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Delray Gray Painted Oak Kitchen Cabinets

Hi Friends!

How are you? I hope you had a nice weekend! We had a lovely weekend – not overly jam packed which was nice. We set our alarms for 6am on Saturday morning to get ready and make an hour drive to meet our friends at Buck Hill Farm for breakfast. We’ve been wanting to go for about a year and finally were able to set a date with friends that work for both of us.

On Buck Hill farm, they raise pigs, chickens, and make maple maple syrup and honey. They serve breakfast only on Saturday or Sunday and most things on the menu are from their very own farm. I tried my first ever glass of maple milk. The sausage was so delicious. I had blackberry pancakes and sausage, John and Josh had sausage and gravy over biscuits , and they even had gluten free pancakes for Harmony. Win for all of us! If you’re up for a morning drive, I definitely recommend giving this a try.

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to share a kitchen makeover from this past summer. This oak kitchen cabinet style is pretty common in this area. Check out how you can make a huge transformation by painting the cabinets a medium gray color.

Here’s the kitchen before:

We painted the kitchen cabinets Delray Gray by Benjamin Moore, sprayed them with a protective clear coat, and added new hardware.

If you’d like to see how we paint Kitchen Cabinets, click here to check out our video on YouTube.

Ready for the after photos? 

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services or a quote for painting your kitchen. Please check out other kitchen projects on our For Sale page. We’ll need to see a picture of your kitchen, a list of how many doors and drawers there are, and where you are located to email you an estimate. This change ups the value of your home and gives you a whole new look at a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets!

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 ;)

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Hale Navy Cherry Bedroom Set For Sale

Hi Friends!

How are you? I’ve had a busy week so I’m a little behind on writing up this week’s blog post. Thanks for being patient with me. :) Last week, we went on a homeschool field trip to Old Sturbridge Village. It was the perfect fall day and we had the BEST time! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

This week, I want to share a transformation for a bedroom set that I love!

Here it was before:

We painted the boxes with Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy and then heavily distressed them. Then we sanded down the top and put a protective clear coat over it. I loved how the wood looked naturally with no stain. We also added all new hardware! If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the after photos?

This dresser set is available now to purchase! Head to our Shop Page to check them out! 

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 ;)

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Gray French Provincial Dresser for Sale

Hi Friends,

How are you? I hope your weekend was beautiful! Remember my blog post last week about travel? Well, last weekend, we were able to travel to Stratton Mountain Resort to enjoy a little getaway with our friends Mark and MaryGrace. MaryGrace and I both had birthday’s in the last couple of weeks so we decided to get away to enjoy time together for our birthdays. We went to the Hildene, shopped and ate our way through Manchester, VT, and enjoyed all of the fall foliage!! Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

For this week’s furniture makeover, I wanted to share this French Provincial Dresser that we recently redid for our store. Here it is before:

We painted the hardware white and painted the boxes Stone Gray by Benjamin Moore. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after photos?

This dresser is available now to purchase! Head to our Shop Page to check them out! 

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 ;)

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Traveling – a secret to staying in business (without going mad)

Hi Friends!

Wanna have a little chat about small business stuff? Most of the time I talk about pretty makeovers and I rarely talk about being a small business owner. Well, since we’re hitting the 10 years in business mark in just a couple months, I thought maybe it would be helpful to talk about some helpful tips that have kept us sane over the last 10 years.

I was at a food walking tour in Atlanta this weekend when a stranger (Tara) asked me what the hardest thing about owning my own business is. Even though I wouldn’t change it for the world, there are quite a few challenges in owning your own business. Especially a family run business where both spouses work together.

So after (probably a longer than I’d like awkward pause), I said two of the hardest things.

  1. Home feels like work not a resting place. Many people (until the pandemic perhaps) have had home feel like a resting place. Well, for an entrepreneur who works from home, it’s the exact opposite. I WANT home to feel restful and calm, but it simply doesn’t. There are projects staring me in the face, piles of paperwork, and my laptop begging for my time. Because if I don’t do it today, it just makes for a busier tomorrow.
  2. It’s hard on friendships. Being the extrovert that I am, I had to go from being the initiator with friends to waiting for most friends to plan getting together. Because I’m too busy to coordinate it all. Which means… I’ve lost friends because I’m so busy, but it also means I’ve found more intentional friendships. Often they are the hardest working, busiest women I know, but we work hard to be intentional and make time DESPITE the busy.

I’l save the friendship post for another day, but for today we’ll talk about travel.

People have said to me in the past that they think sometimes travel is way for people to escape life. For me, that’s just not it. I love being a designer; I love helping people make their homes beautiful. I love painting, creating, repurposing. It’s just not what I love MOST. I love my people most. My family, my friends, my own soul. To keep those things healthy, for me, I need to get the heck out of my house so I can truly unplug, soak up those beautiful people in my life, and enjoy new adventures with them.

You may be thinking that you just started your business and you’re broke; there’s no way you can afford to travel. Trust me. I get it. We really lived one sale at a time at the beginning with nothing in savings at all. So how did we do it? We went to visit friends quite a bit. A good friend would love for you to visit and that’s free. We’d grab groceries on the way so we didn’t have to eat out much. It’s about unplugging from work. We also went camping, shared a house with family to make it more doable for all of us. We never flew; we always drove to save money. We did what it took!

If you can’t get away for the weekend, plan a day trip away from work/home. You can pack a picnic or go on a hike. Go on a photo adventure where you just look for pretty scenery and take photos while driving the day away. Best photo gets an icecream. We chase sunsets. So many free options that can be impactful and memorable for you or your family.

You know what now? I have kids who would pick an adventure over a present any day for their birthdays. They love doing fun things. We have all these memories/moments in time where we stopped to enjoy our beautiful earth, our friends, our family.

In small business, you’ll need to set aside time for getting away from home. Budget it in as best you can. If you are in business and have creative ways that you’ve traveled without spending a lot, please share those in the comments.

So as I soaked up Atlanta this past weekend with my dear friend, Nicolle, (who also owns a retail shop). Check her amazing store out Blue Bird Home Decor. We both talked about how traveling helps us rest, fills us up, and brings us back to doing what we love with new creativity, energy, and joy.

If you’re headed to Atlanta anytime soon, I highly recommend these fun stops:

Ponce City Market
Krog Street Market
The Roof
Atlanta Bus Tour
Take a walk on The Beltline

We both LOVED Atlanta for its delicious food, beautiful old homes, the tours, and all the trees throughout the city. It’s so beautiful!!!

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 ;)

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Demo Day Magnolia Painted Bedroom Set with White Washed Top

Hi Friends!

How are you? We are doing really well!

This week, I wanted to share a bedroom set makeover that I really love. We took this set:

The dresser and armoire both looked like giant faces to me. I just couldn’t take it. Hahha So we removed what looked like the nose and eyebrows on the dresser and the eyebrows on the armoire.

Then we painted each piece with Magnolia’s Demo Day, sanded and stained the tops and the front of the legs with a white wash, and added new hardware.

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

This bedroom set is available now to purchase! Head to our Shop Page to check them out! 

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 ;)

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Amherst Gray Kitchen Cabinets with a Shiplap Peninsula

Hi Friends,

We just got back from a beautiful week in Ocean City, Nj. This is our 13th year going back there and it’s the vacation that the kids and I look forward to most. We bask in the sun, shop the boardwalk, go to the zoo, have cheese nights and date nights, and it really couldn’t be more glorious.

Speaking of couldn’t be more glorious… when I walked into this kitchen once it was finished, it took my breath away!! I couldn’t believe how different it looked!

Here’s the kitchen before:

Kitchen Before
Kitchen Before
Kitchen Before

Ann Marie hired me to do an in person design consult to start the process of the kitchen design. She was such a delight to work with every step of the way. We talked through taking down the partial walls and creating a peninsula instead to open up the room. Then we wrapped the whole island with shiplap.

We also added crown molding to the cabinets to make them feel higher end and finished. I recommended adding hardware as well to give the cabinets more visual interest.

Cabinet Color: Amherst Gray by Benjamin Moore
Wall color: Balboa Mist

Sprayed the cabinets with a satin clear coat on top.

If you’d like to see how we paint kitchen cabinet, check out our YouTube video tutorial.

Ready for the afters??

Gray Shiplapped Peninsula
Add crown molding to oak cabinets

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services or a quote for painting your kitchen. Please check out other kitchen projects on our For Sale page. We’ll need to see a picture of your kitchen, a list of how many doors and drawers there are, and where you are located to email you an estimate. This change ups the value of your home and gives you a whole new look at a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets!

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.

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Kitchen Cabinet Painting and Shiplapped Island

Hi Friends!

Maureen worked with us for a custom furniture piece way back in 2014, and she reached out to us earlier this year to help her with interior design and to redo her kitchen. Her one main question was “Can I update my kitchen without replacing the counters?” As you all know, replacing the counters in a large kitchen can eat up a lot of the renovation budget. In this kitchen, we could definitely make it work! This is a fairly common granite style in kitchen in upstate NY so you I’m hoping many of you find this helpful.

Here’s the kitchen before:

Maureen started by hiring me for a design consult where we could talk through what she did and didn’t like about her kitchen.

Here are some changes that may seem small but make a big impact:
1. We painted the kitchen cabinets Simply White by Benjamin Moore.
2. We installed all new subway tile.
3. We removed the tile above the hood vent and kept it just below the vents.
4. She’s also adding new island lighting, but they weren’t in yet when I came to photograph.
5. We added shiplap to the back and side of the island and painted it Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin More for a nice contrast.

We painted the kitchen cabinets Simply White by Benjamin Moore.

Ready for the after photos? 

We removed the tile above the hood vent and kept it just below the vents.
We painted the kitchen cabinets Simply White by Benjamin Moore.
We installed all new subway tile.
We added shiplap to the back and side of the island and painted it Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin More for a nice contrast.

A huge thanks to Maureen for choosing to work with us on this project. We spent so much time having fun and laughing as we designed. She’s a smart, fun person to work with!

Could your kitchen use an update? We’d love to help!! We can help pick out colors, finishes, product and do the cabinet painting, tiling, add new hardware. You can use our Contact Us form to request our design services or a quote for painting your kitchen. Please check out other kitchen projects on our For Sale page. We’ll need to see a picture of your kitchen, a list of how many doors and drawers there are, and where you are located to email you an estimate. This change ups the value of your home and gives you a whole new look at a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets!

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 ;)

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Barn Board Dresser Set for Sale

Hi Friends!

How are you?? The kids started school today. This year, we’re doing a bit of a hybrid program where the kids will be in school 2 days a week and working at home 3 days a week. I’m hopeful that this gives me more time to get work done while also giving them more social interaction than last year. I’m excited to see how they do and we’ll adjust accordingly. One thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that we are going to take one year, heck, one semester at a time and make changes if needed. It’s definitely tricky running a business and homeschooling kids, but I also love having them around so I’m hoping this will be a win, win!

Look how grown up they are!! I can’t believe they were only 2 and 3 when I started FunCycled and now they are 12 and 13!! They are both an absolute joy and gift!

Josh – 8th Grade
Harmony – 7th Grade

For this week’s furniture makeover, I’m sharing this barn board dresser set that we use added to our Furniture For Sale page.

Check them out before:

Tall Dresser Before
Long Dresser Before

To be able to add barn board to the front of a dresser, you need to find dressers with what looks like picture framing around each drawer. That gives enough depth to remove the trim and add barn board to the drawer.

We did that to both of these dressers, added this new hardware, and painted the boxes Simply White by Benjamin Moore. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after photos?

Barn Board Front Dresser For Sale
Barn Board Tall Dresser For Sale

This dresser set is available now to purchase! Head to our Shop Page to check them out! 

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 ;)

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Shared Spaghetti Dinner How To!

Hi Friends!

I know, I know, this doesn’t sound like my normal blog post. It’s true! This isn’t about furniture, kitchen makeovers, or design, but this is about something fun that I’ve wanted to do for 3 years! We finally did it! I was at a fall festival about 3 years go where they had a shared spaghetti dinner that you could buy tickets for. I LOVED watching it all happen and wished that I had bought a ticket myself. They poured the spaghetti down the table, poured meat and sauce on top, and then passed around loaves of bread for people to rip off a piece of it. Everyone pulled some of the spaghetti from the center of the table and enjoyed a feast with their friends.

It was so much fun so I thought I’d share in case any of you would like to try it yourself!

First – get some fold up tables and buy plastic table cloths. We bought these:

I picked golden rod from my yard and put it in a mason jar. Then pilled fresh Italian bread all around it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and butter.

John boiled the spaghetti 6 pounds at a time in a huge pot, added oil to keep it from sticking, and kept it on low in the oven to keep it warm. We started by pouring all the spaghetti out on the table. We had 19 people over and we made 12 pounds of regular spaghetti and 2 pounds of gluten free spaghetti, 5 jars of sauce mixed with tomatoes from our garden, and about 12 pounds of meat. We did 3 tables, one for adults, and two for the kids. One of the kids tables was all gluten free to that our daughter Harmony could enjoy it without having to worry about cross contamination or without feeling left out. We also added sausage and meatballs on top! With that much food there was SO MUCH left over, but that’s ok. We sent our friends home with lots of left overs. We also asked our friends to bring a salad to share and an Italian dessert to share. 💕

Step 1 Spaghetti!

Step 2 Add the Meat

(or veggies if you don’t eat meat)

Step 3 Add the Sauce

(sprinkle some PARMESAN Cheese on top)
Shared Spaghetti Dinner
Shared Spaghetti Dinner

The Best Part! INVITE FRIENDS

Oh, and Don’t Forget to Play Italian Music

That may sound like a silly last step, but it really sets the mood!

When I told some friends about this idea, they wrinkled up their nose and said… ew. Sharing food. Gross!!! So let’s talk about that for a second. There really isn’t as much sharing as you’d think. If you’re scared of others germs, just pull a large amount from the center and then you won’t have to grab any more. It’s basically just like eating without a plate. Oh, and be sure to be the first to grab the Italian bread if you don’t like people touching your food. :)

We also had fresh Parmesan ready for the top of the spaghetti if anyone wanted it.

It definitely made for a fun and memorable night! I loved it so much and think it’s definitely worth trying if this sounds even slightly fun to you! The clean up is the easiest part! Just toss the table cloth and everything else you don’t want at the end!

Maybe I’ll have to try the shared nacho night next! We’ll see!! :)

Oh, and if you came for a before and after of furniture, I don’t want you to be disappointed.

This is a dresser that we just added to our Furniture Shop page. You can purchase it online or in the store.

Before:

Before
After
After

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 ;)

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Chelsea Gray Hutch Makeover

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? This week, I want to share a custom order that we just wrapped up for Lisa. She had this hutch and it desperately need a rehab.

We painted it Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Gray, sprayed it with a clear coat, and added all new hardware.

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

This dresser isn’t available to purchase, but we have other beautiful pieces on our shop page! 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 ;)