I’m a little later in the day posting about this week’s Tuesday’s Treasures. I’m wearing a few too many hats this week, but no worries! We’ll get through this! ;)
I wanted to show you a makeover from furniture that came from a FunCycled fan, Bill! Thank you, Bill! It went to our friends Kevin and Deb’s home in Averill Park! They were looking for a set to bring their newly built dining room together. We actually made the base of the hutch a buffet and use the buffet as a base for the hutch top. I liked how it made it feel bigger and we could refinish the buffet top, but we wouldn’t have been able to refinish the hutch top.
Here’s the set before:
We painted the inside of the hutch top with Benjamin Moore’s Navajo White, the outside Blue Heron CC-840 and glazed it, refinished the top, added new hardware, and sprayed it with a protective clear coat.
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.
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.
I’m so excited to share with you the living room makeover at our airbnb. It was a huge change from what we started with. Here it was the day we went to look at the building to buy it.
Living Room Before Living Room Before
We started by ripping up the plywood floor and finding beautiful hard wood flooring that we could refinish. Love when that happens!
Hidden Hardwood Floors
We painted all the walls and trim Simply White by Benjamin Moore. We also added a new framed out area by the TV.
FunCycled Stays Airbnb Living Room
We also did a backer board shiplap in the entertainment area and built barn board shelves to add texture and dimension. The coffee table is a repurposed lobster crate with a glass top, and the leather chairs are so soft and comfy. We also added blind for privacy and more texture. I love the mid century modern light in this room to make everything pop. It adds color and a lot of light in the evening.
FunCycled Stays Airbnb Living Room FunCycled Stays Airbnb Living Room
FunCycled Stays Airbnb Living Room
It would mean so much if you would share this link with any friend you think might be interested. You can book your stay on Airbnb’s website today!
We loved being able to do all the design for this space. We focused on using as much repurposed items we could for accents and furniture throughout the space! Making it green, beautiful, and one of a kind for your home away from home stay.
If you’d like me to help you with design in your home (can be done virtually to help anyone in the US) or if you see anything in the photos you’d like in your home locally, let me know. We made most of the signs ourselves and build many of the furniture items throughout the space.
How was your weekend? I hope everyone enjoyed it! This week, I’m sharing one of my favorite style furniture makeovers. This style takes a certain type of dresser to start with. The dresser needs to have a frame on each drawer front so it can be removed and have space for the barn board.
Here are the dressers before:
Dresser BeforeDresser Before
We repainted them with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White paint, installed barn board on the front of each door and drawer, lightly distressed them, and sprayed it all with a protective clear coat. We also added new hardware.
What do you think? If you’d like to purchase it, check out our shop to see if this set is still available.
This set is available to purchase! Contact us to purchase!
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.
How are you? I hope your weekend went well! We had a nice weekend – more low key than normal but still sweet. We worked on projects at the airbnb and at the house.
This week I’m sharing a recent kitchen cabinet project that shows how much a professional paint job can enhance a kitchen. Here’s some photos of the kitchen before:
We painted the cabinets with Benjamin Moore paint; color Simply White, sealed it with a water based protective clear coat, and added new hardware. The island is painted BM’s Kendall Charcoal. One thing I like about this transformation is that it really showcases how much painting your kitchen cabinets can change the look of the room. In this case, the tile, counter, stools, lights, and all appliances stayed the same.
Ready for the after photos?
Simply White Kitchen Cabinets and Kendall Charcoal IslandSimply White Cabinets with Oil Rubbed Bronze Hardware
A huge thanks to Sasha for sending the business our way!! It means so much to us!
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.
BIG NEWS! In honor of Earth Day in April, we’re calling on all our awesome FunCyclers to join the repurposing movement and get a chance to win free things! It’s winter in upstate, with not much to do thanks to COVID, so why not take the extra time you have and repurpose something?? Then share it with us! We want everyone to come together and inspire others to reuse and recycle.
It doesn’t have to be furniture, just find something old and create something new!Please send before and after pictures of your repurposed creation to repurpose@funcycled.com by March 31st. We’ll then post all of those photos on our page for you to share – the most liked photo will win the People’s Choice Award. We’ll also have a panel of judges who will pick the Grand Prize and the Close Contender award. Winners will be announced the week of Earth Day.
For this week’s makeover, I thought I’d step you through what a typical design job looks like for me. I’ve been really busy with design work and I love it for so many reasons. I love designing and I love people. So it’s a joy to be filling my days with beautiful things and beautiful souls. I don’t think I share enough about this part of our business. Often because I don’t always get finished pictures of the space if the client opts to do the set up themselves.
Let’s jump right into a bedroom makeover for a client who I’ve worked with in the past, Tammy! She hired us to help with her living room makeover a couple of years ago and she just decided it was time for her bedroom makeover next.
When a client reaches out for a design consult, I start with a one hour in person (or virtual) consult where we talk through their style and the colors that would or wouldn’t be ok for the space. I try to see what can be reused and repurpose in the space, talk through the budget, and finalize what has to go and what can stay.
Here’s what I started with on the consult day with Tammy.
Bedroom Before Bedroom Before
Once we have the answer to those questions, I can either make recommendations during the consult or I can do more design work offsite. I can create a design board which basically puts together all the different design elements for the space. A client can then click on any word in the board to bring them to a website where they can order the products and create the new room themselves or they can order the items and I can come back to set up and install everything for them. In this case, Tammy opted to have us do the install as well.
What Tammy wanted to stay: ✔️ The tan wall to wall carpet ✔️ The ceiling fan
What could go: ✔️ Everything else!
Here’s a quick look at her design board to see what I mean when I describe it. This is just a photo of the design board so the links aren’t included.
Owner’s Suite Design Board with Mission Style Furniture and Navy Accent Wall
One thing Tammy had asked me about was if her furniture was worth redoing. While I was there, I looked it over. It had dovetail drawers, all the drawers slid smoothly, and the style worked with the overall design board so I recommended painting all of it to give it an updated finish. It’s amazing what paint can do to repurpose almost anything.
We started by redoing the furniture while Tammy ordered everything on the design board (except the silhouette photos). It was just over a month turn around time for this complete makeover.
One of the big questions for Tammy when I looked at the space was the carpet. It’s very tan and also had some aging, but they didn’t want to replaced it just yet. Flooring can eat up a huge part of the budget. So I recommended layering a rug. Often clients don’t know that this can be an option and question whether it will look right. In this case, it saved so much for other items and the area rug pulled the whole design together. We both loved how the layered rug look turned out.
Navy, Cream and Gray Bedroom Design with Layering an Area Rug Over Wall to Wall Carpet Painted Mission Style Furniture Wooden Roman Shades with Cream and Gray Curtains
When you’re looking to add some visual interest with your windows, you can install blinds and curtains. It’ll make the room darker when everything is closed up, but it will also add quite a bit of texture. In this space, the wooden blinds brought warm brown tones together with cream and gray curtains. We also brought the curtains up and out a bit so we could add curtain clips which also added a lot of interest and allowed us to install two panel instead of one panel per window on the larger wall. This filled the wall significantly and made it a focal point instead of a forgotten area in the room.
Bohemian Style Bedding with Mission Style Furniture
The bedding continued to bring the tan color into the space from the rug, but in an trendy, beautiful way. I love this bedding!
We also added a shelf above the headboard. As you walk into the room, this is the first wall you see so I wanted it to be a bit of a statement.
Shelf Above Headboard
Here are some quick side by side photos for easy sharing and comparing!
Before and After Bedroom Makeover Before and After – Painted Mission Style Furniture
The installation part – going from basically an empty room to hangin the curtains, blinds, shelves, shelf, staging the shelf, and making the bed took 2 people 2 hours. I recommend this part if you’re looking to have a staged, finished, complete look.
Thank you so much for the business, Tammy! I enjoyed working with you on this project.
If you’re looking for some design help in your home, please reach out to me! You can use our Contact Us form start the process of help with design work in your home. Check out our Interior Design page for more information about the process. Or see some of our past design projects on our Portfolio Page.
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.
I recently went to Waco, TX to explore all the changes at Magnolia. If you are a big Chip and Jo fan like I am, you’ve seen the new shops online, the old church they just had rebuilt on the property, Magnolia Press, Magnolia Home, and so much more! I usually go to Waco every year to check out what’s new and get new design inspiration. The 2020 COVID pandemic made me miss a year, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me in 2021. I’ve already had COVID in the last three months so I wasn’t as worried about traveling during this time. For those of you who are thinking about a trip there in the middle of the pandemic, I thought I’d share my experience so you can know what to expect (or at least what I experienced).
If you want to read more tips and tricks about traveling to Waco, check out our other blog post here!
First, let me start with the stay! I LOVED staying at the Gathering Oaks Retreat Center while in Waco. It’s clean, cute, away from the city a bit, and when you turn left onto the main road to head into Waco from the retreat center, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ house is on the right. It’s basically across the street from this property! When you’re in Waco for all things Chip and Jo, that’s the best way to start the day, I’d say.
We stayed in one of their tiny houses and it’s SO ADORABLE. It was comfy and had everything we needed to relax at night.
The tiny house we stayed in!
A huge thank you to Lacy and Brandon for having me stay this trip!
The first thing I wanted to do while in Waco, since I’ve been there many times before, was find the house where Joanna Gaines records her new cooking show.
I had to call in some help from my friend Carrie because I was having troubling finding it. It’s actually only about 10 minutes past the Gathering Oaks Retreat Center. Pop in the address 401 E Avenue A, Valley Mills, TX 76689 and it’ll bring you right to the house. It’s private property so don’t actually try to go onto the property (even if you really want to like I wanted to!) lol.
I also couldn’t wait to check out the new Magnolia Home store. I have recommended so many rugs, pillows, furniture, and more from her product lines. So to see it all in person felt like Disney to me! It was beautiful.
Connected to the Magnolia Home store is the new Magnolia Press coffee shop.
At this point… I wanted to scream, “Is there anything they don’t do well??”. It was stunning. The lavender latte was sublime. The staff were all so friendly. I couldn’t get enough of all of it! The space sparkled with vintage charm. Hunter green and gold complimented each other in the most sophisticated way. Geometric patterns and pops of white sharpened the designs and brought it into 2021 trends that also feel completely timeless. Well done, to the team at Magnolia Press. You knocked it out of the park!
Another new favorite for me was the church building that they moved to the center of the new section on the Magnolia property. It’s a quiet place for reflection, prayer, or to sit and chat with friends. It’s absolutely stunning. If you’d like to read more about the history of moving the church to this location head here.
If you look to the right of the church in the picture above, you’ll see a grouping of new small shops. They are on both sides of this area. All of them are owned by Chip and Joanna, but they all have different names. The names each have special meaning to Chip and Jo (ask the workers in each store and they’ll tell you the story behind the name). This was another really fun new addition to Magnolia. I loved the jewelry shop and craft supply store. Both are filled with items that you won’t find at most stores so it feels local and small business even though it’s not.
Of course the iconic Silos, food trucks, and main Magnolia Market never disappoint. I would say the difference in these areas compared to other years – the staff was a little quieter (I’m guessing because of the masks), they didn’t have staff to take your pictures (probably because of COVID). It was hard to get good pictures, and the main store felt not quite as filled or staged as it was in other years. I hate to even sound like I’m complaining because I still loved it, but this year that was the main difference. The mantles weren’t decorated with as much detail, the jewelry corner was gone, Chip’s corner was gone, and the back area was a bit sparse. I’m guessing that’s because they are using many of those items in the smaller shops now so it may take time to fill in and fill up the larger market. The prices seemed higher to me this year, too.
The front display at the market was beautiful though!
The lines weren’t bad and they were keeping good track of who came in and out to keep the numbers low. We waited only about 10 minutes to get into the Market. They require everyone to wear masks once you get into the entire area (outside grounds, too) so expect that while you’re there. Obviously, you can take them off while you’re eating at the tables, but no where else. The seating area is much larger and the grass area has been expanded by the food trucks so it looks really beautiful!
OF COURSE we had to go to the Magnolia Table while we were visiting… twice actually. lol The food was just as amazing! The staff wasn’t quite as perky as they usually are, but still good. The wait was about 45 minutes each time. You can make reservations now which I wish I knew before I went because I would have made them ahead of time. Make yours here. We waited 45 minutes the first time and 30 minutes the second time.
A huge thanks to my sister in law, Tasha, for joining me on this last minute trip, enduring my endless photographing and excitement, and enjoying it right along side me! My girl! 💕
I’d say you could easily spend 2-3 days in Waco and have plenty to do if you’re a Fixer Upper fan! It’s so relaxing and fun! If you have any other favorite spots in Waco, please share them in the comments below!
This Tuesday’s Treasures makeover is for my dear friend Christy. She’s been wanting her kitchen cabinets painted for a while now and asked for painted cabinets for her Christmas present this year. I love the transformation and love that this gift will be one that keeps on giving for years and years.
Here’s her kitchen before:
We painted the cabinets with EVO Gemini paint; color Simply White by Benjamin Moore, sealed it with a water based protective clear coat, and added new hardware. The island and desk is painted BM’s Chelsea Gray. One thing I like about this transformation is that it really showcases how much painting your kitchen cabinets can change the look of the room. In this case, the tile, counter, stools, lights, and all appliances stayed the same.
Ready for the after photos?
Kitchen Cabinets Painted Simply White and Chelsea gray by Benjamin Moore Black Granite Counters With Black Hardware and White Kitchen Cabinets Gray Wood Plank Tile Backsplash with Black Granite Counters and White Cabinets Simply White Painted Cherry CabinetsBenjamin Moore Chelsea Gray Desk Area with Fine FinishBenjamin Moore Chelsea Gray Desk Area Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray Desk AreaBlack and Gray Granite with Simply White Cabinets and Flat Black Hardware
A huge thanks to Nate and Christy for sending the business our way!! It means so much to us!
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!
Also, you can stop by our showroom to view cabinet options and check out some the furniture for sale:
Custom Built Barn Doors
Gray Hutch
Black and Wood Front Vanity
Custom Built Tables
Gray Secretary Desk
Teal and Wood Buffet
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.
Even though we’ve been in business for 9 years now, we still get asked if we will paint furniture that our clients own. The answer is yes! We have a professional grade air sprayer and can get a beautiful finish for your treasured furniture! This week’s Tuesday’s Treasures is a perfect example of that.
Joseph reached out to us to see if we could paint this buffet.
We were happy to help him with this project! We ended up painting the base Gray Shower 2125-30 by Benjamin Moore. Then we sanded and stained the top with classic gray by Minwax. Joseph wanted to keep the original hardware. Then we sprayed the whole piece with protective clear coat.
This was done as a custom order so it’s not for sale, but you can check out new pieces on our For Sale page:
Custom Signs
Kitchen Cabinet Painting
Black with Wood Front Dressers
Gray Hutch
Interior Design
White Buffet with Wood Top
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.
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!
