Getting Crafty & DIY

Scroll down to see how to distress a piece of wood furniture, make a funky wooden plant holder or revamp an old coffee table!

How to Distress A Piece Of Wood Furniture

Do you have a piece of furniture that needs a face lift? Maybe you've had it forever, don't want to part with it but are longing for a different look? Maybe you would love to replace it, but right now that is out of your budget? Here is a simple way to repurpose that old tired bed frame, night stand, dresser, chair....you get the point!

Here is my tired old double bed frame. Please ignore the broken down dresser, that's another post for another day!

My mom bought it for me when I was 18 from a local thrift shop. I have moved countless times and this bed has moved with me. Although I no longer use it myself, but it still serves it's purpose when we have house guests and it deserves a face lift. Plus I still love it, so I am not ready to part with it just yet!

So here is how I took this old bed from looking plain old shabby to looking shabby chic.

*** This tutorial is for solid wood furniture, although you could do this with laminate pieces they require special plastic primers, so talk to a paint pro at your local paint store before proceeding!****


Step 1:

Take it apart, and move it to an area where you can clean, sand and paint it.
I have an unfinished basement so down it went to my concrete jungle.

Step 2:

Clean it very well! If it has a lot of intricate detail you may need some q-tips, or toothpicks to scrap out the years of dust and grim from the grooves. TSP is a product I like to use, it's one of the best products I know of for prepaint cleaning. If you use TSP wear gloves and follow the directions.

Allow your furniture to dry completely.

Step 3:

Sand it. I used a sanding block, you could use a palm sander. You want to get rid of any loose varnish or paint, you also want to create a surface your new paint will stick too.
You may want to use a dust mask for this step, some old paint does contain lead.

When you are done sanding it clean it again. A quick vacuuming and a wipe down with a damp cloth may be all it needs. Allow it to dry.

Step 3:

Prime and paint it. I'm lazy so I used Behr Paint and Primer in one and was able to eliminate this as a seperate step, I also used a satin finish, just my personal preferance. What ever paint, primer products you chose to use follow the instructions on the can regarding drying times and applications.

Do you want to have one color peak threw another? If so choose a contrasting color for your base.
I used a black as my base coat (I had half a can hanging around) cream as my top coat. I did 2 light coats of each colour, I wanted a more sheer finish and a shorter drying time. The thicker your paint, the longer the drying time.

Step 4:

Make sure your piece is dry enough to sand. I let my bed frame dry for 4 days before I attempted to sand it.Remember: depending on the number of coats you used and the thickness of your paint you may need more or less drying time.

Decide what areas you want to appear worn. Legs, corners and edges normally recieve the most ware and tear, so they are a good place to start sanding.
If you want a base coat to show threw use a finer grit sand paper. I used 100 grit, it may be to coarse for you depending on the look you are going for.

When you have achieved the look you desire, give it a quick dusting and your done! You now have a piece of furniture with a fresh new face ready for years of service, and the best part? It only cost you a few bucks!

* Because I didn't add any extra dents or gouges to my bed frame I can easily strip it in the future, stain and revarnish it if I want and it will still look good!*

Now I have a "new" bed for my guest room redo!

Link up with vintagefurnitureparty@3boys

Antique Auction Coffee Table!

So i was at an antique auction recently and I spotted this little number from across the room. love at first sight!

I swear it had my name on it!

I decided that I had to have it and nothing would stop me! and I drove my husband nuts until it was in the box of our truck at the end of the day! Sadly though after getting it home I realized that while it was nice, it wasn't spectacular and something had to be done about that!

so as usual I hit up Home Depo, dragging my husband with me and we scoured through the paint isle until we found a fabulous Martha Stewart color called Aergene blue.
than the sanding began! and never seemed to end....
thank goodness though it did, and after wiping it down finally it was ready for some paint!!

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After a final coat here are the results.
















The box flower pot
Recently me and Matt where at an antique auction and Matt bought a bunch of old toys.  The guys loaded all of the toys into a wooden fruit crate and we took them home.
|I had actually forgotten about the wooden crate until I was in need of a box last week and thats when I remembered that it was in the spare bedroom.

After looking it over I realized that maybe I could do something with it to make it a bit more fun. So out came my sandpaper and paint brushes!
I chose a color by Martha Stewart called Aergene blue (I actually had alot left over from my coffee table project.

I had a little help as you can see!

Than I thought I would try and make my own primitive star stencil. Its actually pretty easy all you need is a peice of cardboard, an exacto knife, a pen and a little imagination!

 Than just tape it on with some masking tape and you are ready to go.

I also decided to make a stencil using my cat as inspiration ;)
for the other side.

 Its not perfect but I don't think it has to be thats part of making it your own.

Than I simply picked two plants from my garden and placed them in in draining pots and than waterproof containers.
You could also use this for books or line the inside with sheet paper and store anything from toys to wool inside. Really the sky is the limit!