Habitat ReStore Nightstand Redo

You may remember from this post, I have big plans to redo the master bedroom and finding new larger nightstands that better fit the room and the mixed look I wanted was one of the first steps in the redo. I found a small mirrored dresser at HomeGoods for my new nightstand and searched for awhile to find a companion for Eric that would be different but still complementary.

While in the Charlotte Habitat ReStore one day I found a small $180 dresser that was just the right size for a large nightstand and had character to it. I wish I knew more about the history of it other than it is from the 1920's... I love having an almost 100 year old piece of furniture! It honestly didn't look too bad as is but I wanted a painted piece for his nightstand.

Here is a before and after and then I'll walk you through the details of how I refinished it.

I removed the the piece of wood that stuck up on the back of the top and the pulls and sanded it.

I used wood filler for some spots with dings and also to fill in half of the pull holes because I wanted to go with knobs instead of pulls.

My dad was so nice to prime it at their house for me because being prego I didn't want to be around the fumes of primer. There are some old knobs my dad had in the pull holes so that paint doesn't get in there.

A week or so later, I painted it with two coats of Sherwin Williams no-VOC paint (so no fumes or bad stuff and I also wore a mask just to be extra cautious) in the color Alabaster. It's the same color I used on this Goodwill dresser a few years ago and I knew it was a nice white without being too bright of a white or being too cream-colored.

I actually did 3 coats of paint on the top and later a coat of a vinegar/water mixture as a sealer since Eric would be putting books and glasses and such on it frequently. I usually use polycryllic as a top coat but sometimes on white paint it can yellow even though it says it wont so I'm seeing how this natural vinegar/water mixture I read about lasts.

Then I ordered $10 crystal knobs off Amazon (my new nightstand from HomeGoods has crystal knobs so this would help tie the two together) and added them to the nightstand. I think they definitely look more expensive than they are.

Then it was moved into our master bedroom and I added the decor back to the top of it. I'll be honest, it usually has another book or two and a drink glass on top of it in everyday life. You may notice that the walls are a different color than from my last master bedroom post - more on that and hopefully a reveal of other room changes soon!

2 ingredient mixture to refinish wood furniture

This past weekend I was cleaning and sprucing up a dresser we bought from Craigslist for the nursery and I tried a natural "recipe" to refinish wood furniture. It made some difference on the dresser but its finish wasn't that bad to begin with. Then I decided to try it out on the buffet in our dining room and was super happy with the results! You may remember the buffet/sideboard from here that I bought at a vintage/antique place. So here is how to do this yourself.

Mixture:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white vinegar

Mix together and use a rag to wipe a thin layer on furniture. After about 30 minutes follow up with a dry rag/cloth. Wait a few hours before putting items back on top of your furniture.

Below you can clearly see that I have applied the mixture to the right side but not to the left side of the top. It made a huge impact on this wood furniture piece where the finish had definitely seen some wear and had lots of scratches etc. It really gave it new life!

Since a thin layer of an oil mixture is good for wood, you can repeat this every year if you want to or anytime your wood finish pieces need some sprucing up. Note: I wiped the mixture on the entire piece, not just the top. Not gonna lie, I also did this to two of our end tables in the family room (that are both old hand-me-down pieces from my parents) and made them look years and years newer! It is best at refinishing scratches that aren't too deep.

Now you can go to town refinishing all your wood furniture with 2 simple ingredients you have on hand.

My end table went to prison

I'm sure this is about the strangest post title you have ever seen but yes, it is completely true. My mom was given this very interesting end table/jewelry storage furniture piece by a friend of hers who didn't have a place for it (it previously belonged to her mother) and so my mom asked if I wanted it because she didn't have a place for it either. It was such a unique piece that I immediately said yes even though it was in need of some work. Plus who says no to free antique furniture!

At her suggestion, I had my mom take to the prison nearby Lakeland that has a work program where they refinish, reupholster and even build furniture. My mom had taken many pieces there in the past like her couch, end tables, and a chair from this post and their rates are extremely affordable. Not many people even know about the program since it's not widely advertised. I picked out the stain color from about 6 choices.

A few weeks and $80 later, and I had this gorgeous end table. Well it actually was longer than that until I received it since it had to travel up to Charlotte with my parents during one of their visits. They did such a great job! A better job than I could have done myself and I would have taken much longer to redo it. And such a deal!

You can see the neat storage when you open up the top. That part needed refinishing too but you can kind of see the stain color that it used to be. I think the stain color I picked out is very close to that.

I've actually had the end table now for over 6 months. At first it just sort of hung out in different rooms but not in any permanent place and at Christmastime it was in our kitchen and held my Clemson tree. It has now made a permanent home in between my two teal chairs in the family room. That wall isn't a big wall so I needed a small end table between the chairs and this was perfect.

It took 3 different tries at the right sized lamp since the end table is taller but still small so I finally found a winner in this short chunky white lamp from non-other than HomeGoods!

Anyone else have a prison work program that refinishes furniture and such near them? I haven't looked to see if there is something like that near Charlotte but with this area being such a big furniture market I kinda doubt it since that would compete with many businesses.

The DIY play kitchen is back

4 years ago I started this blog (actually yesterday 4 years ago to the day!) to write about projects, recipes and adventures we have and a little about myself too. My first blogged project was the DIY Play Kitchen made out of a thrifted nightstand for our niece's 3rd birthday. It was also my the first furniture redo. It is still probably my favorite project and is one of the most visited posts for good reason.

A few weeks ago Eric's parents said that our niece had outgrown the play kitchen and did we want them to sell it at their garage sale or did we want it back. (Side note... I cannot believe she is turning 7 next week!!) YES YES we wanted it back! With all the sweat and love that went into that project I couldn't let it be sold at the garage sale.

Eric picked it up and now it's in our "game room" but will probably go in the storage/attic soon. I have to say that for after experiencing 4 years of non-gentle play from our niece and countless friends of hers, it held up well! I'm sure something similar in plastic would not be in the same state. You can tell this kitchen was loved and enjoyed but it just needs a little paint, a new "faucet" and some dowel fixing for the stove burners to be good as new.

I am sure that there will be a little girl in the family or a very close friend that will enjoy this kitchen too and it can be passed on more times. It's basically like a family heirloom now :) Although I wouldn't mind making another one since it's just so cute and fun or even a boy or gender neutral version.

Read the step by step process to make a play kitchen of your own for a kid to enjoy! Thanks to everyone who has been following along with this little blog of mine!

Round pedestal table redo

I am excited to share a furniture redo with y'all since I haven't done one in awhile. I took a scratched and beat up Craigslist table and turned it into the perfect kitchen table.

Early last year when we already knew the floor plan of our new house and that we would have a breakfast area in the kitchen, I began stalking Craigslist for a round pedestal table. I wanted it to be solid wood and have a leaf. Fortunately this was one of the shortest amounts of time I've hunted on Craigslist for something... in just a few weeks I spotted this ad and it meet both my criteria.

I contacted the seller and we drove to Rock Hill one day after work and grabbed it for just $60. If I had to guess I'd say the wood is oak.

Then it sat for awhile in our garage while we were selling our first house. When we moved to our new home, we set it up in the kitchen and just used it as is for awhile so we could have a kitchen table. Although we didn't have any chairs so we used folding chairs. Super classy I know.

In the fall we sanded it down with a palm sander using two different grits and wiped it down really well.

I hadn't decided yet what color I wanted to stain it or if I might paint it so I decided we should bring it back inside and use it for awhile while I made up my mind. Well after a few weeks and showing it to a few people, I kept saying how much I really liked it in it's natural or raw wood state. I was surprised because normally I like a medium or dark stain and it never crossed my mind to leave it natural looking but there was just something about the way it went so well with the dark wood floors and the white cabinets.

Here it is when we had a Clemson Bowl Game party at the beginning of January. Yep, totally digging the chairs ;)

And a better photo of it just in it's sanded form.

Well of course life got in the way over the holidays and such but finally a few weeks ago, I spent an afternoon putting on two coats of Minwax polycryllic (with fine sanding in between) to seal it and make it easy to wipe down. Before doing this, any time we used it we had to be really careful not to place anything that could leave a water ring or something. Polycryllic is key to sealing your furniture pieces and is non-yellowing whether you use paint or stain or nothing and I've seen it in choices of satin or glossy. I used satin. I also used the same thing on my Goodwill Dresser redo which I painted.

I am so happy with the after!

I didn't take any photos of the table leaf but applied the same redo process to it.

I also was stalking Craigslist for practically a year for 6 chairs for the table (started looking for these at the same time as the table) which I wanted to be all wood and not too big. Most of the time we would use four but I wanted two extras for whenever we used the leaf plus it never hurts to have a couple extra chairs around. After not finding what I was looking for (most had that wide fanned back with vertical rungs or were dining room chairs), I finally gave in and purchased some Threshold Dining Chairs from Target. They have a low back and are not large which is nice so there is no obstructing the view out the glass sliding door and they do not feel bulky yet they are solid wood.

I am very satisfied with the purchase and by ordering them during a sale they were only $38 per chair... not too bad. These will not be staying the same and keeping their dark wood stain... I have big plans for these in the future!

I really enjoy furniture redo's and seeing the before/after. Have you redone any furniture lately? This project has me excited to redo more.

Goodwill Dresser Redo (finally!)

You may recall the dresser I bought at goodwill in August 2010. Yes, 2010. What can I say, other things got in the way or took priority. When I saw it in the store, I immediately had to have it. Especially for the price of $25. Yeah, twenty-five bucks... it was a great day in goodwill.

I did some work over the next couple months cleaning it out and wiping it down. Taking off the hardware and sanding it. Then I primed it and it sat a very long time in the garage until this past fall when I decided to finally getter done. It's about time, right?

I wasn't totally thrilled with the first sanding job I had done on the top with an old sander and we had since purchased a new sander. I re-sanded the top (the rest was fine) and primed again with Kilz.

Then I painted 2 coats all over of SW Alabaster - a white creamy color. I ended up doing a third coat of paint just on the top.  A big thanks to Cassie at Primitive and Proper (now I can finally link up at her furniture party!) for suggesting this color to me and letting me know that having brush strokes on the top is normal and adds to the character of the piece. The only way to get it perfectly smooth is with a sprayer and with this being a hobby I just can't justify buying that.

I got Eric and my dad around Christmas time to fix a couple of the drawer hinges. One of them is still not that great, but that's okay by me for such a cheap dresser.

I spray painted the hardware with an oil rubbed bronze and reattached them to the drawers. I let it sit about a week before moving it upstairs to the loft. Then I did 2 coats of polycrylic on the top since that is where I wanted to put lamps and such. I could have done it all over but I didn't think it was really necessary since I will use this for storage and not be opening the drawers on a daily basis.

Then I waited a week before placing anything on top. I added 2 teal lamps that I purchased from HomeGoods shortly after getting the dresser. They are the main inspiration for the color scheme that will be in this room.

I am happy to say I finished this up before the new year so at least it was only a year-ish since I bought it before completing it  :)  It also taken me awhile to get around to taking pictures of it and writing a post about it...

I think it is worth it to get something when you see it, even if you plan on waiting awhile to work on it because who knows when land a great find again. Case in point, I have a buffet type piece (cabinets on the bottom with shelves above) in the garage now that I bought a year ago waiting to be redone. Maybe since the dresser is all done, I will be motivated to start on that.

It's hard to believe what a $25 dresser, a can of paint, and a can of spray paint can become!

I am totally in love with my redo dresser and I hope you like it too! I need advice of what else should go on top of the dresser or should be hung above it so leave your thoughts here!


Linking up at these fun parties

(M) Motivate Me Monday, Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Monday Marvelous, Just Something I Whipped Up, The DIY Showoff, Mad Skills, Before and After (T) Power of Paint, Today's Creative Blog, All Thingz Related, Tip Me Tuesday, Ladybug Blessings, Try it Tuesday, A Little Birdie Told Me (W) POWW, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Blue Cricket Design, We Did It Wednesday, Wassup Wednesday (Th) Hooking up w/HoH, Somewhat Simple (F) Remodelaholics Anonymous, Frugalicious Friday, FrouFrouDecor, Fingerprints on the Fridge, FFA Friday, Weekend Wander, (S) Weekend Wrap Up Party, Lamb Around (Su) Sunday Showcase Party, Sundae Scoop, It's So Very Cheri

Craigslist find with patience

Does anyone else struggle with being patient? I do and I am always praying for the Lord to help me be more patient. It seems that things are constantly getting faster and quicker. Even just thinking about logging onto the internet or loading a page 10 years ago vs. today. Today, if I don't get a quick response or don't see something happening immediately then I think something is probably wrong so that timeframe has become the new norm.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think technology advances are bad. I just think it hasn't helped me (and probably others) to be patient with other things. For instance, our home. I would love to just buy all the furniture, decor, etc. needed and call it a done deal but I am learning (or trying at least) to be patient. There is no big rush. Not everything has to be right here right now.

One thing I waited for and the wait paid off was our front porch rocking chairs. From the moment we moved in (almost 2 yrs ago) I have wanted 2 of those wooden rockers for our front porch. Being on a budget and knowing we needed many things for our new home, I decided to look for them on Craigslist. Who knew it would take me until just a week ago to find them!

In the beginning I looked every day and if I did find some like what we wanted they ended up being already sold or too expensive. Many times hubby said "let's just go buy them new if you want them" but no, I was going to be patient about them (also a tad stubborn to I suppose). After awhile I only checked Craigslist once a week and was still just being patient knowing eventually we would have some. Then one of our neighbors who knew I had been wanting rockers, emailed me last weekend and said she just saw some on Craiglist. And they were exactly what we wanted and only $80 for the 2! We picked them up that day!

They definintely need a good wipe down and perhaps a new coat of paint in the future but I'm in no rush :)

Goodwill Score

Are you one of those people that sees everyone else in blogland finding fabulous things at goodwill and just stare in awe? Yep, well that is me. Sure, it's not too hard to find a good plate, or candlestick, or picture frame. But I am just astonished (and jealous of course) at these great things people find at goodwill - cute chairs, dressers, hutches, and tables for them to redo! Why aren't people donating awesome stuff like to my goodwill!

FINALLY my day has come! After weeks and weeks of stalking visiting the goodwill by our house, I scored a saaaaweet dresser! Now I usually try to go once a week if I can and maybe about every other time I find something small like a plate or vase to redo and I always look at the furniture area. Normally its filled with not so great stuff - like computer chair that doesnt even look dorm-worthy. Or some crappy laminated looking entertainment center that holds those giant box-like tvs. Until this one day I saw a dresser there and I knew all my trips to the GW had paid off! It was only $25. And it was most or all wood. And it was French Provencial. SCORE!

I made Eric stand there with it even after I had taken the buy-it tag thingy just in case someone wanted my dresser. I would have been prepared to fight them for it though, or Eric rather. It had only been out on the floor a day or less so I think I was really lucky. Of course it is definitely in need of some love... it has a good bit of marker on  it. And a wood piece one drawer rests on to open/close is missing. And its really dirty and dusty. BUT I knew these are things I can fix and it had good bones.

I am doing research on furniture redo's throughout blogland. The dresser seems to be all wood but with some sort of shiny finish on top. At first I thought the top was laminate but my friend Holly checked it out and thinks it is wood too but just with some top slick finish. So that is great news. I can even reuse the drawer pulls. I am super excited to work on my first furniture redo! If anyone has advice on redoing furniture like this, please please let me know!