The story behind The "Harvest Chair"

BEFORE

Close Up

Close Up of After...a little bit of distressing

After

Close up AFTER

Here's the story: It was late so I just was just going to run in and out of the Good Will  and lo and behold there are SIX dining room chairs for $5.99 each! Wow, I wasn't looking for chairs but I WAS looking for another project, however, I didn't know how I would manage to get all of these chairs to my house in my Toyota  Camry??
I took and picture and sent them to a friend of mine and also showed them to my mon (whose house I was en route to that evening)...same response: YOU DIDN'T BUY THEM??? Come on people, I DO know how to show SOME restraint. Alas, I figured if they were there in the morning it was meant to be. So my friend met me at the GW as soon as they opened, she actually beat me there and grabbed all the tickets because they had been MARKED DOWN to $1.99 each! THEN I knew it was meant to be :-)

For the seat covers I rummaged thru hangers of draperies at another thrift store and scored WASHABLE JCP drapes for about $3/PAIR...so if you are keeping track I spent less than $20 on SIX dining room chairs. I used leftover paint to mix up my version of 'chalk paint' and after wiping down and repairing I got to work painting these babies.

It was a loooong, arduous project, only because I like to do things that I can finish that same day. Other than that it was NOT hard to do.

Keep using your imagination to transform something that may look 'ugly' at first glance!

Half Bath Re-do Part 1

I have to take a few more pics but this is what I have soo far. For some reason all of the 'before' pictures are MIA...why???!!! :-(

Yes, I did go back and touch up paint around light fixture!

Behind the toliet

Pics relocated from another room (yay

The two butterfly prints are now hanging side by side

UPDATE: I found some "before" pictures:

before wallpaper removal

during removal

Laminate Headboard DIY Chalk Paint Project

So, I got my first commission to paint and lo and behold the headboard was laminate! I was like O-M-G...I didn't know how my homemade chalk paint would work but it turned out ok. Thank you to Teresa @ Unexpected Finds for referring me!

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Bargain Nightstand

I'm always looking for sturdy pieces of furniture that I can use in my boys' room so when I saw this mid century find I jumped at the chance to use it. It had a bad paint job but I was just going to repaint it so I didn't really care.

BEFORE

AFTER


I used leftover paint from his room...most of it is the same color as his walls; I added a little black to darken the paint and painted front drawer and trim.

Gift crate re-do

I tend not to be able to think straight under stress so I haven't had a lot of projects like this but I'm always looking for projects that involve repurposing.

This was like 50 cents because one of the slats was broken but the nail was still in place and my hot glue gun was ready!

Up close and personal

Missing slat

The key to these projects is to do it as quickly so you can have a finished product to look at. I used spray paint and TADA...we have a new fruit bowl!

Lamp/Magazine Table

Lamp Magazine Table

I don't even know what this thing is called, I just know it was 1/2 price day at one of the local thrift stores and I needed a cheap fix for a nightstand for my soon to be 13 year old. Sooo...after checking to make sure the lamp worked, I hauled it into the back of my Camry and took it home! 

Normally, I don't think it fits my design aesthetics but it is FUNCTIONAL and it is durable, being made of wood and metal I figured it can not be destroyed and if it is I haven't wasted any money on it.

The lamp shade looks like it was made with a paper treatment with leaves impressions which I promptly removed and just watered down the paint I was using and painted the shade, see below:

BEFORE

AFTER
I don't know what happened to all the 'before' pictures

Stripe

YAY it works!

Red China Hutch

I had my eye on this hutch for awhile and the shop that it was at marked it down to $100 so I jumped on it and said: SOLD! I knew that I didn't have the time to finish it then so it sat in the garage for awhile but since I  graduated I'm pushing forward on projects and this was one of them. I recommend if you paint ANYTHING red, PRIME PRIME PRIME...did I say PRIME?

The bottom I sprayed white primer and the top I sprayed gray primer...go with grey or just paint over the wood, the finish wasn't really great and I probably could have roughed up the surface with a sanding block and just painted it...I've always done this in the past and the finish is fine. I have been everyone's blog posts about painting furniture and they sand and sand and sand...I've had this tested and true method for years before painting furniture was 'in' and the paint last so I'm just gonna go with the flow from now on. 
The thing is the paint was semi-glass so I wanted to make sure it took well...I got it on sale at Home Depot already mixed, generally I would only use SATIN paint or even Flat but I'm working inside of a budget and I got this Martha Stewart brand gallon of paint for $11!

BEFORE

Primed and ready to go!  
                   

I spray painted the existing handles (I wanted to use different handles but this piece is old and I would have had to special order them because the spacing wasn't the same as modern handles), the cardboard is from the 24 pack water bottle packs--inventive, huh?

They turned out better than I thought, now I'm happy that didn't invest anymore money on the handles/knobs.

AFTER
Home in the breakfast room

Where have I been?

I've been really busy trying to catch up on things that just didn't get done while I was in school, doing projects around the house, etc. Hope to have pictures posted soon, I've been having some technical difficulties with my PC...I think someone has been trying to hack into my internet (grrrr...), ANYWHO I have finished a few things that I hope to share soon. I'm also trying to set up my ETSY shop since I have FINALLY come up with a name that I think is unique and describes my mission...more on that soon!

Take Care,

Angel

$7 Round End Table

By now you probably know that I am in too much of a hurry to take real 'before' pictures! I forgot to take this one too but I figure an upside down table is better than no 'before' table at all! Table was in pretty good shape except bottom shelf was severely scratched (which is the part I wanted you to see); however, you can barely tell there was anything wrong with it now.

Does this look like a $7 table? I think NOT!!

I sanded very lightly with sanding block to smooth out where the scratches were. I thought about leaving the table tob with the wood look but I'm pretty sure it was some type of veneer and I didn't want to invest anymore money trying to match the finish or sand so I just left the edges unpainted to add some character. The paint is left over from the dresser and the chair I have posted. The color is Martha Stewart's Sharkey Grey altho it looks almost white. I purchased the paint at Home Depot a few months ago, they had sample pots for  50 cents!I bought four pots...what a steal, especially since I've done three pretty nice sized projects with those pots. Alas, the paint is gone...just drops left over.
I did use the DIY 'chalk paint' method so l didn't prime but I did lightly sand between coats with a sanding block.
GO FIND YOUR TREASURE!

Modern Queen Anne Style Chair

This chair wasn't too bad before but fabric dated it to at least the late 90's, so a quick coat of paint
and viola' A NEW CHAIR IS BORN!

on the operating table...

After

Closeup of fabric


I got the chair at Bargain Hunters and the fabric at Mary Jo Fabrics. I think it turned out pretty good.

Desk & Chair Part 2

Here are the before & after pictures for the desk that goes with that cute little blue chair:

Before--Again, already testing paint before picture!

Inside...broken drawer...what a pain to paint!

I spray painted insided, VERY carefully...

Close up outside

Close up of inside

Desk & Chair Makeover Part 1

I got a little anxious to paint before I took 'before' pic!

So, I have some leftover paint and a project that has been waiting for me to complete for over a year....what to do? Well, remmber the lingerie chest? I decided the same color would look really good on a desk and chair that I bought to redo awhile ago. This is part one...took about a day to complete the chair. The desk will take a little longer, the inside has alot of cubbies, you'll see soon...

YAY!

"Harvest" Chair b4 and AFTER

I got six chairs for the DEAL of the CENTURY at the Good Will, see BEFORE:

Csn u believe it?!

Can you say 70's?

closup

And now for the AFTER:

Do you see where I got the name "harvest"? This is my first try at distressing