Diy: Turning Wood into Metal

Just a quick little tutorial in case you haven't figured this one out yet..........!!

 

If you seen my posts on my dresser redo over the last few weeks, then you would have seen that I bought a can of Rustoleum to repaint the dresser pulls with.  Well, I still had plenty of paint left in the can for another project.

 

 

I found these candlestick holders for a dollar at the thrift store.  I was happy with the wood, but was itching to use the spray paint again.....and thought that these may match up a little better if they were metal.

 

I laid down newspaper as to not make a mess of the stepping stones outside, and sprayed away!!!  It was like instant gold!  Well........pewter, but you get my point.  When you seen these, they appear to be super heavy duty metal but light as a feather!!

 

If you get close up, you can still see the wood grain, but I love them.......quick simple and cheap way t update your décor!



Dresser Redo Reveal!!!!!

After the five part series of showing you all the steps I took to redo this dresser.....I am finally going to show you the finished piece!!

 

If you want to know how I did it, I check out the links below:



 

 Dresser Redo Part: 1
Dresser Redo Part: 2
Dresser Redo Part: 3
Dresser Redo Part: 4
Dresser Redo Part: 5

Here she is before.  Missing drawer pull, shredded corner drawer and scratches everywhere!

 

I am just totally in love with this!  More projects in the works!!!

 

 

 

 

Dresser Redo Part: 5 (drawer pulls)

 Well.....this is the last step in my dresser transformation and it was the easiest part of the whole thing!  Below are the links to the rest of the posts of this project.  Click on them to see how I got to where I am at now with this dresser.



 

 Dresser Redo Part: 1
Dresser Redo Part: 2
Dresser Redo Part: 3
Dresser Redo Part: 4

When we got the dresser the top drawer was missing a pull.  Some of the other pulls were kind of rusty and gritty.  I loved these pre existing handles though, and didn't want to replace them.  Since I was missing one, I did have to buy new ones for the top drawer, but seeing it all together now......the mismatched handles just add more flair to the piece.

 

I washed all the old handles with soap and water, and scrubbed them down with a wire brush to get the grit off.  Once they were thoroughly dry, I stuck them into a piece of Styrofoam so that they would be raised off the surface.  This was a very handy step being that I was getting ready to spray paint them.

 

 

To freshen up the older handles, and make the new ones match, I chose this!!!  I wanted that old aged bronze look and thought this would be perfect.  Silly me did not test spray this product before applying to my handles though......and I got an unexpected result.  The color that came out was not the same as what was on the can!!!  Instead of being bronze, it came out more of a dark pewter color.  I ended up liking the color so I stuck with it.  Plus, this stuff runs about 8 bucks a can.  Lesson learned.

 

 

After letting the handles dry over night I reattached them to the drawers.  I was totally in love with the finished look!

 

Come back Saturday for the big reveal!!!!!!  Woot!!

 

 

 

 



Dresser Redo Part: 4 (distressing paint)

Welcome back!

This is part four of my dresser redo project and I am going to show you how I gave this lovely dresser a simple distressed finish.  If you happened to miss the first three posts of this project you can find those by clicking the links below:
 

 Dresser Redo Part: 1
Dresser Redo Part: 2
Dresser Redo Part: 3
 

 

I knew from the start of this project that I was going to be giving this piece a distressed finish.  Its a sauder dresser with a veneer finish so there was going to be no way of staining it back to a wood finish. With the damage that it had, paint again was going to be the only option.  The style of the dresser also has an antique touch to it, so distressing it was going to really bring that look out.

I viewed many tutorials from blogland, pinterest and google before attempting this part of the process.  Some made it seem really difficult, while others turned a free item into something very costly and time consuming.....all of which I wanted no part of.  So, I took bits and pieces from here and there.......and just kind of winged it.  The ending result I will say turned out just as great, and I am very pleased.  I have money in my pocket and the whole project I completed in one weekend!

I bought this from Lowes......it is the cheapest brand they carry and ran me about 10 bucks for the quart.  Seemed expensive being that you can get a whole gallon of paint for that price, but I only used a bout 1/3 of the can for the whole dresser.  That left me with enough paint to do a couple more projects to match, which I will show you at a later date.  It is a paint and primer in one, with a satin finish, which helped cut down on the cost and time.

 The color  I chose was Antique Lace.....the name was very fitting! Ok, so I started out with applying a very thin coat over the whole dresser.  Being that I was using a paint and primer in one, I was expecting a more solid look, but to my surprise, this was not going to effect the outcome.

So I ended up doing a total of three very thin coats, just using a standard 3 inch angled brush.  I allowed about 2-4 hours inbetween for drying time.  With the layers being so thin, they seemed to dry pretty quickly.  I let the last layer dry for a complete 24 hours before I started to distress the finish.

For the distressing I used a very fine grit sand paper. I went along the edges of the dresser and drawers, just lightly.  I tried to hit all the others that you would typically see wear at.  Since the dresser already had some nicks and dings in it, I hit those areas too.  Once  I was satisfied with the look, I cleaned up all the dust again from the sanding.

On most tutorials that I came across they used a sealant such as a polyurethane.  I decided to not do this last step.  I didn't want it to cause any yellowing of the paint, or add any more glossy shine to it.  This is piece is going to be placed in my bedroom so I wasn't too concerned with adding the protective coating.  However, if it is going to be in an area of your home where there is children or high traffic, I would def. recommend adding a sealant.




Dresser Redo Part: 3 (fixing shredded sauder)

We are now on part three of my dresser redo!!!  If you missed the first two segments then you can find those HERE and HERE .  I cant wait to be able to reveal the finished product to you, but that is going to have to wait!

In this post I am going to show you how we fixed the corner of the drawer.  This was probably the most difficult part of the whole project, but we did it, and it looks great!   

 

 

 

This dresser is made of pressed board, sauder or what ever name you know it as....it is not a solid piece, but it does have veneer as the top layer.  If this had been a solid piece it would have been a less scary project to me.  I must say though, that it was a little easier than anticipated.

 

 

 

The first thing we did was sand down some of the roughness of the shredded sauder just to clean it up a bit.  Because the material is so fragile, we did not do a lot.  We then applied Elmers Wood Filler, as you can see in the above picture.  There are a lot of good and expensive products out there that are similar to this, but we chose this one.......probably the cheapest one at the store.  We applied it on pretty thick and tried to stay with the shape of what the corner was supposed to be.  Then we waited for it to try, as directed on the package.

 

Once we were sure that it had dried to a solid piece, we began sanding and shaping our new corner.  We did this by hand to  make sure we didn't take too much off and that we were getting the right shape.  It was kind of tedious, so you just have to be patient and work carefully.

 

Once all the sanding and clean up was finished, we applied our first coat of primer/paint.  It is not a perfect corner, but I would say that its as close as we could have gotten!  If you didn't know that it was fixed, you would never be able to tell.

 

I am very pleased with the results that we got.  I can say now that I am not afraid to buy a piece sauder furniture to redo!



7 DIY Fall Leaf Projects

I was always say that Summer is my favorite season.......but when Fall starts to approach I find myself saying that it is my favorite season, lol.   Just another one of those things that I can not make up my mind about I suppose! 

 

I do love Fall though.  The cooler temperatures mean time for snuggling and time for breaking out all my favorite boots.  With less outdoor activites going on I get to do more inside crafts.....and its also the first hint that the holidays are coming!

 

My most favorite thing of all about Fall though..........is the changing and falling of the leaves!  It is natures art!  All those beautiful colors and shades........I just love it!  And then........your left with the mess to clean up in the yard, lol. 

 

Ok, so instead of dreading the raking of all those leaves, think of it as collecting supplies!  I have here 7 DIY projects that will surely put some of those great leaves to use!  Check them out, all links have tutorials, and they may help inspire you to come up with a creation of your own!

 

Leaf bowl from Gembobs Crafts

 

 

Crafts for all Seasons

 

 

Simple As That

 

 

Craftiments

 

The Thrifty Abode

 

 

Lifestyle Justice

 

 

Savvy Sugar

 

 Our leaves have yet to start changing or even falling for that matter, but I can not wait till they do! Free new home décor here I come!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shop Amazon - Fall Outlet Event

WIP Wednesday 7

Just a quick post to show you the progress that I have made on one of my previous WIP's.  The Tree of Life baby blanket that I am making for my niece!

 

 

The blanket is basically down now.  Im waiting to find out what she is having to add either some pink or blue on, but for the most part its done.  I also would like to add some leaves.  That is going to require a trip to the craft store.......maybe I will do that this weekend!

 

This is one project that I cant wait to give away!!



Dresser Redo Part: 2

If you missed Part: 1 of this fabulous furniture makeover, you can find that HERE.   Be sure to go back and check it out!

 

The first step was to fix the damage!  So we pulled out all the drawers and took off all the hardware on them.....and broke out the sander!    For this I had to get some help from the boys.  I have carpal tunnel and the vibrations from the hand sander really aggravate it.  They love power tools so it was no problem recruiting them.

 

 

Since the dresser was only veneered, we couldn't sand all the scratches out or restain it so I decided that we would be distressing it for the finished product.  We only did a light sanding to take off the shine, and help the paint stick.

 

 

We hand sanded the crevices that the sander could not get into.  Be sure to use a fine grit sand paper so that you don't end up with big scratches.  When dealing with veneer, you only want to remove the shine!!

 

When all the sanding was completely finished we used a shop vac to remove all the dust.  Then we wiped the whole thing down with a damp clothe to pick up everything the vac did not.  Being sure to get into all the tiny crevices!  There would be nothing worse than adding paint and having clumps of dust appear!

 

 

Part: 3 I will show you how we fixed this chewed corner!!!!!!  The end result will amaze you! 

 

 



Dresser Redo Part: 1

My posts have been very few here lately, but I promise that it is because I have so busy.....and this post covers three days of that awayness!  Ok, I don't think that was a real word but you get the point, lol.  Anyways, so I always see all these beautiful furniture makeovers that everyone else keeps doing....and have yet been able to do one of my own.....until now!  I am super excited to be able to share my very first one with all of you.  I put alot of hard work into it, and love the way it turned out!  I took a lot of pictures, so this will be a lengthy post, so many that I had to break this up in parts, lol!

 

My sister will be moving in the next month or so and has been going through her things.  Her shed has been a catch all for the last five years.  Anything that she didn't want in the house, was just tossed in there!  And not in a very organized manner, lol.  She didn't want to bother with anything that was in this shed, so she gave me free reign to go rummaging......she knows me so well!  In this mess of a shed is where I acquired the dresser that I am about to show you!

 

 

Here it is, all abandon like, half way covered with an old inflatable pool, drawers all out....just thrown in there and left to rot! Look to the left....you see that trunk sitting there?  Yep, that is coming home with me on the next trip!

 

Oh, and here are the poor drawers.....covered with dust and spider webs....carelessly tossed in among themselves.  They took a pretty good beating over the years of being in the shed.  The next picture shows a pretty chewed (dog) up corner.  This was the scary damage.  The dresser was not solid wood....so fixing this was going to be a challenge!

 

 

My husband and I loaded it all up and off we went......not sure what we had just gotten ourselves into, but the dresser was free and it was atleast worth the drive to try and save it!

 

 

After a two hour drive and a good cleaning....here she is!!!!  Isnt it just a beautiful piece??   Its hard to tell in the picture, but the front of all the drawers are curved and have a nice etched in line around the whole thing.  I was in love with this piece already! Aside from the chewed corner, she is also pretty scratched up, missing a drawer pull and the rest of the pulls are pretty rusted but she is a masterpiece in the making..........I promise!

 

Dresser Redo Part: 2 coming soon!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 



Make a House a Home from Scratch 10

 

 

Its been a month or so now since I have last posted about our renovation. Why? Well, because we haven't been working on the house at all!  Isnt that awful?  We just kind of hit a road bump.  But we are starting to get back on track now.

 

  The ceiling had a crack running across the entire thing and was not fixable.  So, we were left with the decision to either cover the ceiling with a thin layer of drywall or rip the whole thing out and do it the right way!  Either way we were going to pretty much need the same supplies.  So last week we headed to our local hardware and went ahead and made some purchases.  Now all we needed was some more man power.......so I thought!!

 

Today, I came home from work to this:

 

 

My husband and sons gutted the ceiling!  Thank goodness they had most of the mess cleaned up before I got home!

 

There is still a lot of work to be done before we can start putting up new materials but aleast we are on a roll and back in the groove!

 

 

If you would like to see all the progress we have made on this room and the rest of the house, check out the first nine posts in the Make a House a Home from Scratch series!

 

 

 



WIP Wednesday 5

Im beginning to realize that I have a big problem when it comes to finishing my projects.  Once again, this week instead of finishing previous things, I have started another new one!

 

  This whole year has been one crazy hot mess with the move and renovation that I have seemed to have missed out on a lot of things.  Like for instance, one of my best friends baby shower.....I know...what a crumby friend I am right?  This weeks project should have been started months ago, and since I missed the shower, it just completely slipped passed me.  So every extra minute I have had, I have been working on this:

 

 

Yes, another baby blanket!  Only thing is this one has to be finished before the end of the month!!

She is due August 30th!

 

The colors are a perfect match to the crib set that she has already purchased.  Chevron seems to be very popular right so I chose to go with that pattern (and its simple so it works up quick). 

 

 

Once the crochet work is all finished, I want to add a fabric J on the bottom corner.  This I have never done before!  I have seen pictures of items that are sewn and crocheted, and tried looking into some tutorials, but Im still a little uneasy about it.

 

I don't want to mess up the crochet because it is going so well.  I guess Im going to have to work up a swatch and try it out.  Fingers crossed that I can do this!!!!

 



WIP Wednesday 4

No, I still have not finished the baby blanket!  Its kind of been put on the side burner until we find out if it will be a boy or a girl.  I have some ideas floating around in my head and need to wait to make my color choices.

 

 

So this week, I started a new project and it is already half way done!  This is for my little chicklets room, if you can not tell by the colors.

 

 

It is a super easy pattern worked in rounds.  I got it at Micheal's a few years ago.  It was one of those paper flyer patterns that they had hanging by the yarns.  I tried to search there website for it but did not see it on there.  I will try and work on getting it scanned in to share with everyone when I post this for FO Friday.

 

Anyways, what it is, is  a pillow!  What you see here will be the front. The pink is Caron Simply soft, and the black is Red Heart Shimmer.  Both yarns have shine to them so it made it hard to get a decent picture.   The black is actually a raised surface off of the pink.

 

My little chicklet is already in love with this!  We will be adding to her room décor along with some other things once finished.



More Stockings in the Works

More stockings in the works!

 Yes, this week has been dedicated to getting all new stockings made for Christmas this year.  These work up quickly so, I figured I could get these done and out of the way in a breeze!

 

 

I looked online for a "stocking" pattern but didn't really find what I was visualizing in my head. So I went with a pattern for socks!  I did change things up a bit from the original pattern but it was a good start.  You can find the pattern HERE at Mrs. D Crochets.

 

Each one of my kids wanted something slightly different in color.  So I chose a few that would fit us!  I couldn't bring myself to stick with the traditional dark greens and reds. 

 

Tommorow for FO Friday I will be posting all five that I plan to have finished!  See ya then!