Pinspiration Sunday: Dresser Makeover

I’ve been wanting a new dresser for a very long time now. The dresser I had was from my Aunt and who knows how old it was…but that I got passed to my son when  he got too big for his changing table (we put the changing pad on top of the low dresser…works amazingly!) and I have his baby dresser/wardrobe. After we madeover our bedroom a few months back I wanted something that would fit in well with our new look. I searched online but just didn’t find what I wanted and if I did like it, it was way out of my price range. So I took to the thrift stores and hunted through yard sales…and one day I found this for $60!

But that was not going to fit into our new room…but after looking on Pinterest, I found a tutorial over at Adventures of a Middle Sister and decided that’s what I was going to do with mine. Now my dresser looks like this:

Here’s how I did it…

Supplies I used:

Electric sander

Medium and low grade sandpaper

Sanding block

Paint of your choice

Rollers/brushes

Sealant

Drawer handles/pulls

Spray paint and sealant

Electric screw driver

Drill bit

Screws

Wood

Stain

 First I sanded the entire outer surface with my electric sander. First I used a medium grit paper then a fine grit sand paper. Then cleaned off any dust.

Then I started painting it. I used a white, oil-based paint for outdoor doors, hoping that this will withstand some wear and trying to avoid priming it first. I put 2 coats on with 24 hrs of drying time in between. 

Next, I took my sanding block and removed the paint along the corners of the entire thing. I love that distressed look, but I didn't want to go too wild.

Then it was time to work on the top. I wanted to incorporate the gray from our bedroom color into this piece. I was orginally going to use wood from an old pallet that has been sitting outside, but with my RA, breaking it apart became quite difficult so I decided just to go by some wood at Lowe's. My husband offered to cut it to the size I needed to cover the top. There was a about an inch or so left in the back, so instead of cutting a strip to fit, I used the ends of the previous cut pieces. This is perfect to give a little back edge. My dresser will be pushed up against a wall with a register at the bottom so the dresser doesn't actually touch the wall and things often fall off the back...so annoying...but now I don't have to worry about that. I sanded the sides that would be stained...and look...they are ready for Halloween!

 I stained the wood using a stain from Lowe's. The color was driftwood. After the stain dried for 24 hrs (I used 2 coats), I set them into place.

Using a electric drill and drill bit, I placed my holes for my screws (one on each end...so 2 per piece of wood). Then screwed in all my nails.

Then it was time for the hardware. I bought new ones from Lowe's...some cheap ones (I'm not too picky) and I spray painted them orange (Valspar's La Fonda Copper) to match the rest of the orange stuff throughout our bedroom. I left them dry for 24hs, then sprayed them with an acrylic sealer and allowed that to dry overnight.

The box is already orange because I used it when I sprayed my book pumpkin from the last tutorial

While those were drying, I applied a furniture sealant for light color wood called polycrylic. I allowed the first coat to dry, then lightly sanded it with the sanding block, wiped clean and then applied another coat of sealant. I allowed that to dry for several hours. Then I placed the drawers back in just to free up some room in the garage until it was fully dry after 24hrs.

And there you have it....a thrift store dresser makeover. Hope you liked this tutorial and it inspires you to get crafty! Thanks for stopping by!

Thrifty Finds & Spray Paint

So my husband and I decided to makeover our bedroom...our walls are white (our entire house was when we bought it) and the curtains are green (they came with the house). We haven't done anything to the room since we bought it....well actually that's a lie...our carpet smelled like dog urine so we pulled up the carpet and put down laminate wood flooring. So needless to say, the room needs some....pizazz. We decided on a color scheme of gray, orange and white. The walls will be gray, the trim white and lots of craft and DIY projects to decorate. I've already bought the fabric I'm going to use to make roman shades from vinyl mini blinds (which hen will be a future tutorial). And there are some wall hangings that I found at the thrift store or flea market. This is what I started with. I had a couple of frames I got from thrift store., I'm pretty sure the one was $1 and the other was 75 cents. The owls were found at either a thrift store or yard sale for 50 cents or less.

Next it was time to make them match our new bedroom. I bought Valspar satin spray paint in La Fonda Copper from Lowe's for about $4. I sprayed all my items and allowed them to dry. Here's what they look like.

I will be posting other bedroom makeover projects as I complete them. And once our bedroom is complete I will be sure to share pictures with you. Thanks for dropping by!

Pinspiration Sunday: Wall Decor

So, 14 months after having my son I’m finally getting some décor put on his bedroom walls. While scrolling through Pinterest I came across a J&A and Company blog which provided free printables that she had used to decorate her children’s bathrooms. My son’s crib bedding is CoCaLo’s Turtle Reef which is shades of blues and greens and that’s what I was looking for in wall décor. Also, while on Pinterest I came across a great Winnie the Pooh quote which I just HAD to use! So here’s what I did…

You are my Sunshine:

First I purchased this awesome unfinished wooden tile board from Wal-Mart for under $10. Looked like this:

I originally planned on doing a multiple patterned design and incorporate the Winnie the Pooh quote. But I just didn’t like it. So I decided to do something else entirely different with that board (Check back in a few weeks to see what I do with the tiles). I stained the entire thing with walnut colored acrylic stain (as I’ve used in the past). Next, I used a 12 X 12 sheet of scrapbook paper cut to fit inside where the tiles would have gone. And mod podge that in place and allowed it to dry. I printed my free printable and just trimmed it down. I decided to back that sheet with another solid color scrapbook paper. But before I attached them together, I inked the edges of the paper with the phrase. Then I mod podged the entire board securing all the pages to it and allowed it to dry. Done! ***Just as a side note, if the paper starts to bubble just let it go...once it completely dries, it will lay flat.***

Winnie the Pooh:

This phrase I just typed up in Microsoft Word with the font called Minya Nouvelle in various sizes. I didn’t want to just put it on a white background but I didn’t really like any of the patterned paper I had so I went searching the web for circle prints in green or blue. I found this background. Saved the picture to my computer then inserted it to the background of my text and stretched it to fill the page. Then I printed that out. (The frame I used was purchased months ago from a thrift store for a buck or two)

I love you more:

This was another printable from J&A and Co. The frame is actually scrapbook paper. For Christmas, my husband’s Aunt Sarah got me the Fancy Frames Cricut cartridge. I measured how big I needed the opening to be and used my Cricut Craftroom software to manipulate the frame to fit the image. After I cut it out I used my ATG gun to attach the image to the frame. I then used some 3M strips to attach the frame to the wall.

And there you have it. I love how it turned out but I think it's missing something else. I was thinking about adding another picture but then I thought about putting his name on the wall. I have leftover vinyl that I used for the mustaches on his birthday ballons so I decided to write his name. Here's the final wall display.

Pinspiration Sunday: Snowman Muffin Tin

So I found the above snowman tin on Pinterest. It looks so adorable and easy to make. I headed out to the thrift stores to find some old muffin tins. One weekend I only spotted a mini muffin pan. So I scooped that up for 50 cents. Then the following weekend I found two regular sized muffin tins for 75 cents each! What a steal!!!!! They were silver like this.

I bought blue spray paint from Wal-Mart which was less than $4. And I had a bronze spray paint already at home. (The mini pan was already a dark brown color and I liked it the way it was) I sprayed the two larger pans. And let them dry.

Next I started painting the muffin projections using a sponge brush and dabbing the color on. At first I only painted the top. I used white craft smart paint from Michael’s (which I already had) on the blue tin and vanilla on the brown.

But upon revisiting my Pinterest board I realized the whole muffin projection was painted. I then splattered the entire thing and hand painted in some snowflakes.

Unlike the original Pin, I couldn’t find the cute wooden hearts used for the noses
(I looked at both Michael’s and A.C. Moore) so I just painted them on.

Once I was completely done I sprayed them with an acrylic sealer. After I sprayed them and they dried I noticed the paint on the snowmen faces looked splotchy. So I covered them with a few more coats of paint, reapplied the faces and then sprayed acrylic sealer on them again. Added some ribbon to hang them by.

These will make great gifts! I actually just went on the original site which was an Etsy shop. This shop was selling them for $20! I made 3 total at a cost of < $6. With a profit like that, I may have to sell mine too ;^P