The Happy Camper Dresser Makeover

 



I've been wanting to paint a piece of furniture green for some time, but haven't really been inspired with the right piece. 

That was.....until I found this antique dresser last weekend.  I went to Home Depot to check out the selection of green paint and fell in love with Behr's "Happy Camper" green....

My First Giveaway! - WIN 2 Weekend Passes to the Country Living Fair in Atlanta, GA (Oct 25-27)

Today I will be hosting my very FIRST GIVEAWAY

courtesy of 
Country Living Magazine!! 

 

Enter below to win

2 Weekend Passes to the Country Living Fair in Atlanta  Oct 25-27, 2013!!!

UPcycled Tahoe Blue Media Center

Just finished this little beauty over the weekend.

I get the best feeling when a project comes to life EXACTLY as I envisoned it would.   In blog-land, this vintage dresser-turned-Media Center doesn't seem like all that much of a stretch....but now that I'm working with Mr. Fix-It on projects....I have a lot of convincing to do.  He is a carpenter by trade - even though he doesn't do that for a living - and I am a visionary - with no carpentry skills.... So, together we make a good team.  I just have to say "trust me" - a lot! 

Vintage 1950's TV Cabinet UPCYCLE!

I found this Vintage 1950's TV Cabinet at Goodwill last spring for $99.99.   I fell in love with it...but $100?  C'mon.... Someone's pricing was WAYYYY off - because it didn't look like this when I found it!

The top was completely destroyed.  The veneer on the doors was in decent condition, but the hardware was damaged and although it had been gutted on the inside, it had a huge hole in it!

A week later it was still sitting there - but now it was marked down To $19.99 and I jumped on it!  I literally jumped on it in the store and hollered "Woo Hoo... This SHALL BE MINE!".    (Okay, well that's how it went down in my head, anyway!)

Scrappy Sea Horse Silhouette on Burlap

 

I decided to challenge myself by "shopping" my own craft supply....to see if I could make something...anything....for FREE......  A big thank you to Laura at The Turquoise Home for this awesome "Scrappy" Idea!    Only using what I had on hand I was able to put together this cute piece of wall art for my powder bath.  A "Scrappy Sea Horse Silhouette" on burlap and mounted on a piece of scrap wood.

U-Pick Pumpkins Hand Painted Sign - and the story behind it....

Every year at this time pumpkin patches start advertising with their U-Pick signs....  And every single year those signs remind me of  the year we had a pumpkin patch in our backyard. 

EASY Step-by-Step HAND PAINTED SIGN TUTORIAL

FRESH Dresser Makeover BEFORE & AFTER

I recently found this old dresser and knew right away I'd be able to give it a quick fresh update with some gray chalk paint. 

My Goodwill Fall Tablescape for under $10

Fall was in the air a few days ago... We had thunder, lightning, rain and cooler temps.... But, today it's back up into the mid-80's and low to mid 90's are in the forecast for the rest of the week.   This was definitely a very good summer, weather-wise,  up here in the Pacific Northwest and it's not over yet....

 

but I REALLY, REALLY want fall to come....

Beautiful Beachy Make Over

How to Paint a DIY Checkerboard Coffee Table

DIY Checkerboard Coffee Table - and a "how-to" paint it.

This is a repost of a cute make-over that I wanted to share again, now that people are actually reading my blog!

Dining Table - Take Two!

I had previously written about finding this great table at a garage sale for FREE.... Yes. Absolutely stinkin free!  Nada, zip, nuttin! 

 

I actually had a table exactly like this about 15 years ago. So who knows, perhaps this is my old one. Regardless, lately I have found myself on the lookout for a pedestal table "just like the one I used to have"......

A Table's Tale - From Drab to FAB!

A couple of months ago I picked up this little table at the Salvation Army "Boutique". I knew as soon as I saw it I wanted to make it into something FABULOUS for my mom. 

Rolling Underbed Storage

Rolling Underbed Storage

 

 

 

A couple months ago, I picked up a drawer at a local re-building center and 4 casters for $3 -  to make an underbed storage container for my son's room. 

Upcycled Picture Frame to Lovely Tray

 

I upcycled the picture (below) into this lovely tray for my new table in just a few short EASY PEASY steps...

Handpainted Sign on the back of a CABINET door!

I recently bought a Silhouette Portrait. I was so excited until I opened it up and attempted to use it (without reading any directions). I have to say, I'm pretty computer literate and this thing is extremely intimidating for me. Needless to say, I could figure out how to cut letters - so I cut the letters I needed for the sign I have been wanting - and here is how it turned out.

 

I painted the back of a cabinet door black with craft paint and laid out my letters (cut from plain cardstock). I put a dab of glue under each letter to hold it in place, then I used a dauber and went over all the letters again in black. As soon as it was dry to touch, I used the dauber and went over the entire sign with the off white craft paint. I like the rough, shabby look, so I wasn't too concerned with getting it perfect. 

 

Once that was dry to touch I pulled the letters off. A couple of them were already stuck to the board in spots, so I left them as-is. Since this was my first project and I was admittedly intimidated by the Silhouette, I didn't use vinyl because of the cost. Once I got all the cardstock off that I could, I used fine grit sand paper and sanded away - this removed the remaining cardstock that was stuck in places. At that point I used an artists brush to touch up some of the letters and voila - done...

 

But....as I looked at it perched up on top of my kitchen cabinets I felt as though something was still missing. So I put three quarter sized dots of paint on a paper plate (Bleached Sand, Raw Sienna and Fawn) and dry brushed them across the sign, like this.

 

 

Now, that is exactly the look I was going for....Here's the finished sign. What do you think?

 

 
Sharing the love at these great parties

Another China Cabinet Re-Doux

I love, love, love my china cabinet so much and since Lucy (that's what I've secretly named her) has brought such beauty into my home and joy into my heart, I decided to try to paint a couple more - and then sell them for some vacation money.

 

Stopped at my favorite thrift shop last week and picked up this immaculate piece of furniture for $65. 

"This is going to be a BREEZE..."is what I said to myself.  Little did I know that I would come to actually loathe this piece of furniture in two days!

 

First things first... By the time I got this home - and the other china cabinet and loaded them into my one car garage - turned workshop, I was pretty much out of room to work!  I have SEVERAL other pieces of furniture that are in need of rapir work and/or paint, not to mention at least 100 other projects that I should be doing first...... But I digress....

 

Somehow I found enough room to get this painted the beachy-turquoise blue I was going for.

 

This is where my love-hate relationship with this piece began.  I hate all this chaos and spent more time walking around looking for things that were buried here and there than I actually did painting.  This was the "I give up" point - ummmm, but look at my garage... Giving up wasn't really an option... So, I pressed on.

 

One thing that I wanted to do was mod podge some cool pattern of paper over the mirror in the back.  I searched high and low and couldn't find what I looking for - mostly because I didn't have a clear idea of what I was looking for. 

 

So, I settled for using paintable wall paper on the back.  First I sprayed some BIN primer/sealer on the mirror like this:

 

Then, after choosing my kitchen island as my wall paper "prepping" station, I got the paper all good and soaked....

then hung it up on the mirror.

It was during this stage that I received an emergency phone call and had to run...literally... out the door... If you've hung wallpaper, then you know that you must run your brush over the seams endlessly...until it's stuck!  I added about 2 hours of additional time to the project because I didn't do that, but finally got it all worked out.  I painted the wallpaper taupe first, then a creamy off white and finally layered with Valspar Mocha glaze.  The outcome was really nice - almost like a weathered tin look.

 

Instead of my normal heavy distressing, I opted to use the Valspar Mocha glaze all over the chalk paint, which I've never done before.  I usually glaze with acrylic craft paint and water.  This technique worked well and looked good though.  I finally sealed the entire piece with wax.

 

We removed the side glass panels and added chicken wire - which looks amazing!!!  The plan was to use chicken wire in the front, as well, but since time started becoming an issue, I put the glass panels back in. 

 

Here is the final outcome - What do you think?

 

As you can tell - I'm still missing one glass shelf - but that's been ordered.  I picked this up 3 days ago and it's almost done...  It is now up for sale and frankly, I can't wait to get rid of it - maybe becuase I just don't LOVE it, like I do LUCY... But - considering I don't need two of them, it's probably good that I DON'T love it - because I may not want to sell it!