Restyled Cottage Side Table

I got inspired to "restyle" furniture after following the modern cottage blog. So, I started shopping and I found this great little side table for half price at the Salvation Army. It was $5!! I took it home, cleaned it, sanded it down and wiped it with mineral spritis afterwards. Then came paint. I used a flat "Country White" paint I had on hand. I used a good quality brush and gave it 2 coats, letting each dry for 24 hours then gave it a final touch up coat where needed.

Brushing on the paint did leave strokes but I was fine with that because it gave the table more character. I wasn't going for perfecting here. I am all about the shabby/rustic look because if my kids smash it, dent it, scrape it, etc. it's OK.

So, once it was thoroughly dried I went over the corners with a heavy grit sand paper to give it more of that shabby look. I then used a wax on it to seal it and prevent things from sticking, peeling or to protect it from moisture. The knobs I thought were cute I just wasn't a fan of the brass so I spray-painted them flat black, two coats.


I found that cottagey little woven basket at the Christmas Tree Store for about $4 and thought it gave the the table a perfect touch and would work nicely for collecting and concealing junk. Lord knows, I have a lot of that in my house!

I didn't really need the table so I ended up selling it for $65. Took about 3 months to sell in my mother-in-laws shop. It was a quite an investment of time, but the materials were cheap so I'd definitely do it again, especially for something I'd keep in my own home =)

Here are some more pics of it before, in progress and after.

 

Personalized Wall Art

Now this craft I thought would be super easy and cheap... it tested my patience and was not as cheap as I thought!  Although, once I saw the finished product I was in love!  My sister and I are now thinking this could be a possible side business for Etsy :)

I found the idea on Pinterest of course... but I didn't notice how small it actually was in the photo of inspiration.  The article said it used wire reinforced clothesline.  When I went to Lowe's it didn't look or feel stiff enough to hold the letters in place.  SO I asked one of the helpful workers what kind of wire I should use.  We walked over to the wall of wire and I picked one out... $1.12 a foot.  I thought 4 yards would be enough to make 4 words.  Not so much... I used all 12 feet to make Winston's name!  I molded his name which wasn't too hard.  The worst part was trying to remember how to make cursive letters! 

I found this awesome yarn at JoAnne's.  I liked that it was flat so it would cover more and that the colors changed.  It was about $5 for a bundle (or whatever you call it).  I think it worked really well, so I would definitely use it again. 

I also used a hot glue gun to secure the ends and put a dot every so often to keep the yarn in place.  I love the way it turned out so my brother found some electrical wire in his basement and we made more :)

Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty relaxing! You can make the letters however you want... SO GET CRAFTY!

Maps

Here is a cheap way to make some unique artwork that says something about your relationship.  I have seen this on pinterest but never knew where to find a map to cut up...ummm HELLO the INTERNET!  So this is the sight I found for my maps
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/reference.html#list

I printed them on cardstock and then cut them out to the best of my ability..some of the lines are a little more difficult than others!

I found this frame at Target (only the best store ever created) for $20.  They had some of the floating frames but they were $30 so I chose this one because it was different.  I also found the heart stickers at Target.

Not only was it a cheap easy craft but it tells such a great story too :)

Guest Book Bench

I also found this idea on Pinterest for my wedding.  I never liked the idea of a traditional guest book because, well, What the heck do you do with it after the wedding?!  This AMAZING bench was built by my handy dad and husband.  I showed them a picture of the design I liked and got just that! What can I say they are just that good :)

We bought good old pine wood from Home Depot because I knew I wanted to paint it.  We spent about $60 on the wood (lucky for us we had a gift card from the wedding shower). Just to give you an idea on size the top board is 1 ft x 4 ft.

The decal was ordered from Uppercase Living for about $20 plus shipping.  It was a little pricey for the decal but it looks way better then trying to paint it by hand... and a lot faster too!  I love this company!  You can get personalized decals made to order.  They also have other really fun designs. Check them out!  www.uppercaseliving.com

Once we painted the bench and the decal was applied it was ready for the wedding guests!  I picked a couple colors of a multi pack of Sharpies to go along with my wedding colors.  I made a sign which stated:

 "Today is a day to remeber forever,
 and a guest book is often misplaced. 
We decided to make a bench,
so the memories of today are forever in place!
SIGNATURES ONLY PLEASE"

I framed the sign and we put it by the markers.  Once the wedding was over I sprayed it with polyurethane to make sure the signatures don't rub off. 

As for this project... I wouldn't change a thing! I love it!

Love Sign

This is a sign I made when I was basically broke but trying to find things to do that didn't cost a lot of money. After seeing and buying some like it at a country store. I picked up a cheap black picture frame at Walmart for a few bucks. Then I bought some small scraps of quilting fabric. I love this print. It's very sweet an innocent looking and thought it was fitting with the LOVE message I was going with. For the letters, I bought a small scrap of khaki colored linen material. I got all of my fabric from Joanne Fabrics and only paid a few dollars becuase I bought just what I knew I'd need and I found the scrap of linen material. Then I used black embroidery thread and luckily already had an embroidery needle with a big eye hole.

So once I had all my materials, I ironed all my fabric and then cut the letters out by eye but if you aren't that bold then you can draw your letters in block style on the back and the cut along the lines. Once my letters were cut I arranged them and pinned them to the quilting frabric. Make sure you check to see if it fits inside the frame by placing that over top of your layout. Then, sew everythying on, put it in the frame and... DONE!

Yeah, it was a lot of work and I only made this one.

Personalized Wine Glasses

I got the idea for these wine glasses on Pinterest and it looked easy enough... NOT SO MUCH!
A friend gave some to me as a gift and she said she used the chalkboard spray paint and taped the stem... they work but I thought it would be better to have a thick coat of paint so I tried dipping it in paint.

If you dip it in paint and turn it upside down the paint just drips down the stem... FAIL
Then, I tried using a paint brush but there were brush strokes... FAIL
SO then, I tried dipping and using a brush to smooth out the drips.  I brushed out the first drips but chalkboard paint is thinner than I thought and it dripped when I walked away... FAIL
Then I finally did some research and discovered that if you lean the glass over the container so the paint drips back into the container! SUCCESS

Oh, you can find cheap wine glasses anywhere.  My friend got them from the dollar store but I am a big fan of Marshalls and TJ Maxx :)

Memo Board

This memo board was made from an old frame from Salvation Army, chicken wire, a little paint, and baby clothes pins. The frame was $4. I got the chicken wire from Home Depot. You can find baby clothes pins from Walmart or a craft store. If you don't like the color of the frame just give it a quick spray with spray paint.

First, paint the frame the color of your choice. After I painted it I sanded it a little to give it the roughed up look!
Next, cut the chicken wire to size with wire cutters. Make sure you don't cut it too small. (I made that mistake once or twice....)
Then, use a staple gun to staple the intersections of the wire to the inside of the back of the frame. Once its cut it can be sharp so I used some plyers to bend the cut pieces under.
The last step is to add the clothes pins!

I gave this one to my sister for Christmas and she filled it with wonderful family photos!