Category Archives: upcycle

Little Changes for a "Big Boy"

Posted on by
19
A little over a month ago I shared with you, in this post,  my second little man Parker’s nursery.

I absolutely love his room. In fact, it’s probably my favorite in the house. Unfortunately, Parker is 18 months old and quickly outgrowing this nursery! As beautiful as it is, it’s not exactly decorated for a “big boy.” But I’m not ready to change the decor yet! So I’m doing my best to add and change a few things around his room to make it a little more appropriate for his age with out having to sacrifice the decor. 

I started with this. . .
A cute little work table. Every growing kid needs a table or desk of some sort for reading, coloring, etc.
Before: 

  This little table was made out of an old bedside table my parents had in their house forever. My dad cut the legs down to make it a kid-size table for the playroom at their house. It was handed down to me last year and has been sitting in the attic. The chair is an antique, also given to me by my mom.
I used my handy-dandy mouse sander on the table to take off some paint {this table had layers of it}. I used it on the chair to rough it up to help the paint stick.  I rubbed wax from a candle along some of the corners and edges of areas that I wanted to look distressed.
I used a sponge roller to apply one coat of white semi-gloss paint. Then I did some more sanding for a distressed look. Actually I ended up sanding a lot more than I had planned on. My new tool is fun and I got a little carried away!
This is what they looked like after painting and distressing. I also added some distress ink to both pieces just to add a little extra “age.”
After:

And here it is! 
Perfect size for the little guy! Most important, I think he likes it!
Before                                                                               After

My Dryer Eats Our Socks!

Posted on by
44
I know I’m not alone when I say that my dryer’s favorite snack is a sock. Not a pair of socks, but one sock, leaving the other alone and without a partner.  Eventually I find the missing sock, but by then, it’s hard to remember what I did with the lonely one. I found a solution.
A place for misfit socks.
Here’s how I did it. . . 
My mom gave me this antique washboard a few years ago. I spray painted it black and it has hung in my black and ivory toile laundry room since. Plain and black, until now. 

I bought a few different black and ivory scrapbook prints .
I measured the length and  height inside the margin of the washboard frame, 

transfered the measurement to the paper,
and cut the paper to fit the measurements.

I grabbed my Mod Podge and a sponge brush.

I applied one coat of Mod Podge on the washboard then carefully laid the paper inside the margin and used a craft stick to smooth the paper over the board.
I put two coats of MP over the paper, letting the first coat dry 15 minutes before applying the second.
After another 15 minutes I laid the letters (which I cut using my Cricut) and applied one more coat of MP over the letters.

I took the clothespins apart and measured and cut the paper so that it would wrap around one side of each clothes pin. I used the same technique as described above to apply the Mod Podge, (1 coat under the paper, 2 coats on top with 15 minutes in between each coat) and wrapped the clothespin like a present.
After putting them back together they looked like this.

I used a hot glue gun to attach the clothespins to the washboard.
There ya have it! 
Lost and (hopefully) found.

From Thrift Store to Valentine’s Decor

Posted on by
13
A couple weeks ago I found this great thrift store right here in town. I don’t know how I hadn’t heard of it before. I found it after a Google search for thrift stores in the area. I wasn’t expecting much, but boy was I wrong. I couldn’t believe how much junk I found! It is run by the Humane Society, so the sixteen dollars and fifty cents I spent went to a good cause! 
So this is what I got. 2 amber wine goblets (50c each!), antique door handles (that were still in the package), a decanter (because I collect them), white curtain rod holders (which I panted black and used for my hanging buckets), a complete chess/Backgammon set (most of it still in original packaging) and two framed (ugly) pictures. All for $16.50. And yes, it’s probably just junk, but junk can be turned into marvelous things!
So I bought this lovely cherub picture with a gold frame because I liked the size of it. It was tall with a thin frame and I thought it would look nice (minus the picture and blue matting, of course) on my new shelves hubby put above my buffet (tutorial to come soon). 
When I removed the insides, I was surprised to find a perfect ivory matte hiding under the hideous blue one. SCORE! I found this nickel spray paint in a satin finish by Krylon. 

I sprayed two light coats on the frame and was in love with the color!
While the spray paint was drying I printed this Valentine’s subway art from While He Was Napping. It was fine just black and white, but I wanted to jazz it up just a bit so I used regular old Crayola markers to add a touch of color.

I traced around the outside and inside of the two largest words on the page. 
Then I cropped the paper with just a small 1/2 inch boarder around the words and mounted it on a piece of scrapbook paper which I bought in a pack at Target’s Dollar Spot. 

Remember that ivory matte I found underneath the ugliness? Worked perfectly in my new frame!!
It’s hard to see in the photo, but the word love is outlined in  bright-light pink.
And for less than $5, it’s a nice start to my Valentine’s shelf!

“LOVE” it!