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French Court Script Dresser Set – Tuesday’s Treasures

Happy New Year!!! I’m so thankful for all the changes that happened in 2012 and I’m even more excited about what’s ahead in 2013! We were blessed in so many ways in 2012. Thank you for your support, positive feedback, and custom orders. Here’s to new creations and more ways to give fun, new life to old, beat up furniture pieces this year.

If you are a fan of our Facebook page… you are by now, right?? If not, come join in on the fun! Well, if you are, you’ll already know that I took the week of Christmas off from custom orders. I love custom orders but we’ve been so busy that I haven’t had much time to create some pieces just for fun and try new techniques. This past week was so much fun for me and now I’m excited about getting back to our custom orders this week. If you see anything on our Upcoming Project page or have something sitting around your house, use our Contact Us form to get a quote to bring it back to life. :)

Time to share one of this week’s projects.  Here are the before pictures of both pieces.

To see steps on how to repaint furniture yourself, see our post How To Paint Furniture. We painted the outside with a beautiful dark brown paint from Behr. Then, I bought this French court script fabric that I have been dying to put on the front of dresser drawers. So, I used a TON of mod podge… just cut the fabric to size, apply the mod podge on the fronts of the dresser drawers and then lay the fabric on top of it. Be sure to rub out any air pockets or wrinkles. Then, I put another layer of mod podge over the top of the fabric. I did a second coat of mod podge and then sealed it with a poly when I applied it to the paint as well. You’ll probably have to trim the edges and I found that to be much easier after the mod podge had dried.

I also drilled new holes and applied these amazing antique glass knobs.

Are you ready for the after pictures?
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Merry Christmas Allie

Merry Christmas Allie!!! This very special Tuesday’s Treasures has been hard to keep from you… :) Demian called us from North Carolina asking if we could custom paint a piece for his wife, Allie, for Christmas. Allie follows our blog and enjoys the designs so he thought it would be a unique gift for her this Christmas. Allie loves the bird and tree design that we’ve done on other pieces, but her favorite color is orange so we wanted to incorporate that, too. Demian saw this cedar trunk on our Upcoming Projects page.

It was pretty beat up! There was a large crack in the top that I thought made it so the top would have to be replaced. Thankfully, my amazing hubby was able to repair the top. First I painted the base a beautiful Paper White that I bought from Benjamin Moore. I added a tiny bit of grey to make the white have a more grey/white hue. If you want to see how we paint furniture, see our post How to Paint Furniture.

After the base was painted grey and the top crack was repaired by gluing. clamping and sanding it. I stained the top ebony. I love how the ebony stained soaked into the cedar. Just perfect! I hand drew out the tree and birds with a pencil first and then painted in the lines. ;) I get asked quite a bit if I use a stencil for these pieces. The answer is no… I hand draw it out.

Are you ready for after picture??
Continue reading Merry Christmas Allie

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Custom Gift Wrap Station – Tuesday’s Treasures

Hi All! If you’re anything like me this week you MAY start thinking about wrapping the presents. Maybe, just maybe… or you may wait until the night before and put everything into bags instead. I highly recommend wrapping your gifts while “watching” Napoleon Dynomite. John and I did that last year and laughed our heads off! The most fun ever!!! In the spirit of gift wrapping, I thought I would share this gift wrapping station makeover.

Before we start… remember. It’s contest time!! Whoever refers the most friends (who have never “liked” our page before) to our Facebook page will win a free antiqued door knob coat/towel hanger to be pick up at our home in Troy. If you are out of state we will ship it to you. Make sure your friends say “you” sent them by writing on our wall! This contest starts NOW and ends on Christmas day. Have fun..and play nice! :)

I’m trying to spare you all the details since it’s the busy holiday season so here’s the armoire before:

We took the doors off the front and filled in the holes from the hinges with wood filler and sanded it down level to the wood. Then, I painted the the piece using white chalk paint. You know how these armoires or TV cabinets have a thin wood back or cardboard back with a hole in it from where the back of the TV went in?? Well, this one had just that! Instead of replacing the back, our client wanted to cut costs so we used some fabric that she already had and covered the entire back with the chevron fabric. John used his handy man skills to build a bottom shelf. We used this:

We took the original shelf and attached a bottom mount drawer slides. We wanted to make sure she had a place to wrap the gifts so she could half the shelf inside until it was ready to wrap and then it would pull out to give her a space to wrap presents. We painted the inside an amazing teal that our client already had. Then, we added wooden dowels for the gift wrap and a thinner dowel for the ribbon.

Of course when our little guy saw daddy working on this… he had to be a part of the team!!

Yup, that’s red paint on his head and hand. He was helping me paint just before this project. lol

Super cute, right?? After everything was attached, we put the back on. We simply attached the fabric as we stapled the back on. So we did the top, then one side, then pulled the second side tight and stapled. It definitely takes two people, but it wasn’t hard. Just pop the bottom two front doors on for extra hidden storage space.

Continue reading Custom Gift Wrap Station – Tuesday’s Treasures

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Burlap Cabinet – Tuesday’s Treasures

Are you all ready for Christmas yet? I know, I know, it’s early December. How could you be ready yet? I feel the same way! Thankfully, my mom is taking the kiddos this Friday so I can get some shopping done. She’s full of amazingness. Is that a word? You get it. ;) If you haven’t already noticed from our Christmas Tree post, I’ve been in the mood for burlap lately. Now it’s time to add some burlap to furniture. Oh yes. I did.

I will try to make this is a quick Tuesday’s Treasures because I know how precious your time is this time of year. Tis the season to be insanely busy. This little cabinet has been used as the side table in my living room. I love how small it is and it still has storage. What a perfect combination! I redid another piece with even more storage to put in its place so I decide to revamp this one.

First. I painted it using a black Enamel. You know my favorite black paint by now don’t you? No… hmm… well, let me remind you –
Benjamin Moore Low Luster Metal and Wood Enamel.

After I painted it, I used this amazing burlap fabric with french lettering. I cut it to size and used Mod Podge to attach it to the front of the cabinet. When  I say used Mod Podge, I mean slathered it on. It was really soaked with it. Just to be sure it stayed on, I also tacked the corners using fabric tacks. The final step was to slightly distress the edges.

Are you ready for the after?
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Tuesday’s Treasures – 4 Piece Living Room Table Set

A HUGE thanks to all of you who stopped to see us at the Troy Victorian Stroll on December 2nd. It was so nice meeting you. This week I thought I would show you the before and after of a living room set that we revamped for Steve and Nancy. If you’re keeping track, you can also check out their Red Empire Dresser turned into an entertainment center and there  White Mahogany Bedroom Set.

Here are some of the before pictures of the pieces. Forgive my messy barn. :)

They weren’t in bad shape structurally, just had scratches and were worn from years of use. Nancy liked the wood top look to keep it’s country feel. We sanded each top and even though we thought it was solid pine, we found out that it was pine veneer. Sadly, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as pine veneer. Why?? We sanded through the veneer in one small spot, but thankfully it wasn’t noticeable.  After we sanded it, we stained it with, I believe, a dark walnut stain from Minwax. I did this project a long time ago so forgive me if that’s the wrong color.

Then, the base was painted using home made chalk paint made from a cream Behr paint. After painting each piece, I slightly distressed it using medium grit sand paper. Then sealed all of the pieces with Minwax Polycrylic and added new knobs.

Here are the after pictures for you.
Continue reading Tuesday’s Treasures – 4 Piece Living Room Table Set

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FunCycled at the Troy Victorian Stroll – Dec 2nd

We are going to be a vendor at the 30th annual Troy Victorian Stroll this year. On Sunday, December 2nd from 11am-5pm we will be in the Atrium. If you aren’t familiar with downtown Troy, you can pop this address into your GPS: 4 3rd Street, Troy, NY 12180. When you get to the building we may be on the 1st or 2nd floor. We will update our Facebook page on Sunday morning to let you know where we’ll be so check in there if you can find us.

I thought I would also show you a quick preview of some of the items that we will have for sale that day in case you want to wait in line like it’s Black Friday morning. lol

$550 Antique Solid Wood Red Hutch
Size: 44 inches wide x 18 inches deep x 68 inches high

$295- Antique White Dresser with Original Detailing
Size: 30 inches wide x 17 inches deep by 40 1/2 inches deep


Custom Home Decor
$195 Photo Frame from Antique Windows (photos by Sandy Pratt)
Each picture is 8×10 inches so the approximate window size is 26 inches wide 34 inched high. We can also redo just the frame to your choice of color and you can insert the pictures you would like for $95.

$25 Each Reclaimed Wood Wall Hangers
Wood color and size varies slightly based on the reclaimed wood used. These are roughly 6-7 inches wide by 9-10 inches high. Each hanger has two swivel loop hangers on the back to hang each piece on the wall. 

Option 1: Natural Burlap with Distressed Pale Aqua Door Plate and Crystal Knob

Option 2: Reclaimed Aged Wood with Distressed Red Door Plate and Crystal Knob

Option 3: Silver and Natural Canvas behind Distressed Brown Door Plate and Crystal Knob

Option 4: Red Burlap and Distressed Pale Aqua Door Plate and Crystal Knob

$25 Flur-de-lis Cast Iron Hangers with Burlap on Reclaimed Wood 
Wood color and size varies slightly based on the reclaimed wood used. These are roughly 6-7 inches wide by 9-10 inches high. Each hanger has two swivel loop hangers on the back to hang each piece on the wall. 

Option 1: Burlap with french lettering

Option 2: Natural Burlap

We will also have Christmas ornaments and other decor items. If you would like us to put anything on hold for you to pick up at the show, please use our Contact Us form to let us know what you would like.

Have an awesome week! We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Sarah

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Antique Windows with Photos by Sandy Pratt

Hi All! I’m so excited to share this new, fun home decor item that we have for sale. We now offer Home Decor items on our website using reclaimed woods, natural fabrics and OF COURSE fun color. You can check them out here.

When John and I were vendors at the Waterford Canal Festival this summer, I found out that Sandy Pratt(who I knew was the manager of the Fossil store) is also an amazing photographer. Fossil watches are my weakness! ;) Don’t judge me. lol We chatted that day and I really loved her eye for seeing the beauty in the shambles, finding bright colors mixed worn textures, and of course the rustic “feel” of her photography. You can see all of her photography on her website woodsandwhimsy.com.

A Facebook friend, Joyce, reached out to us because she had some old windows from her cabin on Cossayuna Lake. Thank you, Joyce!! We gladly said that we would love to get them from her. I couldn’t help but think that Sandy’s photos would work perfectly with these windows. Here it is!

Each window pane is 8×10 inches! Sandy worked with me every so graciously to offer you these photos at a great price. Her  8×10 prints are usually $20 unframed and between $50-$75 framed!! This set is only $195. We used a cardboard backing that is screwed into the back of the window so it can be easily unscrewed to update with new photos from Sandy in years to come or any photos for that matter (family pictures??). There are large 50lb hangers on the back to easily hang it on the wall.

We currently have 4 of these available and can make the window frame any color you would prefer. The one in the picture above is painted a light Spanish olive green and has been lightly distressed. Since that picture doesn’t do Sandy’s photos justice, here are some close ups of the picture. You can click on any of them to enlarge it. They can all be viewed on her website Woods and Whimsy. Or you can order other prints on her Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WOODSandWHIMSY

I can’t thank Sandy enough for letting me add her photos to our pieces. They are perfect!! If you would like to order one of our window frames, please email me at sarah@funcycled.com or use our Contact Us page. If you haven’t already checked it out, make sure you take a peak at our Home Decor page, too!!

Have a great week and remember that we will be at the Troy Victorian Stroll on Sunday, December 2nd,  from 11am to 5pm. Look forward to seeing you there!

Remember… if you want to stay “in the know” please like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/funcycled You’ll see designs from the people who inspire me, be the first to know when new pieces are available, and just enjoy life with us! Get each of our new projects emailed to you when you enter your email address in the box at the top right side of this page.

Happy Redesigns!
Sarah

Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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Molly Mae’s Rocking Chair

Good morning friends! This week our article came out in the Life@Home magazine came out. You can see it here; we’re pages 53-55. A huge thank you to Life@Home, to Cari for making me feel like I was chatting with a friend and not being “interviewed” and to Tony for a fun photo shoot. It was an amazing experience every step of the way and we feel so blessed to have this opportunity.

Let’s get our furniture makeovers on shall we?

Ellie messaged me about this rocking chair that was on our upcoming project page. She wanted something to go with her daughter’s (Molly Mae) Happy Tree bedding set. We talked about different colors but decided on a warm, pale teal color so that it would be gender neutral for when more babies come along. Ellie’s planning on at least 10… just kidding!

So, here she was before. She looks good, just needed a little tightening up. John tightened all the screws and glued and clamped the legs just to make sure they stayed tight. Continue reading Molly Mae’s Rocking Chair

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Burlap Christmas Tree

Hi All! It’s our family tradition to decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving so we’ve been spending all of our time the last two days making the house look festive as can be. This is our favorite holiday!!

I’ve been in love with burlap lately. I’m not sure if it’s the texture, natural elements or organic “feel”. I searched online and could not find a look that I liked so I thought I would share what we came up with that incorporated burlap, but also added some other colors. I’m going to share where we bought most things and how we did it on a budget. If you have the money and want to spend the extra on more expensive items, have at it. ;)

Let’s start right at the beginning. Our last Christmas tree was one that John’s work was throwing out because they stopped having Christmas trees at Christmas. You know… we can’t have Christmas trees. That would be offensive.. or something ridiculous like that. Anyway. ;) It was nice to have a fake tree for free, but we’ve been on the hunt for a nice clearance tree at the  end of the season for a couple years now. Last year, we found this one on sale for $35 at Home Depot!! I LOVE it… it has berries, pine cones, and different color pine needles. It’s tall and thin; just the way I like them.

John and I have been looking at decorated trees while we’ve been out and about this year.  One thing that we really liked was at Pottery Barn, they put large lanterns in the tree with the ornaments. I wouldn’t have thought of that one, but I loved how it looked. Since I can’t spent 8 million on a lantern at Pottery Barn (even though I love them), I bought these small black lanterns at IKEA for $3.99 each. My hubby bought the flickering candles to put them when they went on sale at Rite Aid after Halloween.

Pretty cute, right?? The burlap is from Michael’s. I was there buying a grape vine wreath and they had a spool of burlap garland. This is important because the edges are sown so it doesn’t fray. If you’ve ever worked with burlap, you know how important that is. It only took one spool to do the tree and it was about $5 if I remember right.

I just love the texture that they add with the beads. I had the beads and most of the ornaments. I bought one container of brown and green ornaments from Walmart. I could not find the green and brown tones any other place. I checked Target, TJ Max and then landed at Walmart. They were a little less than $5 each per color.

One of my favorite parts about this tree set up is the new tree skirt. It’s burlap around the edges with a beautiful light olive green fabric in the center. We bought it at TJ Max for $25. If you’ve ever looked for really nice tree skirts, you know that’s a deal!

The pricey part of our tree  was new lights. Only one small strand of our old lights worked so it was time to switch to LED. They are more expensive up front, but they should save on the electricity and last longer. Just make sure you look for white or they might end up being the blue ones. Me no likey the blue ones! :)

Here’s a close up of everything together. See the cute baby onesie with superman???aweeee!

From a distance…

Feel free to share this post with your friends and let me know your thoughts! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Blessings,
Sarah

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

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Calvin’s Robot Dresser

Hi All! Happy Thanksgiving a few days early! I hope you all have a wonderful week, take time to thank God for the many blessing He has given to you, and enjoy laughing until it hurts with your family. If you’re like me, you’ll be out in the craziness of Black Friday. Not necessarily to buy much, but DEFINITELY to enjoy the experience.

Say a prayer for us today, we’re headed in to have tubes put in Josh’s ears. He has hearing loss and we have been working with the ENT for 6 months. Now it’s time to try tubes to see if they do the trick. I know it’s a very minor surgery, but it makes a mommy nervous. :)

On to the furniture… I know, I know. You all know how I like to chat with you though. ;) So, my pal Mo… or should I call her “that girl!” hooked me up and told my friend Petra about her family’s yard sale. Petra said “hold all the furniture for Sarah” and off I went. This was one of the pieces we picked up that day. I think you’ll be happy with the results. My sister Sarah… yes, I have a sister named Sarah. It’s not a joke; she came to live with us when she was 4 so mom and dad couldn’t really change her name at that point. ;) She asked me to make a robot dresser for her son, Calvin. Um… yes please!!! The best part was… she gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted. Yippee Skip-pee!

I bought Annie Sloan’s graphite grey chalk paint and tried it on this dresser. It’s the first paint that I’ve bought from her. To be honest, I didn’t think it covered as well as I anticipated. With all the rave reviews out there, I just expected a bit more. I started by removing all the knobs, lightly sanding the whole piece and then hand painted the dark grey. I then did a gradient or “ombre” from white to grey. I have seen this done, but it didn’t go that easily for me. This is definitely the longest dresser project so far. After redoing the ombre twice because the gradient wasn’t gradual enough for me the first time, I was happy with it.

Please forgive the no in-between pictures. I took them on my iPhone and some how they are lost now. Grrr! So, I went to Home Depot and bought a sample of a orange that I liked. I made this little guy up from different ideas online. Nothing was like exactly what I wanted, I thought most of the robots looked too “adultish” or had round heads. So I kind of made this design up. I hand drew it and then used painters tape to make the body and head square. After I did all of that, I (and my kiddos) painted the body three times. Then I used a black painters marker to draw the black lines.

It still needed something so I went and bought some fun gears to put in his chest. I really feel like that topped the cuteness chart on this piece. After everything had dried for a few days, I waxed it all to seal it.

Last but not least?? Teal knobs of course!!! And that makes me love you little robot dresser. Now every time we see a robot in the store, my son asks if we can buy it for Calvin. So cute!

About time for the after pictures? I thought so! Here you are!

 

Have a great week and happy redesigns,
Sarah

PS- If you want to stay “in the know” please like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/funcycled You’ll see designs from the people who inspire me, be the first to know when new pieces are available, and just enjoy life with us! Get each of our new projects emailed to you when you enter your email address in the box at the top right side of this page.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)