a table, a table, and another table.

oh, and some chairs, too!

that's what i've been up to the last few days...refinishing some of these lovely items.
i thought i'd show you their transformations...since i think they're kinda cool (i mean, turning old junk into new, cuter-looking junk is just too fun not to share).

exhibit a:

a kitchen chopper block table which looked like this:

well, i sanded it, painted it black, then distressed it...and put it in my door-way to act as a shoe-rack. behold, the black-distressed shoe rack:

pretty cool huh? i also like the little bottle of sunscreen in the left corner. nice.

exhibit b: the table with the most personality you ever saw, which started out as the saddest table you ever saw:

looked pretty nasty, eh? well, i sanded that baby down, gave it a nice few colors of white spray paint, and then gave it an antique glaze- which i learned how to do from the awesome Brooke at All Things Thrifty (one of my fave decorating/furniture refinishing blogs...go check it out. you'll love it too). i'm in love with the end results:

how cool is that!? i love it...and am still trying to find the perfect location for it...baby's room? maybe.

exhibit c:
the kitchen table our lovely friends, the Cunningtons gave us for a wedding gift...they got it for like $30 bucks at a garage sale...and trust me, we needed it then. we had NOTHING. well, this baby was well-loved- and i actually already somewhat refinished it a few years ago with my aunt and mom- we sanded the top and painted it a light light green, and then recovered the chairs to be what you see here:

not too shabby- but just a little too......generic for me. so! i decided to go for it and give this baby the makeover she needed. i was going to paint it black- but the red in our kitchen is very dark...and when i painted one of the chairs black, i was definitely not too pleased. so i went with white instead. wow. i love it. check it out (disclaimer: the photo's i took make the table look grey...i don't know why. i just couldn't get the coloring right. but here's the general idea):

it's definitely not perfect- painting something a solid white is HARD! a lot harder than i thought- but it was worth it because i love it. i especially love the yummy yellow fabric i got to recover my chairs...for $3.00 a yard....you heard me! THREE BUCKS! man, i love getting deals. way too much.

so what do you think!? do you have any projects you're working on? if not, go find something! it's so rewarding and fun.

anyway- doing all of this stuff is super exhausting, but oh-so-worth it. because i've got myself a whole bunch of new stuff for the cost of paint!...which isn't much folks...it isn't much at all.

next on my list:
toy trunk,
picture frames,
shelf,
end tables...
and lots and lots of other stuff in my house that i randomly look at and think, "man, i should really paint that!" yeah, this is a pretty severe addiction i've found myself :)

hug to you all!

xoxo

i have a new hobby.

so it hit.
nesting mode, that is.
i've been going cuh---razzzzyy the last several days with the most random of random projects.
my most favorite project that i've adopted:
refinishing furniture.
it's so fun!
it's like magic.
though i do admit, it does give me a major crink my neck, and make me a little woozy from paint fumes.
but still.
transforming old, weird furniture into new-looking, matching, even CHIC furniture, is so cool to me.
some things i've refinished:
a little, tall, wobbly table with the most personality you've ever seen. (yes, furniture has a personality, as i've recently discovered).
a shelf/coat/hat hanger thingie.
a long, weird-like table which is now in our doorway as a shoe rack thingie.
a little bookshelf for Ellie's room.
and my most favorite (which i will show you very bad pictures of):
a dresser/shelf combo for baby girl-to-be's room.

so the dresser was a dresser that i used in MY room when i was a teenager.
seriously.
but it was in good shape-and even though it was small, and in a weird yellow wood color that never matched anything, i never had the heart to get rid of it because i knew i could use it someday.
well, someday came.
i wish i had a good picture before..like when it was put together.
but this is the best i've got:

then several months ago, i bought this shelf off of craigslist for around $15 bucks thinking it would be cute as a bookshelf in Ellie's room if i ever got around to refinishing it. then M pointed out to me that it was really a desk/hutch/topper thing that wasn't a standing bookshelf at all. we almost got rid of it... at least 4 times.

this is the best before picture i have: (yes it is tilted on its side- i'll explain why in un minuto)

so i asked M...hey handyman of mine, maybe you could cut the bottom part off...so it IS just a shelf..and then we can hang it above the dresser? and of course he obliged. he loves his tools and any chance he gets to saw something.

so then i went to work.
i primed away.
and then i seriously used paint we already had.
like from our doors and baseboards...maybe i shouldn't admit that. but oh well.
i gave the stuff a few good coats of paint.
(don't want any chippin' going on).
and then i gave them an antique glaze...(you can glaze too- it's so easy! learn how here)...to make them sorta shabby chic-ish. because baby-girl-to-be's room will be shabby-chic- inspired by lilacs.
and this is how they finished up:
(now, don't judge the horrible pictures. i know they're horrible, ok? but i couldn't wait a second longer to show them to you. and lighting in a dang garage is tricky. i promise to show better pictures someday soon...like when the room is actually painted and put together...but for now, this is the best reveal you and me are gonna get).

tahdah!!

you like?
don't be too harsh.
i am just a rookie.
(and i'm thinking about changing the mismatched knobs (though full of character) to be all black...to enhance the glaze... i think the mismatched would be cute for a play room...but not as cute for a nursery..........thoughts? )
maybe i like 'em so much just because i spent so much time on them.
but i'm in love.
and i can't wait to set them up...and to actually give this baby the love and decor she deserves :)

next up:
kitchen table.
wicker toy trunk.
any other random treasure i can find to put lots of gobs of paint on.

one word of caution:
refinishing furniture is addicting.
so is checking craigslist.

oh, and one more little thing:
i love coming in from the garage...taking horrible furniture pictures...only to find my little Ellie like this, coloring her little heart + soul out, as if her life depended on it:

melts my heart into a big pile of goo.

xoxo