DIY Itch

It's undeniable, I am a Pinterest addict! I love how creative some people get; I don't know if it is because I am one of the LEAST creative people in the world or if it is because I am sort of bored lately. At any rate, my husband and I are pinching pennies as mentioned in earlier posts and have recently move into our new house together, recently meaning last November. I am always looking for ways to make the house look better. My style is very shabby-chic. I love old barn wood, roughed up furniture, light airy colors, flowers, etc. I grew up in a farm town in Michigan and am thinking my inner soul will always be a country girl :) 

I began two projects a couple weeks ago and have been feverishly working on them in my spare time. 

DIY Cable Spool Patio Table

In the town where we live there is a cable company, as in cable cording, and whenever I drive by I always see old spools laying out in the grass, just decaying away. I finally got the courage up to go in there and bother the poor workers asking if it would be possible for me to steal one. To my surprise, the man that helped me was very sweet and went out the the "spool graveyard" with me in the 98 degree Georgia sun to help me find one. He was actually relieved I was taking one because he admitted they were kind of an eye sore but were costly to get removed, and that I could have all that I wanted, score for me!! After finding one that wasn't overly decayed, he generously cut the remaining cable off and helped my husband load it into the back of his truck. I was thrilled that I finally had my own cable spool and couldn't wait to get started.

After giving the spool a thorough cleaning with some Dawn and a hose, I let it dry in my back porch for about two days. After which I began to coat the top with polyurethane that I had left over from when we painted our countertops; I didn't really want to paint it or restore it any further because I loved the look of the wood just the way it was, so rustic! It took about 3 days to finish because I had to let it completely dry in between the coats of poly I brushed on. I wrapped the middle in burlap that I got from Hobby Lobby for 50% off, originally priced $4.99, so about $2.50.

Refinished Night Stand

When we moved into our house, one of the agreements in our contract with the previous owner was that he leave his two dressers and bedside table. We have never really got around to buying a dresser/dressers since we've been down here and since we knew he was trying to sell all the furniture in his home before he moved, we thought we'd ask for them. Let me begin by saying I am so thankful that we have dressers now and do not have to hang everything anymore. However, the dressers and end table were from circa 1975 and were not either of our style. I decided since our bedroom is small and we truly have no room for a nightstand to turn it into an end table for the living room. Now, I have read a few articles on Pinterest about re-finishing wood furniture and went on my merry way of re-finishing the night stand. I took the dresser apart, removed the handles and began sanding with some sandpaper we had leftover from when we re-did our countertops. I sanded off all of the LAMINATE wood surface which left the particle board exposed. 

***FAIL***FAIL***FAIL*** 

I'll get to the fail in a moment. When I had sanded the whole thing down, well the majority of it, I wiped the sanded dustings off with a damp paper towel and began to spray paint. I found a can of Rust-Oleum on clearance at Hobby Lobby and decided the color was actually a perfect match for one end table that we already have in the living room, a light, creamy yellow. Anyway, I noticed that the paint was soaking into the particle board and not really covering it how paint should. I also noticed that the paint was covering the parts that I had not sanded, like the bottom, perfectly. UGHH!

 This is where the ***FAIL*** comes in. When you are painting LAMINATE furniture, you should LIGHTLY sand the glossy finish just to be sure the paint will adhere, NOT sand the whole covering away; hey, the title of my blog is Not So Suzy Homemaker for a reason :) Not wanting to accept defeat, I used the rest of the spray paint and painted the whole night stand anyway and let it dry. I did all of this in my backyard mind you and coming in after my painting session, I realized I HAD FORGOTTEN TO PAINT ONE OF THE DRAWERS!!!! OMG! What was I going to do!? It also turns out the paint color was on clearance because it was DISCONTINUED and wouldn't you know it, I bought the LAST one in the store. Wahhhh!!! Still not wanting to accept defeat, I opted to cover one of the drawers with scrapbook paper and Modge Podge. Does it look perfect? No. Do I think its cute in its own way? Yes. Along with the scrapbook paper and Modge Podge I bought, I also picked up four new pulls for the drawer. The finished product is below.

The edges are roughed up a bit with sandpaper.

I really hope this blog post helps someone else on their quest to DIY paradise!!! Oh, and not making the same mistakes I did!

XoXo

Sara