Tag: thrifty

Headboards, Mirrors, End Tables……Fork & Spoon?

Headboards, Mirrors, End Tables……Fork & Spoon?

I’ve kinda got a thing for those cool, old oversized forks and spoons you used to see on your grandma’s wall.  Sometimes they were made of wood, some were ceramic, some were metal.  Well, I’m in love with them!  Anytime I see a set or […]

New Stuff – Lakauai

New Stuff – Lakauai

I have decided that there are three types of materials I primarily like to work with: wood, metal and glass. I’ve been collecting ideas for crafty projects on Pinterest made with all three.  Check out my boards if you want some inspiration! Crafty with Wood […]

Restocked Craft Booth

Restocked Craft Booth

I added a few new things to my craft booth today. It was mostly little things, filler type stuff on the shelves and some hanging items on the pegboard. Stuff like that is really where my heart is. I like to take something old and unloved that someone cast off at the thrift store or a garage sale and transform it into something cool and awesome! I enjoy building or transforming furniture, but small stuff is a lot more fun for me. I think it’s because I can finish the project so much more quickly than furniture, it gives me a reason to move on quickly to another great idea.

I did complete a few new pieces of furniture though. Two of them are end tables or bedside tables made out of vintage suitcases. I found these at a thrift store for $5 each.  What a steal!  I didn’t do anything to them except screw them together and add legs.  You can still open the tops of each and see that satiny inner lining that was so popular with these types of suitcases. 

There is also a coffee table trunk. This was picked up at a thrift store also for $12.  Another great find!  It was bright blue, but with a coat of paint and a little distressing and some legs and I have a funky coffee table for sale. It also opens up for storage. 

Ahhhh, the bread box. Does anybody use bread boxes any more?  I don’t really understand the point.  Why can’t the bread live in the pantry like all the other food?  Why does it need its own home right there on the counter? I found this gem at a flea market for $5. Someone had spent some time trying to make it cute with a god-awful neon-like teal blue color and I gotta give them credit for trying. But that’s it, because it was pretty darn ugly. A popular bright white coat of paint later and then some distressing made the blue underneath actually look good shining through – after I toned it down with some brown stain!! 

This picture thingy, I don’t really know what to call it because it’s clearly not a picture…..Anyway, it’s actually two separate pieces bought at two different garage sales weeks apart. That’s the way I roll, people.  If something catches my eye and its priced right it’s coming home with me. I usually don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with it, but that’s ok, inspiration will strike! So, the metal thing is a candleholder, and it’s crazy heavy. I don’t know what it’s made of, some kind of alien metal I presume! 😉 I forgot to take a candle with me for display purposes, (it always helps to plant a seed for the purpose of an item to potential buyers) But, apparently someone didn’t need a seed because it sold the next day!

This charming box is a vintage sewing machine cabinet drawer. The detail on it is gorgeous, heightened by a coat of white paint. I know I’ve mentioned that I dislike painting things white but the customers speak.  Let me tell you, if you paint anything white, it’s like kryptonite – they can’t resist!

 

 

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Vintage Sewing Machine Desk

Vintage Sewing Machine Desk

I found this fantastic vintage sewing machine base at a little picker’s heaven store near Ardmore, AL.  It’s just a little ways down the road from the guy who has a building full of stuff I mentioned earlier. I’m not even sure if the place […]

Upcycled Entertainment Center – Winebar

Upcycled Entertainment Center – Winebar

  This piece of furniture has been hanging around our house for ages. It started out as our very first entertainment center and I remember measuring the big space to make sure that our tv would fit in it. Not the width of it, but […]

Vintage Window Medicine Cabinet – from a Pallet!

Vintage Window Medicine Cabinet – from a Pallet!

The Pallet Craze has taken over the crafting world. You can see pallets being transformed into everything from outdoor rustic furniture to a chic farmhouse style bed. I’ve always loved anything rusty, vintage and loved, that’s why I enjoy garage sales so much. It could also be because I spent many Saturdays riding around with my grandparents going from sale to sale. It helped that I was always rewarded by a visit to Grandpa’s favorite BBQ joint where they knew him by name and had his tall glass of sweet tea on his table noless than 2 minutes after sitting down.

 

My sister and Mom generally have not bought into the vintage is better idea, until recently when my sister began decorating the lake house. She has embraced the vintage design style that I so love and has filled that place with so much awesome style that I can’t help but be jealous!

In the bathroom I noticed a fantabulous medicine style cabinet made from an old window. I loved it immediately and asked her where she got it. She said it came from a crafter’s marketplace type of store close to where she lives.

Ah-ha! Light bulb goes on over my head because I remember that I have three or four vintage windows that I picked up somewhere that have been waiting to be transformed.

 

This is how my Vintage Window Medicine Cabinet was born. I also had a few pallets lying around, I mean what crafter doesn’t right? I took the two critical components with me to my parents house and begged my Dad to help me with the building part. It didn’t take any begging at all really, he’s retired so I think he enjoys helping me out with projects, right Dad??  😉

The first step is to get those rustic slats off the pallet. I knew from previous experience that prying them off with a crowbar and hammer is extremely hard work. So, this time I used a circular saw to just cut off the ends where they are attached. Yes, you lose a little bit of the wood, but I didn’t really need long pieces anyway. We built the frame of the medicine cabinet with the pallet pieces to match the size of the window and used a piece of sanded plywood for the back.

A trip to Lowes to buy the hinges and handle was all it took to complete the building part of the project.

After the medicine cabinet was completely put together it was time to paint. I used a creamy white color of paint that I’ve had forever, and then did a dry brush technique with some grey stain to bring out the character.

For the plywood back, I had originally planned to stencil a design on it, or add some pretty patterned paper. But, it would have been easier to do that before I attached it to the frame, so I was lazy and decided to just paint it with a dark gray color and then dry brush some brown stain here and there.

I made this rustic beauty for my own bathroom that I’ve been planning a re-model for. But, I am not quite ready to tackle that project as it will entail ripping out the shower and reconfiguring it.

So, I sadly put the medicine cabinet in my booth at University Pickers and it was snatched up within a week.

I’m sure it looks incredible in someone else’s bathroom!

 

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{Dream}catcher Art

{Dream}catcher Art

I’ve always loved dreamcatchers. There is something so mystical and magical about them that just appeals to me on a fundamental level. Dreamcatchers have been around in Native American culture for over a century and there are two legends that explain where they came from. […]

Thrift Store Score

Thrift Store Score

The project I had in mind when I headed out to the thrift store this morning was a lamp makeover, and also in the back of my head a chandelier for the patio.  I found a package of some great fabric strips yesterday at Big […]