Hi Friends!

I hope you are having a good start to your week! Every Sunday, I am reminded to be thankful for whatever might lie ahead for the coming week, and here we are on a Tuesday, already part way through, and it is joyous!

Also, over the weekend, we celebrated our son’s 16th birthday! Can you believe it?! I took this picture of him when we were in Ireland, and I just love it!

In this week’s Tuesday’s Treasure, I want to share with you a reminder for all of us, and it comes by way of a piece of furniture. If you aren’t familiar with the term, trousseau, get ready to learn a few things while being reminded to pay attention to the special details that bring us hope every day!

If you are having trouble viewing the images, click here.

The term trousseau is derived from the French verb, trousser, which means “to truss” or “to tuck” (Merriam-Webster). When we hear the word trousseau, a natural association is to think of a wedding or bride, and rightfully so. A trousseau is a large chest that is used to house keepsakes and important items. In previous generations, a trousseau often served as a way for a woman to store and save up special items and valuables for the day when she would marry. A more modern term we may be familiar with is the word hope chest (or okay two words!) Although the word hope chest finds its origination dating back to the 15th Century in Italy, it was introduced to the US during the 20th century (Brides online article). In turn, a hope chest functions exactly as a trousseau, and these terms are relatively interchangeable. In today’s furniture flip, this hope chest was given new life, to bring some hope into someone’s home and life!

True to it’s character, this chest is large, and it is designed to hold and keep things in safe keeping (hint this is the secret of the cedar lining used in closets, chests, drawers, etc. ) Take a look at the before photo. Does not exactly stir up the kind of sentiment you would think of given its history, but there is always hope, right?

And here is the after photo! So different, right?

The chest is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Simply White (a FunCylced go-to color!), and the top remains refinished and stained in a warm medium brown tone, Jacobean. The bird and branches are hand painted, and we added the black cup handles on the drawers to provide a nice contrast. Here’s a peek at some of the elements that make this chest both practical and beautiful. Gorgeous solid wood, deep drawer for additional storage and organization, and cedar lined. This chest is made by the Lane Furniture Company, meaning it was proudly made in the USA!

This beautiful chest has already been sold, and we know it is bringing great hope and joy to its new owners!

If you have a chest (or old piece of furniture) and would like it to have new life again, reach out to us on our Contact Us page. Or you can always browse our furniture inventory, by visiting our shop page.

Want some helpful tips on how to complete your own furniture flip, check out this how-to blog: HOW TO PAINT FURNITURE LIKE A PRO!

THANK YOU TO THE CAPITAL REGION CHAMBER

I also want to give a big shout out to the Capital Region Chamber for highlighting us this past week and sharing the FunCycled story and our dedication to the Capital District. As a proud member of the Chamber, I am honored and pleased to share the full story highlight with you! You can read it here.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,

Sarah ; )

Hi Friends!

If you follow us on social media, you probably know that FunCycled has been generating some really great furniture flips recently, and the best part…EVERYTHING you see here is IN STOCK!! But what you might not know is that furniture flipping is how FunCycled first began!! Join me down memory lane and also to get a full overview of our current inventory, plus our latest Featured Furniture Collection.

If you are having trouble viewing images, click here.

Memory Lane

In 2012, my husband John and I saw an opportunity to share our passion and know how for furniture flipping! I have always been creative, and I found this creativity to really take flight when I found moments to restore something broken or unused by refreshing it, repurposing it, and transforming into a new treasure! Check out some pics from back in the day!

Current Pieces

From this painted and stained buffet to vintage storage trunks (great for coffee tables or toy corralling!) to end tables and night stands, FunCycled has some amazing pieces in our inventory! Take a look! Be sure to click on each image to get full details. BTW, the cutie black end stand with gold legs is a set of two! Can you stand it?!

If you see a treasure that would be perfect for your space, reach out to me on our Contact Us page or you can email me directly and let me know what piece you would like!

Featured Collection

This collection comes with a larger piece which could be used as a dresser or even a buffet or sideboard as well as two side tables for night stands or even end tables for a living room! Also check out that before photo!

Check out some close ups and details of this collection! The double stripe and black and gold hardware add a touch of flair and I can’t get over how much I love the retractable doors the open to additional storage! LOVE!!

Each piece has been painted in Benjamin Moore’s Steam and stained with a mix of gray and brown stains that I had on hand–sometimes that just the perfect shade!

Again, if you see a piece (or more!) that you would like for your home, reach out to me on our Contact Us page.

Want some helpful tips on how to complete your own furniture flip, check out this how-to blog: HOW TO PAINT FURNITURE LIKE A PRO!

DON’T FORGET

FUNCYCLED IS SPONSORING OUR UPCYCLING CONTEST! (Click the image below for more details.)

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,

Sarah ; )

Hi Friends!

I hope you had a nice weekend! It was a rough one here with a surprise root canal on Friday morning and the flu the next day. The kids and I are hacking our days away on the couch. Good thing I can type and not talk to share this week’s makeover with you.

It’s been a bit since I’ve shared a custom order with you. This coffee table and end stand set was already owned by one of our clients. Here’s what they looked like before:

We painted this set with Benjamin Moore Black and sprayed it with a protective clear coat.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post.

Ready for the afters:

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Hi Friends!

Thank you to those who came out to our Open House and Vendor Market on Monday night. The turnout was small because of the huge snow storm, but we had a great time with those brave souls who made their way here. Please keep in mind that this Sunday is Troy’s Victorian Stroll! Another fun day in downtown Troy with something to do for everyone! Here’s our family picture from last year at the Victorian Stroll!

We also just finished our window displays and you can vote for them on the Victorians Stroll’s Facebook page.

For this week’s post, I wanted to share a new makeover that we finished for FunCycled. It’s an antique carpenters trunk that we added wheels to create a rustic coffee table. Here it is before:

We painted it Black by Benjamin Moore, heavily distressed it, and sprayed it with a protective clear coat so you can put your cups right on it!
If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. 
Ready for the transformation???

This piece is available online or in our store. You can also check out even more new pieces on our For Sale page.

• 

  Red Hutch

Please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We also offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and furniture. We can deliver for customers in upstate NY and also help you 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 online shop.

Hi Friend!

How are you? I had a great day at HGTV’s blogger’s block party yesterday!

Renee (who works for us helping with our social media) joined me for the trip and we had a blast!

I was able to meet Sara Peterson, Editor in Chief, HGTV Magazine, too!

We have been busy creating new options for custom orders and watching interior design jobs come together! I can’t wait to share those projects with you once they’re done!

Here are some of the custom order options that you can now Contact Us about for a custom order in any size you need:

Farm House Table and Benches:

Black Thick Legged Table with metal chairs:

Herringbone Sofa or Entryway Table:

For this week’s furniture makeover we took a trunk like many you’ve probably seen before. It looked like it should be in the garage or basement and we turned it into something that could be a focal point of the living room or at the end of a bed. Really beautiful!

Here it is before:

It had been Lisa’s family so she didn’t want to get rid of it, but definitely didn’t want it to look like this any longer. We painted all of it – even over the hardware and handles and then lightly distressed it with an orbital sander. We painted it Simply White by Benjamin Moore. If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. We also added wheels which is what I think sent this makeover into a whole new level of awesomeness! What do you think?

Such an amazing transformation, right?

This trunk was a custom order so it’s not available to purchase, but please check out other new furniture for sale on our website here or let us know if you could use some help with decorating. Please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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

How’s your summer going so far? Can you believe we are more than half way through? I can’t!! You know another thing I can’t believe? How great this furniture makeover came out!

Raymond sent me this picture and asked if we could some how make something out of it…

My inward self thought “heck no” but then the side of me that loves a challenge responded back “sure can!”. We went back and forth on the size of the piece and where it would work best in his house. It looked like it would work best in his entry way as a statement piece for his beautiful old home in Troy. We ripped the top off and added a new black walnut top to it. John routered the edge to give it that beautiful fine finish and added runners under the feet so it wouldn’t scratch their floor.

They also found parts that we knew wouldn’t be the original layout but we wanted to attach them to the base to give it a more industrial feel.

Ready for the afters? I know I am! lol

Such an amazing transformation, right? This piece was a custom order so it isn’t available to purchase! You can check out other pieces on our Shop Page.

Please check out other new furniture for sale on our website here or let us know if you could use some help with decorating. Please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

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

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

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

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 ;)

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.

Hi All!

How was the first week of school for most of you in upstate NY??? It was our first year for both our Little Man who started kindergarten and for Sweetie going into Pre-K. If you want to see some pictures of their first day and have a chance to get a coupon for $50 your own photo shoot check out the Kid’s First Day of School post.

Here are some fun before and afters of pieces that have been done for awhile, but somehow I missed writing a blog post about them. I don’t know how because I really, really like both of them.

This little bistro set was on my front porch for years until I recently Revamped My Front Porch and added a new burlap bistro set. I don’t know why I didn’t redo it sooner because if I had, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to replace it. 

Brenda was looking for a bistro set and is a self proclaimed FunCycled addict. When she saw this on our Upcoming Projects page, she jumped on it.

Painting outdoor furniture is similar to indoor except you want to use an exterior paint and an exterior sealer and do a couple extra coats of sealer on top to make sure it can handle the sun and rain. The whole set was painted Benjamin Moore’s Meridian Blue. Then I lightly distressed it and sealed it.

It just couldn’t be any cuter now, could it??

Second up but definitely loved to pieces is an amazing bird and tree coffee table. Colleen contacted us to redo her coffee table to incorporate sage brown and cream. When she came to drop it off, she found out that her parents live on my street. Small world!!!

Here is was before. Colleen liked the stain of the wood, but wanted the top to have a tree design.

We sanded and re-stained the entire base with Minwax ebony. Then we painted the top Benjamin Moore’s Carlisle Cream and distressed it. We’re always asked if we use stencils for our designs. No, I almost always hand draw the tree and paint it by hand. That’s what we did in this case. Here’s the after!

 Thanks so much for the custom orders Brenda and Colleen!!! It was such a pleasure working with you both. 

Happy redesigns everyone,
Sarah

OK, OK, it’s not really a coffin… it’s just a HUGE beat up old trunk!!! It’s so big that I probably could bury my little sister in it (of course I wouldn’t – you know that, right, Lee Lee?).

Happy Tuesday’s Treasures! Has another month nearly gone by?? How can this be? Between custom orders, life changes and the dishes…  I feel like I blinked and this month is about gone. I’ve shown you so many pinks and reds during this month of love, so today I’m sharing a love of wood that I also enjoy. Sometimes I get comments on Facebook or on my website about how I should have refinished a piece instead of repainting it. I respect their opinions, but usually disagree. lol  I just like the painted look much more on most furniture pieces… except ones like this. ;)

Here’s the before picture… an over 5 foot long wooden box. We bought it from a man  who said it came from a farmhouse in Connecticut. It was in really rough shape… scratches and abuse all over it. I could see past it’s ugliness and thankfully have a hubby who trusts my gut by now. He carried this coffin turned coffee table in and out of my work space for me and that was no easy(or light) task.

After 4 hours of sanding, it was finally ready to be beat up by yours truly. Yes, you have to make it look perfect before it can be beat up or “distressed” in the right way. So, I went at it with a hammer, screws, and a 5 in one tool to give it the distressed look that I wanted. After you beat it up, you have to hit it again with a 220 grit  sanding to smooth out what you’ve just distressed.

Then I stained it with Minwax’s Jacobean 2750 to give it a nice deep, dark base and for the second coat of stain, I used Minwax Red Mahogany 225 because I wanted it to have a red hue without screaming redness at me!

We custom ordered corner brackets from an iron smith. They were one of the hardest parts to find. I wanted something that would wrap around the corners of the trunk, but something that was also long enough to be the right size for a 5 foot trunk. I looked everywhere online to find something, checked local hardware stores, called trunk makers from California to New England and no one had what I wanted. Finally, I found the right shape online and then I asked an iron worker if he could make the right length and style for me. He was awesome and put the 90 degree corner in it and hand hammered each arrow head a the end. I loved that they are not exactly the same and it gave the trunk a more authentically rustic feel because that’s how it would have been done 100 years ago.

I also added antique caster wheels from old engine carts to the base. They look so tiny on this trunk because it’s huge. I LOVE the whole look and definitely didn’t want to hand this one over to our customer Jen. Jen let me go with my gut for everything with this trunk and was so sweet. When we finished it, John said, let’s just keep this one. I had to break the news that it was a custom job. He was a sad puppy! lol 

Are you ready for the after pictures?? I know I am and I’ve already seen it!! Oh, and I think it looks a little murky in the pictures, but it didn’t look that way in person at all. The photo of the top gives you a better indication of the finish. As Jen said when she picked it up, “It looks even better than in the pictures!” Yay!

Look at the grain on top!!! Ahh… sooooo pretty!
 

And a close up of those amazing corner brackets! Thank you Will!!!

Happy Redesigns Everyone,
Sarah

If you like what you see, please like our face book 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 for customers in upstate NY and 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.

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??
The orange leaves are actually up-side-down hearts and the bird wings are hearts. Nothing better for the two love birds in North Carolina!!! I told Demian that he wins the husband of the year award for this thoughtful present. Am I right ladies??? You know it’s true!! How thoughtful. Demian also inspired my friend Kassy’s husband to ask me to turn a boring old end table into this for her birthday.

To all of our out of state blog followers, shipping this trunk to North Carolina was  actually very reasonable and the shipping process went great!! So, please don’t be afraid to ask if you see something you would like customized for your home.

I hope you have a wonderful day planned with family, friends and delicious food. While you are all together enjoying this special day, remember to take time to thank God for His gift to us, our Savior, Jesus.  What a humble beginning, perfect life, horrific death, and amazing resurrection to celebrate! God did all of that for you and me. Even if this Christmas is different from years past or a lonely day, you can still celebrate the Savior.

From my family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas!!
Sarah