Entertainment Make-OVER

First of all, y’all try not to fall over dead because I updated this blog … I don’t carry liability insurance on the blog … only on the water slides.

So if there is anything that y’all should know about us by now, it’s that we are very practical people. Six years ago, back when eBay was hot (remember the days?), I won this TV on an auction for a total of $350. Um. 6 years ago, that was a pretty SWEET deal for a 50” flat screen television.

Our only problem? We had NO WHERE to put it because it was too big for our entertainment center. We shopped Craigslist and a few furniture places but couldn’t find anything we liked for a good price. So, we settled for a cheap TV stand from IKEA, knowing that we would eventually find something we loved and replace it later. Fast forward 6 years …



Yeah. We were sort of slow to make any changes during the whole ‘starting our family’ stage of life. However, several months ago, a friend of mine texted me a picture of this dresser she had that she wanted to get rid of. For FREE. I thought she was crazy, so I traded her a painting for the score.
 

I wasn’t a big fan of the cream color (or the wicker around the center cabinet door – what the aitch?) and it came with these weird feet that raised the bottom up off the ground about 4 inches (Superman had already taken those off by the time I took this picture), but Superman said he could fix all of those things, so I was totally in. And that’s where this project begins. :D



Dude started by bringing the dresser out to the grass, and putting it on some 2x4’s. Then, he spray painted it. I know y’all were hoping to hear that it was a lot more difficult than that, but … nope … sorry … this one was easy.
 

The only hard part was hauling the heavy monster out of the garage, twice, so that he could put two coats on the thing. The first coat didn’t go on very evenly … you’ll definitely want to use two coats if you find your own treasure to re-paint.



Remember the ugly wicker thing on the middle cabinet? Superman just used his saw, cut it out, then replaced it with a piece of very thick glass, which he picked up at Habitat for Humanity. LOVE that place.



For the hardware, he wanted to go non glossy … and actually ended up spraying the hardware pieces with some of the High Heat Rustoleum that he used on the outdoor smoker. Nope. Not kidding.



I didn’t think I was going to be a fan of the hardware, but I actually love it. I seriously could not be happier with the finished product!



Superman totally nailed what I was wanting … and the whole project only cost us a few cans of spray paint. LOVE that.



Here’s a before and after of the dresser/TV stand:



So … what are some of your before/after treasures? Post a link in the comments. I’d love to see them!!

Best. Rain Gutter. Bookshelves. Ever.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

So.

If you are one of the three people who read this regularly, then you already know about my rain gutter bookshelves.

Dude.

Ugh.

Sigh.

Whhhhhhhhhhhy do I do this to myself? I must loooooooooooooooove nonsense.

I have an affinity for nonsense.

Clearly.

Because, I just had to go back and paint them white. I couldn’t handle the brown any longer. And I know some of y’all might be thinking that I just randomly painted some bookshelves brown to stick out like sore thumbs.

Um.

No.

I painted the bookshelves brown … and then forced my poor Superman to paint my white preschool tables brown … and I bought BROWN framed chairs …. brown, brown, and brown.

I don’t know. I just don’t. So don’t ask.

Like, 2.3876 seconds after finishing the bookshelves AND tables I thought to myself, “I think I liked them better white”.

For real.

FOR REAL.

My poooooooor husband. Now he gets to repaint the tables white this week to match THIS:



Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Admit it. Those shelves just sang to you. I know they did.

I’m telling you: the only thing worse than painting those shelves after installing them … is REPAINTING them after botching the first paint color. Learn from my mistake: only WHITE rain gutter bookshelves from here on out.

Amen.

For those of you who are new … here’s how we made them.

Giddy up.

Cause it was fun.

You will need:

* 4” crown moulding in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the front/decorative portion of the shelf)

* 2” x .50” board in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the actual shelf that the books sit on)

* 1.25” x .75” trim board, cut into 2” blocks (these are the brackets that will brace the rail across the wall – you will need 15 of them)

* 1.25” x .25” trim board in whatever length your shelf will be (this is the rail that will go above each shelf)

* 3” or 4” screws

* Nail gun



Okey dokey. Here we go.

First of all: do yourself an enormous favor and paint all of the wood to whatever color you want it to be when finished … that way you just have to do minor touch ups when you are finished. Trust me, you do not want to skip this step. We skipped it. Learn from us.

Second, you are going to construct each ‘shelf’ of the wall separately, and then install it onto the wall. There is the shelf and there is a rail. At least, that’s what I am going to call them.

To construct the shelf: Simply measure the 2” board to match the length of the 4” crown moulding; both of which need to be the entire length of the wall, whatever wall you are using. I think Home Depot sells crown moulding in lengths up to 16 feet. That could be fun to get home … but, they sell them. Our wall is just over 10’ long.

Once you’ve got the 2” board cut to the same length as your 4” crown moulding, brace the two together using a nail gun. You want the shelf to sit at the top of the crown moulding as shown in these pictures. Just use your nail gun to shoot some invisible (is that the word?) nails into the front of the mouding, securing it to the shelf portion. Man, I hope this makes sense.

Now that you essentially have the shelf portion put together, you just have to put it on your wall. This also requires your nail gun. Just shoot nails across the bottom of the crown moulding, which will be sitting against the wall. You also want to shoot a few diagonal nails into the back of the top shelf, against the back of the wall. Putty over any tiny nail holes … and then touch up paint when you are finished.

Now, for the top railing above each shelf: Cut each railing piece to the same length as your shelf piece.

Cut 15 – 2” blocks (5 for each railing, unless your shelf is 5 feet or less in length, then you only need 3 per shelf) using 1.25” x .75” trim board. So, your blocks will measure 2” x 1.25” x .75”.



Next, find the studs in your wall. Use a block as a brace bracket on each end, in the center, and then one in each stud on either side of the center. Hope that makes sense. Superman used a nail gut to place each bracket onto the rail before screwing the whole railing, including brackets, into the wall.



Use a 3” piece of scrap wood at each bracket setting to make sure the railing is installed straight and perfectly level. Also, use 3-4” screws to screw all the way through the rail and bracket and into the wall.



Once you have installed all the shelves and all the railings, just caulk or putty over each screw/nail hole and then touch up paint the area.



Then you don’t have to tape off every nook and cranny and then re-tape and repaint the wall when you finish painting the brown shelves. Painting these while they were on the wall was a nightmare. Trust me. So, you’re gonna learn from me and not do that, right? ;)

And, you’re gonna learn from me and not paint them anything but white the first time, RIGHT?! ;)

This is a surprisingly simple and super fast project (maybe 3 hours, start to finish) … Because there isn’t tons of cutting involved. I highly recommend using a spot where you can do wall to wall shelving, like I have done. Then, there aren’t any weird intricate angling cuts trying to finish off the sides of shelving.



I can cram about 200 picture books on these three shelves. Not even joking. Because, with the railing there to keep the books on the shelf, I can stack the books 3-4 books deep, one behind the other.



These shelves are worth every second of tender loving care you put into them.



One last close up of the brackets … you don’t even really notice them at all. These ARE essential. You do have to brace that big long railing several times in between the ends of the shelf. Otherwise, some punk kid is going to put too much weight against the railing and snap the wood. That would just break my heart for you.

And.

For the newbies. Here’s a before and after:

BEFORE



AFTER



For real.

What was I thinking with the brown? Shaking my head in shame now.

Upgraded Rain Gutter Bookshelves

I did something really crazy.

I, I mean Superman, beefed up my, I mean the kids’ bookshelf wall so it’s even MORE awesome.
Feast your eyes:



And, in case you can’t remember what it used to look like, here’s the ‘before’:



First of all, I haven’t decided if the Turkish Coffee color is here to stay or not, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the railing above the books. Wanna know why? My punk kids can now put books away without them falling right back off the wall.

There was a flaw in these adorable shelves that we noticed after the ‘new’ wore off them: there was no way to insure that the books on the wall STAYED on the wall.

I complained to Superman. Told him how much I  loved the bookshelf. Didn’t want it to go. But WISHED there was a way to keep the books on the wall.

I had clearly forgotten that I had married a genius.

He instantly recommended that we simply put a rail just above each shelf.

D.U.H.

So, here we go. Another attempt at some sort of a tutorial. Yay me! :D

You will need:

* 4” crown moulding in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the front/decorative portion of the shelf)

* 2” x .50”  board in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the actual shelf that the books sit on)

* 1.25” x .75” trim board, cut into 2” blocks (these are the brackets that will brace the rail across the wall – you will need 15 of them)

* 1.25” x .25” trim board in whatever length your shelf will be (this is the rail that will go above each shelf)

* 3” or 4” screws

* Nail gun



Okey dokey. Here we go.

First of all: do yourself an enormous favor and paint all of the wood to whatever color you want it to be when finished … that way you just have to do minor touch ups when you are finished. Trust me, you do not want to skip this step. We skipped it. Learn from us.

Second, you are going to construct each ‘shelf’ of the wall separately, and then install it onto the wall. There is the shelf and there is a rail. At least, that’s what I am going to call them.

To construct the shelf: Simply measure the 2” board to match the length of the 4” crown moulding; both of which need to be the entire length of the wall, whatever wall you are using. I think Home Depot sells crown moulding in lengths up to 16 feet. That could be fun to get home … but, they sell them. Our wall is just over 10’ long.

Once you’ve got the 2” board cut to the same length as your 4” crown moulding, brace the two together using a nail gun. You want the shelf to sit at the top of the crown moulding as shown in these pictures. Just use your nail gun to shoot some invisible (is that the word?) nails into the front of the mouding, securing it to the shelf portion. Man, I hope this makes sense.

Now that you essentially have the shelf portion put together, you just have to put it on your wall. This also requires your nail gun. Just shoot nails across the bottom of the crown moulding, which will be sitting against the wall. You also want to shoot a few diagonal nails into the back of the top shelf, against the back of the wall. Putty over any tiny nail holes … and then touch up paint when you are finished.

Now, for the top railing above each shelf: Cut each railing piece to the same length as your shelf piece.

Cut 15 – 2” blocks (5 for each railing, unless your shelf is 5 feet or less in length, then you only need 3 per shelf) using 1.25” x .75” trim board. So, your blocks will measure 2” x 1.25” x .75”.



Next, find the studs in your wall. Use a block as a brace bracket on each end, in the center, and then one in each stud on either side of the center. Hope that makes sense. Superman used a nail gut to place each bracket onto the rail before screwing the whole railing, including brackets, into the wall.



Use a 3” piece of scrap wood at each bracket setting to make sure the railing is installed straight and perfectly level. Also, use 3-4” screws to screw all the way through the rail and bracket and into the wall.



Once you have installed all the shelves and all the railings, just caulk or putty over each screw/nail hole and then touch up paint the area.



Then you don’t have to tape off every nook and cranny and then re-tape and repaint the wall when you finish painting the brown shelves. Painting these while they were on the wall was a nightmare. Trust me. So, you’re gonna learn from me and not do that, right? ;)

This is a surprisingly simple and super fast project (maybe 3 hours, start to finish) …  Because there isn’t tons of cutting involved. I highly recommend using a spot where you can do wall to wall shelving, like I have done. Then, there aren’t any weird intricate angling cuts trying to finish off the sides of shelving.



I can cram about 200 picture books on these three shelves. Not even joking. Because, with the railing there to keep the books on the shelf, I can stack the books 3-4 books deep, one behind the other.



These shelves are worth every second of tender loving care you put into them.



One last close up of the brackets … you don’t even really notice them at all. These ARE essential. You do have to brace that big long railing several times in between the ends of the shelf. Otherwise, some punk kid is going to put too much weight against the railing and snap the wood. That would just break my heart for you.

So, what do you think? Should I keep them brown? Or paint them back to white?

(I’m leaning towards brown, mostly because they were so frustrating to paint in the first place)

Pottery Barn Kid’s Knock-off Table/Train Table–$40!!

Okay. This is a tutorial. Wherein I will attempt to tell you how to create something that I did not in fact create myself. This could be interesting. (New here? Well, I don’t do much … I boss my husband around and he does all the hard work … this makes tutorials sorta tricky)

Here it is … a 4 foot x 6 foot adorable train table that even Pottery Barn would be proud of. :D



Here’s what you need:

* 1/2 sheet of 5/8” MDF (1/2 sheet is 4’x6’, full sheet is 8’x6’) ($10)
* 30' feet of 1.5” x .75” trim board ($15)
* 1 8 foot 3.5” x 3.5” square fence post (you’d think they’d be 4” x 4”, but they aren’t) ($10)
* About 1/2 quart of white oil based ENAMEL paint ($5, give or take)
* A bunch of screws and a few dowels … you may or may not have these lying around. We did.



So, go to Home Depot. Find a full sheet of 5/8” MDF. Haul it over to the saw and ask an employee to cut the thing in half, so you have 2 4’x6’ sheets.

Grab the fence post and take that to the saw too, unless you just like cutting stuff yourself. Have them cut the post into 4 – 20” pieces for the legs of the table.

Next, grab your trim (Superman used 1.5” x .75” trim) and have them cut 2 – 6’ and 2 – 4’ pieces for you. This will be the edges under the top of the table (you’ll cut/trim them down farther when you get home).

Finally, take home about another 10 feet of the trim, to use for the pieces under the table (as shown in the picture below).

When you get home:
Lay the MDF (top of table) on the floor. Measure in 1 1/4” from each outer edge. Trim the 4’ and 6’ pieces to fit. If you are confident in Home Depot’s trimming skills, you can just have them cut those pieces to be 2.5” shorter (so, 5’ 9.5” and 3’ 9.5”).

After you have cut out those trim pieces, get the drill … it’s time for dowels. Place a dowel in the center of the trim piece and then one on either side of that, centered, on all 4 sides. So, 12 dowels total. Once you’ve drilled the dowel holes, take your table legs and measure pieces off of the remaining 10 feet of trim you brought home. You’ll need 8 – 3.5” pieces, cut with a miter saw at a 45 degree angle, shown in the picture below. You’ll also need 4 – 10” pieces to brace the table leg, as shown. Once you have all those pieces cut out (and make several mistakes and waste a bunch of trim trying to get them all right), you can start assembling.



Make sure to run some wood glue under the trim piece and inside each dowel. This will give extra support to the table. You are going to screw the legs on as shown in the picture above and below.



Make sure to putty over the screws that show on the trim on the outside of the table.

Once you’ve constructed it, sand and round the top edges of the table … and sand the putty areas and any rough spots through out the whole table.

Wipe it down clean removing any dust.

Then, Paint it.



Superman used an air compressor and paint canister to spray the enamel on. You can use a fine sponge roller to roller it on if you don’t have an air compressor/paint canister.

I think, start to finish, it took Superman about 3-4 hours to construct this. It’s really not a bad project at all; especially when you consider how much Pottery Barn wants for a table that looks almost identical.

Here, see for yourself:



This is Pottery Barn Kid’s Carolina Play Table, the ‘large’ one (which is still only 45” x 30” x 22”h) and it runs $179.00 before tax. O.U.C.H.

The table Superman made is more than TWICE the size for less than 1/4th the price.



That’s what you call WINNING, my friends. :D

And, I know I’m partial, but I like mine better. The sturdiness of the thick post legs just helps anchor the table, in my opinion.

Wondering what to do with the other half sheet of MDF? Well, you could make a second table, or you could go here (http://stylewithcents.blogspot.com/2012/01/creating-inexpensive-playroom.html) and make a corner shelf for the TV in your playroom:



Happy table making, y’all! :D

Refinishing a Kitchen Table

Howdy y’all.

I bet you were starting to think that we weren’t really still over here workin’ our booties off, huh?

Yeah.

Well. You were wrong. ;)

And, I know that this blog is sort of annoying because I just show before and after pictures … but … that’s all I’ve got for you today too. See, here’s the deal: the whole step by step tutorial thing isn’t really me because – truth be known – I have no earthly clue how to do this stuff. Pretty much I tell my husband my idea and then he spends days and weeks executing my idea in one way or another.
And … to be honest … I’m afraid of manual labor. I’m not a snob. And I’m not spoiled or pampered or anything. I don’t go to salons. I’ve never heard of most designer brands.

However.

Please hear me when I say this: manual. labor. is. not. my. thing.

Like, at all.

So, in order for me to give you instructions, I have to ask Superman for step by step details and then type them out here. Because there’s no way I’m showing my face in a 110 degree garage unless I absolutely have to; otherwise, I know I’d get roped into my horrible ideas ALL the time.

So, having said that … please no hate mail about how I don’t show you how to do stuff. You hear me, Rebecca? ;)

By now, you’ve all seen my sad, sad, sad kitchen table. If not, feast your eyes:


What these pictures don’t show is all the thousands of nicks. Scrapes. Fork marks. Teeth marks. Rubber cement marks. Sharpe scribbles. And, white rings from eating hot pizza on paper plates (don’t you hate that?!). This table was in BAD shape. (Somehow these pictures hide that nightmarish problem)


Lucky for us, we bought this bonafide Pottery Barn gem off my sister when she moved to a smaller house and couldn’t fit it. That was 7 years ago … and 2 kids ago. And many many preschool students ago. And, lucky for us, Pottery Barn used solid wood on this kitchen table and benches.

So, Superman sanded the entire thing down to the bones. And when I say he sanded, I mean he SANDED. This isn’t a project where you can just lightly rough up the lacquer. He was re-staining and refinishing the table.

And, since he is Superman, he took the entire table and both benches completely apart, sanded them to raw wood, stained them, and then lacquered everything.

He used a Minwax Wood Finish in a Dark Walnut color to stain the table. Then, he sanded all the fine wood hairs until the table was smooth again. Then, he applied one coat of Minwax Tung Oil with GLOSS finish. When it was dry, he sanded everything down with steel wool and applied a second coat. When that was dry, he sanded it all down with steel wool again and went for a third coat. He repeated the process until the table had 6 coats of Tung Oil. No, I’m not joking. The thing shines like glass and looks amazing.

Here, have a looksie:



And how much more awesome does my little shelf/bar/munchkin table look with that bangin’ new kitchen table next to it? Way more awesome.



Wanna know how much it cost us to get a new kitchen table and benches? $40. + a lot of dedication, sweat, patience, sweat … sweat … and sweat.



For.Ty. Dollars, y’all. Boom. (Ignore the toy dinosaur taking a break on the back bench … I gave him permission)



Now kids … what have we learned today? Buy. Good. Furniture. Because your kids are going to beat it to hell … and when they do … you can sand it all down and refinish it for pennies; instead of forking out more money to buy another table for them to trash.

As always, he did a great job! Sorry, my non-tutorials suck. But, y’all can TOTALLY do this. Refinishing a table doesn’t require a ton of skill or finesse or brains or brawns. Like the rest of our projects, you’ve just gotta be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. :D

Here’s the before and after:

The $750 Complete Kitchen Remodel

Finally. Here it is.


It took a total of 5 weeks, start to finish. Minus 2 days. 2 days shy of 5 weeks … not bad, considering that this was a one man project. I’m telling you. He. Is. Superman.

Without further chatter, here are the before pictures:


Typical builder grade, pre-fab wood cabinets … complete with bright white wood trimmed formica. And uber boring backsplash.


Lots of fake/faux wood veneer on every side panel of the cabinets. Builder penny pinching at its finest.


I would like to say that there wasn’t anything wrong with our kitchen. If your kitchen looks like mine, it’s a lovely fully functioning kitchen … it’s just boring. That’s all. ;)


And the desk. Oh man. The desk. Two tiny cabinets that didn’t hold much at all. That desk was a continual struggle for my OCD self.


Paper hanging lanterns … cause I used to think they looked ‘cool’. I don’t know. I really just don’t know. So, don’t ask.


This 7” white porcelain sink might have been my absolute least favorite thing about this very plain kitchen. It was the ‘armpit’ of the kitchen, if you will.

And finally, my el cheapo IKEA chair … purchased many years ago out of desperation when I just couldn’t find a desk chair (within my budget) that I liked.

Combine all those boring builder grade (or worse) aspects … wait 6 1/2 years … and you’ll be where I was at. I was just plain tired of that kitchen. Tired of keeping it clean. Tired of cooking in it. Entertaining in it. Doing dishes in it. I needed change.

And … here we are:


Superman ripped out the crown moulding on the cabinets and replaced it with thicker moulding, added trim on the bottom side of the cabinets, installed under cabinet lighting, replaced the veneer side panels with trimmed bead board, painted the inside and outside of the cabinets, replaced the counters with marble, replaced the sink, replaced the backsplash with split faced travertine, replaced light fixtures … and then, called it quits. :D

There really are no words for the finished product. That backsplash consists of 1,700 tiles … each placed one at a time.

The marble tiles used for the countertops were painstakingly cut to be installed with a zero grout line.

We found unfinished cabinets at Home Depot for roughly $200 … and Superman finished them out with paint, crown moulding, bead board, and under trim to match the rest. He’s going to install under cabinet lighting here as well … and clearly, we have a cord situation that we need to take care of; but, overall, I am very pleased with the desk area.


I kissed all of the IKEA mirrors and clutter goodbye … and hung a homemade-by-Superman triple mirror in its place.


Superman even refinished my kitchen table … read about that here.

We also replaced the paper lantern with an identical ceiling fan … this is Dallas, people. You cannot have too many ceiling fans … and this new addition makes ceiling fan #9 for this house. :D


The lights above the sink and desk are original to the home … we dug them back out of the attic and spray painted the brass bases with the oil rubbed bronze paint.

He did such a beautiful job … I am truly one spoiled girl.


One of my favorite parts is the new stainless 9” deep sink and goose neck faucet, with built in soap dispenser. :D I know I sound silly. It’s the little things.


To give the chair a face lift, he sprayed the base with oil rubbed bronze spray paint … and then painted the seat and back to match the cabinets. I love it!

So, here are the before and after pictures … side by side.








Here is the break down of cost, for those interested in duplicating something similar:

Marble tiles (Crema Fedora): $200 (about 100 feet at $2/ft)

Paint (Sherwin Williams Turkish Coffee in an oil based glossy enamel): $50

Sink and faucet (sold together as a set at Home Depot): $250

Pre-fab unfinished cabinets: $200

Under cabinet lighting: $50

We spent a total of about $750 … but that backsplash was free for us. Superman brought it home about 5 years ago when he was working in home building. Another homeowner didn’t like the backsplash, so it was ripped off the wall. We cut the tiles off the fiberglass backing and scraped all the glue off and then installed them one at a time. It was a labor of love … but that same backsplash would have been $15/ft otherwise.

I’m currently pricing new appliances … I’ve found several appliance packages for all 4 of our built in appliances that sell for around $800 for all 4 total, through Craigslist. I’m just trying to sell a few things to pay for them, so I don’t feel guilty going out of pocket for an unnecessary purchase. The bulk of this kitchen remodel was funded by Christmas money we received from my parents, Gary’s parents, and family. Gotta love that. ;)

What do you think? Worth $750?? ;)

PS- I do not know why all of my pictures are blurry when I upload them. They aren’t blurry on my computer. Sorry.