Bench Revival

I acquired this bench from my dad.  He built it last year and left it outside sitting without any sealer on it to protect it.  Needless to say, the Michigan weather reaped havoc on it and the finish looked like this:

Yucky, right?  The stain was coming off in most parts, the finish was uneven, etc.  We needed something for our front porch.  Most of the time, we place two patio chairs on the porch, but we wanted something different and since this bench was simply going unused and wasted, I asked my dad if we could have it and if he would drop it off to our house.  He did.  Yay.

Obviously, I wasn't going to display it looking the way it did.  So I had to revamp it.  I sanded it down, restained it and added a coat of polyurethane.  Luckily, the bench will be he protected from the elements sinec our front porch is covered but I still love the shine of the poly.
Here is the end result.  I wasn't able to move it back on the porch until Clint got home since my preggy belly wouldn't allow it.  It was one thing to drag it off by myself but for some reason I couldn't find the motivation to drag it back.  Maybe it was the exhaustion from the days work?  I am so happy with it.  I even made a pillow for each seat. 

I will soon post pics of it with the pillows and some other changes that took place on the porch. 

Two best part about this one---(1)  FREE!  No cost for the bench and my dad brought over the stain and poly.  I had the brushes.  (2)  We now have a comfy spot to rest our behinds and enjoy the front yard.

Kids bathroom project

I have recently undergone some big projects. They may not seem too big for a normal self proclaimed do it yourselfer, but for an over eight month pregnant diy'er the projects I am undertaking are quite strenuous. 
First of all, I have decided to redo the kid bathroom.  It hadn't changed anything since we moved in three years ago with the exception of an ugly paint color that I thought I would like from the oops section of Home Depot and some wall art, shower curtain, etc.

I knew that I wanted to neautralize the space, make it brighter and gender neautral without a "theme".  I decided to paint the walls my favorite color from Behr which is Antique Beige and painted the wod trim a beautiful glossy white. So that is what I did.

I also knew I wanted to make something to hang Jude's and Gwenyth's towels that were one of a kind and cute.  This is where this post comes in.  

I found two of these wooden shields (?) at Goodwill for .99¢ each a long time ago not knowing what I would ever do with them.  I decide to turn them into the kids towel holders.  I started with priming them since they had been stained previously, I then painted them the same white gloss as the trim.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next and remembered that I had bought some Mod Podge which I had never used before but wanted to give it a whirl someday.  I then found some fabric from my stash and traced the shape of the shield and cut it out.  I printed out the numbers 1 and 2 on the printer and cut them out.  I traced them onto the center of the cut fabric.  I painted in the numbers with fabric paint and allowed them to dry.  Then I Mod Podged them to the surface of the plaques.  I was instantly nervous when I saw the Mod Podge made the fabric paint look dull.  I was hopeful that when it dried it would be bold and bright again.  If not, I would have simply had to of painted over it again once the adhesive had dried.  Luckily, the problem fixed itself.  After being satisfied with the results I needed to decide what would hold the actual towels.  I thought of using a bent spoon or fork and drilling it to the plaque, I also found a know with each child's first initial on them that I thought of using, but then settled on a standard hook for each of them.  The knobs just seemed less practical as they were ceramic and I thought the towels were more likely to slide off. 

The original look of the shields/plaques.  Boo!

  My fabric choice and my primed and painted plaque.

Shield traced onto fabric.

Perfect fit.

Number one traced onto center of cut fabric.

  

Mod Podged to the surface of the plaque.

And for the final result.......

What do you think? 

I personallly love them.  I especially love that I had everything except the hooks on hand.  So it was practically free to make two of these babies!  I plan to hang them behind the door in the kids bath as there is no other great spot for them due to the placement of the towel rack that is in there now. 

I will soon be posting pics of the bathroom and the other changes I have made in that space....so keep your eyes peeled!

Big boy bed?

I have decided to begin the process of moving Jude to a "big boy" bed.  Today I started sanding a twin headboard and footboard that I got for free.  I plan on painted it and putting his initials on the headboard.  It may be a few more months until he moves to a twin bed because we will first convert his crib to a day bed (which may happen tomorrow) and see how that goes.  It will be interesting to see how many times he gets out of bed.  We will be putting up a gate to ensure he doesn't wander around the house in the middle of the night.  His bedroom is well baby-proofed, so no worries there.  Also, he plays in there all the time by himself and we have never had any issues.  I will post pics from the headboard/footboard makeover soon!

At what age do most parents move there child to a daybed/big boy bed?  I am apprehensive about whether I am doing it too soon.

My treasures!

I cannot believe the wonderful treasures I have found at garage sales this summer!  I am amazed everytime I score a great deal.  I thought that I would share a few items that are in the garage now waiting for some refinishing. 

The first item I want to introduce is this amazing table I bought for Jude.  I had been looking for a table for him to color/draw/paint/read at and play with his toys.  We are planning on moving Jude from his current room to the guest room as it is more spacious and it will allow him to have different areas in his room.  A place for sleeping, a place for playing, a place for reading and a place for crafty things.  When I was first thinking about the space, I was looking for a round table where I could set three chairs around.  The reason I wanted three was in case his two best pals, Eli and Maddox (when they get about 6-9 months older) came over to play or his two cousins, Dominic and Addison.  The height of this table will not allow chairs, so I thought I would sew floor cushions or make stools with a nice cushy pad.  I am still on the fence about it, so we will see.  I plan on painting this table because I don't want it to be wood tone but we will have to see what we decide for the wall colors first. 

Can you guess how much I paid for this table that we will get so much use out of over many many years?

Drumroll please!

It was $3.00!  Can you believe that?  I was amazed and thrilled. 

It was the perfect size and very sturdy.  Jude has already crawled on it a gazillion times and stood on it. 

Here is Jude standing next to it.

Item #2 is actually something I found at an estate sale I went to with my Father in law, Ron.  I know you all prolly think I am nuts about sales but I am nothing compared to ol' Ronald.  He is retired, so that is just what he does.  He is an avid collector and loves antiques.  But even more, he loves a great deal.  I must also mention that my father in law is very charming and makes friends very easily, like my husband.  When he goes to a sale, he really gets to know people and they warm up to him quickly.  Sometimes so much that they invite him into their home.  Also, he is great at "making deals" and getting a better price out of them.  A great convenience of having Ron around (besides that he is the BEST father in law a girl could ask for) is that if you are looking for something, all you have to do is mention it to him and he will find it for you at a sale and give you a call.  He will describe it in great detail, tell you the price and then tell you what price he can prolly get it at for you.  It's amazing and I cannot tell you how often I use this service of his!

Anyways, I bought this cabinet for only $35.00 at the estate sale. 

My plans for it is to paint it an aged white and glaze the edges and details.  Then, I am going to paint the back panel yellow and do a design on the entire back as well.  I am thinking about doing one of these designs.  If I did the first one, I would have the outlines be the white and the main color be yellow.  If I chose something like the second one, I'm not sure which elements would be white and which would be yellow.

The third item on my docket is this shelf.  I found this at a garage sale yesterday and got a great deal on it. Something drew me to it.  I loved the details around the edges.  This isn't a normal shelf.  You cannot tell from the pictures but it is almost like a shodow box of some kind.  The outside frame will stick out from the wall and the shelfs you see will be against the wall so it will jut out a bit.  I must mention that it is quite large as well.  I have no idea what I am going to do with this, where it's going to hand or what color it will become.  But, I assure you I will find a purpose for it. 

How much did I pay, you ask? ONE DOLLAR!

Yes, just one smackaroo!

SCORE!

The following item is one that I saw from the car as Clint and I (and Jude sleeping in the backseat) were driving by a garage sale.  I saw it right away and loved it from afar.  I thought it was going to be super expensive since it was massive.  Right now, it is a gold hue but for some odd reason something is telling me it should be yellow.  I don't know what my obsession with yellow has been recently, but I thought it would make this piece look modern and fresh. 

Want to know how much I paid? 

$15.00. 

Actually, Clint paid $15.00.  He bought it for me because he knew I was in love with it.

Look at all the detail?  I was drooling when I saw this mirror!

Lastly, I bought this HUGE lamp at Goodwill about a month ago for so cheap.  It had the ugliest, worn down and broken lamp shade I had ever seen and there was no saving it.  In fact, I left it behind and asked that they just throw it away.  The lamp stands very tall and is very heavy.  Most importantly, it works!  This will get an update and a space as soon as I find a lampshade that will look right on such a huge lamp!

And for this bad boy----$1.99!

Ah, the joy I get from money well spent!

Projects in the works

If you don't know this about me already...you must know now. I love garage sales...and finding great deals. I am very excited to say that already this garage sale season, I have scored some GREAT deals! Three noteable purchases were a bookshelf for Jude's room, a wingback chair that I am hoping to recover and a buffet made of solid wood that I would like to put in the dining room or masterbath.

My plan was to sand and paint the bookcase for Jude's room as it is very old, but because his books were all over the place, I immediatly shoved the books on the shelf in his room....and decided to put it on hold til I had more time. I found this piece at a sale covered with other little figurines. It wasn't actually for sale--they were using it to display other things that had for sale. (I didn't know this at the time). So when I asked "how much"?, the lady threw out $2, and I was sold!

Perfect size for his books!

Reading a few books before bed time.

The wingback chair was a great deal. I was looking for a "project chair" to recover since I am a beginner sewer and was looking for a reupholstery project. I found this chair at a subdivision sale in Flushing, MI for $10. For now, it is in the garage waiting for me to choose the perfect fabric and spot to place it. I am thinking that it will go into Jude's room when I remove the rocking chair that I use in there now. Otherwise, I was going to make a "reading" space for myself in our spacious master bedroom.

It looks so comfortable but needs work to look fabulous.

As for the buffet, I got it for FREE! What is better than that? I went to a garage sale my aunts new husband was having and I asked how much he wanted for it since it wasn't priced....and he said I could just have it since it was given to him and he just used it in his garage to store some extra tools! How wonderful!

A solid wood buffet for FREE!

That is three pieces of furniture for a mere $17. Others junk (if it can be tastefully redone) is another person's treasure!