Accent Table Makeover

I picked up this cute little accent table at a garage sale for $5.  I liked the unique shape of it and knew I would eventually have a special purpose for it.

I decided to use the table in my living room, but knew I needed to lighten it up a bit because we have a little too much brown going on in there right now.  I decided to do a paint treatment just to the table top and leave the base alone.  I started by doing a light sanding of the top finish to the table top.

Since I am doing a letter project with paint and wood grain I wanted to put a coat of fresh stain on the top to achieve a nice contrast.

Once the stain was dry I placed my letters.  I used alphabet stickers from the craft store $1.99 a pack. I bought two packs but still needed more of certain letters such as "e" and "a" but I didn't want to purchase several more sticker packets resulting in a lot of waste.  I traced the letters I still needed on contact paper then cut them out with a craft blade.

Once my letters were set, I painted one coat of paint.  I used some leftover wall paint that I had on hand.  Once the paint was very dry I scored the edges of the letters with a craft blade before removing the stickers.

Next I lightly sanded the paint to give it a lightly distressed appearance.

I wiped on, then immediately wiped off gel stain in walnut to highlight the distressed marks and give the paint an aged look.

Lastly, when the stain is dry I painted on a coat of clear water based poly in a satin finish.

This was a very quick and very frugal little project.  The table was $5, the stickers were less than $4 and I used leftover paint, stain and poly that I had in the garage.

The best thing about a project like this is if you mess it up, just sand it back to the original wood again and re-stain it.  No harm.  I am happy with the result.

Space Saving Budget Friendly Closet Desk

What to do when you have 3 bodies sharing a very small home office space?  We had my husband and the two kids packed into our tiny downstairs bedroom turned home office like sardines.  Needless to say the siblings personal comfort bubble couldn't breathe and much bickering ensued.  

In the pursuit of peace and family harmony I decided to capitalize on a wasted resource... the closet. The closet was becoming a catch-all for things that we probably needed to donate or relocate to a more appropriate closet in the house anyhow.

I decided to create a built-in desk space inside the closet so I could eliminate one of the bulky kid desks that stick out too far into the room.

I started by removing the builder closet shelf and clothes rod.  Then painted the closet interior an accent color a few shades darker than the office wall color.  I didn't want to completely lose storage in the closet for office related supplies, so I sourced some salvage cabinets. I found my cabinets at my local Habitat For Humanity ReStore for $20.  While $20 sounds like a great bargain, and is compared to buying new, it is higher than I normally pay for salvage cabinets of this size.  These cabinets were in extremely good condition needing absolutely no refinishing work. They really looked like they came right out of a box, so totally worth the price for a quickie little project like this.

Since the cabinets did not need any painting or refinishing and they were a natural wood stain color, I decided to go with a complimentary look for the desk instead of using a laminate or melamine material.  I purchased a piece of butcher block board from Home Depot for about $35.  Trimmed the board to fit, rounded the hard edge of the desk front with the orbital sander and gave the whole desk top a light sanding.  I added 3 coats of clear semi-gloss water based poly, which was free because I had some leftover from another project.

I re-used the old closet shelf cleats to mount the desk top to the wall.  We drilled some holes in each corner of the desk top to accommodate the computer equipment cords.  I am very happy with the extra space we created in the office by moving one of the kids over to the closet area.

Stay tuned, as I think I have an idea how to save a little extra space by re-thinking my daughters desk situation.  She is a bit of a clutter queen and she has taken it as her personal challenge to fill every square inch of her desk top with My Little Pony's, Beanie Boo's and snacks, much to her office mates annoyance.  I think the "less is more" approach might be the way to go here and leave her just enough desk space to accommodate the necessary computer equipment.

Okay, so $$$ recap for this quick easy budget friendly solution.

   Paint $16 after rebate

   Cabinets $20

   Desk board $35

____________________

Total     $71

I think that is probably a lot cheaper than a trip to Ikea for a desk and storage solution.  

Yay, another project I can check off my "to do" list - Go me!  Now off to the next distraction!

Debbie Does Yoga

Okay, so I should preface this post by saying that I've had some extra time on my hands on account of my job being eliminated six months ago.  After much initial panic, leading into depression after the loss of a sibling, and my husband then proposing the concept of me "not working" for a while, well I guess I have embarked on my mid-life crisis.  I'm 43 and for the first time since I was 14 I am a non income generator with a surplus of time.   Delightful, right?  Time to pause and reflect, time to explore, time to outline and define the next chapter.  Easier said than done for someone who is slightly hyper-active and extremely distracted.

It all started with Amazon local and a super deal on a month of unlimited yoga classes.  Yoga... it spoke to me.  I set out to see if distracted debbie can find Zen.

I decided to start with the class called Beginning Vinyasa.  Going into it I realize this may not have been a wise choice as the description says that it is a "fairly athletic workout".  Keeping in mind that I am rather chubby and have only made it to the gym half a dozen times in the last few months, three of which have been in the last 3 weeks.  No problem.  It's yoga, breathing and relaxing, how "athletic" can it be?

After grabbing a mat, some blocks, straps, a blanket, towel and some bean bag thingy like the woman in front of me I set out to find a spot.  Just my luck, the only spot not right in the front next to the instructor is in the back row right next to some guy that I will describe as a younger leaner version of Mr. Big (the TV character, not the band from the 80's).  So after debating my two crappy options, I go with the spot in the back row next to Mr. Big light because at least this way nobody will be staring at my ass.  I set up my mat according to how others have done, sit criss-cross applesauce to copy my fellow zen seekers in some stretches.  The instructor enters and I feel a little confidence boost in the fact that she is somewhat chubby too.  Let's go, I can totally do this!

I was doing pretty good with the breathing and posture.  Then right about when things turned into a game of solo Twister as a farm animal with multiple personality disorder, I realize I have to pee.  Not knowing if it is proper yoga etiquette to excuse oneself to use the restroom, I tried to put my bladder out of my mind and surrender myself to Vinyasa.  I sucked it up as the movements got more ambitious.  My decision to take the spot in the back row was validated as we downward dogged until my wrists began to wobble and while this weeble wobbled, she did not fall down.  After much planking, reaching, and some pose that resembled surfing... all while inhaling and exhaling at the right time, it was time to lay back and put the bean bag thingy on my eyes and relax.  Relax!  A word that my brain receives as a challenge in rapid fire streaming of random thoughts.  The lights are very dim and the music, something I imagine from Bali, or India is intended to help one relax.  The instructor speaks softly about embracing being at rest, etc.  Right!  I can't rest because all I can think about is how the humming, mumbling vocals in the music possess a tone and reverb akin to Eddie Vedder.  Not so much angsty Eddie, more of a Ukelele songs after first partaking in some herbal refreshments type of Eddie.  So then, while I am supposed to be embracing "rest" my mind is simultaneously fixated on the spasm in my butt and planning Eddie's next solo project for a righteous yoga soundtrack.  I wonder if I could "rest" to that?

While I may not have found Zen, nor successfully executed every pose to it's fullest potential, I consider it a success because I didn't pee myself, fall down, or pass out.  In fact, Mr. Big light was way more wobbly than me, in fact he almost fell at one point, not that I was checking him out or anything.  As I was using the yoga studio restroom I happened upon a list of yoga etiquette and helpful tips.  "Do not eat or drink an hour prior to class."  Note to self, skip the Grande Oprah Chai latte on your way to the next yoga class. 

Namaste!

Solar Upcycled Chandelier

I found this old chandelier at my local salvage building supply store for $3.00.  Nothing special, but nice bones.  I thought it would be fun to add some color and solar light to make this a fun and functional accent light on my back porch deck.

I started by taking the light fixture apart and then snipping and removing all of the wires.

Next I primed and painted.  I painted the metal pieces with a metalic oil rubbed bronze and the center spindle a pop of blue.

Reassembled.

Since I would not be using any glass globes I inserted some weatherstripping foam tubing to keep the socket from moving around.

I purchased some dollar store solar yard lights for $1 each.  The ones I bought were too wide to set inside the socket securely so I inserted a ball of epoxy in the socket, then pressed the light int it and twisted to seat it securely.

Here is the finished solar chandelier in both daylight and at night.

Recycled Closet Door Raised Bed

Re-purpose old bi-fold closet doors into raised planter beds.  I picked up my bi-fold doors at Habitat For Humanity ReStore for about $5 per pair.  The doors each measured about 6' 6" long and were 12" wide, perfect dimensions for the sides of a raised bed.  I cut some 12" x 2" boards 3' long to use as the ends.  I simply attached the bi-fold doors to the boards with 2.5" screws and that was that.

Cheap, easy, and eco-friendly!  

Notes: 

Use solid wood bi-fold doors, not the newer kind you see that are mostly constructed of mdf.

Girl Scout Daisy Headband

I wanted a good way to keep a visual of our troop in a crowd of Daisies at Daisy Days, so I created these unique headbands.  It worked, our girls were very easy to spot.

I started with these Dollar Tree headbands.  I removed the butterflies and saved them to use for another project.

Next, I cut all the Daisy petals and center out of felt and attached to felt backing with hot glue.  Once set, I cut around the shape of the Daisy.

Turn flower face down with the light blue petal at the "12 o'clock" placement and place a quarter size glob of hot glue in the center.  Hold the tip of the headband antenna flat into the glob of glue and place a small square of felt on top.  Press down until glue sets.  My apologies for not getting a photo of this step.

Here is the finished product.  Time consuming but worth it.  Imagine a troop of 1st graders wearing these... very cute!

Recycled Chair Swing

I saw a picture of a chair swing one day and loved it but didn't have a good spot for one, until now that is.  We had an existing deck swing that was a rope hammock style chair swing and it was great until it "wore out", and by wore out I mean that my 6 year old brandishing scissors resulted in a giant hole right where one would sit.  Serendipity... a wonderful excuse to make a recycled chair swing.

This is an ideal project to recycle a broken chair that you hate to just throw away.  I didn't have a broken chair so I picked one up at Goodwill for a few bucks.  Here is the "before" of our chair.

I planned to string rope directly through the chair seat, so I started by drilling my four holes.  After the holes were drilled I cut off the legs.

Now time for a shiny fresh coat of paint.  I used Rustoleum 2X primer/paint in a semi gloss indoor/outdoor and bravely let my daughter pick out the color.  I was so sure she would try to talk me into pink, but she surprised me and went for a nice warm orange.

Lastly, I strung the rope and used a figure eight knot that the guy at Home Depot assured me would be strong.  I attached the swing rope to some chain using large "S" hooks, chain and mounted it to the deck arbor beam using a swing-set screw kit.

This was a very quick and easy weekend project.  The chair, paint, rope and hardware cost about $25.