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Interior Design for a Fireman – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!!

How are you? I hope you’re having a great week! I’ve been busier than ever and loving every minute of work. Since it’s been such a hectic week, I need to keep this blog post short and sweet. I think the transformation of these rooms is so amazing that it won’t need many words! We recently wrapped up an interior design job for a local Troy fireman. Corey was awesome to work with and pretty much gave me free reign to design, purchase, and install furniture/decor for his dining and living room.

Here’s the living room before:

We added shiplap, white washed the brick, and painted the tile black. Then I shopped for decor and staged it on the fireplace. John also custom built the ladder to the left of the fireplace.

Next we installed a shelf above the couch and added new decor.

We built custom rustic industrial end stands!

In the dining room we custom built a radiator cover and exposed the rustic, chippy goodness on the radiator.

I don’t have a picture of the whole dining room yet. However, one piece we refinished is this traditional maple buffet. Before;

We took the doors off and replaced them with custom built rough cut wood. I also wanted to add more masculine hardware so I went with leather strap pulls. Then the buffet was painted with Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White, lightly distressed, and finished with a satin protective clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the after?

Such an amazing transformation, right?

Please check out other new furniture for sale on our website here or let us know if you could use some help with decorating. 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.

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Tips for a Trip to the Magnolia Market and Silos Bakery

Hi Friends!!!

We were able to visit Magnolia Market and Silo Baking Company in May! It was a work trip that we have been dreaming about since the Silos opened! As we all know, everything Chip and Joanna touch seems to turn to gold. I didn’t even know who Joanna Gaines was until someone came into our store and said, “Your store reminds me of Magnolia Farms in Texas. We just left there and loved it so much!” That was when they still had their small shop (it’s not open anymore as a store but you can drive by it 3801 Bosque, Waco, Tx). I checked out Jo’s website and designs and felt undeserving of the compliment! They are both so talented!! Check out all their design on Pinterest.

If you are a lover of Fixer Upper, you might want to make a trip to Waco and see the Silo’s for yourself! I’ve compiled some helpful tips for you based on our stay!

The slowest days at the market are Monday’s or Tuesday’s typically. We planned our trip around those days and were so glad we did because it was pretty manageable in the store. Some days there are lines just to get in the store! There are almost always lines to get into the Silo Baking Company. Continue reading Tips for a Trip to the Magnolia Market and Silos Bakery

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Mid Century Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How are you? We had such an amazing week visiting the Silo’s at Magnolia Market in Waco Texas. I’m going to share a post about the trip soon! Stay tuned! Here are a couple sneak pictures to hold you over!

This week’s makeover is easy to explain but it makes such a difference. Here’s the credenza before:

We painted it with a black enamel paint, stained the drawers and base with Rustoleum’s Weathered Gray stain, 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?

Black Mid Century Credenza

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.

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Basement Renovation Project

Hi friends!

This week’s basement makeover has a very special place in my heart. Not only was it our first ever basement renovation, but it also has a wonderful backstory. Will and Jaimie called me in February asking me to come for a design consult. When I got to their house, I asked what their budget was and they said $0. Why would someone hire me when they have no money to redo the space? Well, they wanted a design goal to know how to save. That is actually really smart! People often purchase things within their budget that don’t work for their space to save money. Jaimie and Will were doing the opposite, they wanted to know what would be good and right as the first step so they didn’t waste any time or money. I came up with a design and they came back loving it and letting me know they would save monthly until they could do it one piece and one project at a time. Here’s the basement before:

That sounded like a sensible and smart plan to me and I was thrilled that they liked the design. Fast forward about a month… their sub pump somehow got unplugged and their basement completely flooded. Up to where the sheetrock was cut in the pictures above. I felt so bad for them because insurance covered nothing!!

About a week after they told me about the flooding, someone asked to speak with me because they had heard we had done a design plan for Jaimie and Will. They told us that they wanted to pay to have their basement redone under two conditions: 1) it remained anonymous 2) we did all the work. WOW!!! Big big WOW! I couldn’t even believe what my ears were hearing. To do something so kind and so expensive without wanting any recognition at all and wanting to support a small business… it was the knock-my-socks-off kind of amazing. They said God blessed them and they wanted to bless others! Little did they know that the day before they told me this, I had hired an assistant and was asking God how we were going to swing it financially. This moment for me spoke truth. He will provide if it’s what He wants. Nothing is too hard or too much for God if He’s directing. It gave me such encouragement and strengthened my faith in so many ways.

We went to work! First things first… make a mess!

I helped pick out the flooring color but Jaimie and Will did the installation of the laminate flooring. Originally, we were going to paint the concrete to save money, but a family member donated the flooring so Jaimie could get the flooring she so badly wanted!!

We ripped more of the sheetrock up so we could install the wood on the bottom half of the walls. We used rough cut wood that we lightly sanded and sprayed with grays and whites to give different tones throughout the space.

They already owned the entertainment center and coffee table but we painted them white and added an end stand to the design. Then we used barn board to encase the poles and beam in the basement to add texture and age to the room.

They have limited storage in their house so they wanted to add as much hidden storage as possible. We closed off one closet with a single sliding door.

Then we turned the whole back section into a closet. The right barn door is stationary, just working as a wall but looks like a sliding barn door. The second barn door slides in front of the stationary door to get into the closest. Swoon! 

We also repurposed a hutch for the space! You can read all about that transformation here.

Also, Jaimie is short and adorable! For her job, she needs to use a pedal with her computer. She hasn’t had a work set up so where she can touch the floor. She needed to sit at the end of her couch and have a laptop on her lap so she could reach the pedal. Oh no no! That just won’t do!!! Not in my opinion at least! After 2 hours of searching, I found a chair that would fit the length of her legs. Then we customized this desk for her:

We cut the sides off and extended it out to 6 feet so she had enough room to work on the top but also had storage space on either side. I didn’t get a good “after” picture of this piece but you can see it here:

I didn’t want to waste the old desk top so I repurposed it into an art display station for her kids artwork. Can you see it in the back left of this picture?

Let’s not forget about the cute little electrical outlet door that we made to look like a tiny barn door. Awwwweee!

Then a friend from church heard about the project we were working on and asked to go with me to help pick out decorations for the space and she paid for it all! Talk about blessing after blessing!

Here are some before and after side by side shots for you:

If you love today’s makeover, reach out to us using our Contact Us form to ask us to help you reinvent your space! You can also check out 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’ve 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.

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An Ugly Dresser Upcycled Into a Hutch

Hi Friends!!

How are you? We’ve been loving the interior design projects we’ve undertaken over the last month! For the last two weeks, we’ve been working on a basement renovation. I am hoping to show you the before and after’s of that project next week! This week, I wanted to show you the before and after of a furniture piece that went into the basement.

One of the basement walls was large and empty so we needed an ample sized piece for balance, and then we could add smaller decor/accent items later. We knew we wanted it to be a hutch but when I showed Jaimie (the customer) this picture, she replied with the puking emoji! I knew when I sent it to her that it would take some faith to even imagine we could make it beautiful. It was really, really ugly! Scratched, with gaudy scalloping everywhere and the mirror… ugh, that had to go, too. The good part was, I could picture it beautiful! The hard part? Trying to convince any customer that I could. Thankfully Jaimie was a great sport and said she trusted me and was willing to go for it.

Bad, right? lol! First things first, we removed all the ugly scalloped edges, then filled all the large gouges and scratches with Bondo. Then of course, sanded the heck out of it!! New hardware was a must so we filled the all the holes while we were fixing the scratches, allowing us to choose whatever sized new hardware we wanted. Jaimie’s kids love all things crafty so I switched out the mirror to chalkboard instead. We painted it with Benjamin Moore’s color Gray Mountain and lightly distressed it.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

Such an amazing transformation, right?

Do you have a piece of furniture that’s really ugly?? Let us make it beautiful for you to love for years to come!! You can also 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.

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Navy Dresser Set – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How was your week? We are doing well! We started a complete basement renovation and are trying to wrap it up this week! I can’t wait to show you the before and after pictures. There will be barn doors, wood walls, and all around adorableness!! :)

This week’s furniture makeover is a traditional style, but such a transformation.

Here are the dressers before:

They needed some love, am I right? We sanded them a lot, primed and painted each with Benjamin Moore’s color Old Navy. Then we glazed them using Valspar’s Antiquing gaze, sprayed with a protective clear coat and added new hardware.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

We also painted an adorable end stand to match. :)

Such an amazing transformation, right?

Not only are these pieces currently for sale, but 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.

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Mid Century Modern Hutch ReDesign – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? Ours’ has been great! Feeling healthy and enjoying the sunshine over here. I can’t believe we are already into May!! How has that happened and how is my BABY turning 9 this week?? Time’s flying by!

As for furniture, here’s a beautiful hutch that I had to buy the minute I saw it. These don’t come around often. I loved the lines of the bottom section of the hutch and knew that I wanted to keep a lot of the wood and add a stark contrast with paint.

We deepened the original wood with an ebony stain and painted the other sections using Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

Mid Century Modern Hutch

Such an amazing transformation, right?

Not only is this hutch currently up for sale, but 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.

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Sitting Room Redesign

Hi Friends!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great week and were able to enjoy spring break with your littles – if you have kids in school. :) We were still fighting off a nasty cold (probably flu) here at our house. I finally feel like myself today and I’m so excited to get caught back up on work and life. It’s been a long two weeks of sickness at the Trop’s!

If you stopped by last week, you saw Noreen’s Dining Room Makeover and today we’re moving on to her sitting room. Here it is before:

This little sitting room was tricky because of the size. Trying to figure out how to make it a usable space while trying to reuse Noreen’s furniture made it a design that had to be tweaked a couple different times. We started with benches against the wall and two chairs on the left with a round rug. It didn’t work at all so I asked Noreen if she would let me start from scratch without using any of her furniture. She so graciously let me go for it and here’s what the original design board looked like!

Sitting Room Design

I loved the idea of a comfy love seat and centering it to the window. Unfortunately, I’m not giving away all of the info about the chosen design elements simply because it takes a lot of time and research to come up with wall colors and find products, that’s why you should hire me to help you. :) I did want to give you some visuals for those who want to do the research yourselves.

I was able to find a less expensive love seat that I liked even more than the original design plan at our local Home Goods. Noreen also wanted to reuse a table she already owned which is a little smaller than I would have picked, but in person it didn’t seem out of scale with the room’s size.  Decorating while watching your bottom line, isn’t about being cheap, it’s about considering options and making informed decisions. You don’t have to replace everything to make a space feel new again.

Ready for the after?


 

If you love today’s makeover, reach out to us using our Contact Us form to ask us to help you reinvent your space! You can also check out 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’ve 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.

 

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Transitional Interior Design Project

Hi Friends!

I usually show you before and after of furniture makeovers on the blog, but today I thought I’d mix it up a bit and show you an interior design job. I’ve been working on this project with Noreen since November. Design takes time and I’ve so enjoyed working with Noreen during these past few months. She trusted me on some decisions she wasn’t sure about and also was willing to make adjustments that made a huge impact on the final look

Here’s the dining room before:

Unfortunately, I’m not giving away all of the info about the chosen designs simply because it takes a lot of time and research to come up with wall colors and find products, that’s why you should hire me to help you. :) I did want to step you through how it works and also give you some visuals for those who want to do the research yourselves.

When I looked at the dining room (the room with the rug), I loved the rug but knew it needed to be bigger to anchor the space. Noreen returned it and upgraded to the next size up.

Here’s the design board for her room:

Dining Room Design

As you walk into the room, your eyes wanted to go to the far wall, but it was lacking in wow factor. I wanted to make the room feel like it kept going so I went with a dark blue/gray/teal color and then changed the other three walls to a warm, brown friendly gray.

I so badly wanted Noreen to get a hutch for the large wall because I knew that would send this design out of the park! I took a risk and bought this hutch without Noreen knowing and practically begged her to buy it for the space. :) She did and I’m so glad!!

Here it is after:  

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

We also custom built the table:

The rest we let Noreen know where to purchase (light, picture, chairs).

Here’s the room after:

Next week I’ll continue her design by sharing the before and after pictures of her sitting room… here’s the before (get ready for the after):

If you love today’s makeover, reach out to us using our Contact Us form to ask us to help you reinvent your space! You can also check out 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’ve 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.

 

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Mid Century Modern Painted Hutch – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends,

How was your week? It’s been great here! A bit crazy trying to keep up with everything, but that’s life for most of us, right?! I was able to work on my first ever commercial design job this week. It was so much different than home design but I really enjoyed it, too! They loved the designs and I’ll be doing three new rooms next!

Also, big new on the FunCycled front… at long last, we finally hired an assistant for me! Pam will be running the store with my mom and helping me with all back end customer service work.

Thanks to her, we have new store hours!! 

This week’s furniture makeover has a cool story! We bought this from a barn sale that raises money for an orphanage in Haiti. When we bought it, I really couldn’t picture what to do with it. It sat in my storage unit for months and months and months. I asked John to prep a mid century hutch for the store and he thought I meant this one. I didn’t. When I came out to look at it, I said, that’s not the one I wanted! I can’t picture the design for that one yet. John smiled and said, “Well, it’s all prepped so time to make yourself figure out a design.” He was right, it was high time.

I had recently redone a buffet with similar lines, and I thought this piece could look great in the same finish.

We painted the box with Benjamin Moore’s color Urban Bronze, glazed it and finished with a semi-gloss clear coat. For the drawers, we lightly sanded then stained them a light gray. I love the stripe on the drawers to make it look even more retro! Then we added new hardware.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters?

Gray Mid Century Dresser

Such an amazing transformation, right?

This hutch is available to purchase; 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’ve 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.