Jewelry hanger made from old closet door

In a previous post, I showed how I made a headboard from the bottom half of these louvered closet doors (left). This project shows what I did with the top half of the doors.

During the headboard project, my husband and I cut the doors in half (right) and removed the louvers. Then, prior to installing chicken wire in the opening, I primed and painted the frame. Next the chicken wire was cut and secured into place with scrap molding I had laying around the house. Finally, I filled the small holes from the nails we used to install the moldings, lightly sanded it and put a final coat of paint on the project.

And the result...a jewelry holder/display:

Guest blogger...Carolyn

A special thanks to a follower/friend for today's blog post. When Carolyn shared with me her great re-purpose project, I just had to share it! I just love seeing what wonderful creativity people have when it comes to re-purposing furniture! Here is what she said:


Tammy,

I thought you might like to see what we did with an old hutch we had.  We made a hanging bookshelf for our foyer.  I needed something for the space, it couldn't be deeper than 12 inches and I couldn't find anything in the furniture stores that I liked.  The picture of the hutch is a similar version of what we used. 

Old Dresser Gets a Fresh Look

This dresser goes with a funiture set my parents bought me when I was a child. I put it to good use for about 25 years before my dad made me a new set. As you can probably tell from the picture, it stayed in wonderful condition over the years - which is why I have kept it so long. It even went through a quick makeover when I was in my early teens -- my parents gave it a fresh coat of paint and new hardware.

When I bought my first home and moved out of my parents' house I left it behind because I didn't have room for it. About a year and a half ago, I moved into my new home and my parents were happy that I'd finally have room for it at my place. Because of the history, and since there is really nothing wrong with it, I wanted to put it to good use - but not before giving it a makeover!

First, I removed the hardware, sanded, primed and painted it the color of oil-rubbed bronze. 

Next, I sanded the dresser. I wanted the edges to look worn from years of use, so I really focused on removing the paint on most of the edges. At this point, I realized how light in color the pine wood was and wanted to give the edges a treatment that would make them pop. So, I rubbed stain on the edges - now they have an antique look and really stand out.

Last, I decided to add an interesting detail to the drawer fronts. I found fabric at a craft store that coordinated with my spare bedroom decor, cut it to fit the drawer fronts, and used Mod Podge to glue the fabric to the furniture. To do this, I painted the Mod Podge on the drawer fronts and placed the fabric over it. After it dried completely, I put another coat over the top of the fabric to give it a little shine and to ensure it would stay in place. (Tip: if you use this technique and want a shiny look, proceed with another 4-5 coats of Mod Podge). For this project, I liked the texture after only one coat.

Next, I replaced the hardware and the job was complete!

Tiny Bird Gets a Facelift

I received this ceramic bird from a fellow treasure hunter and just love the shape. However, the color wasn't my style. So, I updated it according to my preference. First, I sanded it. Then I applied two coats of Zissner's 1-2-3 Primer. The product is great when the surface you are painting is glossy/slippery (for example my husband and I have painted plastic crown moldings and ceramic tile with it. It is great and passes the "scratch test").

Low-Cost Redo

Before

Redecorating does not have to be expensive. My laundry room re-do took very little more than fresh paint...and had quite an impact! First, the wallpaper was removed. From the photo, it appears there is only a border...that's what my husband and I originally thought. Once we started removing it we realized there was wallpaper on all the walls...it was just disguised by paint. What a disappointment, now we knew the job would take at least an extra day to remove the wallpaper. (We didn't want to just paint over it because when you paint wallpaper the seams are likely to show.) So, we moved forward full speed ahead knowing that removing the wallpaper was going to be twice as difficult. Thank goodness for the wonderful inventions of the steamer and the piranha (a tool you use to score the wall, allowing water/steam to get under the wallpaper, loosening it so you can scrape it off) -- these tools made the job a little less laborious.

Once we conquered the wallpaper, we painted the doors and moldings. Finally, it was time to paint the walls! I chose to use leftover green and turquiose paint from my master bedroom and family room. I wanted to do something fun since doing laundry isn't typically something we look forward to. I figured the bright colors and stripes would do just that.  Since the room is relatively small, I decided to do two walls in stripes and the others solid. This saved quite a bit of time and helped break things up a bit.

After

Another money-saving and environmentally conscious feature is the shelf over the washer/dryer. Since we had just replaced all the doors in our house we had a plain closet door just sitting around. I thought it was the perfect option for a shelf. I painted it white and purchased the brackets and rod at a home-improvement store. Now we have a place to hang laundry to dry and a shelf to display baskets and accessories!

Lastly, I accessorized with my mini washboard (shown in the "after" photo above), 3 decorative heat vent covers, and curtains. I  picked up the washboard several years ago at an antique store; found the vent covers recently at an antique sale; and made the cafe curtains from fabric I purchased at a craft store.

Inspired...

I found inspiration for this project while searching Etsy -- a site I browse often because of it's wonderful treasures. One day I saw a beautiful turquoise painted china cabinet with fabric on the inside back panel -- it was georgeous! You could tell the cabinet was an older piece, however it was given a modern look with paint and fabric. As I looked at it in awe, I thought, I can do something like that. The next few weeks I "stalked" Craigslist, watching for just the right cabinet to fit in my kitchen. Then one day the cabinet pictured here came up. I couldn't believe it because it looked nearly identical to my inspiration piece (without the cool paint job and fabric, of course.) To top it off...it was only $50! Needlesstosay, I was sold!

Once we got the treasure home, my husband and I started the project by removing the doors, hardware, glass and back panel from the cabinet. Then, I lightly sanded everything using a palm sander and a little elbow grease. My husband also put his carpentry skills to work by adding a wine rack inside. To do this, he removed the shelf inside and cut it. He also installed a divider between the wine rack area and the remainder of the inside so he could reinstall the shelf and use it to stabilize the wine rack. Then we purchased 4" PVC pipes to make the wine rack. They were cut to size and painted with Krylon Fusion plastic spray paint. Finally, we glued the pipes together and secured them inside the cabinet.

Although I loved the turquoise paint on the inspiration piece, the color combination didn't coordinate with the decor in my kitchen. So, I decided on a neutral satin black paint and fabric to coordinate with my window treatments, area rugs, and barstool seats.

Headboard Made from Old Closet Doors

When we replaced the closet doors in our house, I hated to just throw them away. After some thought, I realized these closet doors (pictured on the left) could be transformed into a headboard. Since I didn't have a headboard for my spare bedroom, this was a perfect opportunity!

First, I cut the doors in half length-wise to separate the louvered part and paneled part -- because I only wanted to use the paneled pieces for the project. After much contemplation, I decided to use a 4x4 on each end for posts, a 2x4 on the top & bottom to frame it out, and two small square pieces of plywood to top the 4x4 posts.



My dog, Stuey obviously approves.



Subtle details add texture and interest.

Our 1912 antique dining room set was short 4 chairs when my husband and I purchased it off craigslist. The set included a buffet, china cabinet, table, and 6 chairs. The table seats 10, so we planned to purchase 4 additional chairs once we found something we liked. Initially, I thought I'd find wood chairs, similar to the ones that came with the set, and possibly treat them with paint so they differ. One day, I saw some great chairs online that nearly matched the chairs I had, except they were painted gloss black and reupholstered in zebra fabric. I really liked the chairs but I wasn't ready to commit and would have to drive 2 hours to purchase them.


Then one day I was at Home Goods and found these great red leather Parsons chairs for $40 on clearance. After calling 10 stores in the metro-Detroit area and driving an hour out of my way, I had the 4 I needed! I love the way the red leather breaks up the wood, adds color, texture and a contemporary look!



You will also see in the photos that my husband graciously re-covered the seats of the wooden chairs with zebra pattern -- just like the chairs I saw online. I purchased a shower curtain at WalMart for $13 and it covered all 6 chairs! Again, a fun way to add subtle texture and depth! (A big thanks to The Nate Berkus Show for this great tip. Recover upholstered chairs with a shower curtain -- its inexpensive and the fabric is treated to reject water and stains!) Here are detailed before and after shots of the chairs:

My First Post - So Chick (not Chic)

I love the bird-themed finds that are so popular right now: bedding, accessories, even adorable drawer pulls! When I'm out-and-about treasure hunting I have to get my self-control in check to avoid buying everything with our feathered friends on them! Anyway, here is a cool find I didn't pass up. I bought these guys at a consignment store for about $4 each -- cute shape, but not-so-cute color.

So, I decided to paint them a matte white -- actually, I just used white primer. Keep in mind, since they were glossy, I roughed them up with sandpaper first Then, after a coat of primer, I sanded the edges again to give them the shabby chic look. So cute, huh? :)