storage – A Smith of All Trades

Refreshed Grain Bin

November 24, 2014November 23, 2014 Jessica Smith

I bought an old grain bin this spring that’s been moved from wall to wall until it found its home in my dining room. It’s lived in the dining room for months now, in its grungy, dirty state until I got tired of the grime and fixed it up this weekend.

You can see in this photo below the grain bin in its original state on the day I brought it home. It had a white knob and was all scratched up.

I took off the white knob, which was only drilled partially into the front of the grain bin. It was a pain in the bttt to remove, but I needed to do that before I could clean around it — it was oddly grimy. Yuck.

I took a few more photos of the piece before getting started on the refinishing. Here’s the beat up top — probably the worst part of the grain bin.

The front panel of the top of the bin was super scratched, too.

Since the wood was in super rough face and didn’t look like it ever had much of a stain on it, I was doubtful that my go-to Restor-A-Finish would work. But lo and behold, this might be the best use of the refinishing product yet. To use Restor-A-Finish, simply dab it on a paper towel and rub it on your piece. Let is sit for 20 minutes, then wipe any excess off.

The grain bin was thirstyyyyy, so there wasn’t too much of the finish to wipe off.

Notice any of the scratches or discoloration before?

Nope! Buh bye scratches!

And hello beautiful, shiny top. I mean, seriously, can you believe the difference?

All I needed to do at this point was add a knob back on the front. I grabbed my drill to make a hole through the front panel, then attached an antique0looking crystal knob.

So charming. Check out the whole thing:

I bought the grain bin on a whim — basically I just had to buy something at the Barn Sale I went to back in April. Now that it is freshened up, I love this impulse buy and think it totally belongs. It acts as such a nice mini-buffet in the dining room. We usually have our fruit bowl here, but my three apples looked sad and lonely.

Did I mention we store all of our outdoor equipment in it? Volleyballs, badminton racquets…. all sorts of fun stuff. What… don’t you store that sorta thing in your dining room?

Furniture

Before & After: Child’s Desk

February 8, 2014February 6, 2014 Jessica Smith

One of the big furniture projects I recently tackled was an overhaul of a kids’s desk. I found this awesome desk at a thrift store, but boy did it need some love.

I immediately had grand visions for this desk and let me tell you, they didn’t include the mermaid blue, shabby shic look.

So I painted, painted and painted some more. Again, I used a flat white paint and mixed in some Paint Minerals. This stuff gives the paint a chalky finish to it and leaves the surface very smooth. So far, I’m really pleased with how the Paint Minerals works with the paint. You don’t need to sand or prime and it covers really well.

I wanted the book shelves on each side of the piece to pop, so I painted a metallic glaze inside each shelf and then wiped each shelf down with a rag. It created a messy-ish sort of look in each cubby that I really like.

For the top, I painted with a gray-brown chalkboard paint. Some kid is gonna love this desk.

I waxed the whole piece using Johnson Paste Wax. This was my first time using a furniture wax and it left my piece feeling so smooth to the touch.

Check out these after pictures:

Love.

I think this desk was definitely transformed for the better.

Home Improvement

Storage solutions

June 12, 2013June 18, 2013 Jessica Smith

Amy and I made a quick IKEA run at lunch today and I picked up some sweet new storage for my craft room! You can never have enough, right?

IKEA sells pretty unique storage solutions, and the ones I selected weren’t an exception. I bought three metal rods that look like towel racks and 12 plastic bins that hang on them! How creative! It gets most everything on my workstation and onto the wall. Definite win in my book. They look neat and clean, too!

The install was simple – four screws in each. And if I hadn’t gotten sidetracked with an hour-long FaceTime call with my sister, they would have only taken 15 minutes to install. If that!

So what do you think? Would these work for you? Between these and my peg board for tools, I feel pretty organized.

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