Lessons, Tips and my own crazy theories

I have a gift.  Yes, a gift.  My idea of yard sale-ing maybe different than most.  My husband still doesn't quite understand it.  If the hubs and I venture out to yard sales it means that we are most likely doing 'drive-bys'.  Nine times out of ten we don't even stop.  I have to spot a worthy piece from the car or we just move on.  Now I may miss a lot of good stuff, but my house is full of chotskes and I don't have room for much more with a 1060 square feet.  If I had a retail shop to fill, I would get out and scour for glassware and other items.  Since I don't, I am all about the furniture or maybe a good lamp I could makeover to use. 

We went to hit the yard sales this past Saturday.  Drove by the first one since it was dominantly kids stuff.  We stopped at the second one when I saw a lovely steamer trunk.  They wanted too much for it, but it was pretty.  They also had a neat old scrub board, but like I said, I have too much "stuff" as it is.  The third and last one was a few doors down from the second.  I spied two dressers and a bedside table at it.  We took a look at the dressers.  One was newer and cheaply made.  The second was old and beautiful, but very rickety and would require dis assembly and a lot of glue.  Then I took a better look at the small bedside table.  The chest was solid, with dovetail construction.  Didn't identify the wood, but knew it was a nice piece.  It was marked $15, but they took the $10 we offered.  Yippee!


Why I buy what  I buy:

I have only just started with furniture rehab, but my two prerequisites are that the drawers are dovetailed and the piece must be stable and not require a lot of  re-assembly.  I purchased a chair from Craigs List for $10.  I had my niece pick it up for me since (along with my sister - NEVER PICK UP SOMETHING FROM CRAIGS LIST ON YOUR OWN!!)  she lived near the person who was selling it .  I figured that if it wasn't as good as I had hoped, I was only out $10.  It was a newer piece that looked French in shape and style, but had a bit of English style with some barley twists to her.  When we got it to the shop, we found that a part of the arm was broken off.  My husband thought he could fix it with a dowel.  Cool.  Then he pointed out how out of balance it was and he thought he was going to have to take it apart and re-glue the whole thing.  He did and it is pretty tight now.  He added a couple of screws to it, as well.  Now I have to get all of the fabric off and look at the guts.  I hope it is ok on the inside, but if the outside is any sign of what the inside will look like, I am nervous.  My husband said that it looks like the fabric was glued down in places, not stapled.  Who does that??  By looking at this chair, I think the previous owners probably paid over $150 for it, so buying a chair with glued down fabric at that price is a sin.  It just confirms my theory now, that older is almost always better.  I do not ever plan to buy another new piece of furniture with the exception of sofas and mattresses.  Everything else I will just buy on CL or at thrift stores and have recovered or refinish it myself.  Besides, it's greener and we could all use to be a little more of that.

Well, I hope some of you can learn from my mistakes, lessons, etc. that I have learned already in this new journey I am on. Spend your money (even if it isn't a lot) on quality, because every dollar you have is hard-earned!

Here is the little $10 chest we bought yesterday.  I have since determined that it is mahogany.  MAHOGANY, people!  I may not keep it, but it sure is pretty, even before I have begun to make her over.

Some water stains on top and lots of dust from working on a nearby dresser.

I am linking up to:

http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-merrier-monday-22.html

http://runwithglitter.blogspot.com/2011/07/glitter-link-party-20.html

http://www.cherishedbliss.com/2011/08/craft-and-tell-no-16.html

http://www.reasonstoskipthehousework.com/2011/08/anything-goes-random-linky.html

http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/2011/08/pink-hippo-party-40.html

http://imtopsyturvy.com/topsy-turvy-tuesdays-52/

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/2011/07/l-ets-see-what-youve-been-up-to-if-youd.html

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2011/07/just-something-i-whipped-up-and-new_31.html

http://www.rookno17.com/2011/08/back-to-school-week-little-birdie-told.html

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/08/how-to-make-big-fat-flower-pillow.html

http://lbratina.blogspot.com/2011/08/thrifty-thursday-125-plus-tablescape.html

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2011/08/show-off-your-stuff-party-86.html

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2011/08/show-and-tell-friday.html

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/2011/08/fridays-unfolded-28.html

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/08/frugal-friday.html

http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/2011/08/frugalicious-friday.html

http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2011/08/all-things-furniture-features-and-link-party-7.html

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/08/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link.html

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/08/feathered-nest-friday.html

http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2011/08/all-things-furniture-features-and-link-party-7.html

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2011/08/welcome-to-inspiration-friday-no-26.html
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/08/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-scentsy.html

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2011/08/piece-of-work-wednesday-furniture-link.html

The hideous secret of furniture rehab

There is something that I havent seen anyone talk about in the blogosphere about furniture rehab.  It's ugly, really ugly.................

Jazz Hands

The is me in my finest on the weekend after sanding my daughter's dresser.  She is utterly humiliated that I posted this photo.  I know I should be.

A new Craigs List find

Scooped up this dresser for a crazy $60 on Craigs List.  Look at her feet!  The owner had refinished her 30 plus years ago.  I can't wait to get started on her but have a dresser for my daughter to finish first, and that is going slow because of the humidity.  Wish we had a basement that I could temp. control!

Am thankful for the seller, because she had one person call back several times offering to pay more than she had asked.  The seller was sweet and told her that she had already promised it to someone.  Those are the kinds of sellers I love to see on CL!

Looks like tiger oak under there!  I love the curve on the bottoms of the top two drawers and the pretty curves and mouldings on the bottom of the dresser

Just missing 1/2 of the moulding on the bottom, but I will just remove  the rest if I can't find some to match.

Look at the claws on her toes!!  And don't look at my antiquated hardwoods that need refinishing.  That is a project we won't tackle ourselves.

My hope is a nice dark stain for her top, not too dark so you can still see her tiger stripes and a nice cream paint for the rest of her.  Then a warm glaze to bring out her pretty feet.

I am linking up to:

Magnet Board

I saw some magnet boards in the Ballard designs catalog that were crazy expensive.  They were much larger than I wanted and I refused to spend that kind of money on them. So I figured I could do it myself  (with a little help from the hubs) for a lot less.

Here is what you need:  A sheet of metal (you can find them at Home Depot or Lowes in the building supply section), fabric, glue gun and glue sticks, grommets (got mine in the sewing section at WalMart), a small piece of felt or one piece of cardstock, and some kind of appropriate glue (I like E6000 or you can use fabric glue if you use the felt).  I also have a wooden paint stirrer to save myself from some burns from the glue - a ruler would work, too. 

I bought a larger piece of metal for about $7 and had my husband cut it in 2 equal sized pieces and then he drilled two holes in each half.  You will need to buy your grommets first and see what size they are before you drill the holes.  The holes and the grommets need to be the same size. 



Cut each side of your fabric about an inch or more longer than the sheet of metal. 


 Working on the back side of the magnet board, use your glue gun and place a line of glue down one side of the sheet metal.  Working very quickly, press the flap of fabric down.  This is where I use a paint stirrer to press down the fabric into the hot glue.  Then go to the opposite side of the board and do the same thing, pulling the fabric tight so there isn't excess.  At this point, I fold all of the corners like I have in the picture below. 


Use the glue gun to glue the fabric to itself in the corners.


Glue the other two sides down, pulling the fabric taut on the last side.  At this point  you will need to take something to cut a hole in the fabric where the grommets will go.  I used a seam ripper and gently cut holes in the fabric.  Then, following the directions in the package, I inserted the two grommets.

Make sure to use a surface that is sturdy when hammering the grommets in place or you will end up with a nice gouge or two on your surface.  I usually do it on a heavy cutting board on top of my countertops or craft table.  Once the two grommets were in place, I placed the piece of felt on the back and glued it down with fabric glue.  I would much rather have used E6000, but I can't find it anywhere in my house (the hubs must have it in his workshop).  If you never have used it, it is messy, but it will work on almost anything and it dries clear.  Worth every penny, even with the mess.  You definitely will need something like E6000 if you use cardstock instead of felt.  I prefer felt because it is easy to cut and if you plan it out correctly, you might not even need to cut it at all.

All that is left to do is to thread a coordinating ribbon through the grommets and tie a bow.  That's it.

BOTTOM LINE:

1/2 Sheet of Metal                   $3.50

Felt                                             .29

Ribbon  (Roll)                            1.96

Grommets (Box)                        2.96

TOTAL                                   $8.71

The fabric was a scrap left over from another project and I had the glue, glue gun and fabric glue on hand.  At most, a 1/2 yard of fabric would be needed and that would have been enough to make two.

I am linking up to:

 

  

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/01/sat-nite-special-link-party-115.html