Blog - Page 45 of 77 - FunCycled - Interior Design, Kitchen Cabinet Painting, Furniture Repurposing in Upstate NY

Posted on November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Old Bed Turned Into a Beautiful Bench – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How was last week? This is my busy season with furniture, interior design and running a retail store. That being said, I don’t remember much about last week and I’m pretty sure I don’t have any cute pictures or funny stories to share. That’s the bad news… the good news is, I do have cute furniture to share with you. Just go with it for me. ;) I know furniture pales in comparison to my kiddos cuteness! Lol!

When John came home with this bed, I couldn’t wait to have it be turned into a bench.

I loved the shape of the top and how royal it would feel. John assembled it one day when I wasn’t home and I didn’t plan on the front being designed the way that he did it (without front legs), but he showed me how sturdy it was and I actually loved it in the end!

We painted it with Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White and lightly distressed it. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

For the seat, we stained the lumber with a weathered oak stain.
So beautiful, right?? This bench will be available to purchase and you can check out other new furniture for sale on our website here ! If you’d like to purchase it, please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Sarah

Dark Teal Dresser Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. John and I had a wonderful time enjoying Historic Williamsburg, VA thanks to the generosity of our friends Jim and Christine. We had never been there and loved seeing all of the historic homes, talking to carpenters, and sipping real hot chocolate. It was wonderful! Here are a few pictures from the trip.

This week’s makeover is a quick one but with a big result. Here it is before:

We painted it with Benjamin Moore’s color Dark Teal, glazed it with Valspar’s Antiquing Glaze, and finished it with a satin clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

So beautiful, right?? This 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 ;)

Posted on November 8, 2016November 7, 2016 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Amy’s Sweet Story – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How was your weekend? I hope it was restful and fun! I can’t wait to share today’s story with you because stories like this don’t happen every day in my profession.

Michael emailed me asking to set up a time to go over some furniture he’d like to order. We met and he explained how he would love to surprise his wife, Amy, with a bedroom set for Christmas. They had miss matched furniture and he wanted something really special – picked by him and designed by me. Amy has ordered furniture from us in the past so I knew her and what she might like. He told me about items he had noticed her liking in the past and asked if I could make a set which would reflect the style she likes and make it all blend while not all exactly matching.

We picked out a dresser I had in stock. This one in fact.

They owned another dresser he said that he’d love to have repurposed:

He also needed end stands and we thought these could work with the design.

They have a king sized bed with no headboard so he asked if we could build one. We went back and forth on ideas, he wanted the texture of raw wood but a light color because the headboard wall is a dark brown.

So we started with the tall oak dresser and added an ombre distressed finish. Look closely, we start with white and go down do a chalky black on the drawers, then heavily distressed everything. The outside of the dresser is painted with 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 after?

He also wanted a place to store electronics so we made the top drawer hinge down in order to use the cable box or DVD player.
We then took the dresser that they already owned and removed the trim on the fronts so we could add barn board to the drawer fronts.

Then we kept the end stands simple with painting them Simply White as well and heavily distressing them.

Last but definitely not least, we custom built a king sized headboard and installed lights as well!

One of my favorite parts of this story is that Michael asked me if he should completely surprise Amy or ask her if she’d like to provide input. I thought allowing her to offer input might be nice so he told Amy. Her reply was the best… I trust you, surprise me. This level of love and trust is a rare treat in my line of work and everything about it made my heart happy.

So let me end by saying – thank you Michael for being so in love with your wife, for working hard to think of something special to give her, for trying to surprise her, and for giving me complete creative freedom. Amy, thank you for being the kind of wife that is trusting and kind. You did what most wouldn’t by trusting and I hope it paid off!!

If you’d like to order a custom headboard or furniture, 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 ;)

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Farmhouse Table Giveaway

Here at FunCycled, we’d like to start the holiday giving early, but we NEED YOUR HELP! If this picture of our custom-made table gets 1,000 LIKES on our Facebook page, we’ll GIVE AWAY THE TABLE to one lucky commenter!

Yes, that’s right! If this picture gets 1,000 LIKES, we’ll give away this table just in time to be used for Thanksgiving dinner!

WHAT: This custom-made table with a BARN BOARD TOP and table legs made of PILLARS from an old home in the Capital District. Size: 6 feet long by 31 ½ inches wide by 30 inches tall.

HOW: SHARE, SHARE, SHARE this post on your own timeline and with friends to help it get to 1,000 LIKES.

To be ENTERED TO WIN: Like & comment on this post. Winner will be drawn from those who like & comment on this specific post—not general comments on our page. (***Winner is responsible for shipping costs or pick up. Chairs not included.)

WHEN: Enter to win by 11:59pm on Sunday, November 20th.

WINNER announced on Monday, November 21st.

Posted on November 1, 2016October 31, 2016 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Empire Desk Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How was your week and weekend? We had an epic week, redoing about 20 furniture pieces. Man oh man was that a good thing, but by Friday night we were definitely ready to collapse! Thankfully we were able to enjoy some awesome family fun this weekend, from Harvest Parties to dinner with friends. It was reinvigorating and we are ready to jump head first into another hard work week which features some unique designs!

Before we get to furniture, I want to share a couple of pictures from a family photo shoot we just had done.

This week’s makeover is so pretty! We started with this antique drop front desk (circa 1930’s) that had beautiful wood grain but needed to be brought up to date style wise. Here’s the desk before:

We painted it with Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White, medium distressed it, and sealed it with a protective clear coat. We also darkened the drawer fronts so they didn’t have as much of an orange hue. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready for the after?
So beautiful, right?? This desk is available to purchase and you can check out other new furniture for sale on our website here ! If you’d like to purchase it, please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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

Black Empire Dresser Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on October 18, 2016October 18, 2016 by Sarah

Mid Century Teal and Ombre Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? It’s a good week here! Keeping busy with interior design jobs and custom furniture orders – loving every minute of it!

This weeks makeover is a fun one because this dresser was SO ugly to start with. Truthfully, I almost didn’t buy it. See for yourself!

We painted the outside with Benjamin Moore’s color Tropical Teal, glazed it with Valspar’s Antiquing Glaze, and finished it with a clear coat. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the after?
This set 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 ;)

Posted on October 11, 2016October 24, 2016 by Sarah — 2 Comments

For Sale! Haywood Wakefield Long Mid Century Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

How’s your week going? I can’t wait to share with you this amazing find. I was out shopping for furniture and actually found a Haywood Wakefield matching dresser set!! Ahhh!! I look for makers marks which you usually find in the top left drawer or on the back. That helps me to know if it’s a quality furniture maker. Haywood Wakefield is a top mid century furniture company. All solid wood and amazing quality pieces. I’ve redone them before but only as custom orders. So to find a set that I could design and redo as I’d like was so exciting for me!

Here they are before:

I loved the hardware, but wanted to brighten them up so I painted them all gold. Then we painted the outside of the boxes with Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White. We deepened the color of the wood fronts with a darker stain. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. We also replaced the hardware with traditional bale pulls.

Ready for the after?

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

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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

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

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

Hi Friends!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Posted on September 27, 2016September 26, 2016 by Sarah

Mid Century Modern Living Room Design – FunCycled

Hi Friends!

Thank you to everyone who’s been keeping me so busy with interior design work!! We started to officially offer interior design in May and have been busy with it ever since. Getting the right design is the result of asking questions, listening, understanding what you want, planning, experience and your budget. How I structure the design and cost is by scaling it to the your needs and resources. I charge per hour while I’m at a client’s house and a reduced per hour rate when I’m at home doing research and making a design plan. Typically the initial consult takes about 1 1/2 hours for a couple of rooms.

I’ve gotten many questions about how the process works so I thought I’d step you through a recent design for a client in Saratoga. Kirsten emailed me to ask about booking a design consult with us. She and her husband had recently bought a home and wanted help with each room in the house. It doesn’t have to be the whole house – I’ve done everything from a gallery wall layout, to redecorating one bedroom, to starting from scratch on an entire home.

Before I go to your home for the consult, I will ask for pictures of the house, find out who lives there and the purpose of the room(s) I will be designing. This give me time to plan some ideas before getting there – saving you time.

In this case, after I reviewed the initial information, I scheduled a visit (the initial consult). I asked Kirsten for her vision of the rooms/her home, identified the furniture or decor pieces available (as is, or to be re-purposed) and what was on the wish list to be purchased. Typically, and as was the case during this consult, my head was already over flowing with ideas so I started to make preliminary suggestions on the layout, possible furniture and decor items, choice of colors, etc. And we had to talk budget and timeline, based on the scope of the project, what could reasonably be accomplished and how best to utilize the money to obtain the desired results. Letting me know how much your budget is one of the first questions I ask!

So I went home and worked room by room on designs, starting with the first room that she needed to have done. Usually a room takes 2-3 hours for me to complete the preliminary design – with wall color, rug, lighting and furniture choices. As I create the space I like to make a Mood Board to show how everything is going to look together. Here’s an example of the mood board that I made for the mid century modern sitting room.

This allowed Kirsten to “picture” the room before final design decisions are made. There are always follow up discussions, questions and texts about the plan, and while I’m looking for furniture/decor ideas. Along with the mood board, I create a resource list for the client to order whatever they would like. I also can order it and bill you. For this mid century room the resource list consisted of:
Rug – Joss and Main
Brekan Tribeca Pewter Sofa
Finley Accent Chairs – Joss and Main
Mid Century Credenza – FunCycled
Cotton Canvas Diamond Stripe Curtains – West Elm
Heavenly Round Cocktail Table – Overstock
Gold Floor Lamp – Target

After review of the mood board, and the back and forth discussions with the client, I may also need to go back one more time to measure out each piece and make sure it feels right in the space before hitting the order now button. Also, sometimes clients need to make changes to the designs because the rug doesn’t come in the size they wanted, etc.

At the end we hope our customers have rooms that reflect their style, make them feel relaxed and will be welcoming for family and friends for years to come! If you would like help with your next room or even the whole house, please use our Contact Us form to set up an appointment. I’m here to help come up with a plan that works in your budget, create beautiful designs, and make the process fun, not stressful!

In addition to beautiful rooms, remember we make beautiful furniture. Here are a few of many on our Furniture For Sale page:

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 ;)

Sarah Trop