Ugly Duckling Table

The debrowning of my living room continues with another table redo. This ones a lot simpler than the last one and it's a table that's been sitting in our living room for awhile. And yes, its brown...how did you guess?

Here is the before picture...

 

Here is the conversation between me and my husband when he caught me starting to sand it..

Adam: "Still trying to save that table, eh?"

Me: "I just don't want to to be brown anymore"

Adam: "It doesn't matter what color it is, it'll still be an ugly table. Wait...you aren't going to put that on your blog are you?"

Me: "Of course, that's how it works. I do stuff and then I write about it."

Adam: "If post that you'll loose peoples respect and no one will read your blog anymore"

So to say the least, it's  not my husbands favorite table :)

It was free to us though and it's the right size, so it stays. Plus I don't think it's that bad. The wheat tile on the top is a little funky, but I can make it work.

Besides, Elijah loves it. He thinks it's great for climbing.

Don't worry, I set him straight.

When I took over sanding (I kinda wanted to finish this decade) I realized that A LOT of people have tried to save this table..

  I decided to sand the top down to the wood and stain it. Hmm, choices choices...Dark Walnut, English Chestnut or Red Chestnut? I went with English Chestnut (I didn't want it to be too dark or too red) and did three coats. 

I though about possibly maybe leaving it like this...  

but I really didn't like the red and decided that a crisp white would look better. 
Here is the finished product...and I don't know, I think I saved it. 

 Here it is in it's rightful place. I forgot to take a before pic of it here, but I'm sure you can imagine. 

So what say you? Is it the most horrific thing you've ever seen or do you think it's kinda cute?(It's okay to say it's the superbly ugly, you'll earn brownie points from the hubs.)

Linked to:My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, At Home With K, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sassy Sites!, Coastal Charm, Sugar Bee Crafts, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Topsy, Homework, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Not Just A Houdewife, Confessions, Primitive & Proper, Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, Blue Cricket Design, The Thrifty Home, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Shabby Creek Cottage, Fireflies & Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picket Fence, Delightful Order, 504 Main, Shabby Nest, Miss Mustard Seed, Blissful & Domestic, French Country Cottage, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Bacon Time, 30 Days, Chic on a Shoestring, Whipperberry, Addicted 2 Decorating, Tatertots & Jello, Lolly Jane, Along for the Ride, Be Different Act Normal, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, CRAFT

Tale of the Crappy $5 Table

 This isn't one of those blog posts where I show a picture of a fugly piece of furniture and then a the beautiful after picture and say "ta-da, look what I did!" That's not my style, so this is a straight up illustrated story.  It all began one day when I found a beat up end table at a estate sale for five bucks. I've been on the lookout for some tables for awhile, we need two for the living room and two for the master bedroom. Currently we are using extra chairs as nightstands in the bedroom. Classy, I know. Perhaps one day I'll show y'all a picture when I get around to decorating the master bedroom.  Anyway, here's the table. It's in rough shape, but pretty sturdy.

I decided pretty early on that I wanted to put some paintable wallpaper in the insets for some subtle texture. I bought a pre-pasted roll for about $11 bucks from Home Depot (or you can buy some on Amazon, they have a way better selection). I made a template out of computer paper, then traced it onto the wallpaper. 

Since it was prepasted, I just wet it thoroughly and smoothed onto my table. I let it sit overnight, and in the morning it did this...

Totally did not stick...Mod Podge to the rescue! You can use this stuff for anything.

Next I set out to prime the table. I used spray primer because it wasn't naptime and I had to be quick.
Also, if you don't have one of these spray paint trigger things, go and get one. There like $3 and save your fingers. Gone are the days of cramped and permanently indented pointer fingers (then trying to use your thumb...anyone else?).

Here it is all primed....

After priming I realized that the tiny gaps between the wallpaper and the table weren't filling in, so I caulked them to perfection.

Another one of my favorite products....these little tubes of caulk. 

Also, I know y'all are wondering what my kids were up to while I was working. This is Elijah stealing his brothers blanket, laughing, then replacing it. Over and over and over...

The big tubes of caulk just don't cut it for little projects. They are messy and if you don't use the whole giant tube (you won't) then it always dries out and I end up having to throw them away. These little tubes are more expensive, but there clean and easy and never dry out. Which actually makes them cheaper, because you get to use the whole thing. 

Back to my tale.

So I finished painting the table...

The top still looked wavy and dented and whatnot, so I knew I had to distresses it to make it look good crappy instead if bad crappy. Now I have never distressed anything before. Why would you want to? You taking something from looking terrible to awesome, and then ruin it? Actually I usually like the way other peoples distressing turns out, but I was way to scared to actually ruin something I worked so hard on. Free time is precious when you have small kids. I didn't have a choice with this piece though, so I got out my sandpaper and started lightly sanding the corners. And you know what? Damned if I wasn't enjoying myself.

Elijah too...

(look at that weather....gotta love late December in South Texas.)

I wanted to make it look even more distressed so I got out some glaze to bring out the dents and scratches. I popped that puppy open and CRAP...it was clear. Bought the wrong kind. 

I live pretty far from...everything...so there was no way I was going back to the store. I decided to improvise and use stain. I rubbed it on and wiped it off with a damp rag as fast as possible.

Nope, didn't work. Ruined it.

So I repainted it and re-distressed the top. Blah....it's not quite as much fun the second time. Almost done though! All that was left was to add some knobs (picked them up for $2.50 a piece at Hobby Lobby) and slap a coat of polyurethane on.

Here it is all finished! I'm really liking the distressed look...I just might do it more often.

And some close up shots..

While taking these pictures Elijah was (as usual) all up in my business. I was doing my best to take photos around him, but he was being pretty hilarious so I gave up and snapped some photos of him....

You can probably tell by his face, but yes....he was grunting, lol.

Once he had the satisfaction of having his picture taken on the toilet, then it was off to play in his toy box..

(The toy box was also a project of mine, you can read about it here.)

I decided that this table would look best in the living room (too big for a nightstand) so the current end table got moved to the bedroom, so now only Adam has a chair as a nightstand. 

So here is the previous table...

(it and the lamp were both pre blog projects)

And here is the new one! I really like it, it brightens up the room a bunch. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of brown and tan.

Total for the whole project was...

Table - $5

Wallpaper - used about a dollars worth

Spray primer - $3

Knobs - $5

Everything else I already had.

...and that is the tale of the crappy $5 table turned $14 awesome table.

The end.

PS...my husband doesn't see it, but I feel like the table is staring at me...anyone else?

Linked to:Oops I Craft My Pants, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Cherished Bliss, Primitive & Proper, Savvy Southern Style, Ginger Snap Crafts, DIY By Design, The Stuff Of Success, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Domestically Speaking, Sew Much Ado, My Girlish Whims, Junk in their Trunk, Creations by Kara, Southern Lovely, Someday Crafts, Beyond The Picket Fence, Momnivore's Dilemma, Yesterday On Tuesday, The ArtsyGirl Connection, Saved By Love , Delightful Order, The 36th Avenue, Happy Hour Projects, French Country Cottage, Whipperberry, Chic on a Shoestring, Fingerprints on the Fridge, The Shabby Nest, Fun to Craft, Serenity Now, Bacon Time, Simply Designing, Crafty Nest, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Miss Mustard Seed, Tatertots & Jello, Lolly Jane, Young and Crafty, Be Different Act Normal, Keeping it Simple, The Southern Institute, DIY Home Sweet Home, Homemaker on a Dime, Between Naps on the Porch, CraftOManiac, Singing Three Little Birds, 1929 Charmer, CRAFT, Be Colorful, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Home Savvy A to Z, Tip Junkie, Vintage Wannabe, Strictly Homemade, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Coastal Charm, Confessions, Sassy Sites, Sugar Bee Crafts, Homework, Topsy Turvy, Me and My Boys, Bowl Full of Lemons, Home Stories A2Z, It's Overflowing, Southern Lovely, Oopsey Daisy, Five Days 5 Ways, Fine Craft Guild

My Big Fat Nursery Chair

My nursery list is dwindling! Good thing, cause so is my time to complete it. Here is a picture of my nursery chair as of last week. It was given to me by my mom, who got it from a garage sale a looong time ago. (Update: After posting this my mom called to let me know that she actually didn't get this at a garage sale, but rather found it on the side of the road while on a walk. Just the chair - the ottoman she made. Looks like trash chairs are a recurring theme around here!) She recovered and painted it, so my before picture is her after picture....except for the big fat mystery stain on the seat. I forgot to take a closer picture for y'all...bummer, I know.

It's not the most refined chair, it's really just made out of a bunch of 2 x 4's. It's heavy and huge...we had to take off the bedroom door to get it in there. It's perfect because you can't hurt it. Well, I say that, but the second Elijah realized that the ottoman opened, he broke it. Thing wasn't designed with toddlers in mind. I ended up putting larger screws in the hinge and adding a chain to catch the lid before it opens to far.

I sanded everything down and glued and puttied where needed. I wanted to paint it white... even though it was already white. Turns out I wasn't wasting my time!

Next I recovered the ottoman lid, bringing the fabric all the way to the underside and nailing into place. I didn't want to mess with trim and I like how this turned out. Clean and simple.

For the actual recovering of the seat we packed up and went to my Mom's. I've never recovered anything like that before and she made the old cover, so I figured I'd enlist her help! I even managed to put a shirt on my normally naked boy for our trip to Grandma's...I'm not quite sure how we never got to the pants part.

To make the pattern we (carefully) ripped apart the old cushion covers and laid them out on our fabric. We pinned them into place and cut to make our new shapes.

There's even a zipper on the whole thing...I know we're going to end up with more big fat mystery stains, so being able to wash it is a plus!

....aaaaand that's the end of my how to pictures.  I had to go (dinner waits for no one) and Mom generously offered to finish it up for me.  Aren't moms great?

 I know that's DIY blog cheating. But there was no way I was going to turn her down. To finish from here basically all you do is pin the pieces together inside out, sew, and flip.

Anyway, here it is all finished!

And here it is next to the new book slings! 

(They actually match better than it looks like in this picture)

Next up is the closet. It's still that horrible salmon pink color from when we first moved in, so a fresh coat of white (and perhaps a stencil?) is on order. Oh, and a lot of organizing. There's a reason that door is shut!

Linked To:

Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Running with Glitter, Homemaker on a Dime, Dittle Dattle, The Tattered Tag, The DIY Showoff, Home Savvy, Be Colorful, The DIY Home Sweet Home, Mad In Crafts, The Girl Creative, Polly Want A Crafter, Sumos Sweet Stuff,Making The World Cuter, Lines Across My Face, Coastal Charm, Playful Decor, Confessions, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Cherished Bliss, Tip Junkie, Creative Itch, Topsy Turvy, Sassy Sites!, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Me and My Boys, Sugar Bee Crafts, Bella Before & After, Not Just A Housewife, Homework, Sweet Little Gals, Primitive & Proper, Passionately Artistic, Blue Cricket Design, Domestically Speaking, Sew Much Ado, Eisy Morgan, My Girlish Whims, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Women Who Do It All, Handy Man Crafty Woman, The Thrifty Home, Lil Luna, Saved By Love Creations, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Remodelaholic, Serenity Now, lolly Jane, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Chic On A Shoestring, Design Dazzle, Perfectly Imperfect, French Country Cottage, Happy Hour Projects, Designer Garden, 504 Main, Freckled Laundry, Fingerprints On The Fridge, Fun To Craft, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest, Addicted 2 Decorating, Young and Crafty, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time,  

Stenciled Toy Box

For a very long time now we have needed a toy box. Our current "tiny toy basket" just wasn't working for us anymore. I could show you a picture of it all stuffed neatly in there, but lets face it ... 90% of the time, this is what our toy situation looks like.

The first step to building a toy box was to nag proposition the husband to do all the manly labor. I gave him the dimensions and my best "helpless pregnant woman" look and to work he went. That helpless pregnant look is priceless.

As you can see, doing work at our casa isn't the easiest - we don't have a garage. There are  plans to build one eventually, though it's going to have to wait awhile since they cost money and all. Fortunately for you we are now accepting donations.

Once all the pieces were cut we quickly realized that there was no way our kid was going to be able to reach his toys.

Of course, if he can't reach his toys than he can't make a mess....but no, no that would be cruel. We decided to cut a hunk out of the front to make things more accessible.

Next I primed...with Kilz...cause its awesome.

then assembled...

Then I painted the inside white and the outside with a reject kitchen color (mixed with white).

Forgot to take a picture of that step. Oops.

I really wanted to stencil the outside and used the template found here. I've heard for awhile now that a Honey Nut Cheerios box makes a great stencil, and  it's true...I just don't think Chex or Fruity Pebbles would have been the same.

Here it is all stenciled onto the toy box (I know its a little hard to see).


And here I am painting it. I couldn't imagine doing a whole room like I've seen some people do - it would take FOREVER. As I was painting I was thinking how horrible it looked, like a five year old painted it. Turns out that's okay, and when you back up, it looks awesome. Thank goodness.

The last step was to paint and attach the letters. I had a free sample of bright yellow laying around, so I decided to use that.

And here, my friends, is my masterpiece. I love it....it's sooo much easier to keep the living room picked up when the toys don't fall out of the toy box on their own. Plus, its beautiful  : )

Linked To:

The Girl Creative, Running With Glitter, Home Savvy, Homemaker on a Dime, Dittle Dattle, CraftOManiac, Keeping It Simple, Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Sew Chatty, Polly Want A Crafter, Mad In Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making The World Cuter, Skip to my Lou, All Thingz Related, Confessions, Bella Before & After, Sugar Bee Crafts, Me and My Boys, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Topsy Turvy, Sassy Sites!, Not Just A Housewife, Homework, Nothing But Country, Tip Junkie, Reasons To Skip The Housework, Primitave & Proper, My Girlish Whims, Savvy Southern Style, DIY By Design, Homemaker On A Dime, Sweet Little Gals, Domestically Speaking, Blue Cricket Design, Eisy Morgan, Sew Much Ado, Lil Luna, The Thrifty Home, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Woman Who Do It All, The 36th Avenue, Creations By Kara, Clean & Scentsible, Perfectly Imperfect, Saved By Love, Fireflies & Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Yesterday On Tuesday, French Country Cottage, A Little Knick Knack, Happy Hour Projects, 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest, Fun To Craft, Designer Garden, Serenity Now, Remodelaholic, delicateCONSTRUCTION, 30 Days, Design Dazzle, Addicted 2 Decorating, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Nap Time, Under the Table and Dreaming, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal, Lolly Jane, Thrifty Decor Chick