Featured Projects

Before and After: Purple Dresser Makeover

I’ve got a before and after for you today that took even me by surprise.  I know the magic paint can do, but sometimes I am still delighted by the transformation.  That was the case here with a PURPLE dresser makeover…

I bought this dresser off of FB Marketplace over the summer, it was a lot bigger than it looks and barely fit in the van with my 3 kids.  It was one of those furniture hauls, where the whole time I really wondered if it was a mistake.  I was planning to use it for my bedroom makeover though, so I kept telling myself it was worth it.  Then I got it home, it was just not quite what I imagined for my room so it sat and sat in the garage (taking up a lot of space).

Around this time, my neighbor and friend (and a customer from way back when we had yard sale style sales) told me she wanted to re-do her bedroom and to keep an eye out for a couple of dressers.  I showed her what I had, and she too was skeptical that we could make it look good, but she trusts me (and calls me her “enabler”) so we planned a purple dresser makeover.

Farmhouse End Table Makeover | The Barn Wood Finish

Have you ever started a project with one outcome in mind only to have it turn out completely different?  That’s the story with these tables. I did not start out intending them to have the farmhouse end table look, but that’s where they ended up!

I forgot to take a “before” photo, but you can see here they were a yellow base with orange pine tops.  My original intention was to do a painterly blended finish with a raw top.

Pedestal Kitchen Table Makeover

Wobbly tables drive me nuts.  Our table for our eat in kitchen had been re-worked several times, but a crack in the base made it wobble like crazy.  So I was on the hunt for a round pedestal dining table I could re-do for our eat in kitchen.

We eat at this table all the time, do homework here, play dough, crafts – everything happens here.  I wish we used our “formal” dining room more often, but instead this is where we gather.  That means it needs to be sturdy, solid wood, and needs to last!

I spotted this old empire style pedestal table at an antique store a few weeks ago.  It was buried underneath many treasures, but the sticker read $50.  I went home to measure, and headed back to grab it.  Because we bought a few more things while we were there the price was knocked down to $40.  That price for a solid wood, round dining table is a steal!!  I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to work on it!

The Affordable Way to Build Built-In Bookshelves

UPDATE: This is the 2nd post in a 3 part series.  Part 1 (building the bases) can be found HERE.  Part 3, the final built-in bookshelves can be found HERE.

We left off in this post with finishing up the base of the built-in bookshelves.  Now it’s time to go to the ceiling with book shelves. This will really make it look like it was always a part of this room.

This post contains affiliate links to help you find the products and tools I used in this build.  Clicking any of these links pays me a small commission with at not additional cost to you. To see my full disclosure policy, click here. 

The first thing I did, was screw a 1×12 directly into the ceiling.  I had trouble finding studs in the ceiling (this dang bumpy ceiling finish), but find them if you can. After we add the sides of the shelves it won’t really matter.

3 Best Kinds of Stain (Oil Based – Gel Stain – Water Based) and How to Use Them

Hello!

I’ve been thinking a stain post was in order for a while now, but I was testing out a newer product and wanted to make sure I was very comfortable with it before I shared.  So in this post I want to talk about 3 different kinds of stain and the pros/cons/usage of each one.  We’re going to talk Gel Stain, Water Based Stain and Oil Stain.

Stain can be trickier than paint in application and appearance, so I hope to offer some tips and tricks along the way to help you out!

Steamer Trunk

In my Best of 2016 post, I mentioned how much I wanted to do another steamer trunk.  One of my favorite clients read that post and enlisted me to makeover this old beauty she had been given from a family member.

I love to think about where these trunks have traveled in their lifetime.  Now it’s needed to hold some blankets, so time for a makeover.

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