Guest Room Redo

My son moved out years ago. I haven't really done much with his room since he moved out. I started redoing the furniture which was my grandmother's. I still haven't finished the dresser. And then it became a dump all for my Thirty One bags and my Artwork. We were going to build an entertainment center but then the cancer happened and now I have three huge cabinets sitting in there. It was just not happening but I so badly want a guest room. Kayla's old room was converted into Danie's room when she comes to stay with us so I wanted something pretty neutral if we had company. I spend so much time on Pinterest and watching DIY shows that my mind just never stops. I saw someone else do a brick focal wall using Peel and Stick wallpaper and knew immediately that is what I wanted to do in here. So the project began :)

My first tip...measure your wall and make sure you have enough. I just knew two rolls would be plenty...umm....no. I needed 4. And the 4th one was hardly used at that! So this project was spread over two weekends. AND keep in mind it is still in process but this is where I am currently at.

 As you can see the room is really dark. Originally we had Shawn's guitars hanging along both walls. It was a really cool boy's room. I took the old quilt from my bed and used it on this one for the time being just so it had "something". I can't show you the rest of the room because....well....it's just bad! LOL. Cabinets, unfinished furniture, junk...you get the picture.

So peel and stick wallpaper is AWESOME. And you can pretty much get it anywhere...Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Amazon. Just play close attention to your square footage. The rolls I found on Amazon maybe cheaper but they don't have nearly enough on the roll for a large wall. This room is 12x12 in size. I decided on Home Depot. It was $38 a roll....ouch....BUT what an impact it made and that was pretty much all the expense in this room.

So I started on the left side by using a level and making a vertical line 24" from the corner. This will help you get the first strip of wallpaper straight. Then it is just a matter of lining up the bricks on your next strip. Make sure you have a squeegee type item so that you can work out the bubbles. Do about a 12" block at a time when it comes to peeling off the paper.

I used an exacto knife to cut off the excess around the trim and the plug in/phone jack areas. I also ended up painting the top of the bed headboard black so that it popped from the wall. Otherwise it was blending in too much. Now I feel it has some character. While I was cleaning out my Thirty One closet I found this trinket tray. It was perfect. And the large picture I purchased back around December from a facebook ad I found. I will eventually add a floating shelf above the headboard to display the blue Mason jars and a few more blue pieces that I may find along the way. I'm already working on the rest of the room and can't wait to share that when it is finished as well.

Total cost so far:
Home Depot Peel and Stick wallpaper $38 a roll (I needed 4 rolls)
Home sign from a facebook ad - $25
Cute 3 piece jar in a tray set from Michael's on clearance $3
Quilt ladder - handmade by Art from the Heart (aka Billy and myself)
Blanket on the quilt rack was a gift
I already had the jars in my craft room so just refocused them here.
The original quilt was folded down at the foot of the bed once I found this white quilt at Target - $60 (I had an in store credit so it ended up only costing me $10)
Pillows from Thirty One and Sanctuary Girl - already had them laying around

Let's make a table

Awhhhhhhh when you have an idea at 9:30 at night and want to make a trip to Home Depot so bad!!! But we all know that was not going to happen but I promise you the next day I was there and found everything I was looking for!!

We do not have a coffee table anymore. It's currently in my sons old room because it was just not fitting into my vision for the living room. But as I was sitting there one evening watching DIY shows I thought maybe I could make my own coffee table. I mean why not right?

The next day I hit up Home Depot. I do not have any pictures of the before but I purchased two large, 24" pre-made wood rounds. These are the larger of the two sizes that Home Depot carries. I then went and walked UP and DOWN the spindle isle trying to find exactly what I wanted to use for the legs. After a lot of consideration and setting up this table in the middle of the isle....I ended up with the 14" spindles. Off to find the casters....grabbed four of those and I was done.

Jump to Mother's Day weekend...remember the awfully, humid and hot day? Well this was also the day that I decided that I was going to channel the carpenter genes that I just KNEW my dad had passed down my way. HA! Whoooooa there Becky.

I started off by using the torch and burning the rounds. This did NOT give me the look I wanted event though I have done this a gazillion times. So I took the same walnut stain that I used on the office cabinet and got the top round stained. The bottom one was going to be painted. Now let's talk about these spindles a second. I am not a carpenter....I am not a house builder.....nor do I know all the ins and outs of how things go together when it comes to wood. But when I have a picture in my head of what I want...you better believe I am going to make it happen. SOME way or another. So these spindles have this screw on one end. Perfect right? Oh and I also did not tell Billy what I was doing because I wanted it to be a surprise so I wasn't asking for ANY help. So I rummaged through his tools and found the drill and drill bits. Figured out where I wanted these legs...drilled....added some wood glue...then screwed those babies in. Sounds easy huh? WRONG. Once I added the bottom and screwed it on...that table was not straight. AT ALL! Nor was it even. I was devastated. It was ugly. And I wanted to know where all this channeling of carpentry went.

So what does one do when their first furniture product does not work? We call our dad! I love that man! I threw the table in the car and on Mother's Day Sunday I was at his wood shop and we were going to make this work! First lesson....did you know you need to square up your round project! Sounds difficult doesn't it. Well it is...kinda. So you need to find the widest part.....use your level ruler and draw from one end to the next. Now do this again and make an X. Now you will need to draw a circle that is the distance from the edge that you are wanting. We figured about 2 inches from the edge and drew that circle all the way around. Now you have a circle and an X. This is how we are going to make sure the legs are perfectly placed! Back to the spindles. My dad argued with me....how dare he....that these were not meant to be screwed into the wood. I argued back that I got them screwed in just fine. Why not add some glue and BAM. I won the argument BUT to be serious....make sure you purchase the metal plates or the additions to these spindles so that you can easily add them to the wood stop. The way we did it is not the correct way but I was not buying anything else for this table.

We flipped it over. Added the bottom and started screwing the bottom to the legs using 2 inch wood screws. Casters were simple to add which I placed over the screw holes so that they lined up straight with the spindle. You don't have to use casters but I wanted to be able to roll this table around.

So here she is! I used the same chalk paint that I had on hand. Antique waxed it and added a clear coat. It turned out I didn't like it as a coffee table but I rolled it into my office and it now holds my second Cricut. And I am pretty proud of it after all. My first real furniture build....I learned a lot from my dad....it was some precious time spend with him....and I know that I can honestly do whatever I set my mind to!

Cost of this project was CRAZY STUPID. But I had a Home Depot credit so it all evened out.
The rounds are about $11 each. The casters are $4 each and the legs were about $5 each. So all in all it was around $65 to make this table. I already had the paint and stain.

New Office Cabinet

Happy Saturday morning!
While I was sitting in the floor painting a cabinet yesterday it hit me....I should just start my blog up again with all my projects along with how to's. I mean...why not? That's how I get my inspiration so might as well share. And with all the upcoming changes to Facebook it is an easy way to share.

If we are friends on Facebook I know you have seen this project already. It really sparked my interest in redoing furniture on a budget. A lot has changed since I posted here in September 2018. My hubby was diagnosed with a secondary cancer - MDS - Myelodysplastic Syndrome - which amazes me that it is listed as rare with only 200,000 cases a year. I beg to differ. This diagnosis was not what we expected and it was an automatic Bone Marrow Transplant, which took place February 8th of this year. Since then we have been taking each day, step by step, in his recovery. Which has been a long one with way too many hiccups. He is currently around day 127 post transplant. We meet with the physician Monday to go over all his latest biopsy results and test results to see where we stand. To keep myself busy I've been diving into redoing the house on a strict budget. Like.....literally as free as possibly! And I've been hitting each room little by little.

This project was specifically for my office/extended craft space (yes I've taken over half the house with crafts). Our floor plan is a pretty open concept which is surprising to me since the house is 20 years old. You can walk a complete circle from the kitchen through the living room right into the office and craft room then back into the kitchen. Just a few walls in between. So when you walk into the front door you land right into my craft room and office. There are no doors that separate them. We have talked about closing them in but I think it would lose so much of its open feeling if we did that. So needless to say both of these rooms need a huge make over so that they are appealing to look at. I've had the same old hutch style desk for about 15 years and just stack stuff in the corner. My cricuts sit in the floor. I have two direct sales companies as well as my Art business so paperwork is everywhere. You get the picture.

I started scoping out Facebook Marketplace for the "perfect" cabinet. Twice I missed out on one. I finally posted what I was looking for on Facebook and my friend Deborah came to the rescue! She offered up this gorgeous washstand that was originally her grandmothers! At first I was a little hesitant to do what I wanted with it....it was old....had a lot of memories....BUT I had a goal in mind and just made sure she didn't mind what I was about to do to it.

Mother's Day weekend was the transformation day. It was HOT...it was HUMID...and was NOT a good day for painting furniture! So make sure when you do a project like this it is not humid because paint just does not like that kind of air! First step was removing all the amazing hardware which has a beautiful patina to it. I was going to paint them black but once I started looking at all the colors from age....they had to stay original. Next....I had to get this coating off this cabinet. It was made with a cherry type stain with a shiny coating. I wanted the top to remain real wood so I sanded and sanded....and sanded....30 minutes later and I had sanded all that junk off the top down to a beautiful and stunning OAK finish! It was gorgeous. I used what stain I had on hand which was Dark Walnut and fixed that top up all nice and pretty! The it was time to paint. For this project I used Behr Chalk Paint from Home Depot. I was in a hurry...wanted to get started on this...and grabbed what I could find. This color is Farmhouse White. I started to sand in some areas but it was just not working out for me so the chalk paint went right over this shinny surface (which I did get all cleaned up by the way...that is super important). This took 2 coats. 

Next step was the Antique Dark Wax from Behr. Using a rag I would add just a little touch of the wax to certain areas of the cabinet and then wipe it back off and smear it in good so that I had it in the cracks. I wanted an aged look to this cabinet. Once I was done with that and everything was nice and dry....I took some sand paper and just went back over areas and started sanding off the paint. You can see these sand spots on the drawers. I know a lot of furniture redos are all nice and crisp paint...no blemishes, etc...but that was not what I was going for. I wanted aged, old and rustic. I fixed the inside with my nail gun. A lot of times in these old pieces the bottom of the cabinet is a thin piece of wood. This one had broken so I just nailed it back into place. Added the original hardware back on it. And my last step was to spray paint it with a clear coat of Rustoleum Clear. Why? Because I am not familiar enough with Behr Chalk paint to know if it would stay or not AND this is going to be used a lot so I wanted to make sure it was going to last. As it set out in the garage drying....in this humidity....it crazed and cracked. At first I was so frustrated but now I love it because it adds another texture and old look to this beautiful cabinet. I mean come on...people buy crackle paint for this....mine was ALL natural!! 

This cabinet has made its home in my office and now holds my rolls of vinyl, unfinished quilting blocks, and a few items from my direct sales companies as well as holds my Cricut Maker, which sets nicely on the top. It fit so perfectly into my cleaned out area and adds so much charm to the room. It has now become my focal piece and inspiration for the office redo. 

Cost of this project:

$30 for the Chalk paint and wax (which have tons left for many more projects)

$90 for the cabinet

Hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to sharing all my repurposing projects and getting this blog started back up again.