Thrift store table

 I found this coffee table at the thrift store for $20. And I was in the market for a new one!

I liked it the way it was for about 3 weeks before I decided to paint it.

I was going to stain the top dark wood and paint the legs white. After I stripped the top however, I didn't think the wood would be nice stained. So I just decided to paint the whole thing.

Thanks for looking :)

Chair redo!

I've had this chair with two matching couches for 12 years. The couches we use, but the chair was hidden away in the toy room, never used. I figured it would be perfect to practice my upholstery skills on...

Notice the unknown stain on the bottom of the left armrest... 

I'm committed now. One very valuable lesson is; if you are the one reupholstering, make sure you are the one taking it apart. Not sure I would have figured out how to put it back together if I wasn't the one taking it apart.

Lots of staples and nails.

Making progress!!

Done! Love how it turned out!

Meet Bill!

I named this desk Bill after the man who owned it since childhood. He told me he would build model cars at this desk, and its about 65 years old. But Bill is moving to Florida, and couldn't take desk-Bill with him, so he sold it to me! yay!  I also may have promised to drop a picture of it off in his mailbox when it's all done...

I took all the hardware and knobs off the desk and drawers. Some of the metal pieces were rusted and required some not so gentle blows with the hammer.

I sanded the desk lightly, the stain was old and came off really easy. I always use 150 grit sandpaper for everything I do... Then I painted..

 

                                                                               

...and painted.... I'm using two different colors on this desk. You're supposed to let the paint dry quite some time before you apply a second coat, but I'm not that patient. I slap the second coat on as soon as the first one is dry. 

I distressed the edges of the drawers a little, and I really like it so I think I'm going to distress it some more when I'm done painting. It will be easier once the paint is completely dry... I know. Impatient. Its  hard to see in the pictures, but the color of the drawers are not white but a greenish/bluish color called Rainwater.

The color on the desk itself is called Thunderhead. I have no method when picking colors. I just chose whatever looks fun to paint with at the moment. And I don't spend a lot of time deciding either. I'm a spur of the moment kind of gal!! And if I absolutely hate it (which happens..) I just paint over it.

Pretty heavily distressed. I got a little excited with the sandpaper... But I like it.

A little stencil...

And there! No hardware yet, I have to get new knobs. I'm thinking dark metal looking knobs... 

Little tiny cabinet!

A little medicine cabinet I found. Had a faux wood finish painted on it... But I liked the size of it and thought I could use it for something. So I lightly sanded it so the new paint would stick. Painted it black and ModgePodged some scrapbook paper onto the front, and on the inside as well.

I added a new knob to it too. Got the knob at Hobby Lobby. And if you don't know what Modge Podge is, it's essentially Elmer's school glue with a thinner consistency. You can even use regular glue mixed with a little bit of water. These pictures were taken about a year ago (I had no intentions of blogging my adventures...) so no progress pictures.  :(



Table for one!

This is a little table I found at the thrift store last July. I think I paid $ 9 for this one. I knew it had some potential to be great! I really liked that it had a shelf underneath it.

P.S. Don't pay any attention to the random items placed in the pictures.... They are for staging effects only. Eheh...

So my initial inspiration was this table that I saw on Pintrest.

I really liked how rustic it looked. It was charming even without dumbells and extension cords.... I also liked the contrast between the white paint and the dark wood.

Hi there world!

For years I have truly enjoyed "rescuing" (also known as hoarding in certain circles...) furniture. I will not think twice about slamming on my breaks to stop at someone's driveway where treasures have been thrown out and awaiting their doom. And no, I don't care if I seem crazy trying to lift a five drawer chest into the trunk of my car. By my self. In a snow storm. It ain't always pretty people. I also frequent all the local thrift stores and have been known to drive across town for a good Craigslist deal.  However, there is only so much I can fit into my own home, so I'm  going to try branching out a bit... Not sure where it's going to take me, but that's part of the adventure, right?  So I'm creating this blog now to document my progress ( or very possibly my lack there of ...) in my quest to become a rehab addict turned flipper! Yep, I will attempt to part with my pieces after they are done. Not sure how that's going to turn out, because like any other lover of all things old and cheap, I develop a relationship to these things...

My first real rehab project was an old nightstand I got after my grandmother. I was probably 17. It had been a hospital bedside table before my grandmother adopted it as her nightstand. It had a pullout shelf on the side that probably served as a tray that would extend out to the hospitaliced person used for meals and such. It was covered in layers and layers of paint and I didnt know it was there until I took a blowtorch to it (yes, a blowtorch indeed...) to melt the old paint off. Im sure the fumes from that werent lethal or anything....  It also had a drawer and a cabinet on the bottom. After I blowtorched the poor thing and sanded it for weeks I chose a deep dark red paint and I even stenciled a gold floral pattern onto it. I think my parents still use it in their living room. I will try to have them take a picture of it so I can post it here .

So thats a snapshot of my road to rehabbing. Thanks for reading :)