Blog - Page 31 of 81 - FunCycled - Interior Design, Kitchen Cabinet Painting, Furniture Repurposing in Upstate NY

Posted on July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Design and Cabinet Painting

Hi Friends!

How was your holiday weekend? We had such a beautiful weekend. Last week, we were suppose to be on vacation for our family camping trip, but it was canceled because the camp site closed from COVID restrictions. We decided to hunker down and do long days at the new building trying to make good progress on the #funcycledstays airbnb. A big thank you to the friends, family, and neighbors who helped make it a fun week for my kids while we worked hard. Over the weekend, we unplugged and spent some much needed time relaxing with family. Kayaking, picnics, and lots of swimming. 💕

At #funcycledstays, we finished redoing the floors, painted almost all the walls, added new window trim, baseboard, and wood beams. We also painted new kitchen cabinets and ordered everything we need to do the finish work. We installed all new lighting throughout the space and that made the biggest difference in my opinion. I can’t wait to show it all to you! Here’s one sneak peak picture for now:

In this picture, you can see the window trim, barn wood, refinished floors, and baseboard. I also created a faux concrete wall straight ahead. I’m really happy with how that came out!

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to share a project for our client, Kelly, who asked me to design their kitchen, family room, dining room, living room, and then this week the exterior colors for their home, and entry way. I’ve so enjoyed working with her every step of the way and being able to see some of the progress last week was so fun!

Here’s the kitchen before:

During her 1 hour design consult, we picked out new flooring, lighting, colors for the cabinets and overall look for the room. She didn’t even need a design board for this room (other rooms we did a design board and I’ll share those more later).

We painted the cabinets with Benjamin Moore’s Advanced paint; color Simply White, sealed it with a water based protective clear coat, and added new hardware.

Ready for the afters?

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!

Check out some fun new furniture for sale in our store now:

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 June 30, 2020June 29, 2020 by Sarah

Child’s Rocking Chair Makeover

Hi Friends!

How are you? I hope your weekend was sweet. The rain in NY slowed us down a bit which I think was a good thing. Our bodies needed one less busy day over the weekend. We’ve been putting in long hours from working on the airbnb which has been fun, but slower paced day felt really good on Sunday.

This week, I wanted to share with you a quick child’s rocker that is being kept in the family and passed from one generation to another. Patty is now passing this piece down to her expecting daughter for them to use for years to come.

I forgot to take a before picture of the rocking chair, but here are the afters!

We painted with Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray then we sprayed it with a protective clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

This rocker was done as a custom order so it’s not available to purchase on our website, but you can check out new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on June 23, 2020June 22, 2020 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Modern Table Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? We have been busy, busy over here! This weekend, John started refinishing the floors at the new #funcycledstays airbnb which means we are one step further on it. I did more painting with Harmony while Josh assembled furniture…. then he hid in the box to surprise us.

We also had a beautiful day as a family celebrating father’s day!

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to show you a table and chair set that didn’t go together, but we painted to work together and give one of our design clients a mid century feel on a budget.

Here’s the table and chairs before:

We sanded down the top of the table and stained it with Early American Stain by Minwax. We painted the base and the chairs with black enamel and clear coated the whole thing. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Here are the after:

This table was done as a custom order so it’s not available to purchase on our website or in our store now, but you can also check out even more new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on June 16, 2020June 15, 2020 by Sarah

Repurposed Idea House – Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Remodel

Hi Friends!

If you missed it, last week we announced that we purchased a building where we’ll be moving our FunCycled storefront at the end of the summer or early fall. We’re also planning to make the two bedroom apartment above the commercial storefront an airbnb so you and your friends can enjoy our sweet city in a comfy, urban, designer space. We asked our FunCycled fans to help us pick a hashtag to follow along as we redo it, and for people to tag us when they stay in the airbnb. Our favorite was #funcycledstays so be sure to follow that hashtag to keep updated on everything. Thanks for all your input!

This weekend we started painting the trim and living room area. Harmony and Josh have decided that their favorite way to help is with painting… it must be in their blood. 😉 So they were my painting buddies for the day and did a wonderful job.

Just before we closed on the new building, we pushed really hard to finish up one of the bathrooms in our Repurposed Idea House. We’ve been working on this bathroom since January and it’s been tedious; what feels like a forever job! We were thankful to have time to work on this project as a family during COVID though. If we didn’t have that time, it may have taken us all year. lol

Here are the photos before… we moved some things around so be sure to check out where this sink and toilet (peaking out just past the tub) are; those two things stayed in the same exact spot. The door and the bathtub moved.

This is while we were gutting everything:

We may get quite a few questions about the sink so I wanted to give you the details on that. We bought it at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and got it for a great price. Here’s where you could buy one new: Kohler Double Bathroom Sink. The only thing we didn’t know when we bought it was that the faucets for this are really expensive and the install is tricky. I could only find two different style faucets and both were in a silver finish. I wanted black or gold and we even went to a local company who can order all different plumbing parts and they couldn’t find a different style. So I went with these Kohler Faucets and then painted them. We’ve painted faucets in the past and they’ve held up really well so we decided to risk it. I was nervous about that because they were so expensive, but my whole theme for the space had no chrome in it at all. We used a metal primer and then a metal spray paint in a matte black. It seems to be holding up well so far. With the cost of the faucets and the time it took to install, I’d probably pass on this sink if I had a choice again, BUT the finished product is really swoon worthy and it works out well because just below that sink is a radiator that we didn’t want to cover up.

I wanted white and black contrast in this space, but I also wanted to bring in bright pops of colors. I did that with an old china cabinet that I painted a grassy green.

We went with large subway tile in the shower to mix it up from the traditional subway tile size. Then we installed a beautiful rain shower spigot. We bought our Kohler tub from the Habitat From Humanity Restore (trying to reuse as much as we can instead of buying new). Another thing that I learned was that you can buy recessed lighting with a fan in it for bathrooms. I didn’t want one of the lights that have fans because I have another light right near it and so many of them are ugly. You can see the one we bought here: Recessed Fan and Light Combo

One tricky thing about decorating this room was that no stores were open. So I really had to be creative; pulling things from all around my house and the FunCycled store of course. My nephew Caleb came by and did the decorating part with me. We had such a blast! I plan to add some plants as well in this room.

After we pulled up the linoleum, we found huge hardwood flooring underneath. It had some damage, but we repaired it and we don’t mind an imperfect floor. It adds to the charm of this old house built in 1805. Some people have said we may not end up liking that. We filled all the seams between the wood with calk and then painted the floor with black floor paint and sealed with with a protective clear coat. We decided if we don’t like it in time, it’s an easy change out. So far so good though. In the winter, I’ll probably add a larger rug to make it warmer as well. Just haven’t done that yet!

One thing that is unique to this space, we took out the closet that was straight ahead in the before picture and installed an antique cabinet in the wall to act as the linen closet. This is one of my favorite parts.

I also love that we shiplapped part of the ceiling and then painted the other part black. The black ceiling made everything pop!

Wall color: Simply White by Benjamin Moore
Ceiling Color: Black by Benjamin Moore

Here are the afters for you!!

We would love to help you with your next interior design project through a virtual design consult or in person once the restrictions are lifted! Check out our Interior Design page for more information. You can also check out new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 by Sarah — 4 Comments

FunCycled’s New Building and an Airbnb Coming Soon

Hi Friends!

How are you doing? We have some exciting news! Last fall, John and I looked at a building that we had actually looked at years ago. We loved it then, but it needed a lot of work… more than we could do at the time so we passed on it. We’ve been casually keeping an eye out for a building in Troy that we could use as a store with a parking lot, but also really wanted to do an airbnb, too. We’ve wanted to be able to create a beautiful space for our FunCycled friends from around the world to visit our beautiful city in addition to having a permanent store space in Troy with parking.

We were suppose to close on it the week that everything was put on PAUSE because of COVID. Then life stood still for a bit… we didn’t know what to expect. We felt like it was important to wait until June to close on the building. Both financially and so we could work in it ASAP once we closed.

This was the morning that we bought it… exactly one week ago today!

Our plan is to move the FunCycled store to the 1st floor of this building. The floors above it make up a 2 bedroom apartment that we are planning to create a one of a kind airbnb in. We’re planning to use repurposed furniture and decor as much as we can throughout the space. We may even make all the furniture in the apartment available for purchase as well. Comfy, refined, urban and a big enough to bring friends. It’s going to be so adorable! I’ll be sharing the pictures of the process and more info on renting it as we go along.

Posted on June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 by Sarah

Tiny Bathroom Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

I don’t want my silence during this last week to be seen as apathy. I’ve had more words to say than I know what to do with and at the same time I don’t want to say the wrong thing.

I weep for those who weep. Black lives matter. What was done last week to George Floyd was horrible; racism is real and unacceptable. I’m a privileged white American who grew up being taught that color makes no difference. I believed racism was a thing of the past, but I’m learning more and more every day that it’s not. To my brothers and sisters who have a different skin color than I do, I’m sorry for being ignorant to your pain for so long. I won’t be able to ever truly understand all that you go through. I’m listening, and learning, and trying to grow to change the narrative. I love you.

Posted on May 26, 2020May 25, 2020 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Mustard Mirror Dresser For Sale

Hi Friends!

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. It was so nice to have a warm weather, beautiful weekend! We are so thankful for those who have sacrificed for our freedom.

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to share a dresser makeover that we just added to our online shop. Here’s the before picture:

We painted the outside with the mustard from the paint line in our store and glazed it. Then we added new hardware and sprayed it with a protective clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

This dresser is available to purchase on our website or in our store now, but you can also check out even more new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 by Sarah

Lightly Distressed Black Hutch Makeover

Hi Friends!

How are you this week? It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in upstate Ny and we couldn’t have loved it more! We spent the whole day Saturday working outside on the landscaping and gardening. As I was working on planingt more fruit trees in the soon to be orchard, Josh came up to me and said, “Mom, we’re turning into farmers aren’t we?” “We have a garden, flower gardens, the orchard, and now chickens.” Then he quickly asked if we could get a pig. Slow down son… haha! I don’t talk about our little homestead much, but having space for our own little gardens at this Repurposed Ideas house has been a bonus I didn’t even know I wanted. I’m loving it more and more!! John and Josh have also been building a tree fort! Having to be “stuck” at home with a place like this doesn’t feel like a bad thing most days. Especially on sunny days… So I thought I’d share some of the flowering trees and ferns on our property. I took these pictures on Friday right before a storm; it was such a beautiful calm before the storm.

For this week’s furniture makeover, I’m sharing a hutch makeover that we did as part of an interior design job at the beginning of this year.

Here’s the dining room before and you can see the hutch to the left:

Here’s the design board that we created for the space (inspiration photos and product links):

We painted the hutch with Benjamin Moore Advance Black. Then we lightly distressed it, sprayed it 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.

Here are the after pictures of the hutch:

This hutch was done as a custom order so it’s not available to purchase, but you can check out even more new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on May 12, 2020May 11, 2020 by Sarah

White Distressed China Cabinet For Sale

Hi Friends!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend! We had a sweet day that started with this delicious breakfast. All my favorites… French toast and chocolate covered strawberries.

The flowers were from our flowering tree…. I think the kids did a great job setting up the table and John did an amazing job with the food! 💕

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to share the before and after of a china cabinet that we recently redid for our online store!

Here it is before:

We painted the cabinet with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White. Then we lightly distressed it, sprayed it 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.

This cabinet is available to purchase on our website or in our store now, but you can also check out even more new pieces on our For Sale page:

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 by Sarah

Two Piece Mid Century Black and Gray Dresser Set for Sale

Hi Friends!

This weekend we celebrated Josh’s 12th birthday! He’s changed so much in the last year… he’s almost as tall as me now, his voice is deep, he has become so self disciplined… gets up at 6 to read his Bible, do his chores, practice guitar. He’s so sweet to me! Couldn’t be prouder of the man he’s becoming!

For this week’s makeover, I wanted to share a beautiful set that we recently picked up from a client, Barbara. I loved the lines of this set! Here it is before:

We painted the outside of each dresser with Benjamin Moore’s Black Enamel. Here’s a picture of it because you may have trouble finding it:

Then we sanded all the drawers fronts and stained them with Minwax Classic Gray.

We also sprayed it with a protective clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the afters?