Refinished Cabinet

Now that the weather is semi-cooperating and I can haul my gear outside, I’m working on paint projects again.

I don’t have a fantastic before picture, but you can see it here behind Baby Monkey (*whimper*) a few years ago.

It’s been a work in progress for a long time.  I’d started painting it black before the move.  Last fall, I finally pulled it out again and primed it with a plan in mind.  It got put away for winter once again and I was finally able to finish it this week.

Voila!

 

I love how it looks now. 

I also love scratching yet another project off the list.

Another piece of furniture almost sent off to the trash man but saved by my paint brush!

My New Coffee Table

Remember this red beauty?

Ok.  Not really a beauty but she’s got great bones and is super sturdy.

Look at her now.

Say what?  You’re distracted by the big red lump on the couch?

It’s ok.  The cuteness is pretty distracting.  (They were tuckered out from partridge hunting).

Back to my coffee table.  I stripped the top, sanded it down and gave it some love with Kona by Rust-Oleum (stain).  The base got a coat of primer and 2 coats of Sea Salt by Behr.  I then distressed and gave the entire piece a polycrylic top coat.

The new handles are an Oil Rubbed Bronzed finish.  I got them on Ebay.  (The Knob Shop – I use them a lot.  Great prices and a great selection.)

When I finally put the table in place, I realized I should have checked the height FIRST.  It was about 6 inches too tall.  T hacked the legs down for me and now we have perfection.

 

It’s great to finally have a place to put up our feet!  The drawers are an added bonus to hide coloring books and crayons for the kids.

One more project completed.  A gazillion left to go!

Linking up here:

 

Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

 

 

Holy Paint, Batman!

 

Before:

Right now:

I’m going to go wash the paint off of myself now.  

 

(Linked up at Centsational Girl)

A peek into what I’ve been doing…

 

When we first came to see our house, the “finished” room in the basement looked like this:

A storage room.  Yay.  Because the other side of the basement acting as storage isn’t enough, right?

Well, we weren’t any better.  Actually, we were worse.

Wow.  That’s a lot of junk. 

After I got pregnant for Monkey, we decided to move my office to the basement so we could still have a spare bedroom upstairs.  We started clearing it out and organizing. 

 

Well, at least it’s clean.

And then T got to work.

Even the ceiling got some love.  I attacked cobwebs with a broom and then gave it some paint.

Ooh.  Ahh.  A new cubby for the water tank.  A nice new actual paint color. Is that paint I see on the cement floor? And nice new insulation.  Oooh.

Check out the great wood on the bottom half of the walls.  And this would be the built in desk my dad put in for me.

It was really coming together well, wasn’t it?

Well, then Monkey was born and life happened.

Good Lord we have a lot of junk.

So I’ve started organizing again.  And cleaning out.  I’ve gotten rid of some stuff on freecycle.  I’ve listed some stuff on craigslist.  Other things have either been trashed or put in storage elsewhere for me to go through at a later time.

It’s still got a ways to go…  but I think the kids are enjoying the new family room quite nicely.  (Scope out the new carpet my dad installed last week for me – just a section for the kids to play on).

I’m hoping to share a nearly finished product later this week.  T needs some muscle help to move a few things into place and my poor brother-in-law doesn’t realize his muscles are being put to work when they come over for dinner tonight (that was not planned – it just worked out very well in our favor.  hehe).

I’d love to hear what home improvement projects you’ve been working on!