Blog - Page 57 of 76 - FunCycled - Interior Design, Kitchen Cabinet Painting, Furniture Repurposing in Upstate NY

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Sarah

We’re Opening a Storefront – 272 River Street, Troy!

Hi Family, Friends and Local Customers!

We are here to announce (after months of keeping it a secret) that we will be opening a store front in downtown Troy next month!! Ahhh… I feel like words can’t explain how excited I am about this change. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a big (makes me want to vomit), scary, exciting step. That being said, the thought of having a space to display everything for you to come see all of the furniture in person, a place to be part of the local downtown community, is more than a dream come true. We have lived in Troy for the past 9 years and our heart and soul is in downtown. We love so much about it. Why, do we love it so much??

It’s fresh and new. The talent is crazy. From Botanic Studio, to Anchor No. 5, the shopping is unique and I’m a girl who craves shopping in places where I find one of a kind, locally made items. So, the stores allure me.

The food. Oh man the food. We have some of the best places to eat in town. No lies. I’m partial maybe but maybe not. Remember John went to school to be a chef so we’re pretty selective and sometimes it’s hard to even pick because there are so many good options.

Breakfast favorites so far –> Illium Cafe, Whistling Kettle

Lunch favorites so far –> The Flying Chicken, The Placid Baker, Psychedelicatessen (the are right across the street from our new shop and bagels are my weakness… this could be a problem)

Dinner favorites so far –> Brown’s Brewing, River Street Cafe, Dinosaur Barbecue

Now there are so many more that we haven’t even tried yet, but we lalalove those. Not to mention one of my favorite places to go out late with my girlfriends. Lucas Confections.

So why the decision to get a store front you may ask? We’ve been thinking about it for a while actually. We haven’t been actively pursuing it, but one day when I was at the Troy River Festival, I saw that Playing on the Furniture (a different furniture repurposing store) was closing in the one store front that I would want on the street that I would like, in my very own town. I emailed Kary-Lynn and she called me to explain everything about the space, the sales, and offered to tell customers who reach out to her about us because they are moving to Texas for a job offer her husband couldn’t refuse.

We polled our facebook fans to get their opinions on a store front and received lots of mixed reviews. That being said, we decided to prayerfully watch to see what doors God opened and keep walking through them.

The pluses of a store front? We can have our pieces on display with regular store hours for you all to stop by freely. Sometimes people want to see before they buy and this way our customers can touch and feel without the pressures of being at my house. I have a space to create and show the interior design styles I enjoy. We will also have one of our custom dining room tables on display to let you take a look and custom order.
Not to mention amazing upcycled home decor!

We say all that to explain the why, but now I want to invite you officially to our Grand Opening on Saturday, November 22nd from 10am-5pm. Would you do me a favor?? Please oh please come see us that day! Please oh pretty please invite your friends to join you. If you follow our Facebook page, I will have more info about all the exciting news for that day and maaaaybe even a sneak preview event for our facebook fans. ;)

It’s been an exciting ride, almost 3 years later and we are humbled by this next step. If you know us well, you know it’s a step of faith. You’ll know that we love what we do and feel like we should pinch ourselves to make sure that this is really our life. It’s busy and long days and heavy furniture, but honestly, we don’t care because we are living what we love and loving who we’re with.

I can’t end this post without a heart felt thank you. Thank you to all of our very kind, caring, loyal customer. Customers who support entrepreneurs with a love for design, customers who care about upcycling and recycling, and customers who treat me like a person, not a retailer. So many of you have become friends and knowing you is one of the things I love so much about this adventure called FunCycled.

Thanks 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. There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address in to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog.

Please sign up today! 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 will 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 28, 2014September 25, 2017 by Sarah

Orange and Blue Boy’s Room Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Today is a balmy 68 degree day here in NY. We are loving it! This past week we have been beeeyond busy and so excited to be able to announce that we will be opening a store front in downtown Troy. Check out the 272 River Street post to read all about it and mark your calenders for November 22nd; our grand opening.

Outside of the work, our little Sweetie lost both of her front teeth in the same week. So cute she is.

I thought we would mix it up from a furniture makeover to a room makeover this week. Jessica and Brent have had us do more furniture pieces than I have the brain cells to count right now. They have become more than customers, I gladly call them friends. Over the summer they hired us to do all the interior painting, design and furniture for their 4 bedrooms. I thought I’d start with their son Ollie’s room. He loves orange and blue and those were the main requests when we started designing his room. As you can see they tried a lot of paint colors.

We settled with Benjamin Moore’s Racing Orange 2169-10 as the accent wall and Benjamin Moore’s Saratoga Mist on the other three walls. They already purchased the dresser and end stand from us and both were painted Benjamin Moore’s Old Navy. Continue reading Orange and Blue Boy’s Room Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Posted on October 21, 2014October 21, 2014 by Sarah — 1 Comment

White Antique Dresser Set Makeover – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far. Thank you for stopping by the blog today. I mean it. It means so much to me that you guys take the time to read about our life week to week and so many of you care and ask about how certain things are going. I think the best kind of recaps from our weeks are with pictures so here’s a quick highlight from the week.

My friends Jo Ann, Kassy and my mom chipped in to take me out to dinner and to the musical Newsies. My very favorite musical! I loved it more than I can even say.

Are you sick of the birthday celebrations? Well.. they are almost done. My friends Rachel, Sarah and Leah all went out to eat at the Iron Roost in Balston Spa. Have you ever been there?? If not, it’s ahhhhmazing. You must. The end. Oh, and see the little lady to the right of me in the front row? Well, she’s the one we did this furniture makeover for. :)

Over the weekend, the kids launched the rockets that they built. We had never done that before and it was so much fun!

Leah had been looking at a white dresser set at a large furniture store and showed me a picture while we were hanging out at her sister’s house. She asked if we had anything like it. Well, I didn’t but the very next week I went to a barn sale and found this set. I thought we could definitely make it work. I love where it came from, too. All the money made from the barn sale went straight to an orphanage. We paid them more than they were asking… just love when people think big.

Here it is before:
When Leah stopped by to look at the set, she wanted to have end stands so I told her we could turn this desk into two end stands. We have never done that before and a new challenge is always exciting to me. Probably because John is the one who is doing the work. lol

She also wanted a headboard for her bed. At the same barn sale, we bought this old door that I bought specifically to make into a headboard for a bedroom set. I’ll have a tutorial on how to make a headboard from an old door for you soon. But for today, I’m going to just share the before and after pics.

We painted everything using Benjamin Moore’s Simply white. I lightly distressed the set, and glazed it using Valspar’s Antiquing glaze. We also used all the original hardware, but spray painted it using Rustoleum’s Oil rubbed bronze. If you would like to see how we paint furniture, check out our How To Paint Furniture post.

Here are the after pictures!

Thank you so much for the business, Leah! It was really fun working with you! Until sooner than next year I hope? ;)

Having fun upcycling!
Sarah ;)

Posted on October 14, 2014October 14, 2014 by Sarah

Make a Baseball Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends,

Do I have any baseball fans out there? Red Socks?? Yankees?? Insert your favorite team here? Even though I am not a huge baseball fan (don’t hurt me), I do enjoy going to watch baseball games in person. Although watching my son play T-ball is my favorite. That being said I completely respect those of you who do love the game. ;) It’s what makes the world go around. ;)

Today’s mid century modern dresser has great lines and a really solid construction. So when Jill reached out to us about a dresser for her son’s room, it came to mind. Jill has bought many, many furniture pieces from us so I know her kids. And I know her son is a HUGE baseball fan. He knows everything there is to know about the Valley Cats. Every player, all the details of the games. It’s quite impressive. So I asked Jill if she’d be up for a design I’ve never done before. I’ve seen baseball dressers with bats and baseballs, but not exactly like this one (although I’m sure they are out there somewhere). I wanted to make our own handles using full sized bats and baseballs. That was perfect for Jill because they already had them laying around and that can save $$! :)

First we had to fill all of the holes from the hardware because none of it would be the right size. You can do that using wood filler, but we find that to get a smoother finish Bondo works better. We used this black paint from Benjamin Moore.

If you would like more details about how we paint furniture, please check out our How To Paint Furniture post.

To turn the baseballs and bats into hardware for a dresser you’ll need these tools.

A drill
A “hanger bolt” that has a lag screw on one end and a machine screw on the other
Wood glue
Adjustable Pliers
Nut to screw onto the machine screw side of the hanger bolt
Drill Bit

You should carefully use a drill press to hold each piece so you don’t end up drilling into your hand. Measure to make sure each bat has the holes in the same spot so it’s easier to attach them evenly to the dresser.

Using your drill and bit, drill a hole just a little bit smaller than the hanger bolt that you choose. Before inserting the hanger bolt, put some wood filler in each hole and then use the screw side of the hanger bolt to screw it into the ball or bat. You will need the pliers to hold the screw tight and be able to screw it into each piece.

Let the glue dry and set overnight at least.

Drill holes into the dresser and put the machine screw into the holes and use the nut to screw it onto the dresser.

Here are the after pictures for you!! Try not to hold anything in your hand while you look because you may drop it. ;)

In other news, I just had to share a little bit of the rest of my week.
My best friend Sarah took me to our favorite place for the day to celebrate my birthday… NYC style.

We had a blast shopping unique furniture stores and eating delicious food. I also met my brother Jesse in Brooklyn while I was there because he was in the city for a designer conference.

Yeah… we look a little bit alike, right? Love him. He’s my hero. No lie.
Over the weekend my dad and I went to a paint class and had fun being artistic just for fun. It made me realize that I need to enjoy painting for fun sometimes. It was amazing!! I loved every second.

The furniture photos are by Chelsea Bos Photography. Have a great week friends! Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Having fun upcycling!
Sarah ;)

Posted on October 7, 2014October 8, 2014 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Mirrored Mustard Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Today I’m doing a two posts Tuesday. One’s this furniture makeover and the other is a big announcement called 31 Dreams. It’s my birthday wish for this year and I would love for you all to go check it out here: 31 Dreams | Investing in Hope

Our customer Theresa, who’s Lady in Teal dresser made it on Tuesday’s Treasures last week, also had us makeover this dresser for her guest bedroom.

Can you see that little original detailing on the top drawer? Zoom on in and check it out. Well, I just couldn’t paint over it. I wanted to find a way to incorporate that into the design. We ended up painting the whole thing Benjamin Moore’s Glen Ridge Gold 301. We also distressed and glazed this piece with Valspar’s Antiquing glaze. If you’d like to see how we paint furniture, please check out our How To Paint Furniture post.

And a huge thanks to Theresa for giving me creative freedom with this piece! I loved working on it!!

The furniture photos are by Chelsea Bos Photography. Have a great week friends! Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Having fun upcycling!
Sarah ;)

Posted on October 7, 2014October 8, 2014 by Sarah

31 Dreams – Investing in Hope

Friends, today is my 31st birthday!

Every year on this day, I take hard look at my life. I long for every year that the Lord gives me to bring hope and joy to the people around me. Thus, each year on my birthday, I’ve chosen a way to do just that. Last year I spent the day doing 30 random acts of kindness for people in my neighborhood and local community. I was blessed more than I blessed others. It was an amazing experience.

I also attended the Hope Spoken conference this past year and was inspired to make FunCycled more than just about furniture. As small business owners, I want us to think outside of ourselves and somehow help others in need. John and I began planning/praying months ago, asking the Lord to show us what He wanted us to do. Until now, everything that I’ve done has focused on the community around me. This year, I began to feel pulled outside of my city, away from the people that look like me and talk like me.

John and I ardently believe that FunCycled is a gift from the Lord. He owns the business, and we are simply stewards of it. We have a deep desire to see global underserved communities blessed as a result of our business, and have been asking God to show us what that could look like.

Several months ago, I encountered HOPE International. HOPE is a Christ-centered microfinance organizations that serves over 675,0000 clients in 17 different countries around the world. Their mission is to invest in the dreams of the poor by providing people trapped in poverty a way out of that cycle by providing a small loan and Christ-centered business training. The idea is that much like John and I needed money to start FunCycled, impoverished people often simply need access to capital so they can start or grow their own small business and work their way out of poverty. Take a look:

http://www.hopeinternational.org/resources/videos/hope-drc-microfinance-a-life-changing-investment.html

John and I feel passionately about the work that HOPE is doing because as small business owners, we understand the value of start up capital. We see the sustainability in HOPE’s model—by providing a hand up instead a hand out, HOPE is empowering the poor to provide for themselves and their families through loans as small as $100.00. Even more than that, HOPE is introducing men and women around the world to the true hope that can only be found in Jesus.

We want you to be a part of it. This year, we are thrilled to link arms with HOPE and work to provide at least thirty one entrepreneurs with a $100.00 loan in my 31st year! We plan to work towards this goal with you in several different ways:

1. Through our fundraising page! 31 Dreams | Investing in Hope

2. Through auctioning off a custom Funcycled piece on ever 31st day in my 31st year! You get beautiful furniture, and entrepreneurs around the world get to chase their dreams and provide for their families. It’s a win-win, friends.

Look for our first auction on October 31st. In the mean time, please check out www.hopeinternational.org for more information on this organization that John and I are so impassioned about. Consider joining us in investing in the dreams of the poor!

Thank you friends!
Sarah

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Sarah

Lady in Teal – Tuesday’s Treasures

Lady in teal… is dancing with me. Cheek to cheek. Seems appropriate for this makeover… a retro design cheek to cheek with a fancy little lady in teal.

We have been busy… a word that seems like an understatement. We have so many things coming up here at FunCycled. Next week is my 31st birthday and I’ll be introducing a new part of FunCycled that has been over 6 months in the making. We’ve been praying, considering and carefully planning. So come on back next Tuesday to hear all about it, ok? ;)

My brother offered our whole family a free vacation on the ocean last week. We almost passed it up because of our workload, the big changes ahead, etc., but decided life is short and family is more important. We would try to balance both and go away. I am so happy we did as it truly was a special time!! My parents, all of my siblings and their kids were able to get away for this NJ shore vacation. All of us together, on vacation, has never happened before! Any time we get together, I’m reminded of how blessed we are. We all get along, that’s a simple yet complex statement, and it’s more than many families can say about each other. We laugh, tease, joke, cry… all of it, all of us -together. We tell each other what needs to be said, but in a loving way. We want to live for God and look for ways to show others love because of the love that God pours out on us. That’s probably my very favorite thing about my family; it’s a rare gift by God’s grace.

Here’s the whole crew… all 19 of us! In one house. For one week. Epic.

I really felt like this was a last calm before the real crazy begins here and it was humbling to have time with my family, too. Thank you, Jesse, for giving your hard work and money to make these once in a lifetime memories for us.

As for the furniture this week, I’ve been excited to share this dresser makeover with you. Theresa reached out to us after she saw the article about FunCycled in the 518 Life magazine. She loved the modern design in a piece that was featured, but wanted us to somehow mix that with the decorative design on a dresser that she already had in her dining room. Here it is…

Working for Theresa was like a breathing in wilderness air. You know… when you’re hiking and that smell makes you go, this feels right, I feel energized and alive. When I went to her house to pick up three pieces to redo, she let me pick exactly how to redo them… Color. Design. Everything. Lalalalove that! It made me want to work even harder to make sure she loved it because she gave me the freedom to design. Thank you Theresa!

Continue reading Lady in Teal – Tuesday’s Treasures

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Sarah

Painted Cedar Trunk For Sale – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hello friends!

Last week this girl turned 5. I can’t believe it!! I really, really can’t.

She’s a quality time little girl (I don’t know where she got that from??). ;) I love spending time with her. For realz. She has her fair share of drama, but overall she’s sweet, kind, caring – she wants to be a momma to everyone around her. And I mean everyone and everything! From baby birds to her big brother; from stuffed animals to my friends’ little babies. She loves to love and wants to nurture all the day long.

Since she’s a quality time girl, she chose to skip on the big party and wanted a girls only princess party for only her “good friends”. She wanted her hair, makeup and nails done. She wanted a Frozen party and she wanted there to be no boys allowed. Well Sweetie… your wish is my command.

My friend Kassy made this adorable cake for her. I felt a little disturbed eating Elsa though. Good thing she tasted so good I couldn’t stop. ;)

This furniture makeover is quick but super cute in my book. This is an old cedar trunk that actually is solid cedar. Most cedar trunks that we get are cedar interior and a different wood on the exterior. Not this cuteness. I also have never had one with original copper straps on it like this one.

I wanted to keep the original straps but also add some color. I also wanted to add antique caster wheels to make it more industrial looking. The nice part about this trunk?? It’s FOR SALE! You can see the pricing and dimensions on our Furniture For Sale page.

We painted the trunk using Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Grey, I distressed and glazed it as well. If you would like a tutorial on painting check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Here are the after pics for you!
The furniture photos are by Chelsea Bos Photography. Have a great week friends! Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Having fun upcycling!
Sarah ;)

Posted on September 16, 2014September 16, 2014 by Sarah — 3 Comments

Mr. & Mrs. Sophisticated – Tuesday’s Treasures

Have you ever walked into someone’s house or a restaurant and thought… man, I’m out of my league? Should I take my shoes off or do they not want my sweaty feet on their cow hide rug? Which fork am I supposed to use for this course at dinner? Yeah, we’ve all been there, right. Right? ;) When I laid my eyes on this set, that same feeling filled my insides. I thought man you’re pretty… you’re too classy for me. But I soooo want to make you even more sophisticated. Ms. Mary is a self proclaimed FunCycled groupy. She came to my house for the first time and had almost everything on our Upcoming Projects page memorized. By that I mean she even knew what I called each piece and most of the measurements. She was impressive. She ordered a few pieces and when we delivered them I set my eyes on these beauties. I almost wanted to beg her to let me redo them, but I kept my cool like most people try to do when they are out of there league, meet a celebrity, get a job promotion. When Mary emailed me about redoing them for her I may have squealed.

Another random fact about me? I play this game in my mind where I try to figure out what a customer will pick before they actually do. Mary wanted me to send her a couple different ideas and when I did, my gut told me she would want the wood on the front and black exterior. As my son would say, Ding, ding, ding. I was right and thrilled to be because I thought it would look perfect in her home.

Here they are before: (You can’t tell well from this pictures but the top of this piece had tons of veneer damage.)

We painted it black using this….

If you’d like to learn how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. Ready to see Mr. & Mrs. Sophisticated?

The furniture photos are by Chelsea Bos Photography. Have a great week friends! Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Having fun upcycling!
Sarah ;)

Posted on September 9, 2014September 9, 2014 by Sarah — 1 Comment

For Sale Mid Century White & Ombre Stained Buffet – Tuesday’s Treasures

It’s been a great week here at our house. The best kind of week! Some may want their kids to be rich and live a care free life, others want them to be cute, popular and good in sports. I get that. Those things can be good. My very deepest heart’s desire though is to have children who love God and live for Him. I know that means they might not have it easy or be the most popular. Our prayer from day one was that they would come to know Christ as their personal Savior and want to live life to honor Him. I know that religion and politics are no no’s mixed with business, but this blog is about our lives. I wouldn’t be myself or real to life without sharing the very deepest, integral part of our lives with you, too. Continue reading For Sale Mid Century White & Ombre Stained Buffet – Tuesday’s Treasures

Sarah Trop