MIA

Wow I’ve been horrible at this whole blogging thing haven’t I?  I should have known not to start anything right before summer.  It seems we haven’t been home but a handful of weekends this summer. 

 

Car shows, visiting friends, mini vacation, and just general running around.  All filled up our schedule this summer.  I have all my hobbies, and hubby has his.  And since I haven’t really been all that crafty lately I’m going to share his.

 

Meet Fanny.  This is his (and my mom’s) 1962 Ford Falcon.  I got to name her because all cars need a name, and Hubs refused to name her.  Isn’t she pretty?

 

Hubby bought her at the Frog Follies in Evansville 2 yrs ago.  I wasn’t crazy about the idea but I have to admit I do like cruising around in her.  Old cars are different.  Now days, if you want to drive around with the windows rolled down, you need to shout to hear each other, and if you have the radio on forget it.  Girls, you have to pack your pony tail holders or be prepared to eat your hair for the whole trip.  Not in Fanny.  Since there is no AC you HAVE to roll the windows down or die.  But you can still talk at a normal level, and your hair isn’t a birdnest afterwards either.

 

I have to admit I haven’t really done much myself in the way of fixing Fanny up.  While she looks pretty nice, she has had to have some work.  I mostly stick to helping clean her up.  So far she has been to the NSRA show in Louisville twice, the Good Guys show in Nashville, we went to the BBQ festival in Nashville with her, and we go to all the little cruise ins around town with her.  The pic above I took of her when we went to one in the town over.  We’ve driven her to Patti’s for dinner, and to see the fall leaves.  However there weren’t many of those last year since it was so dry.  Maybe we can repeat that this summer since we’ve had more rain.  (HINT HINT)  :-)
 

So that’s all for now.  I promise to start doing better, especially since the holidays will be starting up soon!  I’ll also try to get a picture of the kitchen posted now that it is painted and decorated.  I am currently working on repainting the ENTIRE house since we are thinking of selling it towards the first of the year.  Any takers????

 

Later!

~A

Easy Peasy Dresser re-do, or, "it's new to me!"

Just a side note, you may notice I like to give things two titles.  It's kinda a nod to one of my favorite TV shows when I was younger.  Still like it too. Rocky and Bullwinkle!  I especially liked the Fractured Fairy Tales.

 

But I digress

 

This is a quickie project I did last month or so.  Did it in one afternoon so it's something anyone can do it.

Let's start with a before picture.  My lovely little MDF, buy in a box, put together yourself with a screwdriver and a hex key, had since college dresser.  Ignore the oddities in the knobs because I had removed some of them for a little dresser we had in the closet for hubby that I was selling online.  Nothing fancy here.

 

 

Lovely huh?  I also took this time of taking apart to tighten some screws, and apply some wood glue to anything else that was loose.

 

While I was taking pictures, and taking stuff apart, I left hubby to drill holes for the new handles.  And since I was covering the fronts I didn't even have to worry about filling the old holes!

 

This was the trickiest part.  However if you were to use a less strictly patterned paper if would be easier. I was using a roll of paper I had left over from another project (that blog yet to come) and I wanted this to be a cheap-o project.  I used my cutting mat, ruler, and rotary cutter to cut the paper to exact size.  On my drawers they did have a rounded edge so my measurements were just for the flat part of the drawer.  I first cut the correct length of paper.  From there I started at the bottom and cut the correct height. 

 

MAKE SURE YOU LABEL THE STRIPS.  I designated them right and left of the drawers, and then bottom middle top.  So on the backs of the paper I wrote BL, ML, TL,  to designate Bottom Left, Middle Left, etc.

 

And break out the Mod Podge!!  Now you can see why I had to label them.  That way my pattern lined up correctly.  I put the Mod Podge on the drawer front, then applied the paper.  Starting from the center, I used an old gift card to squeeze out and air bubbles and extra Mod Podge.  I think applied one coat of Mod Podge on the top and around the edges to seal everything in.  I happened to have a Matte finish on hand but that worked out anyways and I didn't really want a shiny finish.  The while part of the paper was shiny already and I didn't want it to loose it's pizazz.  I then used a skewer to poke out the holes when the handles would then go.

 

These handles I got at Hobby Lobby.  Man I love that place.  And it seems like they are always 50% off on their handles.  So getting 6 of these were only $15.  And that's all I had to buy for this project.  They have a kind of white, marble like center, and then a silver/nickel finish. 

 

And now for the BIG reveal.  Ta Da!



 

 



 

It's nothing crazy, but it makes me happy and has a more classy, adult feel to it instead of the college furniture look.

 

A few tips:

 

1) make sure you label the paper you are using if it has a pattern like mine where you want it to line up.

 

2) This was pre-pasted wallpaper but I used the Mod Podge to adhere it because I didn't want to deal with all the extra glue.  But you could do it that way too.

 

3) If you are changing the location of your hardware, I would suggest using a drill bit size larger than what the screws are.  That way you have a little bit of wiggle room if the holes aren't quite straight.

 

 

So what do you think?  Leave me a comment, let me know!  Think you'd try this for yourself?

Thanks for stopping by! ~A

 

 

 

Table is compete!

I have decided my new hobby is redoing furniture.  So I'm going to start with a post on the newest thing I completed.

We start with this lovely little table...

Isn't it lovely?  But hey, it's solid wood, and was cheap.  Couldn't ask for much more.  One of the legs was a little wonky but hubby helped me fix that.

So sanded everything down.  This is where a power sander came in handy.  But I did have to use a sanding block on the legs and some of the other angles to make sure I got it all.

 

Then I took the top off and gave everything a nice coat of primer.  I did use Zinnser Cover stain.  And yes that is an oil base.  But everything I had read said it would be the best to use.  And I really did want to cover everthing up and give it a nice finish.  You do need to sand before you start painting with your next coat though

 

This picture is of course the table top upside down.  I wasn't too careful about painting here because I knew I was going to stain the top and keep it nice and dark.  Therefore i just sanded the edges once it was painted.  My color coat of paint was Valspar Paint and Primer in one, in a matte finish in the color Peaceful.

 

 

Isn't it pretty?? I love it.  A great combination of blue with a gray undertone.

 

Here's the base painted.  I ended up with 4 coats.  In this order

Primer-Sand-Paint- Sand- Paint - Sand with 220- Paint - Sand with 380 - Paint- Sand with 380 then 600

 

Lots of sanding...

 

Then I started on the top.  I knew I wanted it to be gray too.  But sadly, the color I wanted couldn't be tinted in the smallest size.  And I didn't really want a quart of stain I may or may not use again.  So I changed to the color Ebony and hoped that maybe not putting as many coats on would not make it seem so black and more of a wash.

 

 

 

I tried to take some closer up pictures but the flash, since it's dark outside and all I could do was these in the garage.  But you can see how some of the wood is coming though, but it's mostly black.  I really like it.  Three coats of spray on Poly and it's glossy and sealed!

 

And here's a nice picture of it all finished!!  Again, not the best pic but I was too excited for it to be done.  I will take some outside pictures tomorrow so that you can see it in a more natural light.

 

If anyone is interested, this table is for sale.

 

So now that I have some better pictures. Here is a before and after shot

 

Change takes time

I'm going to start out with a few pictures.  Please keep in mind these pictures span a 3ish year time frame.  But it's just to prove a point that while we all like change in our lives sometime, unless your my husband and prefer all white walls and would be happy with just plain starkness, it doesn't have to be a sudden change.

So let me begin.  And we will start from the beginning.  We moved to our current location fresh out of college.  Hubby announced his acceptance of a job literally on our wedding day.  Two weeks later we moved.  Then fast forward a few years.  Decided that even though we loved our landlords, it was time to start putting the money we were paying towards something of our own.

And so, almost 4 years ago, we purchased our cute little house, on the not so smancy side of a pretty nice neighborhood in town.  Not the ideal location for the two of us farm raised kids, but it would do for now.  Hubby wanted to just move in as soon as we closed.  In the picture that follows, you will see why I DID NOT.  Ignore the fact that these are screen shots from my tablet.  I was being lazy tonight and not wanting to find my other memory stick

Don't you love the wallpaper??  That was directly on the drywall!?!

 

 

 

So that was immediately stripped.  It took, a scoring tool thingy, spray bottles, a steamer, and LOTS and LOTS of time.  But then we painted it a lovely sage green color.  I liked it because our kitchen joins directly to the living room and we had a sage green microfiber couch and loveseat at the time

 

See, isn't that better?

 

 

However, now you will notice everything is a shade of white.  The cabinets were off white, the countertop was a shade of white, the fridge IS white, the stove and vent hood are off white.  The floor is even off white!  But I lived with that for a couple years.  The two baths had wallpaper too so that took my next bit if painting time.   So jump forward to this fall.  I was finally tired of the white cabinets.  Even my nephew (8 at the time mind you) said they were "So ooooollllldddd".  So we had looked at the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation paint.  I really liked the idea.  I did not however like the price.  But this is when it pays off to check out the clearance section of paint at Lowe's.  Someone had gotten the dark kit, tinted to the color I wanted.  But then decided it wasn't the right color for them.  HALF OFF!!!!

 

Now that stuff was a lot of work.  You have to scrub it wil SOS pads and deglosser.  We sanded down some of the spots, got off all the bits of oil and grease from a few years, and then you paint with the dark color.  Two coats.  Front and back.  Once that is dry you put the glaze on and wipe off with cheesecloth.  Then once that dries you can clearcoat it.  Oh yeah, you have to paint with a brush cause that's what the glaze uses to make the woodgrain appearance.  Then new hardware and we have....

 

Isn't it WONDERFUL? 

Oh yeah, and we got a new fridge cause ours died one night and we had too. 

 Scratch and dent is our friend.

 

I realize we don't have all the doors back on in this pic but again, didn't feel like finding the memory stick, and the other one I had on my tablet didn't show the color and faux woodgrain as well.

 

 

And now, that's been 6 months ago (I know cause I had to get it all back together by Thanksgiving) and we are looking a new floors.  Just another linoleum on here.  Maybe a nice tile look in a neautral tan color.  And I'm getting ready to paint the walls.  It's a little dark now with the darker cabinets.  So we, read I, and painting the wall Honey Butter from Olympic. 

 

 

I plan on painting this weekend while the hubby is at a car show.  So I'm sure I will post pics once it's done.

 

Alright, need to go get some food.  Blogging is hard work.  Hope you enjoy my first post!  And if you have any questions about the Cabinet Transformation system, let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

 



 







The beginning

Well, here it is.  My crafty blog where I can share my crafty items. I love doing crafty stuff, and making things. Four years ago we bought our house. And for some reason (probably my pinterest addiction) I have felt the need to either update, up cycle, or create things that lend a more....grownup feeling to our home.

So I will try to catch up with at least posting some things I've made. Or some before and afters. At least until I get better about taking pictures of the process and can start doing some tutorial type post.  I know there are a lot of those blogs already out there, cause I read them, and I learn from them.

So it is in that hope that I start my blog so that you can learn too.

-A :-)