Sunday, August 19, 2012

Summer Projects:

Hi Everyone!

I know I have been MIA for a while now, but I have a good reason. I visited my home country and family in South Africa. For ten whole weeks! That's right, 10! But just in case you thought I just sat on my behind and sipped wine, you are wrong...
Some days I sat on my behind and sipped wine, and other days I transformed furniture and sipped wine.... so there!
Yep! My sisters made me earn my keep... (but you know I did not complain about saving old, neglected furniture from the dump!)

Look at this piece for instance: was once a built in kitchen cabinet, then stuck in the laundry, and eventually in the garage, where, as you can see, it had been used as a handyman table.

Old Built in Transformed to house a Stereo


My sister needed a place for one of her twin 16 year old sons' stereo, so we went to work on it. I liked the look of the sanded wood on top, so we just sanded it thoroughly (with NO palm sander available, I might add), and waxed it. We painted the body with homemade black chalk paint, and wiped a little brown stain over it, to give some depth to the mat black color.  After distressing the edges, and  adding wheels and funky hardware, this piece was transformed into a very cool, industrial look entertainment center any teenage boy can be proud of.

Don't you agree? And yes, I know the handles are different sizes. And no, it was not on purpose, OK? After we had drilled the holes and attached them, we stood back proudly to view our handy work, and  broke out in hysterical giggles when we realized our  mistake....
Then we decided to just pretend it was meant to be that way.


Old Bathroom Cabinet transformed
This little cabinet was brought home from the farm, and was stuck in storage for forever.
We had specific  plans for it, but it knew better....



When we started to sand it down, all these lovely layers, added through the years, were uncovered.
Then we realized that the door was not real wood, but supa wood...and, soon after, while I was sanding my heart out, the door fell open, slammed on the ground, and the mirror broke. This is when we decided to just go ahead and take the door off.

The lovely blue color on the inside, was left just as is...

..and just check out all the wonderful old layers...blue, green, yellow and white.
We did not bring a paintbrush near it..this look was achieved just by sanding!

It is going up as a shelf in her powder room.
Love it!

See ya soon with more Summer projects!