Spring Monogram "Wreath"

Last weekend I finally took down my Christmas wreath. Since it was red I figured it worked for Valentine's Day too, right? But not so much March or April.

Made by hot gluing fake berries on a M painted silver

So I finally got around to making a spring themed monogram. I have seen a few "wreaths" on Pinterest that are used with a frame. Well of course I have a large collection of frames from garage sales. I had a great solid wood antique frame which was perfect since it was already backless and glass-less. I went to Michael's and bought a wooden letter, some flowers, and ribbon. I spent $12 and the frame I already had was $1.

I pulled the flowers off of the stem and then hot glued them to the letter. I only used half the flowers so I put the rest in a vase inside.

I looped the ribbon around the frame and then hot glued it to the back of the letter. You can see how I looped it in the picture below. If I did this again, I would just staple the ribbon to the frame instead of looping it around like that. The problem with how I did it is that the letter hangs kind of crookedly in the frame. Its not bothering me too much right  now but I may fix it later. 

I then just tied my big ribbon around the top. I tried looking up different fancy bows but ended up just sticking with a basic bow...And then hung the frame by the bow on my wreath hook. I love that ribbon and have a lot left so I can't wait to use it somewhere else. 

Now I just need one for the summer! Already thinking of some ideas...maybe something with sand or shells?

New to Us End Tables

As we are trying to get back into the DIY spirit after vacation I did a quick-ish project two weekends ago staining our "new" end tables. 

In preparation for our bedroom re-do I started looking for new end tables the end of last summer at garage sales. I found one for $5 which I posted about here. I never found another one but then my mom gave me a table that someone gave her? Or she got out of the trash? It was not as stylish as the one I already had but after not finding anything else I thought some matching stain might bring the two tables together. 

The $5 table was wood veneer that was already stained and the free table was solid unfinished wood. I decided to try a new (to me) product: Poly-Shades by Minwax. It is different than regular stain in that it includes your protective polycrylic finish and you can use it over existing stain. Soo you don't have to sand or strip away the previous finish. Which is great news for me since I hate doing both of those things. 

I wanted a dark stain to match our dresser in the bedroom.  I didn't go so far as to bring a drawer with me to Lowes but I did bring a picture of the dresser. The stain on the sample wood pieces looked different then the color on the can so that helped with my decision. 

The directions say to lightly sand before starting and then to sand with fine steel wool between coats. I did it inside with a window open because I like to watch TV...but it was smelly and would be better done outside. 

The Poly-Shades was definitely thicker than regular stain. I had to stir it a lot and it was all goopy at the bottom at first. 

The transformation with the stain was amazing. After just one coat the tables already looked so much better. 

I thought that the free table may need more coats than the other table due to being lighter. After one coat they did look different but with a second coat on each they were much closer. I thought about doing a third coat only on the free table but Pascal said to leave well enough alone.

FIRST COAT

SECOND COAT

The unfinished free table definitely took the stain better. I think I was probably supposed to sand the pre-stained table more. The stain went on the pre-finished table more like paint instead of soaking in like stain. You can also see in the corners where it is darker because I got too much stain there. With regular stain you would wipe up any access with a rag but with this kind you brushed it on and then went back over right away with a dry brush to get any excess off. It seemed to get stuck in the corners though. Oh well I don't mind and Pascal doesn't care because this table is mine. It was good to try a new product though and I am trying to not just paint ALL THE THINGS. 

Instead of re-using the blah wood handle on the free table I bought an antique brass knob for $1.50 to match the existing handle on the $5 table . It really kinda just looks silver but it is good for now. 

Beautiful!

Our old tables had two huge drawers that we could fill with very important...junk. Since these only had one I bought some boxes at Target to add more storage. 

Pascal's box is cooler...Jealous. Clearance of course.

I am very pleased with how it turned out! Total project makeover cost $12 Poly-Shades + $1.50 knob + $5 table + free table = $18.50. When I tried to find new tables online I couldn't find any I liked for under $50 for one. So I think these were definitely a good deal, plus they are unique.

Mid Century Garage Sale Find

Our master bedroom "redo" has officially started in that we now no longer have any of our furniture. We passed it on and we have just been staying in the guest bedroom. Its like being on vacation...in the upstairs of our house. Which incidentally is warmer, so maybe we should sleep up there all winter? Anyway. Part of replacing our bedroom furniture involves replacing the great big dresser that we used to have. I didn't really have any ideas of what type to get or where to get it. And then I remembered that we already have a dresser...upstairs in our spare room.

I bought said dresser last May at a garage sale. I had been out that morning with my grandmother at garage sales and then convinced Pascal to go with me to one around the corner at about 1 pm. It was one of the few times that he has actually gone with me. The garage sale was at an older couples house who was moving. They asked if we were interested in any furniture and said that they were really trying to get rid of it since it was the end of the day. The furniture was inside so we also got to see the house which is always fun.I am so nosy, I love to see what other people in the area have done to their houses since we all live in basically the same house.

They had what looked like a 9 drawer dresser but was actually a hutch. It had two bookcase looking pieces that went on top of the dresser part but were not currently attached. I didn't really need the dresser but it was beautiful and seemed like it was in good shape. It was a vintage Lane Furniture piece with dovetailed joints. I told them that I only wanted the dresser part not the top "hutch" part and the women said $25. I couldn't even negotiate with that fantastic price. She even said she would have her son drop it off since we lived around the corner and it was too big for my car. Sold. I decided that I would save it for when we one day have a nursery.

After I got home I did some research and learned that we really had gotten a great piece. I found a similar Lane dresser for sale online for $700! Here is another one that looks exactly the same as ours but smaller for $500! So all this time I have had this fabulous dresser just collecting dust. So it made sense to move it downstairs to our master bedroom where it would really fit much better than in a nursery.

The dresser did have some nicks and scratches on it but was overall in good condition. I cleaned it and used a magic eraser on some of the scuffs. I then bought Howard's Restor-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax to polish the dresser. I read good reviews about it online and it was $17 for both products. I heardly used any of it so I will be able to use this on many other projects.

 

I used the Restor-A-Finish first and wiped it on with an old rag. After a half hour I wiped off any access. It already looked great but I then added the Feed-N-Wax once it was completely dry. The best part about that was the great orangey smell. Now I think the dresser looks basically new.

Before

After

Left Polished/Right Unpolished

Guest Bathroom Update for $85

A few weeks ago I finally got around to painting our guest bathroom upstairs. It only took two years. I don't even see this bathroom very much so it wasn't really on my radar. However its the one our guests use so I want it to look presentable. It took me one weekend to paint everything and then I put it all back together the next weekend.

The day we moved in

The bathroom tile/tub/toilet are original to our 1963 house. They are in really good shape so I wanted to embrace the blue and not do a full remodel. The only update that I had done previously was paint some of the hardware which can be seen here.

My first task was picking a paint color. I wanted something blue or gray to match the existing colors since there is already enough color without bringing in a new one. But at the same time I didn't want something really blue since there was already so much...I narrowed it down to two choices. Barely Blue by Pantone/Valspar (bottom) and Tempered Gray by Valspar.

 

Pascal voted on the barely blue. My job is to narrow down the choices and then he helps in the final decision. I bought a gallon in Satin. It ended up being the Valspar Signature paint with primer. At almost $35 it was more than I have ever spent on paint but that was the recommended paint with that color. I don't know that I would buy it again but I will say that I got really good coverage with only one coat and it even covered up some oil rubbed bronze spray paint that I got on the wall with only one coat (more on that later). Since the room is so small and has a slanted wall I ended up painting the ceiling the same color as the walls.

Before I actually painted the walls (which I did all by myself thank you very much) I painted the sink vanity and the medicine cabinet. I painted the vanity the same Valspar Wet Pavement that I used in the office and on the credenza and painted the medicine cabinet the same color as the walls.

The laminate was peeling off on part of the cabinet so I patched it with some spackle

After taking all of the hardware and doors off I had to prime with my favorite oil based primer. I used a combination of a small foam brush and a two inch foam roller to apply the primer and later the paint. I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint. By the way, the oil based primer is very smelly. So if you have to use it inside, open a window and wear a mask. This bathroom doesn't have a window so I ran the fan. If it hadn't been December I would have taken the doors outside but I still would have had to paint the vanity and cabinet inside anyways.

In the above picture you can see the right side of the vanity with only about two inches between the wall and the vanity. So at first I thought that I really didn't have to paint that since you can barely see it. Buttt you really could see it and Pascal said it looked ridiculous...

Thankfully I have very small hands and arms so I was able to reach back there and just use a small roller. 

After I had painted the vanity/cabinet and the walls/ceiling I decided that I wanted to spray paint the sink faucet and the light base the same oil rubbed bronze as the rest of the hardware. I didn't really think this through too much and I did it while Pascal wasn't home...Again open a window/run a fan and wear a mask. Or better yet detach the faucet and light and take them outside. I have seen several painted faucets on Pinterest so I decided to just go for it. I figured that I would only be messing up a free faucet and I can always replace it later. By the way, I should have done this before I painted the rest of the room. 

I taped off as much as I could and did several light coats of my favorite Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint. 

Thanks Joann Fabrics for always helping me with my crafting needs

So shiny and new! Spray paint does seem to leave a fine mist everywhere so even with my taping off there was still spray paint on the sink. Thankfully it scrubbed right off. But I panicked for a minute. 

I am pretty happy with the result. I also painted the gold base of the original overhead light. I figured that even if the faucet starts to chip after only a year it was still a $5 fix instead of buying a brand new faucet like this $98 one. 

After adding some new accessories the bathroom was all put back together! I am really happy with how it turned out. Even though I just made little changes I think it looks much better than the original. 

I still have one more thing I want to do. I bought some Polyblend Grout Renew to redo the grout in the bathroom. So much grout. I think it was originally white but its pretty much gray in most spots so I am going to make it all gray. For $10 hopefully it turns out to be a good update. 

Here is the final budget breakdown for the bathroom remodel:

$35 Barely Blue wall paint

Already had the gray cabinet paint and the oil primer

$5 for the rug

$10 for two cans of oil rubbed bronze spray paint (for all of the hardware I did before and the faucet/light)

$5 plastic shower liner

$5 oil rubbed bronze shower curtain rings

$15 shower curtain (TJ Maxx!!!)

$10 grout renew

= $85

Not bad for the whole bathroom.