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Antique White and Raw Wood Buffet

Antique White and Raw Wood Buffet 

Black Distressed Dresser with grey washed drawers and Kelley green knobs

White and Grey Chevron Dresser with yellow knobs

And last but most certainly not least… this Chevron and Eiffel Tower Chair Set. Yup, there are 2!! 

I’m going to have before and after pictures of these pictures on next weeks Tuesday’s Treasures so stay tuned. If you have any questions about the piece Contact Us.

Have an great weekend!
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Custom Cedar Armoire – Tuesday’s Treasures

Happy Tuesday’s Treasures! I hope you had a great week. We enjoyed a beautiful week at the ocean since last Tuesday’s Treasures.

There is nothing like a week at the shore to rejuvenate the soul, but now I am eager to get back to the work I love. This weeks piece is an old cedar armoire. It was a nice big BEAST, but it needed some… how you say BEAUTY. So, let’s call this one beauty in the beast. Ha ha… I crack myself up.

A customer came to me wanting more storage in her living room for clothes because her downtown Troy apartment has no closets. Troy has some beautiful architecture and great rehabbed apartments but if you’ve lived in downtown Troy like I have, you understand how very annoying it is to have limited to no closet space.

When Britta came to me, she said that she loved our work and I could do anything I wanted to it. I fished for what color and style she would prefer, but she was a very trusting customer and she let me do whatever I wanted. All she said was that she liked color and she likes green and yellow. She wasn’t afraid of adding more colors, too!

So, I searched some general styles that I liked and then wanted to find just the right colors together. I went with Glidden’s Spanish Olive Green and Haystack Yellow. If you want to see how we paint furniture check out this link.

I’ve had people ask me what stencil I used for this piece, but I didn’t use a stencil. I hand drew the flowers in pencil and then I painted all of the flowers yellow (4 coats of yellow). I was thinking I may stop there, but once I finished I felt like it needed more color.  Britta is a really a fun, modern lady who deserved that much in a piece. So, I added aqua shadowing and two stripes down the sides. Are you ready for the after pictures?

We delivered it to Britta’s apartment and her neighbor walked by and said did you tell them you live on the 2nd floor yet?? I’m not sure if you can tell, but this beast is almost 6 feet tall. As we got to the steps she said oh and there’s a corner at the top. Lol! Thankfully we made it up without any problems and it’s now happily living in her apartment holding all sorts of stylish clothes, I’m sure!

Until Next Time,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

 

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Krista’s Buffets on Tuesday’s Treasures

Happy Tuesday! So, if you haven’t heard me say it before, of all the things I love about redoing furniture, my favorite is doing custom orders. Both of these buffets were custom orders from a couple who just moved to our area. I know I say this alot, but I really have had so much fun working with Krista and Keith. Krista loves to say, “you pick, I can’t decide” and then lets me make the call. So far… she’s liked everything. Let’s hope I can keep it up. ;) There are many more to come. Thanks Krista!!

The first piece we started with is this buffet. John wanted to keep it at first, but since someone wanted it, he graciously gave it up. :P You know how it is, the shoemakers kids having no shoes. Or something like that. Lol!

Here’s what it started as.

Sorry, it’s a messy picture. Forgive me  OK? Life has been a bit hectic over here. ;)

We went with a nice bright red because I knew once this baby was distressed and glazed, it would have a deep color and make it a perfect focal point in Krista’s living room. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out this page.

We used the original knobs and painted them using Rustoleum’s hammered bronze spray paint. Here it is…. all done!

This red buffet is going to be used in her living room as an entertainment center. Which is exactly what I had planned if I kept it for myself. Lol!

On to the next buffet. It started as this hideous beast. I didn’t think it was all that bad looking structurally, but why green plastic knobs?? Why oh why?? Who ever thought that was a good idea?

First we primed it using primer. I tried Glidden’s grey primer based on a recommendation from a helpful Home Depot guy, umm “associate”. I must say, even though I’m not a huge fan of Glidden’s regular paint, I really liked the primer. It did a great job.

After that I used my favorite black paint… that just went up in price again. Ouch. It hurts the pocket! I love it so much, I simply have to pay it anyway. It definitely love how it gives furniture a pottery barn finish. So beautiful!

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out this page. On a side note, I think it’s soooo hard to take good pictures of black furniture. This baby came out beautiful and the pictures really don’t do it justice.

You”ll see many more pieces to come from Krista’s projects, but for now, thanks for looking!

Have an awesome week and happy redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Coffee Table Time on Tuesday’s Treasures

Happy Tuesday everyone! My little sweetie will turn 3 before I say Happy Tuesday’s Treasures again. So sad! I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up.

This week, I thought I would show you two before and after’s of recently finished coffee tables. A coffee table is one of the first things you see when you walk into a living room so it can be an easy update to transform a room!  After finishing my friend Jo Ann’s Light Sage Coffee Table , Moe sent me a note on our facebook page saying… if you get another cedar chest, I place dibs on it. Right after I found one, I let her know and she gave me free reign to do what I wanted with only one request. Can you put the bird on it? Gladly my dear, gladly! Thanks Moe for being so much fun to work with and get to know!! :)

Here it is before…. definitely in need of some love. It is solid cedar, not a cedar veneer and it’s very old. The top was cracked so we had to replace it as well with a new top.

I wanted to go with a dark top because the living room and dining room in Moe’s house is an open concept room. Her dining room table is an ebony so ebony it was for this coffee table top. We removed the outside edge of the original top (which was damaged, too). Then we sanded the whole piece to make it ready for new paint. Painted and primed it with white latex satin paint.

After we stained the top ebony, we covered it 2 times with a polyacrilic for protection. Are you ready for the after?? You’ll hardly recognize it!

The second table has a fun story. A newly found friend, Theresa, called me up and said, can you do a table make over for me in less than a week?? My husband is going out of town and I want him to think I redid it. Lol! But of course, my dear, but of course. This is an antique table from her grandparents and her house is very pottery barn-ish. She had seen a picture with a similar table, but with white legs.

Here’s the before.

I stripped it naked with 80, 180, and 220 grit sand paper. In that order.

I love the grain… so beautiful!
Then I stained the top using Minwax Special Walnut stain. To seal the top, we used Minwax Finishing Wax instead of Poly and I’ve got to say, I’m in love with it. It gave it a smooth buttery finish. Are you ready for the after?

I also distressed the bottom to give it a more “antiqued look”. Oh, and fear not… she told her husband she didn’t do it. Lol! It was a fun challenge either way and I loved every minute of this redo!

Have an awesome week and happy redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

 

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Primitive Red Buffet

It’s a rainy day here in NY so I thought I’d share the before and after pictures of this primitive red hutch that we recently finished.

Here it is before- definitely in need of some color… if you ask me. :)

We lightly sanded the surface, primed and painted it using a country red that I had on hand from some other projects. If you want to learn how we paint furniture, check out our How To Paint Furniture post.

After it was painted, I distressed it like the dickens and glazed it using colonial stain from Minwax. Are you ready for the after?? Man oh MAN! I wish I had room to keep this one. It’s for sale right now for $295 so email me if you’re interested.

I hope this brought some sunshine to your day!
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Tuesday’s Treasures Triple Treat

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend with family and friends. John and I took a couple days off and just enjoyed our little ones while they are still little. ;)

For this week’s Tuesday’s Treasures, I thought I would show you the before and after pictures of the furniture pieces that are at Anchor No. 5 Boutique in Troy, NY for the month of September. Let’s start with this modern dresser. Here’s what he looked like to begin with. In most cases when you have a dresser that’s missing a drawer, you can put a basket(s) in it to make it work . . . just another way to FunCycle things that were on their way to the curb.

In this case, I didn’t want to use baskets because they wouldn’t really go with the modern lines of the dresser or the look that I wanted. So, I went with an old orange suit case and a modern, chic crate (that I paid way too much for… lol).

The dresser was painted a very, very light mint green. I couldn’t wait to use this color and this dresser was crying out for it. Yes, some times the kid’s crying makes me think even the furniture I redo is crying for my attention, too. Lol!

Up next, these chairs… you remember them, right? They are the same style chairs I used for Tiffany’s Dining Room Chair Set. This time we wanted to go with more pastel colors to compliment Ditty Drop’s Jewelry Designs. They are the featured business of the month in September at Anchor No 5.

After:

And last but surely not least…. this amazing transformation from a beat up, simple ole’ desk…

To this fun, modern chevron beauty.

For our painting tutorial see our How To Paint Furniture page. To get the pattern that we used to paint the chevron design for this desk see our How To Paint A Chevron Dresser post.

Have an awesome week and happy redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Oh Baby! Chevron Dresser – Tuesday’s Treasures

A custom furniture request came in from our fan, Theresa, who was looking for something special for her nursery decor. Theresa and her husband are keeping the gender of their soon-to-be-arriving miracle a surprise so she wanted to go with something neutral. She gave me the size she wanted and let me go to town finding what would work. I found the perfect size and style within a couple days, I take that as an answer to prayer. ;) I quickly went to go pick up this beautiful antique and was planning to paint it in a shabby chic white. I was literally getting into my van after buying the dresser and I had a note from Theresa asking what I thought of Chevron. What do I think of Chevron?? By golly, I own Chevron shoes! I LOVE Chevron.

So, here she is before…. (and no, this isn’t at my house, it was where I picked her up). ;)

First I painted the dresser using a white Behr satin paint. If you want to see how we paint solid color dressers, see our post How To Paint Furniture. Last time I wrote a post on How to Paint a Chevron Dresser, I used a template to draw out the Chevron and then hand painted them. That worked out ok, but the lines weren’t as crisp as I wanted them to be and the paint was blotchy in spots. For this dresser I wanted to try a new way to paint Chevron stripes.

First, you want to grab your measuring tape. You’ll  need it a lot anytime you are going to be painting Chevron stripes. Start by dividing each drawer in half and drawing a line down the middle of each drawer using a pencil. Then, pick the angle that you like best. I started with the middle drawer and picked the angle of the V that I wanted to make. From there, mark two inches higher on the dresser and then use paint’s tape to make the next V. Continue that pattern until all of the drawers are done.

Since I painted this dresser white, I painted over the tape using the same white paint to ensure I would get crisp, clean stripes when I pulled away the painters tape. Let the white paint dry and then paint the drawers (I used Benjamin Moore’s Richmond Grey because that was the color of the walls in the bedroom and Theresa wanted it to match). When I first painted the grey it looked almost white and I was nervous that the difference would be too subtle. I couldn’t be more wrong… I definitely think the two colors are a beautiful compliment to each other.

Two other changes to the original plan. I thought it could use a grey stripe along the top, just to give it a modern feel. Also, we were going to paint the  knobs white, but I asked Theresa if I could paint them yellow instead. Yellow is gender neutral, right?? But of course!! She was such a delight to work with… a really good sport! On both accounts she said, I trust you, if you like it, do it!! Wow! I love my job on days like that. :) Thank you so much, Theresa!!

After I finished this one, I had to call my sister, Sarah, (yes, her name is Sarah, too, we’re not crazy… she came to live with us when she was 4. Love her to death!) and tell her I may need to make another baby just so I can make another one of these dressers. If you like this design, you may also like our new Chevron Desk. Check it out!

If you want one like this, let me know and I’ll hunt one down for you and make her pretty! :) I hope you all have an awesome week and live each day to the fullest!

This design was featured on the Better After Blog.

Happy Redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Tuesday’s Treasures – A Tree Without a Bird Dresser

Have any of you readers with little ones been out and about this weekend buying school supplies, clothes and shoes? Even though my little monkeys aren’t school age yet, I feel like that has been the resounding chatter I hear from all of my friends with kids. How exciting, not to mention, the relief that comes from having a more structured life after the long summer days. That coming from a lady who loves structure. :)

It’s been a really, really fun week here. Some of the noteworthy moments. We were featured on a do it yourself website in Iceland! Thank you Amanda and Inga! See it yourself… it’s true!  Hugmyndir fyrir heimilið  Oh, and it’s in Icelandic so you’ll have to choose to translate your text to English if you want to read it. ;) We also were an inspiration to Mindy Mae over at Turning This Into That blog. She is redoing a hutch to match one of our redesigns. Go Mindy! You already know all of this if you are a fan of our Facebook Page. Sharing designs and being inspired by others is one of my favorite things about modern technology. I know it has its downside… too many clicks, too little time with you family, etc. However, with moderation, sharing inspiration can be so much fun!

Enough of my random thoughts … you’re here for furniture pictures, right? I’m going to be sharing a new tree dresser, but this time without a bird. This beautiful dresser that came from Joy. She has helped me out with so many pieces as she is downsizing her home. What a blessing you are to us, Joy!

Here it is before:

This dresser was structurally sound and I LOVED the shape. I wanted to paint it white and distress it and I did just that. If you want to see the step by step instructions on how we paint furniture, see How to Paint Furniture.  I used Behr white primer and paint in one. After I was done painting it, I couldn’t leave it just white. I went upstairs and told John I have a problem… it was just asking for more! I know, I know, it’s a sickness. I told you all that before. :)

It was time for a tree without a bird. Can it be done? Some would dare say no. I say… why not?? My brother, Jesse, would be upset with me for not putting the bird on it. lol Here it is… beautiful as can be .

If you missed our special post from yesterday, see the before and after of our Glamorous Dresser Set.

Have a great week and happy redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

 

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Glamorous Black and White Dresser Set

Hi All! I’m surprising you on a Monday. What?? It’s not Tuesday’s Treasures yet! Well, I just couldn’t wait any longer to share this dresser set with you.

Here’s the before picture of these BEAUTIFUL dressers!

They were solid wood and stunning from the inside out. Even the drawers were pretty. I wanted to try a more glamorous look on this set because I thought they deserved it. I don’t often get dressers that are in good shape to begin with… lol. I did a black enamel on the outside and did each drawer white (using white spray paint). I wanted to keep the same knobs but they were a little plain. What could make a boring knob pop?? Spray painting them silver of course!!

If you want to see step by step instructions on painting furniture, see our page How to Paint Furniture. Oh, and this lovely set went to a sweet young lady named Courtney. She came to look at both pieces and found out she only lives about 3 minutes down the road from me! Yay for meeting new neighbors! A huge thanks to her and her family for their support of local businesses!

Are you ready for some after pictures?

Have a great day and happy redesigns,
Sarah

Remember… If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now 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.

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Bird in a Tree Dresser

Note: I originally saw this design on Pinterest and something like it at a local restaurant near our house. The pin I saw did not direct me to the originator so I didn’t know who to give credit to.  Thankfully, the original designer from Gypsy Barn reached out to me today, and I definitely want to give her credit.  You should check out her other stuff, it’s impressive!

Hi Everyone! Sorry for taking a little longer than I like to show you all the fun designs we’ve come up with. This one has to be one of my favorites, I know, I know, I say that alot!!
Here she is to begin with, a beautiful antique, but I wanted to do this design so badly so I went for it!

For the how to on painting see our post How to Paint Furniture.
We used a basic satin white Glidden paint and I’ve got to say that it sprayed well from our air sprayer when diluted.

Here she was after the primer and paint.

I just used a pencil and free handed a tree with a bird. The nice thing about a tree (in my opinion) is that it’s hard to do wrong. I had read about painting pens online and wanted to try it for this piece. I ran to Hobby Lobby.. with my 40% off coupon of course. :)  I used the largest tip I could find and it uses Acrylic paint.

I traced over where I had drawn it in pencil and had to do two coats to make sure it came out dark enough. It used one pen do the whole dresser.

I almost left it just like this, but I took a vote and everyone said I should distress it. Time to get my distressing on using 60 grit sand paper. After it was beat up, I sealed it with Polyacrilic.
Here she is all done and beautiful.

Our little guys picture of it! ;)