.  Ah, we have an old can of contact cement from redoing my parents countertops years ago. He had to pretty much destroy the lid to get it open, but once inside, it was fine. You brush or roll a coat on each surface, and let it dry for like 20 minutes. It gets tacky, and then you stick in on. We did that, and put heavy stuff on it to dry overnight.

Then I got to paint it, my favorite part. Nothing transforms things as quickly and easily as paint.  Even though it was basically the color I wanted, I didn't want that fake yellow greenish laminate wood look.  A couple of coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White, and I am in love. 

The paint is kind of pricey, but I love how it turns out. When you sand it, it comes off really chalky, but the surface is so smooth.  It's pretty distressed too, but hard to tell from these pics.  The dresser that it is supposed to match was a craiglist freebie that might be my most favorite. It has been in my daughter's room, but she rearranged and didn't want it anymore. Yea for me, now it's mine!! I'll share that with you another time.  

The top worked out so well, no one would ever know. Except now I just told everyone. 

I'm so happy with this piece. It is exactly what I was picturing in my head.  A small chest with lots of storage, and solid to the floor to hid all my cords behind it.  It usually holds a lamp, electric blanket control, kindle and charger, etc.  

One more, just for fun.

I have one more chest to redo for our bedroom, and hopefully a chair. I was going to reupholster the gold chair, but decided it has a lot of vintage appeal.  I'm going to leave it as it for now, just find it a new spot.  My daughter used it for senior pics, but I haven't got to see them yet. Can't wait!!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share my fun. Hope I inspire someone to try their own projects!

Karilyn

Mid-Century Modern Dresser

This weeks project, or really last weeks, but I just haven't gotten around to posting it, is a dresser that has gone through a few changes.  It was a bargain corner(pre-craigslist) purchase before my second child was born.  I needed another dresser, and this was what I found.  I am sorry I don't have any before or in between pictures, just after.  

It started out white with simple tapered legs. I put small turned legs on it and put a fresh coat of paint on it.  Then when we moved from little boy to big boy I painted it blue and put a larger turned bun foot on it.  It's been that way for a long time. 

This summer my son decided he wanted a corner desk, and as good fortune would have it, that day there was a free one on craigslist that came with a chest. It is actually really heavy duty office furniture with a lateral file.  The desk went in the corner, and we took the dividers out of the file piece and put it in his closet for a dresser. Fits perfect!!  Someday I'll do a post on his room.

Anyway, the blue dresser came out and has been sitting in my dining room for a couple months. I thought it might get used elsewhere, but have decided to part with it. So...touched up the paint, changed the knobs and again changed the feet out for ones more fitting the style.  I really love how it turned out! Too bad I don't have a use for it.  

Here it is, it's on it's way to craigslist. 

I'm not the best photographer, and the lighting in my house is horrible.  If I would have dragged it outdoors and taken pictures in natural light the colors would have turned out way better. But, I don't have any helpers around, so this is what I get.  

The paint chip and the little sample on the lid look really navy, but in real life it turned out more of a grayish blue, which I'm really loving now.  I left the knobs and feet natural, and I think the contrast is cool.

The drawers are lined with a blue plaid wallpaper, and the door on the right had a slide out rack for hanging small clothes. It was a baby dresser to begin with.  

Here's the tag on the back to prove it.  It says, "Fine Baby Furniture Since 1897."

Here's one more picture with horrible glare from the window.  

Kinda wishing I had a baby boy to go with this, but he's a freshman this year. My baby days are behind me. 

If any of my local friend are interested, let me know. I'd be happy to see it in a new home.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Karilyn

Two Dollar Chair

Well, here it is.

 We were heading out to dinner one evening, and happened on an almost over garage sale. My husband and I jumped out, (against our children's wishes), and took a look. We saw this chair, and  I think it was marked down from $10 to $5. My husband and I looked at it, and the woman came up to us and said we could have it for $2. SOLD! Now, it looked pretty rough, but we could see it's potential.

The fabric was, as you can see, really worn out, and the arms were beyond filthy. I ripped the trim and nails from around the arms, to get rid of some of the yuck. 

Then I draped a blanket over it and there it sat, just like that for well over a year. Funny how after awhile you just get used to something, even if you don't like it. I couldn't decide on a fabric or color to recover it, so, it waited.

Then, when I put the chevron fabric on my wing back chair, I was inspired to finally do something with this chair. So, we un-upholstered it. It is the not fun part of upholstery, but not only to you get the yucky fabric off, you get patterns for your new pieces. 

You start at the bottom, taking it off piece by piece, and take a lot of pictures and remember the order that they came off. They will go back on in reverse order. This chair had 2 layers of cotton and horse hair on the seat, which I replaced with foam and dacron batting. It also had a major spring issue too, which required retying and new metal straps. Lucky I have an amazingly handy hubby, who loves to do that part for me.

This is what the bottom looked like after we took the black fabric cover off.

This is what it looked like after we took the straps and burlap off. It needed some major work. It was kind of wobbly too, and after removing the fabric and batting, we found the frame had a crack along the top. Again my hubby glued and screwed all the joints to make it sturdy again. 

After all that, we were ready to start putting it back together. I had found a fabric at Hobby Lobby that I liked, but it was a little pricey. That's probably why it sat for so long. But, with the 40% coupon, I decided it was my choice. I laid out all my removed pieces, figured yardage and went and bought fabric, gimp, foam, batting, staples and nail head trim. After I got the fabric home and started upholstering, I really fell in love with it. It's the coolest piece I have ever done.

It makes me happy every time I look at it!

The design on the fabric is shiny silver metallic. If you look in the cabinet to the right of the chair, the candlesticks are mercury glass I found at a garage sale last year. Perfect!

After

Before

It had great lines and the wood was in great shape, so it was worth the effort. I first just had gimp glued over the staples, but the nail trim really made it. 

One more shot of my new favorite!

Wing back Chair Before, After and After

Well, I'm going to try this blogging thing again.  New year, fresh layout. Also, new year, time to finish up those projects I started or purchased perhaps years ago with great ambition, but somehow they fell beside the way. I'm going to do my best to finish what I have started.

First off, I have a wing back chair I had made years ago. At the time all my living room furniture was a light pine finish. So... I wanted a chair with legs that matched, and at the time all I could find was dark stained legs. This was before craigs list and such, and I didn't have the common sense to buy a used chair and refinish the legs.  Duh, what was I thinking. Anywho, I had a chair made, finished the legs, and then had an upholsterer cover it with a lovely, (at the time!) navy, pink and green plaid.  I loved it, but some 20 years later, not so much.

So last fall I stained the legs a dark walnut, but it still wasn't working for me. Then the hubby and I recovered it in a green fabric to match our now living room colors. (Notice the before piano in a nice shade of aged orangeish pine!)

We lived with it like this for a year, and it was a definite improvement, but not really doing it for me. I wasn't really planning on ever upholstering  it again, as the front of those curved arms were a big pain. I figured I'd  

rather just sell it and start over with something else. 

But by chance I was at the fabric store one day looking for a gray chevron for a friend who wanted to recover a rocker for a baby room. Well... I found the most amazing chevron canvas prints, and they had one in green. I had to get a couple yards, just cuz I loved it.  It lay on the back of the couch for a couple weeks while I decided if I wanted pillows out of it. Then I got the bright idea of just recovering the cushion and back of the green wing back chair. Now, the greens don't match exactly, but I'm in love. Take a look!

 

I figured as long as I had to take the back off to recover the seat back, I might as well put the chevron on the back.  So now it looks cute from behind too!

Just one more picture, and then I have to get to my next project. Another chair we picked up at the end of a garage sale for $2.  It said $10, crossed off to $5, and when we looked interested the woman said we could have it for $2! Can't pass that up. Right now it's in pieces with springs hanging out of the bottom!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Grandma's Piano

Back to the living room re-decorating.  14 years ago, my grandmother gave me her piano.  I was the only child or grandchild that had taken piano lessons, and had any musical talent.  That being said, my musical talents are very slim, but I enjoy sitting down and playing a little, as long as no one is home to listen!  Anyway, she wanted me to have her piano then, so that after she was gone, no one else would lay claim to it.  So we rounded up a few strong friends, and moved it to our house.  It was a light blonde wood, that at the time, matched my living room pretty well.  The front legs had a little curve to them, that also matched my queen ann style tables.

Over time, the "blonde" had turned rather orangeish, and after painting or staining everything else in the room, the color of the piano was really bugging me.  I threatened to paint it for a few years, but never had the nerve.  Finally I had enough and decided to tackle it.  When I was a kid, my parents bought an old upright piano off someones porch for $75, took it apart, stripped it and refinished it.  So I knew what I was up against.  I don't have the patience for stripping, unless the piece is really awesome.  I just planned to paint it a creamy off-white.

I proceeded to dismantle it, and for the most part, pianos are designed to be taken apart rather easily.  I took off the top, front pieces, knee board, and all the keys.  I laid them in order on the floor, so they would go back correctly.

The dust inside, under the keys was horrible.  I gave it a good vacuuming, then lightly sanded the surfaces to be painted. 

Ready to paint.  I didn't take any pictures while I was painting, only the finished product.  I decided to paint the body with Rustoleum Heirloom White, and stain the top with Dark Walnut Gel Stain.  I've used the gel stain on my fireplace mantel, family room end tables and a few other pieces. It's amazing stuff.  You don't need to strip the existing finish, just rough it up and start staining.  I'll do another post about it and show you my family room re-do, and how to apply it. I just laid drop cloths around it, and painted it right where it stood.  The piano turned out great.  I am so happy with the change, and  glad I had the courage to try. 

 Here's a peek while it's going back together.

And here it is, all done. 

   

 After painting, you really need to wait a few days or week(s) before setting anything on the new surface, as it takes awhile for the paint or urethane to cure.  I learned the hard way by setting a TV on a dresser in our bedroom.  There are little rings where it sat. :(   Lesson learned!!

The picture on the piano is my grandmother, holding a rose.  So appropriate, I really loved her a lot.  She is the only grandmother I knew, and I spent lots of time with her.  She was a grown up child, (in a good way!) and loved to play with her grandchildren.  We went on many trips and camping adventures with my grandparents, and I can still get teary eyed thinking of them.  I'm sure she would be happy with the results.

Thanks for spending the time to read this, and feel free to leave any comment or questions.

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My Repurposed Life

Miss Mustard Seed