Telephone Table Makeover!

This blog has been a long time coming!! If you recall, a few months ago I spotted this diamond in the rough curbside:

It's been living in my parents' garage while I decided what I wanted to do with it. Over the past few weeks I've been spending a few hours each weekend sanding and painting, and here is the progression. I am so proud of this piece because I did every step of it myself!

I chose this fabric remnant for the cushion and then selected a bold paint color. 

I started off by removing the seat cushion and taking off the old vinyl. I had shown a photo of the piece to one of the owners at a local antique store, and he told me it looked to be 1940's, but that vinyl wasn't made until the 50's. He said to check and see if there was original fabric underneath, which would confirm that it's a 40's piece. Well, I was super excited to find that there WAS fabric under the vinyl, and I thought it was awesome to see that it was originally fastened with nails rather than the staples used on the vinyl. 

Although I see why it was recovered. 

Despite it's appearance, I decided to recover it without removing the original fabric first, because I just love that it exists from 70 years ago. 

Using a paint scraper, sandpaper, and elbow grease, I sanded the surfaces until they were smooth. 

If I ever own a home with a garage I can use as a workspace, I'm going to invest in some tools. Like a power sander. 

I used a paint and primer in one to paint the wood, and it still needed three coats to cover the black. 

The color is Behr Enchanting Ginger in eggshell finish. 

I let the paint fully dry by bringing it inside the air conditioned house instead of the humid garage, and then the following weekend I finished it with a clear gloss made by Rustoleum. It's supposed to be chip proof, so we will see! And it's also super shiny. 

In the meantime I recovered the cushion with some quilt batting and my fabric, after an annoying delay due to having the wrong staples to fit in the staple gun.  I'm excited that basically just from watching the amount of DIY shows that I do, I know the proper technique for basic reupholstery. 

The gloss required 48 hours to fully set before using the piece, so I impatiently waited a few days before going back to attach the cushion. Once it was finished, my parents loved it so much they were joking around about how wonderful it would look in their entryway. But alas, my dad helped me load it into my car so I could bring it to it's rightful place. There was a lot of rearranging done before I was happy with the placement, because I really wanted it to be a focal point in my living room. 

Here is the completed project!!

And what telephone table would be complete without a retro rotary phone?! Right now it's just decoration, but I'm going to see if it will work! 

I am in love with this finished makeover. In addition to being proud of doing all the work myself, I'm also proud of the total investment amount! 

Cast off furniture piece: Free

Inspiration fabric remnant: $2.00

Paint and gloss (gloss was also used on another piece of furniture so I'm only counting half the cost): about $17.00

So for less than $20 I have a beautiful, custom piece for my home. And don't forget an extra $10 for that retro phone from an antiques garage sale! 

Before and after, one more time!

Shelf Update & Window Upcycling

When I made the shutter shelves, I had really wanted to add decorative brackets but couldn't find them anywhere! As I had them on the wall I was becoming increasingly nervous about the shelves not holding up and my Willow Tree collection crashing to the floor.

I searched around on eBay for a week or so and found the perfect black wrought iron brackets. Great size, nice design... They came today and of course I attached them immediately. I am so much happier with the shelves now, and no longer worried that they will fall!

This next project is incomplete, but I figured I would post it in-progress. In the beginning of June I picked up this great old window. Two guys were redoing windows at their house, and were nice enough to even put it in the car for me. I cleaned up the window, scraped off the loose, chipping paint with a wire brush, and then sanded down the rest of the wood to smooth it out. I also found these great metal and ceramic fleur de lis hooks that I attached on each side. 

I have a thing for old black and white photos, and I thought this window would be a perfect way to display some pictures of my family. I am not totally satisfied yet with the pictures because I know my parents have more somewhere.  There are no photos of anyone on my dad's side of the family, so this is still developing. 

I also intend to add a narrow shelf along the bottom like a windowsill, and I'm thinking about a light wreath to hang in the center from a ribbon, and position the photos around it. It's a work in progress, but I'm a lot happier with it hanging on my wall than leaning against it! 

Last but not least, I finished one pair of flip flops! 

Hope you guys are enjoying reading about my projects! I know I'm enjoying writing about them. 

Shutter Repurposing

I have a good project for you today! I acquired a box of ten small shutters two weeks ago at a yard sale. Actually to be honest, I purchased two of the shutters at the yard sale and then was seriously remorseful that I didn't buy the whole box. I'm a little embarrassed to say I tracked down the homeowner through a friend and retrieved the rest of the shutters the following week. Totally worth it. 

Shutter project #1 used four shutters, which were completely brand new, unfinished wood. The final project was to be two little shelves to hold some of my favorite things. I started off by forming the shelf shape with some Gorilla wood glue and nails, and used some metal corner reinforcements to stabilize them. 

Then I began painting them using a white chalk paint. I have heard so much about chalk paint and really wanted to try it. It's claim to fame is that you don't need to prep your surface before applying the paint, and it's really easy to distress. 

I found a small jar of the chalk paint at Home Depot, and it was barely enough for this project. 

I wound up needing three coats of the paint to get the coverage I wanted. Shutters have a lot of little nooks and crannies, so this wasn't my favorite part of the project. 

Once completed I let them dry overnight. Today I finished this up by attaching hangers to the back and distressing the finish. To distress I just used a coarse sandpaper block to rub away some of the paint, focusing on the edges and corners. I wanted them to look weathered, but still attractive. I'm pretty happy with the final product! 

I was hoping to find some decorative metal brackets to use as support on each side of the shelves, but I had trouble finding something small enough. If I wind up finding them, it will be easy enough to take them down and attach them. 

Still have six more shutters to play with in the future! 

Side note: this morning I found a roadside treasure I am so excited about. I've been on the look-out for a gossip bench/telephone table ever since I saw one in an antique store a few months ago. If you're not familiar with it, a gossip bench is basically a chair and side table combined. Sort of looks like one of those one-armed desks in college lecture halls. Prior to cordless phones and cell phones, the house phone would be stationed at this bench and this is where you would sit to make your phone calls. Most of them have a couple little shelves, which I presume would have been used for a phone book and some note paper and pens. 

The point is, I found one!! I didn't get a good picture of it yet, but I will soon. Right now it's in the back of my car. Aside from desperately needing a paint job and reupholstered seat cushion, it's in really good shape! Didn't see any serious knicks, and everything seems intact. I have to figure out where it will live in my home and then decide on colors.  That's a future post. 

By the way, just want to say thanks for being interested in my blog! I'm really impressed by the number of page views it's gotten within a week. ❤️

Garage Sale Hauls

Spring and Summer weekends mean garage sales around here! My routine has been to get up early on Saturday to hunt around for good sales, keeping my eye out for estate sales or things like church rummage sales. Sundays have been spent doing some roadside rescue during my hometown's "bulk collection" period. Bulk collection in a nice little suburb means people put pretty nice stuff out at the curb because they don't want it anymore.  I've scored some great treasures the past few weeks!

This had to have been my best haul so far... 

Everything in this photo was free except for that super large embroidery hoop which was $3.  So far, I cleaned up the barrel piece on the left and use it to store some crochet WIPs. I also scraped off a bunch of chipping paint from the window frame, and I have plans for what I will use it for. The hoop I'm holding onto for a a project I can do once my bedroom is painted, and the frame has been joined by two other ornate frames waiting to be created into something. 

Picked up this basket last week for fifty cents. Not sure what I can use it for, but I feel like it could have some kind of purpose hanging like cubbies. 

I got a box of small shutters at another sale last week. Some are brand new unfinished wood, and a few are painted white. I found some fantastic ideas on Pinterest for projects using shutters, and that's something I'm really looking forward to working on. No photo yet, they are tucked away in a closet. 

I found this dough box end table a couple months back at a school rummage sale in town.  I needed an end table, so this has been utilitarian since I got it home. I definitely plan to revamp this piece, but I'm undecided on paint vs stain, and what colors. I think it could be something really special. Ideas?