DRESSER MAKEOVER

Do you have a need for TV storage under your flat screen TV??

You don't need to spend a lot to get exactly what you need.

I found this dresser on craigslist for FREE.

 It was typical brown wood. It had six drawers.

I took out four.

I've also found dressers on the side of the road.

It's kind of fun to transform things. Especially when all it costs is some paint and your time.

#creativ3wonder

Budget Kitchen Redo

#creativ3wonder

I live in a seventies split level. The kitchen is small. Without a $50,000 budget, there not much you can do. But, with $5,000, I pulled off a mini makeover.

I have a family room addition on the back of the kitchen/dining area. This makes the kitchen a little cave in the middle. No window! No air!

My sink is in the corner. I had a contractor come and price moving the sink to face the family room. I wanted an island really bad! He was really great. He knew my budget and he gave me the best free advice.
He said, " Don't move the sink. You'll spend a lot of money and it really isn't worth it. Add more lighting"

So, I painted my oak cabinets a creamy white and finally got granite! Painting all the cabinets took me every weekend. All day. I started with chalk paint and after 3 doors, it wasn't what I wanted. The brown wax didn't make them looked aged, they looked dirty! So disappointing.

I switched to plain old latex and many coats of poly.  I still used the wax but it didn't mix with the chalk paint. When the latex dried, it just looked aged. Which is what I wanted.

I'm pretty hard on myself. It wasn't perfect. But, now it's done and it's 300 times better than the oak. The new counters look great. I painted the breakfast bar a contrasting black. I added new pendants and painted the walls.

My breakfast bar used to be an odd angled shape. I cut the counter myself and made it squared off.

I changed out the base cabinets from the weird shape to a regular cabinet base and this made the counter look more normal. I used to have a tall pantry cabinet that took up a lot of space but wasn't used very often. This made me have more counter space when I put in base cabinets and upper cabinets.



I never had a closet in the kitchen. We had to keep the broom and the mop in the garage which wasn't convenient. I had this idea to punch a hole into the room behind the kitchen which we didn't use. So I took it upon myself to just break through the walls and build a closet. I looked it up on YouTube, figured it out and built it. My husband and I installed the sliding door which was really hard.

If only I could afford tile new tile flooring or wood, my kitchen would be a lot better. 😋


Here are the end results: Before

 and After

CHANGING STOOLS TO YOUR DECOR

I got these great swivel stools of craigslist. I have to say, I hate light oak.

I wanted to make these look older and more interesting.

So I painted the legs black and sanded the seats. I chose a darker stain. I then learned how to transfer an image from the printer and rub off the paper while the image remains behind.

This one was stubborn. But after all the rubbing they came out well and then I poly'd them.

Think OUT of the box

Small bathrooms. They suck. but what can you do?
Make them more appealing the easy way.

Here is a bathroom that's very narrow.You walk in, you see the window.
Why not make a statement. You could do it with a window covering.
You could do it with paint.

But, why not CONTACT PAPER!
Its self sticking! Its like wallpaper all pasted for you. Contact paper has come a long way. It CAN be used anywhere.

If you have a smallish wall, it's perfect.

Save money on refrigerator repair

No one likes to pay to have a service tech step inside your home and pay $90 to show up. When your handy like me and everything is on YouTube, you should at least try.

My refrigerator is a side by side. The cold side was warm. The freezer was below normal.
After typing in my symptoms, I thought it was a fan issue. Not enough cold air coming in from the freezer. I took it all apart. It wasn't the fan. What a pain to put it all back together.

I had to succumb to the repairman. He figured it out in ten minutes.

You'll never guess what it was. Our light switch. Yes, the light switch that turns on the light inside the refrigerator. When you open the door the switch turns on.  It had broken off. A tiny piece of plastic. I could have ordered it!

I never saw one post about the light switch. It was all technical like "motherboard" and such.

People need to know this! I had to pay $130 for a switch!!!! I was so mad at myself!

So I hope this blog can be reached buy someone looking it up.

The switch is inside the fridge close to the door hinge. I never noticed it before or even thought about the light switch.

Keep on painting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ok, here is a nicely made sturdy table given to me by my dearest friend, the sidewalk !

 

I love trash day. How can you throw away such nice stuff.

My favorite thing is to re-purpose it. Just like making changes in your home, furniture can be changed too. Don't throw it away.

But if you have to, you know the creative ones will take it for you!

 

 

   

 

 

 

A work in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making table toppers more appealing

I had another party to decorate for. This time it was a Mardi Gras theme. I usually have a small budget and use the dollar store. I found these purple sprays wrapped in foil.I knew it would be a snap to dress it up a little and make it look like it cost more than $1.

I also found some foil wrap used to put inside gift bags. The sprays were easy to unwrap. they were tied with a twistie. So I unwrapped them. Cut out a square of the coordinating foil wrap and layered the colors. I re-wrapped them with the same twistie.

To add some more dimension I added some pre made bows and a mask and some left over party decorations I had from another party.

Everything hooked easily on the existing purplle spray. Tadah!