Typewriter Table Detailed
Sorry, I forgot to upload new pictures yesterday. But, today you get to see a lot of progress from the weekend! Here is the typewriter table that I showed you before. It is now finished and detailed!
Once I finished the second coat of white spray paint I arranged cardboard scrap-booking stencils in the placement I liked. I traced and filled the stencils with a paint pen. These little guys work great! I have used it on a couple of projects now and it always does the trick. I think it is super cute and ready to be used!
Thrifted and Rearranged
We have been busy busy. It all started with a quick stop at the D.A.V. (Disabled American Veteran’s) thrift store. I happened upon a cute little vintage typewriter table for $3.95! I love the metal industrial look, so I couldn’t resist. It was just a bit dirty and scratched, so we painted her white. With one more coat and a small black swirl on top (this weekend) this beauty will sit next to the door to the backyard in the dining room. It is on wheels and easily movable, so it will serve as an outdoor drink table as well. We have been searching for something to go outdoors while enjoying grilling or the bonfire, and nothing seems pretty but built for the outdoors. This way we can just bring the little table in when we aren’t out there. Here she is:
While I was there I also spotted an antique, claw foot, drop leaf table. Hmmm… We got to thinking. We have been wanting a bigger table for the dining room and decided to try moving the red table to the kitchen. After giving the rooms some rearranging we fell in love. Here’s the kitchen:
It feels so nice and cozy in there now. We even sat here yesterday morning and had coffee together. So, after giving the new arrangement a night we decided it was a keeper. I headed back to the D.A.V. and snatched up the dining table. We got a great deal, but it does need some work. I removed some scuffs, but there are scratches. We are probably going to cover it with a table cloth until we get some other projects finished and then start stripping and refinishing it. We are thinking of staining it either a lighter brown to match the maple bar or black like the desk that is still in progress. I am still hung up on my mis-matched chairs, and am in the process of adding a few different styled ones, so although it doesn’t match perfectly right now it will when we get done! Bonus: I found out that the table expands for adding leaves! Although it didn’t have the originals with it we can make some for it to have big family meals here! 🙂 Here’s the dining room:
Well, what do you think? Any suggestions or ideas? Its always a work in progress, but it’s getting there! Oh, and Romeo the camera hog says hi, too.
My Office and Easy Tips
We did do work at home over the weekend, really. But, the snow on Sunday (snow!?) hindered us from accomplishing too much. I will have a few things to show you later on in the week, but for today I am going to show you my work office.
When I started at this job one of the first I thought about was how to dress up my first personal office. I wanted to create a fun and unique work space without spending a bunch of money. Of course I was not about to go out and buy new furniture, but I do have a few simple and very cheap ideas for dressing up the drab office. Although you may not be able to produce your dream office with a space that you don’t own, you can make it a comfortable and productive space!
1. Posters. Not the priciest artwork, but good enough for a work office. I hung the Keep Calm poster as you enter my doorway (Yup, cliche maybe, but I still love it!). I also hung an inspirational quote from Muhammad Ali on the opposite wall. These were so fitting as I work in a hospital as a medical case manager. And, they give me some color, but stay in the basics I love!
2. Use your printer. I made these blah magnets cute by printing a sheet of white paper with a paisley pattern. I cut the sheets down to the size of the magnets and glued them on. I then covered them with clear plastic tape. I also used paper to fill the letter opener magnet. The other side of the desk is a sheet of paper I printed with the Chinese symbol for “happiness.” I have a few printed quotes around the office as well. These are cheap enough to switch out once in a while too!
3. Paper flowers. I wanted to add some brightness to my office, but am horrible at caring for plants. So, I made paper roses with tissue paper. I stuck them in a thrift store vase and now have flowers all year round. (the candy is a crowd pleaser as well)
4. Organization! Staying organized is the simplest, cheapest way to keep an office space looking its best. I have some open shelves that I make sure are always orderly. This is also a good time saver. I always know where things are and never have to hunt!
5. Personal but professional. A nice touch to an office space is something personal. But, remember to keep it professional. Too many pictures or tchochkes can make an office space cluttered and unprofessional. I have some pictures hung and framed in my office, but only ones that I don’t mind if clients see. I have a magic 8 ball on my desk for those real tough decisions as well ;). My desk top is also an example of keeping organized. And, the calendar is a free printable version from calendarsthatwork.com. I love these, as they look cute and are simple instead of busy! Also notice my mouse pad and pen. Little touches that were inexpensive!
Hope these simple ideas help you with your office. Mine is just like my home, always changing. Enjoy!
Bookend Project
I have said it before, but I love repurposing items. Especially in these times, finding new life for old items is the greenest option. Some things you hate to ruin by transforming them, but for the most part I believe that reusing old or obsolete items is a far better choice than letting them waste away in some one’s unloving basement, or worse yet, a landfill. Plus, repurposing is often much cheaper than buying new items, as well as healthier for the planet. So, when I get the chance to make a new addition to our home, and at the same time get a new project with old items, I jump on it!
In college I made bowls out of records as a dorm floor project. I still have mine in our office on the book shelf. The other day I saw a project online where book ends were being made out of old records, and decided that would be a perfect addition to the shelves, and even fit in with our music themed office.
I made a stop yesterday at the Salvation Army and picked up two records. They weren’t anything special, just old records in decent shape and with pretty labels. Last night we boiled some water and dumped it in the kitchen sink. The water softens the record and you use a utensil to bend it.
Overall the project was easy and turned out pretty cute!
Cooling off under a box.
Bench Project
When we first moved into our new house Tony and I bought a vintage vanity on Craigslist for $20 to go in our spare bedroom. The vanity is used to hold all of my “get ready in the morning stuff”. The vanity came with a little vanity bench. The problem was that the bench didn’t match the vanity. The bench was painted white and had obviously been recovered with some purple material. I had thought about painting the vanity a shabby white, but that wouldn’t solve the whole problem. The styles and sizes of the vanity and the bench didn’t even match. So, I put the bench up for sale on Craigslist, again. After a couple of weeks the bench still hadn’t sold. Well, another project for me!
I liked the chipped white paint of the bench, so I decided to keep it. I also decided that there were too many things, including another, smaller vintage vanity seat already in the spare bedroom. I thought that the front porch could use something, so that was to be the new home of the bench. We have a small, white ice cream table and two chairs on the porch, but nothing else so far. The white would be a perfect match. I have also had my eyes peeled for some of those vintage metal lawn chairs. I want two of them in red, or to paint red. That helped me make my choice for fabric. I chose a white material with a red coral pattern.
Last night I started ripping old fabric off the bench. Come to find out there was not only one layer of awful fabric, but three! Here’s the before photo:
The next layer. Even worse:
And the final dingy layer:
But, here’s what it looks like all spruced up:
I think its really cute now. I will show you pictures of what it looks like on the porch once I get the ice cream set repainted!
Mini Bar Update
We have had the old TV armoire we found on Craigslist home for a couple of weeks now. I haven’t posted about it because we are having a change of heart. We had wanted to strip the wood and stain it black. But, when we got the cabinet home we thought it was so gorgeous we couldn’t bear to do that! I thought that going black and adding some shiny handles and mirrors would add some Hollywood Regency to the cabinet, more suiting it to become a mini bar. I just don’t know if we can bring ourselves to touch the beautiful wood. We did add a stemware rack to the top and filled it with our lovely bar glasses and goods. It is really gorgeous in our dining room, and it has already served it’s purpose. We do still plan on adding another shelf in glass and also a pull out shelf for more mixing and pouring space.
What do you think? Should we restain the cabinet black or leave it as it is?
You can't see it here because there is no stemware in it, but there is a clear stemware rack on the right side.
We really do need your advice, opinions and ideas!!
New Old Shade
Its official. I am sick of our curtains. All of them. Every room. I knew they were bad from the day we moved in, but now I am at my breaking point. So, on my day off yesterday I did some work and started plunging into our curtain situation.
I thought I would start off small. There was no shade over the large window in our kitchen door. Our neighbors could see right in! I decided to take the old white roller shade from the dining room door (since it also has a curtain) and refinish it to go in the kitchen. I wanted to stick with the black and white theme. I used some swirly scrap-book stencils I had and a paint pen ($3 at Wal-Mart). I laid the stencils out where I liked them, traced, and colored in. Now, viola!
What a simple , inexpensive project with such great results! This weekend I plan to get some black material and sew a valance at the top, as well as simple black curtains to replace the strawberry ones in the kitchen window. Then on to the rest of the house…
P.S. Yes, there is a cute in the shade. The landlord has mis-cut part of the shade. I didn’t want to try out my new paint idea on a new shade and ruin it. We like it well enough that I will soon go through the time and effort to reproduce this on a new shade!
Making A Mini Bar
Currently we hold all of our drink glasses, servers, shakers and wine and liqueurs in one of our kitchen cupboards. But, I have always wanted to do something different with these items. I would like to have some sort of mini bar in the kitchen or dining room. This would be such easy access for entertaining. Also, it would free up more cupboard space in the kitchen, which for us is at a premium!
I have recently seen a few photos of DIY bars and am in planning process for making one of our own.
This redone shelf unit was posted on Apartment Therapy. I think this is great inspiration for our project. A simple shelf unit like this would be easy to find and probably affordable. I really love the wine racks and glass holders. I also like the idea of lining the backs of cabinets with colorful ,fun paper. Here is another picture of a mini bar with beautiful paper:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/inspiration/inspiration-lined-cabinets-075583 . Originally from Homes and Gardens.
I also like the idea of using a bar cart or serving tray with a few bottles and glasses, but options like the cabinets in the pictures would give us much more space and probably be safer with pets, especially if there are doors.
I am very excited to get started on this project, and will keep you posted!
Something I Love
Through my many recent projects I have found a product that I love. Undo Adhesive Remover! This stuff is amazing. I started using it while scrap-booking. You stick a sticker to a page and realize that you want to move it. No problem for Undo. It not only removes the sticker with no harm to the paper or the sticker, but it also brings the sticker back to it’s original stickiness when it dries! I have also used this to un-peal photos and other papers that I have stuck down with glue.
After using and loving this product on my scrap-book, I decided that it was worth a shot on other projects as well. Yes, it can safely un-stick stamps, labels, and even gunk. The possibilities are endless! My next project involves a very pretty bottle of liqueur that I would like to remove the label from. I want to leave the label in good condition to use for something, and also have the bottle sticky-free for use for something. No problem for Undo, I’m sure.
I highly recommend for every do-it-yourself-er!
Cube Redo
I have had this little storage cube since I was a kid. When new, it had a unicorn and a rainbow on it. Recently I redid the look of the cube so that it could be used in our home. I forgot all about the cube project until yesterday. There was a question posed on Apartment Therapy about recommendations for redoing a similar cube. I thought that I would let you all know how I did the project, and although I do not have any before or durring pictures, I can show you how it turned out. Here was the process:
1. I started by covering the picture areas of the cube with white contact paper. I was lucky that the sides were the same width as the paper, but I did run short of paper at the top and had to piece two pieces together. For a bigger box this is what you would have to do. Not to worry, the seem barely shows once you get the paint on the paper. Just try to line them up as exactly as possible.
2. Once the paper was on, I used an Exact-O knife to cut the contact paper around any hardware or latches. This worked well and really didn’t cause any problems as long as you work slowly and patiently.
3. After the paper was laid and cut, I painted it. I picked a dark red, and simply used wall paint from the hardware store and applied with a regular brush. I recommend this, as it was easy and inexpensive. I personally wanted an antiqued look to go with the worn metal hardware, so I only applied one coat and left it a bit streaky. If you want a smooth, more flawless finish, I think two coats would do the trick just fine.
4. To add a personal touch I used a foam stamp. I found this stamp at the hardware store on sale for about 50 cents. While the paint was still wet I pressed the dry stamp into it in a pattern I liked. When you raise the stamp it takes some of the paint off, leaving a lighter area for the design. I used a circular design that went with the antiqued look.
Viola! Finished! It really was that simple. Now this cube serves as storage for blankets in our living room. And, this has stood up to some use and abuse and even relocating a few times. It has a few small scratches in it now, but that seems to add to it’s antiqued character. If you want yours to stay looking new try using a protective clear coat on top. Here’s what ours looks like:
Some foam stamps similar to mine can be find at http://www.makingmemories.com and other scrap-booking websites.
Have fun!
Make Mine Eclectic 
