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Posted on October 22, 2013October 22, 2013 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Marcie’s Black Hutch – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends! Has your month of October flown by as fast as mine?? Man oh man!! I blink and look at the corner of my computer screen to see that it’s the 22nd! Where did the month go?? It’s been so full of fun that I can hardly stand it. I’ve been feeling so blessed by family, friends and work! No complaints here. Nope. None.

This week’s piece is for my friend Marcie. This lady.

Yup, we wear the same glasses. And yes, we’re both wearing grey. Marcie and I have been friends for about 5 years. We met when our boys were both six months old and now are best pals. At the end of this month, Marcie will be moving far, far away to the sunny, delightful land of Florida. I’m still trying to imagine her moving away and not thinking too much about not having one of the closest people in my life close by anymore. See… just typing that sentence made me cry. Thinking too much about it can be a bad thing. So, I thought I would share what I made for her instead. ANNND I want to share some of the things she’s given to me over the last five years.

Marcie has taught me what it means to be a good friend. She’s selfless… so so selfless. She may have a bad day, but would never tell me first if I was having a bad day. She would hear me out, encourage me and if time allowed tell me about hers. Sometimes I was so selfish I wouldn’t even know about her struggles for days. That’s the kind of selfless friend she is.

Marcie is an AMAZING mom. So much of what I do day to day with my kids comes from what I’ve learned by watching Marcie. Room time, schedules, bed time, discipline, tone of voice, and cheerful spirit… those are the things that I learned by watching. Watching Marcie. I literally think about her all through the day when I am annoyed at my kids and every once a while get it right and have the right attitude like she would.

Marcie’s strong. Sometimes too strong… ;) She makes no excuses about why she can’t do something. She may have 4 kids and a hubby out of town for work, but she’s still going to be at Wednesday church. With school the next day and teaching school all day, she doesn’t care. Her priority is serving. serving God and her family. I want to be more like that.

I really could go on and on, but I have someone coming to my house in 30 minutes and need to stop crying. Just the reality of life…

So, here’s the hutch before:

And after painted with Benjamin Moore’s black paint and new hardware from Lowe’s. It looks completely different, right??

Oh, and Marcie is also the kind of friend that refused to let me just give this to her. I wanted to so bad, but she still wouldn’t budge. That’s a true friend, isn’t it? I’m going to miss you like mad Marcie. So thankful that God has blessed me with your friendship. You’re a life long friend for sure!

Happy redesigns everyone,

Sarah

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address in to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today!

Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and will also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Posted on July 20, 2021July 19, 2021 by Sarah

Mid Century Modern Hutch For Sale

Hi Friends!!

Happy rainy week in upstate NY! We’ve had so much rain I think I saw Noah’s ark floating by. 😂 Paint doesn’t like to dry on rainy days so it’s made the work flow a little tricky lately. I also went to the Brimfield Antique Show in the rain last week with my pal Marcie.

I scored a few good finds and this is my favorite one! An antique shelf for seeds…

I’m going to use it to display the new succulents that we have for sale in our store. That’s RIGHT! We’re taking antique items and planting live succulents in them to sell in our store.

Check out some of the many that we added to the store last week:

Stop by to see them all this week! We’re open Thursday-Friday 1-5pm or Saturday 10-2.

For this week’s furniture makeover, I’m sharing a new mid century hutch that we just added to the store as well!

Here it is before:

We refinished the drawers and doors and painted the box with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White. Then we sprayed it with a protective clear coat for more durability.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after photos?

This hutch is available now to purchase! Contact us!

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations.

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do.

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on January 5, 2021January 4, 2021 by Sarah

Finding the Joy in 2020 – Tuesday’s Treasures

We all made it through 2020! I’ve been reading highlights of 2020 from my friends on Facebook and Instagram. Even though this year has felt hard in so many ways, reading the joys has been so beautiful. I thought I would share some of the bright moments that this year held for us as well. As I scrolled through my phone to pick – there were too many to choose from. TOO MANY good moments and it made me cry.

In a year that felt so dark, I forgot about all the joy that also filled so many days. The highlights for us in 2020. The biggest dream come true for me out of this has been more time with my extended family. I would say to John often how much I adored our family time together and how I wish it was more of a priority for everyone. Life happens… we all get too busy. Well, God slowed us down a bit in COVID and gave us time almost every weekend with my whole family. We had decided early on that we would be each others group of support throughout this and try to limit exposure to others as much as possible. It was a gift I hope never stops – the cousins grew closer. I grew closer to my nephews and nieces. Such a special gift!

We started the year with a trip to visit our friends Marcie and Bobby in South Carolina. We were so thankful for that last trip before the world shut down. We try to visit them every year and a year without their face to face friendship wouldn’t have been the same.

The week in mid March when COVID shut down the world, we were supposed to close on our first ever commercial property. We ended up having one delay after another until it closed in June. Which was a huge blessing because we didn’t have to cover a mortgage and rent at our storefront for quite as many months.

Shortly after the shutdown, we decided it would be the perfect year to add chickens to our homestead. New life and baby animals were a great distraction for the kids throughout the initial isolation.

We took the slower work months and finished our kids bathroom March-May. Finishing just in time to close on our new building at the beginning of June.

June 2 – August 2 we spent what felt like every waking moment working. We completely remodeled 3 floors of our new building (if you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here: https://funcycled.com/category/funcycled-stays/) We would joke that if we were going to lose so much of our lives to work, it might as well be during the year when there wasn’t much fun allowed anyway. :)

We opened up the airbnb, and then, at the end of August we went away to our annual Ocean City Vacation. The world felt normal for one sweet week. Sunshine, swimming, family, and delicious food. This is a yearly tradition I enjoy so much!

In September we added our kitten Phoebe to the Trop-stead.

We also decided to home school this year. A very tough decision; how would we juggle it all? But it’s one of my favorite new changes in 2020. I love having more time with my kids and I love that we have flexibility to do more when John is free or has a slow week.

We got back to work in October converting the 1st floor of our building into the storefront that we would move FunCycled to.

We decided to risk it and go on a trip to the Grand Canyon early October for my birthday to get some much needed relaxation from the hard year. The price was right and my brother was going so we joined. Little did I know, that would be the worst decision of the year… because I contracted COVID, became a super spreader, and while hiking in 7k elevations and glamping in the dessert, I realized this wasn’t just a cold… I couldn’t breath. With no health insurance, I was hospitalized in Flagstaff. We then couldn’t fly home because I found out I was definitely COVID positive. Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like a 36 hour drive across the country with COVID and pneumonia. That took everything I had and all the prayers of every friend to not lose my mind. I came through it needing counseling, with greater compassion for anyone who has to endure this, and realizing some relationship changes that needed to be made. It was a true eye opener. It took 2 full months before I had energy back. Once I was off quarantine, tired or not, we had to finish the storefront because our store lease was up at the end of November. I cried many days and night, but you know what? It’s done and for that I’m thankful! Grand opening was December 5th!

Once that was done, we decided to not add on any house or work projects outside of what we needed to pay the bills. Having weekend free this month has been so wonderful… so rich and filling. When 2019 ended, I had pulled back on many of my commitments. I felt like God wanted me to focus on family and business in 2020. I had no idea why then, but I believe He was lovingly preparing my heart for what was to come. He allowed me to let go of so many things that would have felt like they were taken away by COVID. The conviction to focus on family and business became truer than I could have dreamed. We started marriage counseling. We had time with the kids to work through character development, not just academic and having fun. John and I both grew in a way I don’t think we would have without a year like 2020. So… for all of this and more, I’m choosing thankfulness and I’m finding joy to end 2020.

What are you all thankful for in 2020? I love hearing the good so please comment below!

Thanks for being the best funcycler’s around!

Sarah Trop

Posted on February 25, 2020February 24, 2020 by Sarah

Build a Wall or Add a Barn Door? – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

We took our annual trip to South Carolina last week to visit our sweet friends during winter break. This year it was a work trip combined with visiting our friends Marcie and Bobby. When you walk in the front door of their house, there is a large room on the left. That’s a common set up for many center hall colonials and other newer homes. The rooms tend to be too small for a dining room or living room, so they end up being an office, kids play room, or exercise room. Most often, those rooms aren’t the rooms you want to be on display as the first thing people see as they walk into your house. That was the case for Marcie and Bobby’s house.

They were trying to decide if they should build a wall and have a standard door installed. They asked about creative ways to close up that space. Since we would have to do most of the work at our shop before we drove down south because we couldn’t fit all our tools and wouldn’t have time to build out a whole wall, we recommended a double barn door as the solutions. We build one door to act as a stationary wall and the second door to slide open and closed. This saved a lot of work and money. We didn’t have to match the wainscoting or sheetrock or make a mess. Win win!

Here’s the area before:

We’ve done this in the past with a basement closet. You can check that out here. It worked really well for this space and a large barn door is a really beautiful statement piece when someone walks into your house.

Here’s the finished product!

Posted on October 29, 2019October 28, 2019 by Sarah

Commercial Reception Desk Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How are you? I hope you’re having a great week! I was down in Atlanta last week with my friend Marcie. Her son had a liver transplant 3 years ago and was back at the transplant center for his 3 year check up. It was so sweet to see how well he’s doing and catch up with Marcie again. I even had a chance to visit with my sweet friends Alexis and Stephanie, too!

We took a walk in the park outside the Ronald McDonald house and took a picture of Asher in the same spot… three years later.

So thankful for the gift of a healthy life for him! He’s such a joy to be around! Marcie and I can do absolutely nothing and have the best time, too!

For this week’s Tuesday’s Treasures, I wanted to share a recent commercial design job we’ve been working on for Hometown Healthcare. Part of the design job included redoing the desk in the reception area and building a custom sign with their logo. This isn’t a great picture, but you can get an idea of what the desk and reception area looked like before:

They liked the set up of the reception desk, but it needed a facelift. So we added plywood, a wood strip, and their logo on the front. We also added a new matching work area for the staff that better fit their needs. Here are some of the afters of the desk area:

We also custom built the sign on the wall and worked with Vital Signs in Cohoes for the cut letters. We built the background and installed the letters on the sign.

A huge thank you to Shelly and Casey for choosing FunCycled for this project. We so enjoyed working together!

We have lots of new Christmas and Thanksgiving decor in the store, please be sure to stop by and check it! We also announced on Facebook that we’ll be having an open house and vendor market at our home on December 2nd from 5-9pm. If you’d like to attend, head to our event on Eventbrite and get your free tickets. We are asking for tickets this year to know how many to plan for and there is a limited amount due to the size of our house so the sooner you can head over there to get them, the better.

In addition to the adorable home decor at our store, you can also check out even more new furniture available on our For Sale page.

Black Long Dresser
Red Hutch
Primitive Buffet
Interior Design
Kitchen Cabinet Painting
Bird and Tree Dresser

Please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture.

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our online shop.

Posted on October 25, 2016October 24, 2016 by Sarah

Black Empire Dresser Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends:

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted about going to help my friend Marcie who’s in Atlanta taking care of her 3 year old son Asher after his liver transplant? Well, I didn’t actually go that week! I was proud of myself for getting that post written before I left for the trip – but that plan backfired when I ran out of time to edit it after my change of plans. I ended up needing to reschedule the trip for a couple of weeks because Asher was still in the PICU and visiting during that time would have been tricky. Last week I was finally able to go and man oh man is he doing well! Thank you so much for praying for him!

Marcie doesn’t love having her pic taken but here’s a selfie I asked her to take in the drive through of Starbucks! lol!

We took one day and went to Decatur to walk and window shop. It was fun to get out and spend the day with Marcie, Asher and Piper. Here’s a thumbs up for the healing little guy!

For this weeks furniture makeover, I wanted to show you this beautiful empire dresser. I believe it’s from the late 1800’s. The dovetailing on the drawer sides is unique and of very high quality. It’s really a good-looking piece of furniture.

I bought it from a barn sale in Columbia County. All the money made goes to an orphanage in Mexico. Love giving to a good cause and I hope that you do, too! Here it is before:

We painted it with a black enamel paint, lightly distressed it, added new hardware and sealed it with a protective cleat coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after?

So beautiful, right?? This dresser is available to purchase and you can check out other new furniture for sale on our website here ! If you’d like to purchase it, please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today!

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Posted on October 4, 2016September 21, 2016 by Sarah

For Sale! Antique Organ Turned Into a Desk – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How are you? I’m out of town spending some time with my friend Marcie. Her son Asher has liver cancer and is in a transplant center getting his new liver so I flew into Atlanta to see if I could be a help to her or at least help pass time in the hospital together.

Here’s a picture of Asher and my kiddos a few months:

Please be in prayer for Asher as the healing process is taking longer than anticipated. Also, pray for his mom, dad, two brothers and sister. It’s a hard few months for the family with his mom being away at a hospital.

This week’s furniture makeover has a special place in my heart because I’m a pianist. I went to a barn sale that I go to every year. All the money that they raise, they give to an orphanage in Mexico so I’m also happy to shop and support that!

This is an antique organ which I believe is from the late 1800’s based on other’s I’ve seen online. When we saw it at the sale, someone else had already moved the keys up. We just had to do some finishing touches, paint it and glaze it. Here it is before:
We painted it with Sherman Williams color Rainwashed, glazed it with Valspar’s Antiquing Glaze, and finished it with a satin clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

So beautiful, right?? This desk is available to purchase and you can check out other new furniture for sale on our website here ! If you’d like to purchase it, please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today!

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Posted on March 5, 2015September 4, 2018 by Sarah — 79 Comments

What it’s like being on Flea Market Flip – Part 1

Hi Everyone!!!

We were on HGTV’s Flea Market Flip competition and the show aired on March 1st showing that WE WON! If you missed it you can download it from iTunes here: Happy Flipping Anniversary Or you can watch it on Amazon Prime here: Happy Flipping Anniversary

Fun isn’t even a good enough word to describe what it was like being on the show. It was a dream come true for me. I’d been watching the show for years with my friend, Marcie. We would eat ice cream and drink coffee until all hours of the night watching one DVR’d episode after episode. Marcie urged me to try to get on the show. I really thought there would be no chance at all. We emailed the casting crew and didn’t hear anything back for about 4-5 months. Then they emailed us back and asked us to do a Skype interview. That was AWKWARD at best. Holy cow, I thought for sure there was no way we would be chosen. Have you ever had a Skype interview? Well, then you understand. ;)

When John and I got to the hotel late the night before, I realized I forgot my bathroom bag. Good thing I wasn’t going on TV the next day because I had no hair straightener, shampoo, blow dryer, tooth paste, or deodorant. And I forgot my phone charger and iPad. Oh wait! I WAS going on TV the next day. Do you think I was stressed or nervous? Maybe, just a touch :). I totally begged the front desk for the necessities and made it work. To bed we went and it was one of those night’s when you wake up 100 times to make sure you didn’t miss the ungodly early alarm that was set. A girl must not be late her first time meeting Lara Spencer and miss being on Flea Market Flip. I woke up early and forgot to ask for shampoo so I had to walk to the front desk looking like poop. Who did I meet in the hall while looking like poop? One of the guys working for Flea Market Flip… the sound tech. I found out that was him later when we met at the filming. Oh hi… yeah, you’re the guy in the hall this morning. lol

The first day of filming was a brisk, misty day. We had to be there bright and early (about 6am) to meet our producers and get set for the day.

When we got the the flea market, they wired us with our microphones and we met our producer (each team gets one). There are usually multiple teams being filmed at the same time. I had read on other blogs that you usually get time to look through the flea market to get an idea of what pieces you would like to buy before filming starts. That morning we found out we were the first team up for filming so had no time to check out the flea market. We had never been to the Stormville Flea Market and it’s HUGE. That being said, it was overwhelming! I asked the producer if we could run it for like 10 minutes to get an idea of which direction even had furniture. Every other team would have time to look as they waited for their turn to be recorded. They gave us 10 minutes and we ran! I found a couple things I liked, but you can’t talk to any vendor for any reason. Just look! Continue reading What it’s like being on Flea Market Flip – Part 1

Posted on February 3, 2015February 2, 2015 by Sarah — 3 Comments

Grey Mirrored Dresser For Sale – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi friends!

If you’re reading this and feeling a little blah from another snow storm and more freezing cold temperatures, I’m going to share a little about my sunny visit to Florida last week. Maybe that’s going to make you dislike me, but I’m trusting it won’t. I’m hoping that you’ll love the story and it will distract you a bit from this nasty week in New England.

Last weekend, I went on a trip to see my friend Marcie. On my flight to Florida, I had the rare opportunity to watch the sunset from above the clouds. Maybe for some of you that’s a normal occurrence. It was a first for me, I felt so tiny… way up above the clouds. Filled with awe by the technology we have to be able to be flying… and watching a movie or taking a nap. Just mind blowing. I mean, look at this!
As I was taking this picture the lady next to me asked if we should switch seats since this was probably the 10th picture I had taken (and I was in the middle seat). Annoying I’m sure, I just couldn’t help myself. lol That reminded me of the last trip when I was flying in the dark, but the moon was amazing. I was in the middle seat, yet again, it seems to be my destiny. I snapped a quick shot while the lady next to me was sleeping. Well…. I didn’t realize that my sound and flash were on and it went off right in her face. She literally jumped and screamed in utter fear. I apologized profusely and she was very forgiving, but oh my word it still makes me laugh to think about.

I made it to Tampa and saw my friend Marcie.
Marcie’s a special lady… I could go on and on about all I love about her. I’ve done that a couple times on the blog already so I won’t do it again. She doesn’t like all that mushy gushy stuff anyway. That being said, makes my next story all the more special. I walked into the guest room in Marcie’s house, turned on the lights, and found this.
She had put 31 balloons all over my room and each balloon had a hand written note with something that she loves about me. Coming from a non-mushy gushy kind of person, I knew she went out of her comfort zone to show me love in one of my love languages… words of affirmation. I saved every note. I want to give her a public thanks because things like this mean so very much to me and is what sets her apart as a forever friend in my book.

Asher is almost 2 and he’s Marcie’s youngest son. I was thankful to love on him and be loved by him. You see, he has LCH which is a rare disease that produces cancer in your body. Right now, he has liver cancer. He is a reminder to me that every day is a gift.

And last but certainly not least, I was able to hang out with my friend turned sister in law, Gina. It’s been FOREVER since we’ve had just her and me time. It was so fun!!

My flight was delayed thanks to the snow storm of last week (insert monotone semi annoyed tone here). I was thankful to be stuck in the sun for one more day though. We enjoyed a relaxing day at the beach.
Moving on to the furniture friends. My friends Jen and Steve had a friend who wanted to get rid of this dresser and asked me if I would be interested in it.

I love how large it is with that big beautiful mirror and the marble tops on the two little drawers. It just needed some love… love, I knew I could give it. :)

We painted it using Benjamin Moore’s Dragon’s Breath. If you would like to see how we paint furniture, check out our How To Paint Furniture post. It needed new hardware desperately. I also distressed it lightly to give it an aged feel.
And once again… one of my favorite parts about this piece is IT’s FOR SALE! Check out our Furniture For Sale page to see if it’s still available (if you don’t see it there, it’s not), measurements and pricing.

Happy funcycling friends!

Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address in to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog.

Please sign up today! Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and will also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Posted on January 27, 2015January 26, 2015 by Sarah

If Vera Bradley Had a Hutch – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Maybe I’m completely off base on this, but I think if Vera Bradley was still with us, she would own a hutch like on today’s Tuesday’s Treasures. With the paisley fabric and bright colors, it’s a sophisticated but still fun makeover. Do you agree??

I’m currently stuck in sunny Florida… please try not to feel to bad for me. The noreaster in New England has caused my flight home today to be changed, but I should be home tomorrow. I lalalove visiting my pal Marcie. She moved away a little over a year ago and she’s a rare, special, life long friend. I value her more and more as we are apart but still remain so close. God has taught me so much through her. You can read more about her and a hutch makeover I did for a going away present for her on the post about Marcie’s Black Hutch. I’ll share more about the trip next week when I’m home with my own computer and have more pics to share.

I’m so excited to show you this hutch makeover, too!!! Here she is before.

If you’d like to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. The hutch is painted with Benjamin Moore’s Topeka Taupe 1463 and lightly glazed with Valspar’s antiquing glaze.

Ready for the transformation??