Kitchen Island to Bar Cart Upcycle

Rusty's dad made a beautiful kitchen island cart that we used a lot in our big Cleveland kitchen, but since moving to Austin, the City of Small Kitchens (I believe that's its second nickname), the cart has been used as a space holder next to our trash can. Unwilling to part ways with this handmade piece, we decided to breath new life into it by giving it a new purpose. Total cost of the project was less than $20, including two cans of spray paint (we already had the gloss and primer), four new wheels and four gold trunk corners.

Here's the quick & dirty How To:

Remove the top from the base, follow the steps below to stain the top and move onto the base.

To complete the base, follow the steps below. The spray paint may require a few coats, ours took 3 coats + gloss. The gloss is optional, but I find it helps to protect the color, disguise imperfections and makes it easier to wipe down in the future.

Our next step is to either add a hanging wine glass rack or a wine bottle rack on the bottom, but we can't decide what do you think?

xo,

The Silver Touch - Blue and White Chair Remix

I'm redesigning our Master Bedroom to be all white with silver accents. They don't call me Jodi "Penny Pincher" Schwaben for nothing... well they don't call me that at all, but they should because I am spinning this room for just a couple bucks. This means that instead of purchasing new items, I have to remix the items I currently own.

I decided it was time to tackle this old beauty. Remember this guy? It hurt my heart to update this blue and white chair because I loved that bright color, but it doesn't go with the theme.

I first primed the chair with Krylon Primer, then I used Krylon Metallic Brilliant Silver over the entire chair.

All done... Or is it?... Leave a comment!

I'm still deciding if the silver Bogarts the amazing pattern of the fabric... I may re-prime and do an all white chair. Thoughts? Seriously, I want your opinion!!

Here's what it looks like in the partially finished corner... I need to update the trinkets on top of the cabinet, so additional pictures are forthcoming.

New Use for the Shadow Box

I swear I'm in a constant state of nesting. We're updating our master bedroom...again. There will be a full blog post later once the transformation is complete, but until then, I will be giving updates on the furniture and decor renovations.

You can see the original post here, but here's the cheap and dirty.

I found this awesome Cassette Tape Organizer in Rusty's closet and made it into a shadow box...

As part of our Master Room Redo, I'm really interested in using items with dual purposes and that increase the overall organization of our room. With that in mind, I removed the photos and changed this from a Shadow Box into a Jewelry Box.

 

 I love when decorations can also be practical!

One Man's Junk, is his Girlfriend's Treasure!

Rusty had a lot of things from the 80's & 90's stacked in boxes in what would soon be the guest room. These items consisted of cards from family members, generations of ex-girlfriend paraphernalia (which was dealt with accordingly), a random collection of froggy stuffed animals (???), and a wonderful cassette tape holder.*

*I forgot to take a before picture, so this is a sketch of what we believe the suspect looked like:

I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I know I wanted to do something shadowbox-y. I found this awesome tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, House of Smith's and got inspired.

I started by knocking out the planks, but careful to keep them in good shape ... for this & other projects. Then I spray painted the box & a couple planks in white. I also used Shelley's idea of tiny, painted clothes pins. After all of the paint dried, I took a sand paper block to weather the box, some of the planks, and the clothes pins. Before replacing the back of the case, I stapled some twine to both sides. Then, I added a hanger bracket on each side. AND VOILA!

                             

A Woman's Touch?

I moved in with my boyfriend this year. It was the ultimate bachelor pad and his friends kept saying "all it needs is a woman's touch." I think it needed the Merry Maids.

This is not a test, do not adjust your screens. He was really living like this, and yes, there is only ONE chair...in the whole apartment.

Before I moved in, he had one chair, a bed, and a kitchen table (with no chairs).

First things first! I needed to buy some chairs so I got two beauties off of Craigslist from a young couple moving out West. They had trouble parting with the chairs, and who wouldn't? They were in great shape! But they must have liked us because they gave us both chairs for $30. Minutes later, I was at Joann's picking out fabric and Lowes grabbing a new electrical staple gun!

On the first chair, we spray painted two coats of bright blue on the wood, removed the paisley fabric, and reupholstered with the pretty white. I would've done both chairs in that gorgeous fabric, but I have the tendency to spill things...and well, it was a bachelor pad, so Rusty's friends are always over and I don't know what I would do the first time beer or bbq sauce lands on that pretty thing! Before putting the pads back onto the chair, we finished it with a gloss. This makes it easier to wipe down the furniture.

The second chair was much more difficult! After removing the old fabric, I had to staple down the new fabric on the fronts and sides, sew a new cushion cover with back zip for easy clean, and then figure out how to finish the back...cue the studs. Those pretty little nail-in studs were not just used to add detail, it's actually what's holding the back together. I stapled the bottom on the inside, then folded the sides and top and nailed the studs.

 Shwew, I will clean up later!