My Creative Blog:
furniture

Oh goodness, this dining room is taking forever to finish! I've been working on it for the past several months as money and time have allowed, and we're definitely in the home stretch, but it's the little things that are making me crazy! I've already showed you the side table I made over, and the planked wall with exposed studs accent wall we created, which really helped change the feel of the whole space. But let's be honest, one of the most obvious things that had to change to fit the whole"coastal/cottage" vibe I'm going for was the dining table.

It's a nice, solid wood table that my hubs and I bought for only $60 (yes, you read that correctly!) when we first moved into this house. I was so over the black hutch and the finish on this table, but it's functional piece so I didn't want to buy a new one. I haven't done too much furniture refinishing, so I asked my bloggy pal and furniture expert, Shaunna, if she could make some recommendations as to what I should do to change them up to fit my style. Not only did she come up with some incredible furniture ideas, but she dreamt up an entire inspiration board for my room!

Isn't that amazing? I love so many of her ideas, and hope my room turns out half as nice as her dream room!: ) So with her help, I started out refinishing the table. The first step was to remove the legs of the table and give them a good painting with Annie Sloan Chalk paint, aka my new love. I decided to paint the legs in French linen, and then once that dried, did a wash of Pure White over top. That was the easy part.

The table top…not so easy. I started off by sanding the top with 60 grit sandpaper and my palm sander. It was so difficult getting through all the layers of whatever they sealed it with that it probably took me a good hour and half to sand it all down. 

I almost didn't mind, though, because what I saw as I was sanding made me super excited! I loved the look of the unfinished wood and the wood grain that began to show. 

Even with all the sanding, I still didn't feel like I had removed all of the old finish, so I brushed on a layer of CitriStrip. Basically, you brush it on and leave it for the recommended time. Then, you wipe it off with a lint-free cloth and with it, off comes the finish! This sanding/stripping method really worked to get my table back to it's gorgeous, unfinished state. 

Shaunna recommended that I try white-washing the table with Pure White chalk paint, so that's what I did. If you're unfamiliar with white-washing, it is an awesome way to keep the character of a piece, while subtly adding a touch of color to it. Basically, you add water to paint until it's the intensity you want. More water = less concentrated color.

I really wanted the grain of the wood to show, but I didn't care for the peachy color of the wood, so I went with a very watered down white wash.

I brushed it on, and then wiped it back with a paper towel. Because my wash was mostly water, I had to wipe it immediately after I brushed it on because it was drying very quickly. Wiping the wash back helps brings the color of the grain out, which gives it a very reclaimed wood finish.

After I washed the whole table, I was over the top giddy mildly pleased with the results. 

I can't get over how well the table now fits in my dining room! It's like it was meant to live in a coastal cottage all along.

The final step is sealing it with Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax. Because this is a surface that will get lots of wear, since people will eat and drink there, it will need three coats of wax. I'm planning on doing that this week, but that's the kind of little detail (that makes a big difference!) that I don't want to do. Any one out there want to come finish my table? Please!?!?

All that hard work was totally worth it, though, because I'm head over heels in love with the table now. A big thank you to Shaunna for helping me to see it's potential! Not bad for a $60 table, huh?; ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We're honored to be featured over at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar today for her week of all things curtains! Be sure to check it out to see what no-sew curtain solutions we came up with!

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Have you ever looked at your house and thought, well… this is just what it has to be. I can't do much to change it. That's exactly what we heard from Terry, the homeowner of this episode of Knock It Off. I should mention that even though she wasn't liking much about her house, she had the most meticulously clean and cared for home- I want to be like her when I grow up! Now, back to the design- Terry had dark wood everywhere (which some peeps love, but it was dragging her down), wallpaper from almost every decade, and just not a whole lot going for them… Or so she thought!

See what I mean? It's just not the kind of room that inspires you to"Be Awesome" on a daily basis. So, Jess and I decided to take this room from dreary to cheery (yes slightly cheese ball-ish) with a really fun, bright color palette.

How's that for bright and cheery and just overall awesome?!?

We love the impact an accent wall can have and after we removed the circa 1970s wallpaper, we knew that a Royal Design Studios stencil was the way to go! We'll be posting on how to remove wallpaper (we know you want our tips and tricks!) and all about stenciling an accent wall. For now, just enjoy the eye candy!

Terry's family room connected directly to this tiny sunroom she uses as an office and study area. We didn't have money for new chairs, but we were able to build a bench seat (all we needed was wood and 1 piece of drywall! Tutorial coming soon!). We tossed on a few World Market pillows that were on major clearance and we had ourselves a super inviting sunroom! I literally had to pull Jess away from this comfy seat to keep working!

We worked with furniture Terry owned, like this gem and just gave it a new sassy swaga with some paint and two pieces of hardware. If you have a piece of furniture that seems beyond dated, just try giving it a bold color paint and see what happens- it's kind of like magic!

Some of Terry's furniture we used (like the adorable table we upcycled), but other things like the huge ottoman they had, had to go. Instead, we built our own table using 2x4s and 2x6s. This piece looks so expensive because of the X frame, but it's easy-peasy to build (tutorial coming soon!).
I think my favorite thing from this episode was seeing how empowered Terry and Jesse felt. I sound all Dr. Phil, but I'm serious! They thought they just had to settle for how their house was, but now they know the awesome potential it has! Since we filmed that episode Terry has sent us pictures of other furniture they've upcycled, and she's painted her dining room walls and all the trim! Jess and I feel like proud Mamas!
So, no, we can't come to every single reader's home (we wish we could!!), but hopefully by seeing what we're doing with homeowners on Knock It Off, you're feeling like you don't need to settle either!
Here'a a little more before and after action for ya!

Hello adorable sunglasses pillow! Thanks Homegoods for always having amazing things to use in our makeovers!

See how the little sunroom flows right off the family room?

If you missed this episode, what are you waiting for? Click HERE to watch it online!
We promise we'll get all these tutorials to you really soon! I mean with our amazing intern Diana, is there anything we can't do??: ) She's the best!
What do you think of this makeover? Do you have one of those rooms in your house where you just feel stuck? Do Tell!

Outdoor furniture can cost an arm and a leg. Since I'm not interested in selling my firstborn to afford nice furniture, we often build it ourselves- and we do the same thing with homeowners on Knock It Off. We wanted to build Barb and Derek a sectional for their sunroom that would have a high end feel and not the price tag.

Doesn't it look great in their finished sunroom?

We are huge fans of giving credit where credit is due- Ana White is the queen extraordinaire of all things DIY furniture! Her blog is full of FREE furniture plans and one of her projects inspired our outdoor sectional.

We didn't use Ana's plans exactly, because we wanted it a certain size for Derek and Barb's room, so we came up with our own version, but if you want to make one, you should follow her step by step directions with awesome pictures!

Ana's plans for an outdoor sectional can be found HERE and you can download a PDF with everything you'll need.
A few tips for making one of your own…
# 1- Have the right tools! You don't need anything extravagant to build this sectional, but a strong drill, a Kreg Jig, and a Chop Saw are essential.

A Kreg Jig is a great, inexpensive tool for building furniture. We used one when we built our farmhouse table, outdoor table, garage lockers and so much more.

It creates a pocket hole to hide your screws.

You can check out Kreg's website here (and no, this isn't sponsored, I just really love this tool!!)
# 2- Have a friend to help! this is a two person job. There are lots of times where you'll need one person to hold and the other to attach something.

# 3- Use Exterior paint or Stain with a Sealant For our sectional, we used exterior paint, but watered it down a bit, so we could still see some of the wood grain. It's a little trick if you're in a time crunch. It spreads easily, like a stain, but you don't have to do an extra coat of sealant. We've learned lots of quick trips doing rooms for Knock It Off.

This project looks amazing and expensive, but it's really simple and a good first project if you're wanting to try your hand at building. All the cuts are straight and the plans are simple (you can thank Ana White for that!)

If you want to see how this sectional looks in the room, click HERE to watch the full episode online.

Hopefully this project encourages you to take that first step and give building your own furniture a try! It will save you a ton of money (maybe even your firstborn!!)

As you all know, my hubs and I have been DIYing a 600 square foot patio. It's been a huge job, but it's 99% done and we're loving it! (We've even put on an addition, but our lights were back ordered so I can't give the full reveal yet-boo!)

600 square feet is a lot of space to fill and I wasn't about to go out and buy all new furniture for the space. I've had this old record player hutch (if that's even such a thing) in my basement for about 7 years now- It was just waiting to be upcycled.

This baby used to house my in-laws old record player and then eventually a boombox. It's crazy to think that now that all of my music is on a 4 inch iPhone. Anyhow, if you need any convincing that this piece needed some upcycling, I've provided you with some evidence…

One of my favorite things to do, is to look at a piece of furniture and see past the"yuck" and into the potential it has. Remember when we upcycled this dresser into an Anthro Knock off.

They key to a good furniture upcycle is to believe that anything can be changed and set some goals!

To Upcycle this piece, I had a few goals:
#1- Get rid of any and all scrolly things (I sorta loathe them)
#2- Remove the speaker fabric
#3- Paint it with outdoor paint
#4- Add some bold details
#5- Distress it (so I don't get mad when one of my 4 kids"distress" it for me)
#6- Add new hardware

Get Rid of Scrolly Things Sometimes it's easy to think there are things you can't change about a piece, but it's amazing what you can do with a jigsaw! I just taped off a straight line and cut those scrolly babies off!

Remove Speaker Fabric
I ripped off all of the lovely fabric and then had to take out the speakers. There was no magic to this step. I actually gave a hammer to my seven year old son and said,"bang away!"

I love when furniture has an industrial flair, so I cut plywood panels and covered them with chicken wire. It isn't the most fun to work with, but it's not impossible either.

Paint with Outdoor Paint
This piece was originally intended to be used indoors, so I wanted to be sure to paint it with good quality outdoor paint. I really don't love taking tons of time painting furniture, so I used Valspar's Exterior Spray Paint. It took about 3 cans to do two coats on the whole piece.

Add Bold Details
Since this piece was originally so traditional, I wanted to do something graphic and more modern as a detail. I thought a thin herringbone would do the trick.

Herringbone is super-simple!
#1- Mark out your center line. Then, measure the width you want the stripes (I used 1") and make tick marks down both sides of the column. #2- Tape off your lines. The top of the left side slants down to one tick mark below on the right. #3- Paint & Remove your tape. Let it dry and repeat on the opposite side, but shift your painted section down one, so you have the"every other" look.

Distress the Piece
You might notice that my lines weren't completely crisp in the herringbone. I was painting outside in 100 degree heat (blogger foul), but I also knew I was going to distress it anyhow. I'm not always into distressing, but I figured it was going to get banged up outside (and I have 4 kids that are pretty rough on furniture).
To distress, first I went at it with a sander with 220 grit paper.

Have you ever had this problem? I ran out of the right size sanding pads. Oops!
After sanding it down a bit, I gave the entire piece a good glazing. I actually began my glazing love affair by reading Living with Lindsay's blog (check her out it you haven't)!
My favorite glaze is Martha's Black Coffee. As you can see, I slopped it on, rubbed it around, and then wiped it off. I wanted pretty solid coverage, so I used a good bit of glaze.

After adding some hardware she was all finished and ready for the patio!

I think she's much more my style now!

All that's missing now is some cool, outdoor artwork. I'd love to hear any ideas you have in a comment. We have some insanely creative readers! P.S. I have to mention that I'm so glad to have my BFF home from vacation! A week apart feels like such a long time to us! Now that she's home, Jess is working like a mad-woman on some cool projects for her dining room!!

For this makeover, we had a little boy that loved Pirates of the Caribbean (I love it too, but probably more for Johnny Depp than the actual movie! Ha!) He wanted a bedroom that was fit for a pirate, so we quickly decided to transform this room into a bunk on The Black Pearl! Two days, and lot DIY projects later we had ourselves a pirate ship!

The tricky thing with any themed room is the fact that kids grow out of things quickly. Who knows, next year it might be space aliens! We wanted to create a room that felt authentically like a pirate ship, but also could grow with Jack.

The nautical elements in this room are classic and could easily be swapped out to whatever his next phase is. For now it's all pirate!! Garrr!!
Here's some before an after action for ya! Before

After

Before

After

To check out the DIY projects in this room Click Here

To watch this full episode online Click HERE!

This project was featured in an episode of our DIY show Knock It Off. To watch this episode online, click HERE.

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When we started working on this Pirate themed bedroom, the homeowners told us their son totally wanted bunk beds. We knew we couldn't give them just any bunk beds, and outside of IKEA, really nice bunk beds can be crazy expensive! We decided to build our own bunks and to make it look like they're floating, just like something off of a ship! These floating bunk beds would work in a pirate room, nautical room, and any room at all if you tweaked the style a bit!

Building these bunk beds was a lot easier than they look! The first thing we needed to do was make all of our cuts. We used pine boards, but got 2x8s for the main frame so that they were nice and sturdy. There were no fancy angled cuts, so it made the process really easy!

We measured the size of our two mattresses- we had a twin and a double- and then made a simple box frame to fit each mattress and added 1x3 slats.

For the slats, we used regular screws, but for the frame we used RSS screws (Rugged Structural Strength), which are specially engineered to hold a lot of weight. Make sure you go with the RSS screws if you plan to make these- they're what make these bunks super secure!
After staining the wood our very favorite grey stain (a custom mix we had made) it was time to attach it to the walls. Again we used RSS screws intended for heavy weights, and we attached it to the two walls. We found our studs with a stud finder and made sure we were attaching to them. That part is super important- we don't want our floating bunk beds to turn into falling bunk beds!: )

We were a little stumped at first about how to suspend the one floating corner, but after exploring all of our options, we went with pipe and a flange. They're strong, can hold a ton of weight, and fit with the style we were going for. We attached one flange to the bed and the other to the wall, again making sure we went into a stud.

We added a fun rope ladder, popped in the mattresses and had ourselves some AWESOME floating bunk beds! The extra addition of bedside lanterns brought the whole pirate bunk theme together! We were so excited with how these turned out! It's one of our favorite things when an idea we have in our heads actually turns out just how we pictured it!

To check out other posts about the projects in this room, check out our Knock It Off DIYs Page and to watch this episode Click HERE!

High end built-ins can cost a fortune, but by using existing pieces of furniture as our framework, we were able to Knock-Off an awesome look at a fraction of the cost! This one project really made this makeover complete- without it, we're pretty sure the room would be a little blah.

To begin, use store bought cube units as your base for the bench seat- you can get these at many stores now, the only think to make sure of is that they’re pretty heavy duty- we don’t want a flimsy bench now do we?!? Ours are the Expedit cubes from Ikea.

Connect the cube units together to make one long bench seat. We just used a drill and a few long screws to do this.

On either side of the cube unit, add two store bought bookshelves (you can find the ones we used here). The height will depend on your ceilings and if you want them to go all the way up. Use a drill and heavy duty screws to connect the sides of your shelves to the cube unit. Don’t worry about things matching up perfectly or seeing gaps- moulding covers a multitude of sins!
Add trim moulding anywhere that the pieces of furniture meet and crown molding around the top of the bookshelves. We actually used two types of moulding stacked on top of a box that we added to increase the height of the bookcase. Moulding is where we’re getting our high end look! Don’t forget to use a miter saw with 45 degree angles.

Add pillows and cushions to the seat, accessorize those shelves and you’ve just successfully knocked off high end built ins! Seriously impressive, right?

We love a good Ikea hack…check out this one from Jess' living room:
Ikea Lack Ottoman

Never think that store-bought furniture can't be changed. We always look for possibilities to customize things, no matter where we are!

Kid-size furniture is often really pricey and hard to find. We solved these problems by building our own for under $100!

There are some crazy, talented people out there in blogland, and so when we saw the homeowner's inspiration picture of this table built by Shaunna and her husband of Perfectly Imperfect blog, we were sold.

Here's how to build your own: 1. Decide on your furniture plans. You can find loads of free plans on the internet, but our go-to source for awesome, inexpensive plans is Ana White. For this table, we started with this basic tutorial, but altered it to fit our room and style preference. Visit your hardware store and purchase your materials. You really could use any type of wood you want, but we decided to use inexpensive pine to keep cost down and because it distresses nicely- which let’s be honest, is pretty key if four crazy kids are using it on a regular basis!!

2. Assemble the legs of the table. This step is really important- you want to get them as square as possible so that the table is nice and sturdy! We decided to do A-frame legs to resemble a true picnic table, but just like our inspiration photo, added a shelf for lots of extra storage!

3. After attaching the lower shelf, trim it out for a nice, finished look. Achieving the high-end custom look means taking the time to add some polished details, like trim! This is the stuff you just can’t skimp on! 4. Create an apron and attach it to the legs. This gave us a strong base to attach our table top to. Your table should definitely look like a table now!

5. Build the top of your table and attach it to the apron, screwing in from the under side, which ensures a seamless look for the top. For our table top, we used two pieces of pine that we sanded really well and attached tightly together.

6. Time to put on the finishing touches! Make sure that all surfaces are nice and smooth before painting or staining. We chose to do a combination of stains, Walnut and Grey, for a custom stain on the top of our table. Don’t be afraid to mix stains to create the perfect finish! Then we painted the legs white, and sealed the top with two coats of polyurethane and we were done!

7. This table is fabulous and ready to be used over and over again by Shannon and Anthony's four busy kids!

A custom table can really make the entire room. We've actually made a few other tables that were super simple and saved us tons of money!
Farmhouse Table Remix

Barnwood Coffee Table

Building furniture might seem intimidating, but trust us, if we can do it, so can you! Just be sure to follow the directions closely and take your time. You'll be so happy you did…and so will your wallet!

Got an old dresser that needs some love and attention? Don’t kick it to the curb just yet! Try out this ombre paint method for a fun, modern design that will give your dresser new life!

*Insider tip: When we're looking for furniture to upcycle, we make sure that the piece is in relatively good condition. That doesn't mean it looks good, just that it's structurally sound. Ideally, we love a piece with clean lines and a classic style, but don't overlook a piece just because it has scroll-work or is ornate. Oftentimes, those things can be removed easily with a jigsaw.
1. Prep the dresser by giving it a thorough sanding with an orbital sander to get rid of the old finish. Remove any hardware from the drawers for easy painting,, too! After sanding, wipe down the dresser with a damp cloth.

2. Choose your color and get to work! You can actually achieve the ombre effect two different ways- by buying three or four colors from the same paint swatch, or, if you’re trying to save money like we were, using one paint color and changing the color with white paint! We’ll explain this method, since it’s the one we used. Don’t worry, it’s not hard and it’s worth the little bit of extra work!

3. Go ahead and paint the bottom row of drawers using a small foam roller (designed for painting furniture) with the undiluted, fully-saturated color. The key to a nice finish is even long, even strokes and several light coats of paint. Set drawers aside.

4. To thin out your paint for the next color, pour three parts of the original paint color in a small paint tray and add one part white paint (3:1 ratio). Roll onto next row of drawers.

5. Using the same method, thin out the paint with a 2:2 ratio for the third row up from bottom and a 1:3 ratio for the top row of drawers. Paint and let dry the specified amount of time. 6. Add new hardware- we chose to bling out our dresser with clear, glass and gold knobs for this adorable little girl. Or, put the old hardware back on to save even more money!

Voila! You’ve easily accomplished the fabulous and trendy ombre effect on your dresser! This style is awesome for a nursery, but depending on the colors you choose, could really be used anywhere in your house!

We've tried our hand at lots of different dresser upcycles. Our absolute favorite is this Anthropologie- inspired dresser

But, we also kind of love this outdoor furniture upcycle:

So, please…for our sake…don't throw out your old furniture! Do something fun with it.: ) To watch the full episode of this nursery makeover, click Here! There were so many fun projects in this room!