Dresser Transformed

In a blog post before We speak of Multiple Design Personality Disorder....this just happens to be one of our many cases.  This is my 3rd t.v. stand in 3 years.  I just could not seem to find the perfect one.  Until now. Our first one was just one of those wood ones from Walmart {we needed one quickly} but for me it lacked character and not enough space.  The second one was a large and mustard yellow with fun newspaper print on the doors. This had the space I wanted plus the character but then it was just too loud for me...It became the focal point of the room and I was looking for something that was pleasing to the eye.  So I was on the hunt!  My husband was just thrilled that I was on the look out for yet another T.V stand {men just don't understand......plus I told him He's just lucky I don't trade my Husband like I do my furniture....{hehehehe joke of the day!}} 

   I came across this dresser which was a great size, loved the detail and character, & it had lots of storage... but ....{there is always a but} I knew I had to find something that would hold all the guy stuff such as the receiver and dvd player.  I just had to have it and I was going to find a way for it to work.  I brought it home and introduced it to my living room and got to work.  I'm going to do that trick where you remove the top drawer...never done this before but lets figure it out together!  I began by painting the dresser....Being it had so much character already in the wood I just wanted to go with the simple beautiful color white...I knew between the dark wood and white I would have a great contrast to rough it up a bit! 

• I added two coats of interior latex paint; I removed the top drawer and also painted inside the drawer area so that too could be freshened up!
• Then I grabbed a piece of sandpaper and started to rough up the edges and the detailed doors to give it more of a pop!  
• I gave it an Annie Sloan Clear Wax to seal the deal!  
• I kept the original hardware because I liked the chunkiness of them!  
• I removed the "track" that the drawer rolled on so I could have a nice flat surface to work with. 

•  I grabbed myself a tape measure and wrote down the dimensions of the inside of the removed drawer.  I thought that I could just hand an employee my measurements at Menard's and receive the board I needed cut just right but that wasn't the case.  They only cut lumber such as 2x4's so I guess that leaves me to cutting it! Oh Boy!  I was able to find a smooth thin piece of wood in their plywood area.  This board was roughly $6.  
• I brought it home measured and penciled it out on where I would be cutting.  I grabbed my husband's electric hand saw/ and safety goggles {this was an interesting sight} in the end of all the cutting I had myself a board that was going to be my electronic platform!  
• I inserted it and the fit was perfect!  I bet I couldn't do that again if I tried!  I just left it the natural light wood color because I liked the different elements being used but you could also paint that the same color as the entertainment center so it all blends!  
• Another tip is to cut a small hole through the back of the dresser where the open compartment is....this will help with cords from one electronic to another!  

I was so happy with the ending result! AND so is My Husband...I think I impressed him with the whole using the electric saw thing all by myself!  It is a perfect addition to our family room.....I think this one is going to stick around for a while!  Thanks for Stopping by our Blog! xoxo The White House Girls

Unique {gift} on a budget

This truly can be given at anytime, any moment, for any reason....well you get it!  It's a handy dandy gift to give when you are in a bind trying to give that perfect something with meaning and {something that doesn't cost a fortune} As you have probably noticed throughout our blogs we like to be penny savvy {every penny we save is a penny that can be spent thrifting.  Truly $1 and go a long way!}  

I saw this idea on pinterest and checked out Shanty-2-Chic Blog!

LOVED IT!  I just tweaked it a little to fit the style I was looking for.  Here is my quick version of this letter art!

What You Need:

• 4x6 frames from the Dollar Store {amount depending on the length of name}
• A board that is pre-cut from Menards or Home Depot or a Salvaged Piece of wood that already has character  {tip I brought my frames inside the store so I made sure that the name would fit on their nicely} This usually costs in between $5-$10
• Stain/old rag
• Paint/paintbrush in this case I just used a white indoor latex paint
• ruler
• E600 glue and this can truly be found anywhere {Menards, Micheals, Acme Tool, Walmart etc}
• vaseline {you will see why in a little bit}

Start off by staining your piece of wood.  I did this step so when you paint it and sand it, it has some contrast between the white paint and the wood to give it a rustic/vintage look.

Let the stain dry overnight.  The next step is to rub Vaseline around the edges of the wood on the corners and random spots on the wood.  Where you place the Vaseline the paint will not adhere as well and you can rub it off giving it an amazing look. See picture below! 

Once you get your Vaseline in all the right spots paint board! & take apart the frames and paint the frames while you are at it as well!

Once they are dry take a piece of sand paper and lightly sand the edges of the frames, and the wood where you had applied the Vaseline!

It's starting to come together! 

Now it's the fun part to pick out they style of letters to go in the frames!  There is an awesome Flickr site that has tons of letters to choose from!  Download those letters you can either print them off right there at home or I had them printed at a photo center just to give them a glossy more professional look!

Add the glass back to the frames insert your picture {On some frames you cannot add the cardboard piece back on because it will stick out from the wood, some just remove the standing thing but I just left the entire thing off completely}

Add your E600 to the back of the frame {make sure your frame is all measured out evenly} and stick into place.

Allow glue to dry and then add your hanging hardware to the back and That's it!  You have an amazing gift for that special someone.  Super cute for a new baby, wedding gift, house warming gift, anniversary, "it's the gift that keeps on giving".  hahaha. Love that line! Enjoy! And Thank you Shanty-2-Chic for your inspiration!

Can organization be fun? I think so....

Okay I am not one of those {crazy} people who enjoy organizing things (I am jealous of those whom enjoy in doing so...ya, you know who you are....). I'm one of those people whom has everything, everywhere in my house. When I'm looking for a glue stick, there is about 5 different spots were those glue sticks are. Yep, it's a bit crazy. So I've been thinking of ways in order to be a bit more organized. But it has to be cute and most definitely fun. So I got super excited when I found these awesome glass containers at the dollar store! I HEART AWESOME DOLLAR STORE FINDS!

   

They have a edge/area to paint chalkboard paint on them so no taping/measuring required! click here to check them out. The awesome thing about these is that you don't have to just use them for crafts supplies but also in the kitchen for sugar, flour, tea, coffee, or in the bathroom for cotton balls, q tips, etc. The options are endless! *This is when I jump up, fist in air while clicking my heels....HOORAY!*

What a cheap way to organize...right?

 

FUN with paint.

You can do so much with a paint brush, paint tape, and a can of paint. It can transform anything into a piece of art! Stripes, chevron, checkered, herringbone, you name it you can do it with tape and paint!

My room has been a work in progress....(and still currently is).... I wanted to do something different for my white wall in my bedroom so with these three things and a little measureing I came up with this........and love it! SO EASY!

I got this little guy in the trash! It has casters on it even...love! I loved the old wood look but wanted to funkyfy it up a bit. So once again with a brush, paint, and tape I came up with this......

What could u do with paint and painters tape?

Fabric painting frenzy!!!!!

     Yes our mom caught the bug. The chair painting bug. We are so proud of her because this is a bit daring for her. (Even though she painted it white, we always tease her because she paints everything white and we always try to tell her to paint something with a little color). hahaha. She did awesome and all by herself! It turned out beautiful! She ran out of paint medium and is planning on painting the cushion as well (Thief River Falls doesn't carry the paint medium). Last night she was looking around her house to see if she could paint anything else. hahaha....So if you do this BEWARE you might catch the bug yourself.  We wanted to share the beautiful chair with you. Click here for the how-to.

Before

After

We've got a first timer!......Reupholstered Chair

My sister and I got these chairs last winter....and had to get them ($20 for the pair). There was two of them...and since everything is better in pairs we couldn't pass them up. Not to mention we loved the shape and size as well. But what and how should we make these a bit cuter? They were a peach color and had no holes but lots of stains on them. We contemplated painting them perhaps? I just wasn't quiet that daring....yet..(see our painted chair here)...my sister got this awesome fabric that she put onto this fabulous bench. As soon as she showed me birds started singing in my head and butterfly's fluttered in my heart......

 I then knew that I HAD to do or try to reupholster these chairs in this fabric....BECAUSE I WAS OBSESSED! Heres were I got the fabric. So here I go....I googled and searched for a day on how to reupholster a chair. So I attempted and somewhat succeeded I think? I love the way it turned out...I just hope it stays put? So here's how I did it. * Note: I advise to use home decor fabric because it is easy to work with.

I read on one blog to reupholster a chair in a spot that is in your way (example: the middle of a hallway) this way you get it done faster haha (it was great advice that I followed and oh so true). First I started ripping! I took off the piping all around the chair (I used a pliers to help me out on this). Then I started to rip off the fabric. Some staples came out with the fabric and some stayed on the chair. I read on some blogs that the individuals took each staple out (which would take forever) and on others that they didn't worry about taking the staples out so I decided to take the easy way out and not worry about taking the staples out and it still worked out great. On blogs I read to start with the inner arm cushion first and work your way out from the chair, doing the side arms and the back last.  Make sure when you are ripping off the fabric to keep it in the original shape that it is stapled on at as much as possible. You take the pieces off and lay them onto the fabric and cut out the shapes.

When disassembling the chair fabric just try to remember how it was put on and you just put the new fabric on exactly how you took the old fabric off. A tip *Take pictures of every angle of chair...that way you can remember how it was assembled. 

 Next after ripping off the fabric I painted the wood frame. I chose black. I had to put two coats on.

 

Then I took the pieces of the fabric and started to staple them on (the way the old fabric was on). (sorry don't have a good picture of this). I stapled all around the fabric with a heavy duty stapler and had my staples about a quarter of an inch apart from each other.

 After completing the staples I went back and trimmed off the fabric.

Here was a tricky part. I had to fold over the fabric in the corner (as seen). I just pulled it really tight and folded it over and stapled it down. I hid the seems later with piping.

 Next I took maxi piping and glued it all around the edging of the chair with hot glue. And here is my finished project. I LOVE IT! I am now in the process of chair #2! So cute so fun.

Fabric (about 2 yards) $20
Chair $10
Piping $4
Total cost of chair $34

 Before

 After