A Splash of Color for an Old Piano

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I love this daring move from Lisa at The Pennington Point. She transformed this blah piano...

...into something so fun!

It takes guts and a vision to pull this off, and I think it looks wonderful! For more pictures of this project, please visit The Pennington Point

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Scrapwood Lamp By Not Just A Housewife

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Check out this amazing project!

Stacy over at Not Just A Housewife took this drum lamp shade...

Some acrylic paint...

Scrap wood...

And turned it into this!

I absolutely love this lamp! I still can't believe she HAND PAINTED the shade! To see how easy it is to make one yourself, check out her tutorial HERE. Well maybe the base is easy, I certainly couldn't paint a lamp shade that looked THAT perfect!

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Old Tv Transformation with Home Hinges

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I'm absolutely in love with this project I found by April of Home Hinges. I was so excited I stumbled across her blog, she actually shares it with her four sisters! How fun is that? All the girls contribute with their current projects and great ideas, seriously a fun, fun blog! Here's April with her amazing TV transformation!

Here’s a teaser of the final product. But this isn’t what it originally looked like. In fact it looked very, very different.

My fist impression was that someone had left their garbage in the front yard with the hope someone would take it. The box sat there for several days because who in their right mind would want THAT.

It was an OLD TV. Like the kind I remember from when I was five. The kind you actually had to walk up to in order to turn the dial to change the channels.

This kind of TV that only had 13 or 14 channels and only half had a signal.

I was not initially inspired, thus I too drove past it on my merry way for several days. But I recently saw Beckie’s transformation of a similar piece on her blog Infarrantly Creative , which got my little brain churning. If she could do it… What’s to lose? So in the middle of a horrific rain storm, the kind we only get two or three times a year, I zoomed over to the curb on which this pathetic thing sat.

I’m the polite kind of scrounger so I ran up to the door, still in my exercise clothes, my hair barely brushed and in a pony tail, and rang the doorbell. They said I could have it for free as well as a gun cabinet they had just thrown in a dumpster in the driveway. See its transformation into a dining room hutch here.

The couple at the home were getting ready to move and getting rid of a lot of stuff. They were happy to help me load my finds into the back of my minivan. The only problem, particularly with the TV was that it was too heavy to get out of the car by myself.

Like it was full of rocks, REALLY HEAVY.

Not wanting to wait until my sweet Sports Addict got home (because he would think I had finally lost my mind), I decided to just start gutting it right there in the car with the hope that once it was gutted I could muscle the frame out myself.

After about a bazillion screws and cutting lots of wires it came.

Some of the guts

After about an hour’s worth of work and just a few scratches, I successfully extracted the shell from the minivan. Remember a lot of this was going on in intermittent rain. No worries though. My neighbors already know I’m nuts.

At this point I was just hoping this wasn’t a huge mistake. But if Beckie could do it…

Thus pushing ahead I used scraps of materials in the garage to make a box inside the shell. Since I thought it would be nice to use for piano music I decided to put in vertical dividers. I just hate it when books fall over into a pile and I’ve found vertical dividers on shelves really help with this. It also made sense since sheet music is often very tall.

Vertical dividers before getting their front edge trim

I also trimmed out the front to hide the plastic molding used to attach the TV to the frame.

Molding to hide the unsightly edges of the TV shell

So after caulking it was finally ready to prime and paint.

I didn’t put the back on until the end so I could paint from both the front and back. It made it easier to paint the interior. I used some Kilz 2 primer I had on hand and some “oops” paint I mixed together to get this lovely grayish-blue.

Once that was dry I went over the whole piece with a cream color I used on my roadside mirror. I just dry brushed on the cream color, highlighting the molding of the old TV shell and giving it a little bit of a brushed over look.

In the end my wonderful Sports Addict is no longer questioning my sanity, and I have a beautiful new hutch for holding all the piano music that used to be spilling over the top of the piano.

The best part though it that it was 100% FREE.

I didn’t spend a single cent on this. Everything I used was already in the garage either from old projects or left from previous owners of the home. Not only did I save at least part of the TV from the landfill, but I reused items that might have eventually been thrown away in the garage. Free and better for the environment. I’m just going to go pat myself on the back again as I admire my new living room furniture.

April

CAUTION: I’ve been told there is a part in some of these old TV’s that may hold a charge even if the TV has been unplugged for a while. Taking one of these apart could result in electrocution.

Here are some more great posts from the ladies of Home Hinges

Gun Cabinet turned Dining Hutch

Treasures from Great Granpa's Warehouse

A look at Real Life

Thanks April, for sharing with us today!

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Beautiful Buffets & Hutches

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One thing that has been on my wish list for a while is a beautiful buffet or hutch for my dinning room. I keep waiting to find that perfect piece with beautiful lines and curves and a good price tag! Since the hubs is still in school, our house is mostly furnished with Target and Wally World furniture, but once we are more established, I plan on filling our home with antique and vintage piece. Here are some gorgeous redos that inspire me!

Sleek and Chic Credenza Redo from Second Time Furniture

Beautiful Bold Red French Hutch by Brooke @ The Crafting Chicks

Love the detail in this buffet by Becca @ Blue Cricket Design

This one is a little wild, but I love it! Found it over @ Design Sponge

I love how Cassie from Primitive and Proper used the chalkboard paint on the panels of this gorgeous buffet!

I can't even begin express my love for this piece! You have to head over to The Blueberry Monkey to see it all accessorized!

This cabinet is so stunning and unique! Can you believe Katie from Impatiently Praying for Patience got it for FREE?!?!?!?!


All such breathtaking pieces! I just can't wait until I find my own! I'll be sure to post pictures and tell you all about it when I finally do!

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Tree Swing with Peppertowne

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Currently, I'm in love with all things outdoors...

patios, outdoor rooms, gardens, fresh air and summer.

So today, I'm displaying a tree swing built by my Man.
We found this poor sad little throw-away chair,
$8 at the local thrift shop.

The upholstery was clean and and in good condition so we kept it.

And I really like the retro pattern.

We painted, drilled and sawed.

Here's how to make your own! 

Step One:

Find your chair or bench

This is an example of what NOT to do.

(I wish I had more pictures. I didn't prepare for a DIY tutorial when we were making the swing.)

When searching for the perfect chair or bench to turn into a swing you want to look for solid wood construction with little or no upholstery.  We choose this chair because of it's shape, construction and because it was in the 'trash' bin at our local thrift shop!  $8!!

I love chairs and I've collected too many.  This chair needed a new function.

Step Two:
Prep your wood and weatherproof your upholstery

Prep your wood for painting by cleaning and lightly sanding it.  Repair any problem areas and make sure all nails and screws are tight.

Weatherproofing this upholstered seat was easy.  I removed the seat from the chair by unfastening the screws that held it in place.  Then began removing the layers of upholstery.  The second layer I found was this lovely vintage checker pattern in practically perfect condition.  I wanted to keep it. 

In order to protect it from water damage, melted popsicles and other messes, I simply placed a layer of plastic between the cushion and the fabric.  To do this, I removed the original upholstery from the cushion and then stapled it back in place with the layer of heavy duty plastic underneath it.  Simple!

By wrapping the cushion in a layer of plastic before the upholstery you accomplish two things.

1. Rain and water wont seep into the cushion and create a breeding ground for mildew and mold.
2. You make your cushion washable. My kids love this swing and have already spilled on it. I can simply hose the cushion off, let it sit in the sun for a hour and then put it back on the swing.
 

To complete the weatherproofing, we used a waterproofing spray.  You can use a scotch guard or similar product but on this particular chair we used some left over Nikwax Waterproofing spray which is usually used for outdoor camping gear like tents and jackets.  You can find Scotch Guard at any home goods store and Nikwax at most sporting goods stores.  I prefer Nikwax over most other products because it's heavy duty and also protects from the sun.  In Arizona it's not the rain we have to worry about, it's the damage from the sun.

Step Three:

Paint the chair and weatherproof the wood.

Since this swing was intended to be outside among the elements we used an exterior paint with a self primer.  We applied 3 fairly thin layers of paint making sure to cover all the seams and especially around the caning on the chair.  The chair dried thoroughly before we applied 2 polyurethane coats to protect it from the sun and rain.  This is the product we used.

 

Tip: When using products that layer on each other like paint and polyurethane always use water-based paint with water-based polyurethane and oil-based paint with oil-based polyurethane.

Step Four: 

Drill your holes and tie your knots

When you hang your swing you want it to tilt backwards slightly to create a comfortable place to sit.  Think about this concept when you drill the holes for you rope.  We drilled 6 holes.  Two in the front and four in the back.

The holes in the front look like this:

The holes drilled on the backside of the chair look like this:

On the backside of your chair or bench you will want to drill two holes on each side.  This will help stabilize your swing so it doesn't tip back all the way and dump you out on the grass!  Notice how we drilled the holes so when we put the rope through it's on a diagonal.  This adds extra support and strength.

Once you've drilled your holes, string your rope through the holes.  If you haven't gone to Harbor Freight yet, you should.  We bought about 75 feet of braided poly rope for less than $5.  It's perfect. It's heavy duty, mildew and rot resistant, will stretch a little and hold a capacity of about 250lbs. 

Next, it's time to tie your knots.  I'm not exactly sure what this knot is called (maybe a half-hitch) but I like it for two reasons.

1.  It's the kind of knot that when you put pressure and weight on it, it tightens it's grip.  So it will never come undone and risk dumping you out of your swing.

2.  It looks like a pretty braid when your finished.

Step 1: String your rope through your holes leaving 1-2 feet of rope to work with.

Step 2: Wrap the loose end of the rope around the back of the rope that will be hanging from your tree or porch.  Then pull the end underneath itself.  See step 3 for more details on this.

Step 3:  # 1 Pull the rope up. #2 Pull the rope behind the other piece. #3 Pull the end underneath itself.

This action is also known as "the rabbit (the end piece of your rope) goes around the tree (#2) and then into the hole (#3)"

Step 4: Pull tightly and you will create your first knot.

Step 5:  Do it again.  The rabbit goes around the tree (#2) and through the hole (#3).

Step 6: Then pull tightly.

Take the rabbit around the tree and through the hole as many times as you like.  When your finished, burn the end of your rope to keep it from fraying.

And that's it!  Complete the other sides of your chair and soon you'll be ready to hang up your swing.

•••

For even more fun inspiration, please visit

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