New Find @ the ReStore!!

So I went down to the ReStore today just to look around.  Didn't have much money but I found this really old trunk.  Not sure what it was but it was well made.  It is heeeaaaaavvy!  I could tell by my husbands face .Yeah it's dirty but it looks so

sturdy I think it would be an awesome coffee table for outside.  Not sure if I'm going to paint it or stain it or call it Bob.

There's so many options.  Does anyone know more about this thing?

Another ducktape flower & Before and after file cabinet

I have made another duck tape flower. This one is for my friend and her garden. She wanted one for her birthday and I was happy to obliged.

I had to take a picture of it with my other one, just so it wouldn't be lonely.

Pretty huh :) I so love duck tape.

Ok on to the before and after.

So this is the before. An older metal file cabinet. Pretty heavy duty one, could probably withstand a nuclear explosion.

So pulled out the drawers and did some painting and......

TADA!!!!! outdoor seating with storage. You'll have to excuse the tape at the end of the cushion. I haven't got around to sewing it yet. I wanted to make sure no bugs could crawl in. The lid is hinged and found wood. The file cabinet was free, and so was the wood. The cushion I already had. So all this cost me was the paint. I added the mustache because it makes me smile and I needed to man up the deck a little.

I have one more filing cabinet to play with. Hmmmmm what to do, another planter or storage or something completely different. We shall see.....until then.

Getting prettier by the day

The weather has been sooooo beautiful lately I can't stop creating things. So I am going blog wild!! hahahha

A few weeks ago I found some round vases for fifty cents a piece. Loved the shape, not so much the color. Felt really dated. So I crocheted around them with some giant hooks and bright green yarn. Much better, at least I think so. Add a little bit of flowers from the garden and bam instant pretty.

Still making my cheap deck pretty.

Hung up the dollar store lanterns in the tree (check out my older posts for tutorial) for more color.

I also have redone another old file cabinet with a different purpose this time. That post will be coming soon. The round orb in the bottom of the picture is light globe I found at the ReStore for a few dollars. It reminds me of a giant bubble. I wish I could find more.

Well have a great day and happy creating.

Recycled stuff into Bird Bath

I was going to wait to post this but I'm too excited. We have this place here in town called the ReStore and it is awesome!! It's like used building materials and furniture and light fixtures or parts of all of the above. All of the money they make go to Habitat for Humanity. Which I love and encourage everyone to support them. One reason they are amazing, the other is finding things cheap. With a capital C and B for bargain. So I found this light fixture cover and it was a pretty good size and square and deep enough but not too deep. I thought bird bath depth. I have also found, about a year ago, a surveyor's tripod for around a dollar at a thrift store. Which I have been hanging on to in hopes of using. I had another one but turned it into a floor lamp.
Ok so on to the bird bath,.....grabbed a couple of rubber spacers and nylon bolt and washer to seal the hole in light cover. Painted the tripod in some fun colors using leftover spray paint and left over garage sale stickers.

I have to admit, I was going to leave it the natural wood color but accidently got painted when I was working on the file cabinet planter. Sometimes mistakes are a good thing.

Then just bolted the top to the bottom with nuts and washers. So for about 5 dollars I have a bird bath that is fun and easy to store away for the winter. It is also a great detourant for my cats as I can make it really high.

Other half of old chandelier

Still working on making my deck pretty. Thought this would add a romantic touch. Hoping to surprise my husband with a outdoor dinner next week.

So this is the leftovers from the chandelier post I did a couple of weeks ago. I painted this one green and white and used some dollar store flowers to jazz it up. I clear coated the whole thing including the flowers. Now I just need to find some candles.

I'll post a pic when it is complete.

Close to free Deck

I repainted my deck yesterday. A beautiful deep blue that looks amazing among the green. If my deck looks familiar, it's because I used free pallets to make it. Once again free is my favorite number. I leveled the ground and added sand and placed 6 pallets (screwed together) on it. I found some 1x2 inch striping to place in the slats . Tacked it down with finishing nails and then cover it in an oil base porch paint.

All in all I love my little deck. It's under a cherry tree and I even found a thick piece of wood to go over the very old pond to tie it all together.

I will take another pic when I have it looking pretty.

ugly chandelier to WOW!!

Ok this is kind of a tutorial but it's nothing new. There are millions of ways to paint an ugly chandelier. This is a little different. As usual I totally forgot to take a pic of the before but found this pic and it is similar to what it started out as. Not as nice and pretty but similar.

So I dismantled the whole thing and separated the tiers. Then I did a coat of primer and painted it white. Then I taped off stripes

This is where it got a little tricky as I was only using the one level and rewiring it from hardwired to plug in. The kits are easy to find check any hardware store and rewiring is not that hard. Just keep all the black together and all the white together. Wrap with electrical tape and cap it off with a wire nut. Which should already be in there, there are only two wires you will be switching out.

Before you wire it though spray paint the stripes and then peel off tape. Put pieces back together in any configuration you want. There's a threaded rod that holds it all together and lots of nuts. Play around see what fits best. So after you got it figured out weave your wire (plug) through the chain and into the rod and connect to your other wires. Black to black and white to white, if they are both white it's ok just make sure all the other wires are color similar. The electricity just needs to make a loop with the wires, if the loop is crossed it shorts out.

Now the fun part. Take two paint pens (black and white) and have fun doodling or coming up with a pattern. Sharpen your edges and just clean up the design.

Then just add a nice sheen of gloss with some spray lacquer.

Bam! instant pizazz!

This is looking down and this

is looking up

Since it's plug in and I reduced the size of it, it can virtually go anywhere.




The best part is I still have another layer to play with, think I'm going to make an outdoor candle one. Will post pics when it's done.

PS this cost me 2.99 for the chandelier and 8 dollars for the paint and found the kit on clearance for a dollar!