Upcycled Coffee Bar

What do you do when you see an old microwave stand out in the neighbor’s garbage?  Well, if you’re me, you have your husband go get it, so you can re-purpose it as something else. 

I wasn't sure what I was going to use the old microwave stand for right way, but eventually an idea came to me.  I decided to use it in our guestroom as a coffee and snack bar.

To do this, I cleaned it up and refinished it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (old white paint and clear wax) that I had from a previous project. I like ASCP because 1) no sanding is required and 2) it is a great paint to use for distressed pieces of furniture.

I applied two coats of ASCP with my ASCP brush, one coat of ASCP wax with an old rag, and then I sanded the edges to make it look a little distressed.

I finished the piece with new glass knobs and decoupaged the doors with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.

Lastly, I had to give my upcycled piece of furniture some purpose by making it a coffee bar for our guests.  I bought a place mat for a few dollars at Old Time Pottery and put it underneath a small coffee pot and coffee mug stand from my first apartment.  Then I went to Goodwill on the first Saturday of the month when everything is half off and purchased a set of coffee mugs for $.50 each. Inside the doors, I store extra sheets for the guestroom bed.  On the shelf, I keep snacks, coffee, teas, and bottled water in a tray I purchased from Home Goods. 

My husband likes to tease me about this project.  He reminds me that we don’t run a bed and breakfast.  But I do like having coffee and teas for guests in their own room when they come to visit.....and by guests, I mean family who come to visit once or twice of year and my mom who comes to visit me every few months.  My mom looks forward to the chocolates and biscotti in her room when she comes to visit, so I think that this little coffee bar is a nice hospitable touch in the guestroom.  

What can I say, I just want my house to feel like home when they walk into my house.  Any little project that helps make that happen is a successful project in my eyes.

Upcycled Nursery Dresser

AFTER

BEFORE

Like I said in yesterday’s post, I’m a big fan of finding old pieces of furniture at yard sales and thrift shops, and then refinishing them for a new purpose in my home.  Yesterday, I shared how I refinished a $25 Goodwill dresser and re-purposed it for a changing station.  Today, I want to share with you the other dresser in the nursery. 

This dresser was also a Goodwill find.  I actually purchased it a few years ago for $20 and was utilizing it in the guest bedroom.  I moved it to the nursery, because it wasn't really getting used in the guest room.

I refinished this piece the exact same way that I refinished the other dresser…..

1)    I started by cleaning the dresser with TSP cleaner. It can be found at most hardware stores.  I buy mine in a powder and mix it in a spray bottle. 

2)    Using a foam roller I primed the dresser with Zinsser Cover Stain primer.  It took two coats to fully cover this piece of furniture.  I keep this paint on hand for when I find furniture to refinish.

3)    I had leftover navy blue paint (“seaworthy” by Sherwin Williams) from the accent wall in the nursery, and applied two coats of paint to the dresser for full coverage.

4)    I updated the hardware with nickel knobs from Lowes.  The hardware cost just about as much as the dresser, making this dresser cost about $50 when it was all said and done.

5)    Tip:  Always take out the drawers when painting and let paint dry completely before applying a new coat.    

The only problem that I ran into with this dresser is that it had a laminate finish.  This was the first piece I had ever tried to refinish with laminate.  I found it more difficult for the paint to stick to the laminate, but after taking my time and making sure each coat was dry before applying another coat, I finally finished this piece.  I will say, that unlike other pieces that I have done, the paint is more likely to peal off on laminate.  I haven’t had any problems so far, but my kids are still babies.  It will probably get more wear and tear as the boys get bigger.

Re-purposed Goodwill Dresser - Nursery Changing Table

AFTER

BEFORE

I’m a big fan of finding old pieces of furniture at yard sales and thrift shops, and then refinishing them for a new purpose in my home.  Take a look at my project page, and you’ll see that I accumulated a lot of the furniture in my home by doing just that.

Both dressers in the nursery were Goodwill finds.  Today, I want to share a dresser that I purchased from Goodwill for $25.  The dresser is solid wood, and it serves as a duel purpose in the nursery.  It not only stores the babies’ clothes, it also works as their changing table.  I bought a changing pad from Once Upon a Child and found a changing pad cover that I liked from Burlington Coat Factory.  I added a lamp from Goodwill and a cute bin from Home Goods, and I had myself an inexpensive changing station.   And the best part is that when I no longer need a changing table, I can still use the dresser in a little boys room for years to come.

The original dresser was in decent shape, but I really wanted a navy blue dresser.  And because I only spent $25 on this piece, I had no problem feeling bad for giving a perfectly fine dresser a new look.

I refinished this piece the way I refinish most pieces with no sanding required……

1)    I started by cleaning the dresser with TSP cleaner. It can be found at most hardware stores.  I buy mine in a powder and mix it in a spray bottle. 

2)    Using a foam roller I primed the dresser with Zinsser Cover Stain primer.  It took two coats to fully cover this piece of furniture.  I keep this paint on hand for when I find furniture to refinish.

3)    I had leftover navy blue paint (“seaworthy” by Sherwin Williams) from the accent wall in the nursery, and applied two coats of paint to the dresser for full coverage.

4)    I updated the hardware with nickel knobs from Lowes.  The hardware cost just about as much as the dresser, making this dresser cost about $50 when it was all said and done.

5)    Tip:  Always take out the drawers when painting and let paint dry completely before applying a new coat.  The primer and the sponge roller are key to getting a streak free finish without needing to sand, so don't skip those steps.  

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Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Furniture Redo - from dresser to TV stand

I spent much of last fall furnishing our loft.  Because this is a large space, I wanted to utilize the area for several different purposes.  I wanted one half of the loft to be utilized as an office/library area, and I wanted  the other half  to be utilized as a family/media area.  Above all else, I needed the loft to have lots of storage.  This was the space in the house where I would store my craft supplies, games, DVDs, books, etc. 

 

I was ideally looking for an old dresser…… with lots of character…… and plenty of drawer space…..at an affordable price…… that with a lot of TLC could be repurposed as a TV stand/craft storage.  It took me over a year to finally find this dresser at Goodwill for $35.

This piece is heavy-duty solid wood!  The Goodwill guys helped me load it up, but Matt wasn't home  when I had to unload it. Let me tell ya, that was no easy feat!  I managed to slide it out onto the garage floor until he could get home to help me with it. 

 

In my mind, I knew exactly what I wanted the repurposed dresser to look like, and I knew that I was going to use ASCP (Annie Sloan chalk paint) to achieve my vision.  You can purchase chalk paint on the internet, but I have recently found a local vender who sells it. 

After buying my paint, it was time to get started.  First I painted the drawers with an ASCP paint brush. The color of the edges is province, and the other color is versailles.

After two coats of ASCP dried, I sanded the edges of the drawers to give the piece a more vintage look.

If you have ever used ASCP, you are familiar with the finishing wax. The wax comes in both a clear wax and a dark wax.

When using the wax, I brush it on with the ASCP wax brush and then wipe it with a rag.  The rag will be ruined when finished, so it is best to make sure it’s  an old rag.

This was my first time using the dark wax. I chose the dark wax because I wanted to make the piece look aged.

The three top drawers were a little difficult to work with because of the detail, but I managed to get by.  When working with something so detailed, be careful with the wax.  It tends to clump if you aren’t careful.

Once the drawers were finished, I moved on to the actual dresser by applying two coats of province ASCP and one coat of dark wax. 

This picture shows how the dried wax looks after being wiped with a rag.

In the end, this was the finished piece!

I absolutely adore this piece of furniture!  I love the dark wax over these two colors!

The dresser was too heavy for Matt and I to carry up the stairs on our own.  Thankfully, a guy from church graciously volunteered to help Matt carry it to the loft.  Once we got it upstairs, I had one final thing I needed to do…..add hardware to the top three drawers, while keeping the original hardware on the bottom six drawers.  Oh, and of course we now needed a TV for the loft, which was the perfect excuse to do a little Back Friday shopping with the hubs;)

 

So let's break down the cost of this project. The dresser was $35 and the paint....welll the paint is not cheap. After two colors of paint and a dark wax, I walked away paying about $100 for supplies. I personally think the cost is worth it. I love the character ASCP gives to certain peices of furniture, and the supplies last a long time. I have plenty of paint and wax left over for other projects. Bottom line is that I created a piece of furniture for a total of $135, but I would pay $400-700 for a similar piece of furniture at Home Goods. Obviously, refinishing something with ASCP is still cheaper.



A few months have passed and the loft is pretty much furnished.  Originally, I wanted to mount the TV to the wall and use the top of the dresser for decorative purposes.  After talking to an electrician, we learned that it was going to be really expensive to mount the TV, due to the electrical set up of the room.  It may not have been my original plan, but the dresser ended up making a perfect TV stand and it has fantastic storage for all of my craft supplies!  It may just be my favorite piece of furniture in the loft:)

Just for fun, I’ll end this post with one last before and after picture of this successful furniture redo:)

Ordinary Bar Stool Repurposed - Rope End Table

 

Last summer, I found a couple of barstools at a yard sale for $2 a piece.  One  is used as a plant stand on our porch.  The other has been repurposed as an end table in our loft.

 

 

To do this, I took a traditional barstool….

….and a package of rope that I purchased from Hobby Lobby.

Starting from the outside edge and working my way to the center, I hot glued the rope to the seat of the barstool.  I unexpectedly ran out of rope just as I got to the center......

...but lucky for me, I had some scrap rope in my craft drawer that I saved from the packaging of a gift set someone gave me.  Yeah, I keep stuff like that for moments like this;)

I love the texture the rope adds, and that’s why I chose to use it. 

Lastly, I painted the green legs with some sample Louis blue ASCP (Annie Sloan chalk paint) that was sent to me with a recent purchase, and then I finished it off by applying a coat of ASCP clear wax.

 

 

The seat of the stool is the perfect size for a lamp, making a barstool a really great repurposed end table.

Refinished Craigslist Kitchen Table - No Streaks and No Sanding

Would you believe that this table….



….used to look like this?

 

Yep, when we bought this table and chairs off of Craigslist for $50 last summer, this is what I had to work with.  Many might have overlooked it, but I saw a diamond in the rough.  Who wouldn’t want a beautiful pedestal table and chairs that if purchased brand new, would cost anywhere from $500-1,000?

 

I was glad to finally replace our old table and chairs.  There was nothing wrong with the old one.  I've just  been wanting a black pedestal table for a long time, so I was very thankful to find such a great deal on Craigslist.

When it came time to refinish the table, I found myself in a dillema. I needed the finish to be smooth yet durable. I really wanted the finish to look sprayed, but I didn't want to purchase a paint sprayer.

 Because I was wanting a certain look, I knew I needed to find a different technique than the one I used in “Painted Furniture.”

 

Using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for this project was also not gonna happen.  ASCP worked fine for “Craigslist Dining Room Table and Chairs

 Makeover”, because we rarely ever use our dining room table.  What I didn’t know about ACSP when I painted the dining room table was that it is not a very durable paint, even though it is very easy to work with.  Because we use the kitchen table on a regular basis, I needed to find a more durable paint.

While I love the technique that I used for the master bedroom furniture in "Trash to Treasure”….

….and in “Refinished Craigslist Armoire”, the finish was too glossy for what I was looking for when painting the kitchen table. 

That’s when I came across this post from Just A Girl.  Much of her technique was what I was already doing, but she used a black paint that was completely new to me.  As you can see, her technique paid off! My table ended up having exactly what I was looking for – a matte finish that looks sprayed without any streaks.  I have no idea what is in this paint to make it so special, but I can tell you that it is my new favorite paint for refinishing furniture with a clean modern finish.

 

Her method was pretty straight forward.  Start out by cleaning the furniture with TSP cleaner.  You can find it in a spray bottle or a powder at a local hardware store.  I buy the powder, add water and put it in my own spray bottle to make it last longer.

 

After cleaning the furniture, I applied one coat of Zinsser primer.   I love this stuff, simply because you can usually skip sanding when using it.  It comes in both oil base and water base.  Oil base was suggested for this project.

Then it came time to apply the black paint.  I called every paint store that carried Benjamin Moore asking for the paint that she used, only to be told that they didn’t make it???  I was completely bummed!  Fortunately while calling the last store on my list, a guy who had been working with Benjamin Moore paint for years answered the phone.  He said the paint is just called something different now, and he had it in stock.  I ended up driving out of my way to get this paint, but it was completely worth it!  The paint that I bought was Benjamin Moore’s DTM Acrylic Low Luster Black 25 80.  I used two coats for the table and chairs.

 

And of course I used the magic of the simple foam roller for this project.  It does really well preventing streaks.  Combine the roller with the paint, and my table was lookin’ pretty good.

Add a bouquet  of $4 flowers from Trader Joes and some pretty napkins from World Market, and I was in business! 

 

I really love the finish on this table!  The only thing that I noticed about this finish is that when we had kids over for the holidays, their greasy finger prints did not wipe off easily. Once I sprayed some citrus table cleaner on it, it came off just fine.

 

Overall, this was a great investment for us.  After a year of searching for a pedestal table and chairs at Goodwills, garage sales and Craigslist, I finally found one that I could work with.  My patience paid off!  Definitely $50 well spent:)