Blog - Page 58 of 74 - FunCycled - Interior Design, Kitchen Cabinet Painting, Furniture Repurposing in Upstate NY

Posted on April 9, 2014April 9, 2014 by Sarah

Less Busy, More Love – Reflections from the Hope Spoken Conference

If you have stopped by today to read about furniture, thanks. ;) But today you’re getting more than furniture. Sometimes I get a chance to share life moments with you. The good. The bad. The amazing. Or in this case, about all three in one weekend.

It’s important to rewind months ago to the beginning of our kids first school year. My friend Sarah called during a typical school morning breakfast to let me know that she would be going to a the Hope Spoken Conference in Dallas Texas in 2014. Like most girlfriends would say, I said, “Oh you’ll have so much fun! I wish I could go with you.” Danielle Burkleo who goes to my church was heading up this conference. I jumped in the car to bring my kids to school and Sarah called back. Her mom had bought me a ticket to go to the conference, too. It was the last ticket available and I was in complete shock. I didn’t even know Sarah’s mom. I cried at the overwhelming kindness of a stranger. She told me no pressure because she knew that meant I needed to buy airfare. As soon as I was off the phone with Sarah, I called John to let him know what happened. I quickly said, you just quit your job to work at FunCycled with me. How can we afford a flight?? He calmly said… God opened this door and He’s going to provide that, too.

Fast forward about a month when I went to a fundraising dinner for the Capital City Rescue mission. There was a silent auction with round trip tickets to anywhere Southwest flew. I bid low and won the bid. Another God moment. In awe that this was all coming together, I just had a feeling that God had something in store for this conference. I would never have been able to attend with out God’s direct provisions through His people. And so… it’s Hope Spoken time. Here I am with Sarah on Friday night! Excited to see what God has in store. We had a great dinner, met some new friends that will always be my sisters. We all ended up being at the same table and got along really well.

Love these ladies… from Boston to Idaho. So many different stories but one thing in common. Christ. That’s all we needed to make each other’s heart our home.

Saturday morning the conference was started with Shauna Niequist (the author of Cold Tangerines). What a way to start the day! I cried from her first few sentences until the end. It was like she could read my mind, understood my heart and had the same struggles I do. God used her in a way that I don’t think anyone else could have. She spoke about being less busy with more love. I felt like God was saying learn from this so in ten years you won’t have regret. Enjoy the simple things like tickling my kids and laughing with John. Be present. Relearn how to relax. I realized I am too busy. So often I get focused on things that don’t matter at all or things that really can wait. With family, church, owning a business and regular life I don’t anticipate life getting much less hectic, but I can learn to say no to some things so I can say yes to the most important things. It’s not easy, but I never want to give up that fight.

This may be one of my favorite quotes from Shauna, “I know that life is busy and hard and that there’s crushing pressure to just settle down and get a real job and khaki pants and a haircut. But don’t. Please don’t. Please keep believing that life can be better, brighter, broader because of the art that you make. Please keep demonstrating the courage that it takes to swim upstream in a world that prefers putting away for retirement to putting pen to paper, that chooses practicality over poetry, that values you more for going to the gym than going to the deepest places in your soul. Please keep making your art for people like me, people who need the magic and imagination and honesty of great art to make the day-to-day world a little more bearable.”

Mandy Castro (you know… Jason Castro’s wife) spoke next and her story took my heart, ripped it apart and totally revealed even more brokenness within me. I realized by sharing her struggle and brokenness, I felt healing. I was convicted that I need to be willing to share my brokenness with hurting woman to help and offer hope. Already started down that path since I’ve been home so please keep me in your prayers.

Speaker after speaker spoke simply sharing their life story, pain and victory through Christ. It was an emotionally draining weekend. In the end I was filled with the overwhelming knowledge of the fact that we are all broken, in need of God’s grace. The sin that separates us from a holy God, sin that can only be healed at the foot of the cross and with Christ’s power over death. God’s grace can meet you there. Or the daily struggles to honor God in whatever I do. To show just how weak I am and how everything good in me is from Him.

This may sound odd, but I was also really inspired to make FunCycled something more than just furniture. There were vendors at the Hope Spoken conference. People making a living but also helping others along the way like Sole Hope and No. 41. I really want to work with different charities to help support those in need to help hurting people feel God’s love. I’m still running different ideas around in my mind, but you’ll find out more about that soon. Oh and I brought my hubby home a bracelet from Melody from shopMelodyJoy.com. He loves it!!

Another reflection on this weekend away would be the fact that I am beyond blessed by the bonds of friendships. I have been encompassed with loving, gracious, challenging, encouraging, and God fearing friends. I know this is a gift. A gift some do not get to enjoy. A gift that I don’t deserve.

For those of you from near or very, very far away who are reading this right now, I want to say thank you. Thank you for loving God and being all that you are to me on a daily basis. I am humbled to have you. You’re my joy. God’s hands and feet. I also can’t end this post without saying thank you to these three ladies for following God’s leading and stepping out in faith to create Hope Spoken. I’m praying God works another miracle so I can be back next year. Thank you Danielle, Casey and Emily!

I share this to say to all of you that it’s ok to be broken. We all are. We all need God’s grace. Share your broken moments. Your best ministry will come from your deepest hurt. Share the comfort and strength with those who are hurting in ways that you have been hurt. We don’t have to struggle alone. That’s why God gave us each other, His Word, the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” -Ecclesiastes 4:9-20 NIV

“When things fall apart, the broken pieces allow all sorts of things to enter, and one of them is the presence of God.” -Shauna Niequist

Broken and spilled out then covered in grace… Sarah

Posted on April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 by Sarah

3 Cream and Robin’s Egg Blue Secretary Desks – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!!

I literally feel like I just sat down to write last week’s Tuesday’s Treasures. No lie… where did this week go?? It was a whirl wind! Which is usually what happens after taking time off to go to a conference. We have been so busy with interior painting projects and furniture!! I love it! Thanks to all of you local readers who make our dream possible every day.

Since it’s been such a busy week with work I have no cool stories at all! Other than the fact that our little man apparently wants to make furniture, too. Not this kind of furniture, but beds for his Lego ninjas. He was so excited to show me!

Over the past few months I’ve done quite a few secretaries desks. Oh how I love me a secretary desk painted with a pop of color inside. If you want to see some non cream and teal desks, you can also check out our Gray and Pink or Navy and Cream Secretary desk posts. Lalalove those, too!

All three of these have been sanded lightly, repaired, painted Benjamin Moore’s Navajo White on the outside and the a different hue of robins egg blue or teal on the inside.

Before:

After:

Claw Foot Secretary Desk Before:

After:

The next desk was the original inspiration piece that turned into the other two pieces. It was a custom order for Jessica and Brett. They also had us custom make this Teal Mid Century Modern Buffet, Magenta, Teal and Burnt Orange French Provincial Chairs and Modern Chartreuse Buffet. They are a super fun couple who embraced modern designs in most rooms and a more classic design in their living room with this piece.

These after pictures are done by Chelsea Bos Photography. Let her take your family’s pictures. I promise her pictures of your family will be even cuter than these desks. And that’s pretty cute. ;) She’s uber talented! Lalalalove her!

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy redesigns everyone,
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 March 31, 2014April 1, 2014 by Sarah

Sunflower Milk Paint Cabinet – Tuesday’s Treasures

Outstanding weekend here friends! I went to the Hope Spoken conference in Dallas, Texas and had an amazing time. I promise to share more about it soon, but time is tight from being away so I’m keeping today’s post short. I was truly broken and spilled out then covered with grace.

My friend Lara let me try out new products on her grandfather’s old cabinet. Sad news. I forgot to take a before picture! What a great friend, forgetting the before picture! ;) So imagine this piece but just ugly. There you have it! :)

I’ve been wanting to try out milk paint for a long time. I’ve read a lot about it on different blogs and it definitely gives an authentic, antique look with chippy paint in random spots. I wasn’t sure how I would like not having any control over where the paint would chip off a piece. Sausha at Sweet Pinkins Furniture has CRAZY talent and I’ve been following her for years, enjoying her style. Last summer she started selling her own line of milk paint so who better to try out milk paint from than the lady who has given me so much inspiration over the years. I bought the sunflower color for this piece.

I started by prepping the surface like normal, light scuffing, priming with a gray primer because I wanted that to show through a bit and then brush painted the milk paint on over the gray. Now you don’t always have to use primer if you want it to be even more chippy, but I wanted most of it to stick. It’s a control thing, a problem I have. ;) lol

Painted the first coat and I wasn’t sure if I loved it if I’m being completely transparent. Mostly because it was a bright mustard color, but then after the second and third coat, I was practically melting over it’s chippy goodness. It started bubbling in certain spots and having such a beautifully aged looked about it. The after pictures are done by Chelsea Bos Photography.

I took 220 grit sand paper to it to add a tiny bit more distressing and to flake off the bubbling paint. Then I toned down the brightness with Valspar’s antiquing glaze and next sprayed it with a water based clear coat to seal it. The hardware and the basket is from Hobby Lobby!

Thanks so much for your awesome product, Sausha!! And thanks to all of you for tuning in!

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

Posted on March 25, 2014November 11, 2014 by Sarah

West Elm Inspired Mid Century Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Happy Tuesday’s Treasures everyone!

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out one of my favorite new dresser designs! Before we start all that, I know you were hoping for an update about our week here, right? :) We celebrated John’s birthday with a little family bowling last week! It was a super fun night with some of our closest friends and family.

The funniest part of this picture might be that my dad and friend Jo Ann are totally photo bombing the picture with a hug while my mom is clearly keeping her eye on everything because we can only see the back of her head. Cracks me up!

It was a really nice week and I’m so thankful for John. Since birthdays are a good excuse to brag a bit on someone else, I’ve gotta say I don’t know who I’d be without him. He’s a kind, funny, adventurous husband and a silly, playful daddy who cares about teaching our children about the Bible and lives out what loving God looks like day to day. He’s filled with faith and trust in God even when I’m doubtful how things can work out and bills will get paid. He trusts God to provide and lead us and love us. I’ve never heard him doubt those things. Ever. For that and so much more, I celebrate my Johnny and want to thank God for giving this 19 year old girl a guy worth keeping for a lifetime when I was WAY too young to make a decision like that.

Ok, I’ve tortured you with enough gushy lovey dovey stuff. On to the furniture, shall we?

I was perusing online for different design inspirations because I’ve been in the mood to do a piece a bit out of the box from my normal pieces. I came across this West Elm Patchwork dresser design and I loved the contrast of the different stain colors against the white. I had to try a twisted version of that on this mid century modern dresser. It had all the right lines, original hardware and lots of different squares to make the look I wanted.

We sanded everything down using an orbital sander and then painted the box Benjamin Moore’s atrium white. For the drawers, I knew I wanted more of a darker stain color on the bottom and lighter on the top. I used 9 different stain colors on this piece. The bottom drawer was Minwax Ebony and the top drawer was Minwax English Chestnut. Then the squares are those two stains, as well as Zar Modern Walnut, Minwax Jacobean, Minwax Lipswich Pine, Minwax Red Mahogany, Minwax Dark Walnut, Olympus Grey and Olympus driftwood. This part could be an expensive proposition if you don’t already have a variety of stain colors on hand. We did so it worked out well for us. We used all the original hardware and spray painted it gold.

Then we clear coated the whole thing and I added the white lines between the small squares which gave it just the pop I wanted! This piece sold within hours of putting on our Facebook page. Lately things sell quickly so if you want to be updated when something new has been put on our For Sale Page or Upcoming Projects page, please make sure you like our FunCycled Facebook page.

Here are the afters… gasp. Have I mentioned how much I love this one. These pictures are by Chelsea Bos photography!

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

Posted on March 18, 2014March 18, 2014 by Sarah

Dresser Turned Bathroom Vanity – Tuesday’s Treasures

How are you all doing? Despite ANOTHER snow storm here in NY, the temps have made there way up a bit so we all feel like there may be hope that spring is going to come after all. And something else creating hope – babies … little babies are being born everywhere. So many of my friends are pregnant or recently gave birth, including this little beauty named Margaret. I was able to hold her as a one day old miracle. Chelsea took her newborn photos! Sooo adorable right?

Then I was soooo super blessed to be able to go away on an overnight women’s retreat with a group of ladies from my church. Man oh man do I love these girls!! They really are family to me. We grow, support, challenge and encourage each other daily! “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”- Hebrews 10:24-25 Look at how beautiful Silver Bay is… My cell phone didn’t work there and you know you have friends who’ve got your back when they don’t tell you that there is wifi (and I checked once but didn’t see it) because they think you need a break from social media and work. They told me on the way out of camp! Boy do I love them. It was such a nice time being “unplugged” and relaxing with friends. Not to mention the great Bible teaching from our pastors’ wives.

You’re here for the furniture, right? Well, this was one of my favorite pieces from last week. It’s actually going to be a bathroom vanity, but we don’t have the bowl installed yet. So, you get to see it as just a pretty little dresser that I love soooo much. I can’t even believe the transformation. Here’s the before picture. I felt like this one was worthy of being put out for trash.

It actually had a lot of damage that we had to repair inside. We didn’t realize that there was so much damage to the drawers. When we pulled the plastic off the bottom of the drawers, there was water damage that warped the wood. John replaced the bottom of the drawers, then sanded all the surfaces to make sure the drawers would slide smoothly. We ordered new hardware and painted it with Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Grey. I can’t tell you how much I like the contrast of the grey paint and the knob color. I also glazed and sealed this (with 6 coats of water based poly) because it’s going in a bathroom. We also wanted to add height to the piece so we picked up new legs at Lowes and installed them as well. Adorable?? Heck yes. Thanks so much for buying this and the Mustard Yellow Vanity for your bathroom Sarah. I hope you all have a great week!! All the after pictures are by Chelsea Bos Photography.

Also make sure you stop by our Furniture For Sale page! Just added these pieces today! :)

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

Posted on March 11, 2014March 10, 2014 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Mustard Yellow Vanity – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

This just in! My almost 6 year old son announced at the dinner table this week that he has a girlfriend. Oh boy… here we go. Lol, I was hoping for a good 10 years or more before that announcement was made. And so it begins. ;)

I don’t know about you, but last week was a very busy work week over here at Funcycled. Refinishing (instead of painting) a dining room table, making a custom vanity out of an old dresser, finding new (old) furniture to customize, and painting pieces for our For Sale page. All in all a busy busy week. Which is a great thing! I’m not complaining at all.

This vanity was a project from a couple weeks ago that I melt over every time I look at it. It’s so cute and dainty and the color just brings it to life. Here it was before. Cute but lacking the wow factor, right? Please don’t mind the creepy guy in the back… lol

We repaired some of the damaged veneer using wood filler (the damage wasn’t that bad). Then we primed, painted (I don’t remember the name of the color… sorry) and glazed it with Valspar’s antiquing glaze. This is going in a bathroom so we sealed it really well using a clear water based poly.

The hardware is from Hobby Lobby. Adorable! Right??

Nice, short and sweet today! Thanks for stopping over. Make sure you check out our furniture for sale page because we added some new pieces just for you.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

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 March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 by Sarah

Clunky TV Armoire Turned Custom Closet – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Ok, it’s cold. Still cold. I was lacking inspiration about what to write about today. Not because I don’t have anything fun to share, but I’m in that winter slump. Who else is feeling that way? Everyone I think, right? ;)

Well, that made me think about how much lack of inspiration I have for old TV armoires. Most times they just look so clunky and boring. But this transformation is anything but that and it makes me want to redo every armoire I see. Not kidding. It’s a sickness.

This is a typical tv cabinet that you see for sale on craigslist or at yard sales and think “Ew”! Right?

Patty reached out to us to customize it for her daughters room. They wanted a place to hang her school uniforms and shelves for her shoes. They originally wanted it all white, but then they came inside and noticed my cabinet with mirrors. Then they wanted their armoire to have the same feel! Since it’s one of my favorite finishes, I was so glad they went with it!

We also replaced the hardware with these from Hobby Lobby. Pretttttyyyyy!! All after pictures by Chelsea Bos Photography. Thanks so much Chelsea! The pics are stunning. ;)

Continue reading Clunky TV Armoire Turned Custom Closet – Tuesday’s Treasures

Posted on February 25, 2014February 24, 2014 by Sarah

Nautical Map Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Last week was school break and I remember two things… How much I love hanging with my kids during the day AND how hard it is to get everything done when the kids are home. I had so much fun taking them on play dates at the mall and at my friends’ houses. It was nice to get time to catch up with friends that I don’t see as much now that they are in school and I’m working the days away. I miss them already this week and it’s only been a day. ;)

If you’ve kept an eye on our blog over the last few weeks you’ve seen that we’ve had some of our most challenging projects, unique pieces and creative pieces of art. This week’s Tuesday’s Treasures keeps the excitement going strong and the story behind it fills my heart with happiness.

Theresa was a customer at the very very beginning of FunCycled. I remember her call like it was yesterday when she asked if I could create a fun gender neutral dresser for her baby’s room. We talked about the chevron design, she let me be creative and the Oh Baby! Chevron Dresser was born. It was featured on blogs and requested by many customers as custom orders.

Well, little “CJ” as I like to call him. ;) Don’t hate me Theresa for calling him that on my blog. :) Is now going to be a big brother!! They are going to be surprised by the gender of baby #2 so the newest little one will keep the chevron dresser. Now it’s time for CJ to graduate into his big boy room. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to watch a family grow and create furniture for them as they do.

This is definitely not the best before picture, but hey, it’s all I’ve got.

We painted the outside of the dresser Old Navy by Benjamin Moore. The fabric and knobs are from Etsy and the fabric actually came from France. I looked at quite a few map fabrics and didn’t like them at all. When I picked this one out and Theresa ordered it, it was taking a long time to get here. So she double checked the shipping and realized it was from France! Man oh man! It was worth the wait, I can tell you that.

I attached the fabric onto each drawer using modge podge. This project is not for the novice DIYer unless you are a really patient person. I am not a patient person, but working with furniture has helped make me a LITTLE bit more patient. ;) I laid out each fabric piece and then cut it into the correct pattern for the map. Lining the fabric up was easier with this fabric because of the longitude/latitude lines on the fabric. I glued the main section first and then glued all of the edges and used clothes pins to help the fabric stick to the back of the drawers. Then I added the knobs by cutting the fabric in those spots and then drilling the new knob holes.

And here are the after pictures! If you like them, please share them with your friends. The after pictures by Chelsea Bos Photography. Continue reading Nautical Map Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Posted on February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 by Sarah — 2 Comments

Antique Car Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi Friends!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by last week to check out our Broken Down Black Buffet makeover. This week’s makeover wasn’t as hard, but it came from the same owner… Linda, and it too needed work. I think the before picture may make it look better than it was. ;)

It needed some new trim on the bottom and top.

Linda’s mom wanted us to redo this dresser to put in her guest bedroom. She had these old vintage toys that were her husband’s as a child. We wanted to do something vintage with some color but also that would have a fun car feel.

We filled all the holes for the bottom three drawers so we could install these amazing truck door handle knobs.

Lalalove them, right?? I painted all of this piece using custom mixed chalk paint. Painted the drawers red and the exterior light grey. Then I distressed it to give it the vintage look they wanted and glazed it to tone down the colors a bit. Remember when using any chalk paint, you have to give it a protective clear coat afterward to seal it.

Here’s the “afters” by Chelsea Bos Photography. Thanks Chelsea! You’re so talented!

This is one of a three part set and we’re working on the other two parts now! :) Thanks to Linda and her family for giving us the go ahead to be creative and for trusting us with an end design. We had so much fun on this piece and are absolutely in love with it! Can’t wait to finish the next two for you!

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

Posted on February 17, 2014February 24, 2014 by Sarah — 1 Comment

Grey and White Bedroom Set

Hi Friends!

I wanted to quickly show you before and after picture of a dresser set that we just posted on our Furniture For Sale page! You can check out the set or individual pricing on that page. Update! SET NOW SOLD!

Here are all three pieces before I actually bought them at separate time from different people, but once I saw them I really wanted to make them all to match for a bedroom. I think it would be an adorable guest bedroom, kids room or even a nursery set. Here are all of the pieces before:

French provincial desk Size 30 inches high x 43 /12 inches wide x 16 3/4 inches deep

We sanded these really well because the top was laminate, then we used a primer that bonds to even non sanded surfaces. We painted the boxes of these pieces a medium grey. I don’t have the exact color because we mixed a few together to get the color we were looking for. Then we painted the drawers white and spray painted the hardware grey to bring everything together. We also sprayed this with a clear coat water based poly for extra protection.

Here are the after pictures!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’re all having a good week so far!

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah ;)

Sarah Trop