A Quick Facelift

When my husband and I moved from a condo to our house we brought with us some barstools. Initially, I was going to leave them at the old place but I decided to take them with us and give them a facelift. The barstools originally looked simlar to the one pictured on the left: wicker seat and blonde wood. This look does not go with the design in our new house, so my husband and I got to work!

First, we removed the seat from the chair and sanded the wood. Then we primed and spray painted everything satin black. Next, my husband padded the seat with foam and covered it with fabric that coordinated with the window valances I made. The seat was reattached to the base and that was it. We really like the result.

An Old Table Gets a Modern Update

This end table was a curbside find that my parents picked up. I really love the lines but it was in pretty bad shape when I got it. As you can see the leather top was a mess and the edges were pretty rough. So, I decided to give it some love by cleaning it up and painting it. Here are two "before" pictures:

First, I decided to remove the leather top. I wasn't sure how difficult this was going to be but, to my surprise, it was pretty easy. After my online research I decided that using my steamer was going to be my best bet. So, I pulled out the steamer and with only a bit of patience and a putty knife the leather top came off without much effort...and in one piece!

After a bunch of sanding, some patching with wood putty and spackle, primer and spray paint I have a nice modern table. I chose to use the same hardware because I like the design and actually love the patina on it from years of use.

There may be another project in line for this table in the future. Since I didn't replace the leather top I am still contemplating what to do with the top. I do think I could just leave it as is. There is a small dip between the area on the top where the leather was and the rest of the top but I don't see it as being an issue. I have considered buying a piece of glass to put on top and maybe putting some pretty paper under it. We will see. I'm sure at some point I will be looking for a small project to do and this will satisfy my urge. :) If and when this happens I will share the result at that time.

Finally, here is a side-by-side before and after picture:

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:

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.