Recycled Door Beverage Station

April 23, 2018April 22, 20183 Comments

Good morning! Do you have anything special going on in your area? We are having some nicer warm weather now. I think we finally have the wind and rain behind us now. I will be heading to the zoo this week with our school. We have never gone as a whole school before, so that should be interesting. We are also inching closer to our second Disney vacation! This was our Christmas gift to the girls and we will be heading over next week. I’m excited to see everything going on with Pixar Fest! Today I have a previous post for you, so enjoy!

So, what does a ruined door and a few pieces of wood make? A Beverage Station! I saw this idea last year on the blog, Finding Home, and knew I wanted to make one!

Upcycled Outdoor Beverage Bar Station-Finding Home

Almost 2 years ago, one of the houses in my neighborhood had a fire. Nobody was in it at the time and it had a lot of damage. Later, it was gutted. I found this door in the alley after the fire. It had some slight burn marks, lots of soot, and some cracks in it from being broken down, but I took it anyways. One mans trash…right?!

Here you can see the door, sort of. We had to put a couple of braces on the areas where it was cracked and fill in places with spackle, but paint will cover that later. Here’s another view.

I used old cupboard knobs for feet. I wanted it a little above the grounds so it wouldn’t sit in any water and get rotten. The knobs are attached to the bottom shelf of the station.

I bought the spindles at a craft show last summer, just for this project. It only took a year to get to it! I took a piece of shelving and my husband screwed it into the spindle. We did this for all 4 of them. We also screwed the spindles into the bottom shelf.

Here are the two shelves and the spindles, all attached.

We added another deeper shelf above this one for large containers of drinks. I was going to add one more small shelf on top, but I had this old metal piece from a screen door, so I hung that on instead. I screwed cup hooks in the door and just hung the metal piece. I can always change it later if I so desire!

Now for the fun of painting! I borrowed a neighbor’s paint sprayer and sprayed on primer after covering the spindle legs with paper. The sprayer worked great, but when I went to try it for the paint it wouldn’t work!! Not sure what happened, but I had to brush paint the color on. I used the Barely White from Lauren’s room (trying to use what I already have).

And here it is! All freshly painted! I added the metal piece back on and I also painted the shelf with chalkboard paint. I figured I could label the drinks or food when I place it on the shelf! I also remembered I had an old doorknob and hardware. I spray painted them black and added them where the old deadbolt had been.

I added some old signs and other decorations for now.

I can’t wait to be able to use this! We plan on using it as a ‘Candy Bar’ for Haley’s upcoming graduation and drinks for other parties and get-together’s. I’m excited to see how many different ways this can be used!

Here are a few updated pictures. I now have this piece in my entryway. I painted the legs white and added a black metal box under the shelf. I love decorating it for each season!

Have you ever recycled something old into something new? I would love to hear about it! I hope you all have a great week!

My Vintage Chair Makeover

June 23, 2017June 22, 201714 Comments

This is a re-post from last year. Hope you enjoy!

I’m back today with another makeover! I have so many projects and I am trying to get them done before summer will be over and I will be back in school!! It’s much harder during the school year.

This chair belonged to my Grandpa, my dad’s dad. He was born in 1898 . He sailed here from Holland and met his wife on the ship. They were married after they arrived in the United States. We have even found their names on the registry at Ellis Island. So much history! My dad received this chair after my grandpa passed away many years ago and it was in my parents room for a long time. My mom was ready for something different and asked if I wanted it. Of course! It has sat in Lauren’s room for a couple of years and I finally decided it was time to renew it.

First I had to take off all the old material and batting. Do you see all the little nailhead tacks? Yep, I had to remove all of those, plus staples.

I used a small screwdriver and pliers to help me pull them all out.

This isn’t very pretty :(. I will have to figure out something to cover it up.

Here is what was underneath everything. I pulled out all these nails too. The ‘stuffing’ is just a pillow inserted into the middle.

Here it is, all naked. I tightened up the straps with a few more staples underneath and gave the wood a good cleaning. Then I used some antiquing wax on the brown wood to freshen it up a bit.

I used the material from the old cover as a pattern to cut out a new one. I had some painters cloth and decided to use that for my cover. I laid the old one on top of the cloth and cut around it. I had to do some trimming afterwards.

It didn’t quite come out straight! After trimming, I sewed the two sides together, leaving the back open to insert new padding. Notice, I purposely left the hem on the back so I wouldn’t have to sew it! 🙂 #justLOVEsewing!! #NOT!

The padding that was in it was in pretty good shape, so I used it again.

I found this pretty twisted trim at Hobby Lobby and thought it would look relly good with the chair, plus it would cover up all the ugly holes. I used the tacks again, but no as many this time.

I did freshen up the paint a bit too, but just with the same color. It’s done and ready to live out more days in our home. It’s perfect with the beach theme right now!

I used neutral colors so it would go easily into any room in our home.

Thanks for coming by and hope you have a wonderful week!

Click on a picture below to see more makeovers!

Upcycled Coffee Cans for Bridal Shower Centerpieces

August 15, 2016August 14, 20168 Comments

coffee can makeover bridal shower centerpieces burlap and pommegranites

Hello! How was everybody’s weekend? Was it busy or relaxing? I pretty much stayed at home, getting things ready for the bridal shower I am hosting. I did get to enjoy a frosty on Saturday and a competitive game of Pirates of the Caribbean Life on Sunday. Such an exciting life I lead! LOL!

I did get these cans done over the weekend for the bridal shower. This is such a simple project! I had a couple of coffee cans, my mom had a few and she also found one at a yard sale, which she was given for free. I had received the burlap this summer and my husband had cut the wood slices for me a couple of years ago. You can see my other wood slice projects here. I used the Waverly chalk paint in Mineral and Plaster. These paints can be found at Walmart.

I started with the Plaster color and just brushed it all over the can. As you can see, you can still see the red color through the paint.

I painted a second coat of Plaster and then added touches of Mineral all over the can. I dry-brushed it on and just kept brushing till it was blended in. Chalk paint dries quickly, so painting several coats doesn’t take too long.

I cut pieces of the burlap ribbon long enough to fit around the can with just a little overlap in the back. I hot glued it into place.

All wrapped up! I then added a wood slice to the front of each with hot glue.

I added the initials and names of the bride and groom onto the wood slice with brown sharpie so it looks like it is woodburned into it.

I added pomegranate branches into each can, simply because I have 2 trees full of them. I placed a smaller jar inside the can to help hold the branches upright.

I think these will look really nice on the tables as centerpieces for the bridal shower. I can reuse them later just by removing the wood slice. So you will probably see them reappear again sometime!

This is such a simple and quick project. It’s also a great way to upcycle some of those tin cans you might have in your recycle bin. They could be painted any color that fits your color scheme and any kind of ribbon could be added to it. Let your creativity flow!!

Old Drawer Recycled to a Purse Organizer

April 25, 2016April 23, 201619 Comments

We live on an alley. Needless to say, we find a lot of junk! One day, Haley found these 2 drawers sitting out there, just calling to her that they needed a new home. So they came home with us! Now just to figure out what to do with them!

I was talking with Lauren one day and mentioned that I didn’t know a good way to store my purses. They always seemed to be getting lost in my closet. Voila! An idea was born!

We actually have 2 of these, but I will start out with just one today. I have a couple of ideas for the other one, but I have to pick which one! As you can see, they are pretty big drawers. They were 18 inches across, 23 inches tall and 9 inches deep.

Steve took apart the old cupboards in the laundry room to make space for the lockers, so we had a bunch of wood left from that. Since this would be going in the closet and wouldn’t be a show piece, we just used particle board for the shelves and dividers.

Steve even made the braces for the shelves to sit on. This was a completely free project!!

I measured out some of my purses and then comparing that to the size of the drawer, I came up with the measurements for the cubbies. I wanted 3 large spaces on the bottom for large totes and bags, 4 small spaces for wallets and small handbags, and 2 on top for the medium size purses (sounds like the 3 bears!-sorry! Preschool teacher here!)

Yep! I pulled all this out of my closet and this was just one corner! I found purses in every nook and cranny. I was putting them wherever I could find space. I pulled boots out too because the new organizer would be occupying that corner.

After a couple of coats of white paint, it was ready to bring in the house and organize!! I love how well it fit everything!

I should be able to find what I am looking for now!

These are the cubbies for the smaller purses and wallets.

Here are the larger ones.

I always love finding ways to get more organized and a way to recycle old stuff!

Now I just have to figure out which idea to use for the other one! I will keep you updated! Have a wonderful week!

Pallet Project Update-Kitchen Plate Rack

April 11, 2016April 9, 201619 Comments

I’m finally back with a project today!! I’m sure you are all thrilled! 🙂

Steve cut out this pallet rack for me several years ago, so I don’t have a tutorial for that part, but you can find them on Pinterest. Lauren, a friend and I did some craft shows a few years ago, and I had made pallet racks to hold books. This one had never sold and had been just waiting for me to come up with a project for it. Finally inspiration struck!

I spray painted black over the letters first.

While it was drying, I picked out the phrase I wanted to put on it and found the fonts and size on Microsoft Word. I printed them out and then cut them down to make them easier to work with.

To transfer the lettering to the wood, I rub pencil on the back of the paper. Then I turn the paper over, place it where I want it to go and trace the letters. When you are done, there should be a faint outline of the words. You can see how I did this for another sign too.

Once my tracing was on the board, I painted it in with white chalk paint. I used a really stiff brush to fill in each letter. After it was dry, I sanded it down a bit to look more worn. The last step was to go over it with a clear varnish. I knew I was going to hang it in the kitchen, so it needed to be protected.

(please don’t look too hard at the kitchen, ugh! It really needs a make-over. BADLY!!!)

So here it is hanging over the stove. The perfect place to store some platters, plates, and cutting boards.

After looking at the pictures, I realized it was kind of bare on the wall above it. I was roaming through my local Goodwill and found this little cow head. Perfect! Her name is Amelia. She is a little small for the space, so I mounted her on some old boards we had. I didn’t even know I had the one with writing on it. Love it!