Tag: add

Furniture

Crate Coffee Table

Jessica Smith

Are there any freecyclers out there reading my blog today? I signed up for the local freecycle group more than a year ago and pretty much ignored the onslaught of emails that frequented my inbox until recently. I was clicking through and saw this beautiful antique dresser that I had to have. But of course, since I didn’t pay any attention t the emails and was a week late in asking the person if I could take it off of their hands into my loving home, I missed out on destiny. OK, that is super melodramatic — it would have been awesome to score a free dresser, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Ever since then, I keep an eye out and quickly scan the emails (I get about 5 a day). I saw a posting for a free crate. No picture, no description other than it was homemade. And I jumped on it.

My loving hubby graciously went along to help me haul the crate into our truck and into our home. I was pretty nervous since there wasn’t a picture, so I wanted him  that the whole thing very well could be a bust.

To my great surprise and pleasure, the crate was awesome. AWESOMEEEEEE.

Crate

It is beat up and well-loved, and once we brought it inside I was totally digging it in our space.

Sure there’s random crate graffiti…

Crate top

… but I kinda like it!

The inside is also way cool…. in fact, I wish they’d used some of the neat inside boards on the outside. But hey, you can’t ask for perfection when you get something for free.

Crate lid

Crate inside

The crate was just sitting on our carpet in front of our couch for a while, waiting for some attention. So I gave it some love by adding casters! And while it wasn’t an earth-shattering change and won’t be the last thing I do to the crate, it made a pretty big difference.

Or at least I think so. … if for no other reason than I can actually move it easily now!

Crate Side

I got the casters from Home Depot and was able to add them with just a few screws each. It took me all of 5 minutes. Gotta love that for a quick transformation.

Crate Coffee Table

The crate will serve as a lovely coffee table in our family room until I find something a tad bit more permanent. I think it looks really cool near the thrift store end tables that I found not too long ago. The whole room is slowly but surely coming along. Someday I’ll finish it. Maybe.

Scored any free treasures lately?

 

Craft Projects, Paint, Quick and Easy Crafts

Painted Frame Mats

Jessica Smith

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

I have been trying for about a year now to accessorize our house with adorable and mushy pictures of us, cutesy pictures of our pup, and wonderful photos of our families. Last night, in between cleaning out a hall closet and playing with my pup, I attempted this feat again. I broke out my stash of picture frames and rearranged a few shelves in our living room. I set my sights on this trio of white frames — I love the white frame with the patterned, yellow mat that I bought from Target a bajillion years ago. The other two frames are just… meh. Boringggggg.

I picked them up from the thrift store last year and never did anything super exciting with them. Last night I changed that.

I pooped the mats out and dashed off to my craft room to unearth some paint!

One mat got a green polka dot treatment using the end of a pen.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

The other got a blue chevron stripe. I did both by hand and just eye-balled in. After all, the other side is free for painting if I screwed it up!

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

Once my mats were dry, I popped them back into the frames and set them on a shelf in our living room. Lord knows this won’t be their last home, but for now they are quite the colorful and cheery trio.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats

Cute, huh? Now I need some purple and orange and I’ll have a whole rainbow of frames.

{A Smith of All Trades} Painted Frame Mats