Tag: old

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?

 

Furniture, Thrift Store Finds

Before & After: Navy Dresser

Jessica Smith

I fell in love with this little beauty the moment I set eyes on it in a thrift store. I had to convince my thrift store buddy of its worth, but me, I saw the vision immediately. The lines are beautiful, the handles are awesome, but the old wood in chipping condition… not so hot.

Dresser Before

I knew when I bought this piece that I wanted to paint it navy. I thought the brassy handles would pop beautifully off of a navy facade. So I used Paint Minerals and some dark navy paint to turn this….

.

Cruddy table corner
Drawers painted and drying
Shell of the dresser

… into this!

Navy Dresser Complete

I opted to coat the whole piece in Varathane polyurethane. This isn’t typically recommended for chalk-like paints, but since this dresser will likely have stuff resting on the top I wanted it to hold up well. Now most bloggers will tell you to use polycrylic versus polyurethane when going over paint, but not me. I hate HATE hate polycrylic. I’ve ruined two projects using polycrylic and I don’t intend to ever use it again over paint. Not everyone has this same experience and maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it does not work for me. I definitely recommend using the Varathane brand of polyurethane because it dries beautifully.

Enough of my polyurethane spiel… After everything dried, I put the hardware back on. I love the result. Can’t believe I got this beauty from a thrift store for less than $10!

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Holiday, Quick and Easy Crafts

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Cookie Cutter Ornament

Jessica Smith

Cookie Cutter Ornament Cover

I’ve been meaning to do this project for a year now, but never got around to it last Christmas. Today’s DIY GIFT GUIDE post is making cookie cutter Christmas ornaments out of old tin ornaments. The ornament I used was my grandma’s and it is kind of crappy (sorry, Grandma… but it is true.). The dough gets stuck in the nooks and crannies and it just isn’t pretty. My mom has a bunch more, so last year I turned them into a holiday display for her. She loves it 🙂

photo-35

Anyway, these old ornaments are really easy to work with because the metal is so thin. So if you have any lying around the house and don’t want to use them for sugar cookies this year, here’s another option!

Supplies:

  • Tin Cookie Cutter
  • Nail
  • Ribbon
  • Buttons

Cookie Cutter Before

Steps:

  1. Take your tin cookie cutter and puncture the top with a nail. (I did this without a hammer, but if your fingers aren’t as tough you could use a hammer. Also, you have wimpy fingers hehe) Cookie Cutter Hole
  2. Remove the nail and put thin ribbon through your newly created hole.
  3. Add red ribbon so your ornament pops off of your tree. Cookie Cutter Bow
  4. Embellish your ribbon with a gold button for extra festiveness.Cookie Cutter Button
  5. Hang on your tree!

Cookie Cutter on Tree

Check back tomorrow for another gift idea!