A Tale of Two Tables (Pt. 2)

I love little projects because they make my heart tingle.  Little tables like the one I showed you HERE and the one I am going to show you today don't take a whole lot of time or money but it makes me feel like I got something accomplished off my list.  This table is more like a plant stand, but it can be used as a small side table on the back patio as well.  When I found this table (yes, found....you can read more about finding treasures here) it looked like this:

It had seen better days.  The top was a weathered cardboard type of material.  It was glued down to the base so I banged it out with my trusty hammer and scraped out all of the glue off of the stand.  It was time for fresh paint so I went with a simple black.  Clean and classic.

As for the top, I also wanted it to be clean a classic.  We recently remodeled our master bathroom (which you can see the progress HERE or HERE) so we had a pile in the garage that looked like this

It's all of our scrap pieces of travertine tile.  PERFECT!  We had everything that I needed to tile the top of the table.  The tile would not weather like the previous top and the travertine against the new black base would be perfect.  In order to get a perfect fit I simply traced the old top onto a spare piece of cement board that was left over.  Now that I had my measurements I dug through the pile of tile to pick out the pieces I liked and cut them to size and into the pattern that I liked.  I could have used a solid tile but I liked the medley look of smaller pieces put together. 

Now it was time for the thinset.  I found a disposable container so that when I was done I could just throw it away...no clean up around here...YES!  First pour a little thinset into your container...a little goes a long way...then slowly add water and mix.  You are looking for a peanut butter type consistency.  You don't want a smooth application, kind of rough it up a bit, it gives the tile something to grip to.

Then just stick your tile down and kind of smush it in so it sticks.  I already had everything measured, cut, and the pattern laid out so this step was easy peasy.  I let it dry overnight so that the thinset had plenty of time to dry.  Then I stuck it back into my frame and snuck some grout out of the bucket while the guys were grouting my shower and forced into the cracks between the tiles....wiped with a damp sponge...and done!

Since the table was free, the tile was destined for the trash, and I had the spray paint, thinset, grout and cement board all on hand.....this project was FREE!!  I love me some free!  My mom has two tables exactly like this and I tried to convince her to give me one but no luck.  I saved a small pile of tile so that if I come across another one I will have enough tile to make a mate.  I love the black with the travertine.  It's classic and will never go out of style.

A Tale of Two Tables (PT. 1)

I know. I know.  I'm going to start blogging more, but then I don't.  My excuse....WE ARE LIVING LIKE THE CAVEMEN DID!  What??!...I came up with this cool idea to shut off my cable, landline, and internet in order to save money and be able to shop around for a better bundle deal (we were bundled with Comcast for all three services).  Ok, so when I came up with this idea it wasn't like a REAL idea...it was more like me just venting.  The problem?...My husband thought it would be a GREAT idea, and once that man is on board there is no getting him off board, or on a different ship, or even tackling him and throwing him overboard.  Hence the statement, we are living like cavemen and cavewomen and cavechildren.  It seriously isn't that bad, the kids are reading more, there is more family time, more time to go to thrift stores and to DIY, and for the love of God no more ESPN!!  Enough rambling, here is the play-by-play on one of the two table that I have redone.  First I started with this:

(You can read about where I got the table in this post.)

The table was a creamy kind of color...in the photos it looks white, but it definitely was more of a creamy buttermilk kind of color.  Speaking of buttermilk, can you believe that people actually drink that stuff??  If you are one of those people please explain to me how you convinced yourself that buttermilk is good.  Ok, moving on.  So I liked the quaint little table, but it was outdated.  I first spray painted it white.....and it was just ehhh...then black...still didn't like it.  I feel like black or ORB has become so safe.  So I primed it back white. (Sorry people, I don't have pictures of all these steps, it's just one of those things.)  White didn't work, black didn't work, so the most logical and totally DARING (not really) thing to do was paint it a soft grey.  LOVE.  The color is called Castle Path by Krylon and it is in a Gloss finish.  I bought the paint on clearance at KMart a few months back.  They were clearancing out all of their spray paint so for $1/each I bought every color that I may one day need.  Not like a hoarding problem or anything...maybe just 10 cans.  Let me tell you though, my spray paint collection is starting to grow.  If we ever have a major power outage I will be able to keep myself occupied.  I could probably spray paint by candelight for about a week.  Back to the table.... when I first bought the little guy I knew that I wanted to do chevron stripes across the top.  I tried the just-tape-it-off-and-go method but it was all wonky.  I decided to use my awesome math skills and measure things out to get a more accurate stripe.  I lightly marked the sections with a pencil so that I would know where to points of my stripe should meet.  I only did this for the first stripe and then followed my pattern throughout the table.  Kind of like this: 

The white tape is just regular old masking tape so then I got kind of worried about paint bleed to I decided to lightly paint over it with my base color so it would help to seal the edges of the tape. (That way if the paint does bleed under the tape it will be the grey color and you will never know.)

Then I sprayed it with my white and tore off all of the tape before the paint was completely dry.

As for the finished result......so much cuter than before.....

My little $5.00 table looks like a million bucks baby...ok, maybe not a million, how about $29.99??  The tape held up pretty well.  There are a couple of spots that aren't perfection, but every DIY project has some kind of story to tell.  Both paints I used were by Krylon and were in a GLOSS finish. (The white is just their plain ol'white.)  I think the finish of the gloss adds to it's modern feel.  No more Grandma table around here people....we are now living in 2011. 

P.S. Can you believe that this year is almost over!!!?? 

Room Reno: Before and.....Midway?

Hailee's room has been an ongoing project for several weeks now.  It started with new sheetrock and scraping the popcorn ceilings (you can see more of it in this post).  As a reminder this is what we were workin' with:

I painted the walls Cosmic Pink by Valspar (eggshell finish) and the ceiling is Tempered Grey also by Valspar.  The walls took one coat of primer and THREE coats of paint, I even used their new paint formula....the one with the primer included in it.  The final product looks great, it was just a major pain to have to go over the walls sooooo many times.  I eventually plan on putting up crown moulding (in an Ultra White finish) so then the contrast will be more apparent between the walls and ceiling.  The bed use to look like this:

I just lightly sanded it, primed, then painted it black.  I got the headboard/footboard free from my aunt.  She was using it as her son's headboard (totally not a boys room piece of furniture) so I suggested we trade my daughter's plain metal frame for this set and it was a deal!  Score! 

The bedding is a quilt that I bought from Target (I think it was $30) and the sequins pillow is from Kohl's that I got with coupons (paid $2). I thought the bedding was fun and age appropriate....Hailee is 8.  The curtains I sewed myself, I bought the fabric from Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and I payed about $35 (buy your fabric all in one piece so you are charged once and able to use your coupon).  Each panel is 7 feet and I have enough fabric left to recover a desk chair or something of the sort (yet to find that).  I bought the nightstand probably 6-7 years ago at a garage sale for $5 and it has been sitting in my grandma's garage ever since.  When I bought it it was white... and peeling... and gross, but I loved the lines of it.  I spray painted it with Krylon's spray paint in pistachio and then Modge Podged some wrapping paper to the top (the knobs are from Hobby Lobby).

I always knew that I would be in LOVE with that table someday.  I still need to get stuff up on the walls, paint the dresser, and find a desk.  My daughter is truly tickled pink to have a room that reflects her style.  Before we bought our house we lived in a two bedroom apartment....and there are five of us!! So just for my Hailee girl, here is a full midway update picture:

 Do you have any hot pink walls in your house?  I do, and wouldn't change it for anything in the world.  What about a piece of furniture that you bought because you love, but just haven't found the right spot for it yet?... Or even a kid with rollers in her hair that melts your heart every time you look at her?  

Spray Paint Therapy

Do you ever have those days when you feel like you should be working on something, but you don't really have the energy to tackle a big project?  Today was one of those days.  That's when spray paint therapy kicks in.  It's amazing how a coat of spray paint can change the look of something and be completely dry in 10 minutes or less.   My shelf in the laundry room looked like this:

It worked.  But like I said, I needed some spray paint therapy.  So down came the planter and out to the backyard we went for a quick makeover.

I stuffed the inside with some cheap'o wrapping paper turned mess control paper inside of the planter since there is no need to paint the inside of the planter.  It will never be seen and my ORB paint is like liquid gold to me....not trying to waste it.  Here is the after:

You can even see the hammered tin effect of the planter.  I didn't even notice it before when it was green.  So it was nicer now, but still just OK.  So that's when I decided to be ubber creative and freehand this design:

Just kidding, I told you I wasn't feeling super-duper productive.  Those are just scrap booking stickers.  Yep, regular ol' stickers.  They are actually puff stickers, I got them from Michael's, this is what the packaging looked like:

Super easy project.   I buy my paint at either Wal-Mart or K-Mart for around $3-4 per can.  This is what the overall after looks like:

I like it.  Now if only I could get around to painting the cabinetry then we would be getting somewhere.  What do you do on days when you don't feel like tackling much?  Are you part of the spray paint therapy club?

So Much for the Yard Sale

Whenever I have a yard sale I try to update things without spending a bunch of time on things.  I've had this little table thingy FOREVER, well at least a good ten years, and it has served me well.  In my first apartment it was my phone stand, then it eventually migrated to the girls' room and was used as a nightstand, but in the new house there was just nowhere for my little friend.  So for a quick update I decided to give the wood top a quick spray of black paint.  Like I said, I don't like spending too much time on updating yard sale items so I didn't bother sanding the top or filling in any scratches, I just taped off the top and went to work. 

And YES, that is my backyard!!  Not so great huh?!  The house was a foreclosure, you know, one of those great priced homes with lots of potential.....yep, that kind.  In the backyard our only project has been keeping the weeds below our knees so that we can focus all of our time and money into the front.....for the whole curb appeal thingy.  Ok, so back to the star of this post....after it's little update I realized that our friendship isn't quite over yet.  This is what my laundry room looked like before when the door is open....

Yes....dirty laundry in all it's glory...not too cute huh?  So if I just shift the basket right behind that door then that will be tucked away and my little table thingy could live on that wall like this:

The dish/tray works perfect for when my husband comes in from work he now has something to empty his pockets in and it looks contained.  I had bought it at a thrift store for $.50 a long time ago and then spray painted it's little legs white for some contrast. 

In the top two drawers I have some miscellaneous DIY treasures, the next drawer holds my lonely socks, the ones that are missing their mates, and the third is for our grocery bags that we re-use.  Looking at it in the photos I think the picture is too high but for now it's ok, that picture and I are soon going to have a DIY date.  As a reminder,here is another look at the laundry-room-with-the-door-open picture:

And my NEW laundry-room-with-the-door-open picture:

 I'm feeling the change, maybe it's just because that me and that table have been together since the beginning or maybe because walking by that door and looking at a big basket of dirty laundry isn't that appealing.  Either way, this is how my laundry room is going to look for the minute.  Cost of this update....$0.00.  I love when that happens!  Do you have a piece of furniture that you just can't seem to part with or am I just weird like that?