CHEAP FURNITURE MAKEOVERS from AUCTION FINDS

Before and After of a $2.00 chair.

Here is a quick post just to show a few pieces of furniture that I recently made over.

Here's a before pic of a chair that I had won 2 of for only $2.00 each. 

And here as you see above, I'd already added one star before remembering a before pic. But you get the idea.

I just stenciled on a star for one, 

then touched up edges here and there. 

And then just finished it with a brush on varnish sealer from Folk Art.

 And I basically left it like that for one.

 I made the "Sack of Potatoes" in this post.

And here's the back of the first chair.

And oh yea, I had won the little desk also for either $2 or $5, I can't find the ticket.

It was a shiny Oak color. But I sprayed it with ALMOND by Rustoleum also.

 I also made over the plain green trash can with a star too.

I didn't take a before pic of this because it was only solid green. All I did was add the stencils and brush strokes.

Here is the desk a little closer again.

I added some cute sage green check fabric to the inside of the drawer also.

The other chair I completely spray painted in ALMOND from Rustoleum paints.

Then went back and added more stenciling.

This is by far my favorite.

And I did finish this off with the same varnish sealer also.

  I love the old, true cracklings that show through.

 And take a look at this.

This is a great load of stuff I recently won from a local auction. None of the pieces shown cost me over $7.00. 

In fact, the chairs are the only thing that was $7.00. 

Before and after pic of a $2.00 end table.

The pumpkin light (works) was $2.00,
 the quilt rack was $5.00
and the red vintage metal lamp (works and heavy) was only $6.00.
It was a great night!

My proudest item of the pic is the solid wood end table in the front, far left. 

Why? Because it is solid wood, well made with good bones and it only cost me $2.00!

I guess the reason no one else wanted it was because it was just the one end table by itself and not a pair. That didn't bother me, because I knew I wanted to paint it and redo it anyways.

I choose a colonial red spray paint from WalMart in the Rustoleum brand. 

It runs a around $3.98 a can. And one can is all I needed for this size table.

Here's the before and after again, side by side.

Not shown in the last pic, but I went back and added a country star to the middle of the table in okra yellow.

But by far my favorite furniture makeover of the week was this chair:

I gave $2.00 each for these chairs. And afterwards, I put $14.99 on the one with the old crow and

$9.99 on the more plain one with the star.

And that's what's been keeping me busy these last few days that I haven't been posting much.

And all of this shown is in my craft booth at my local co-op.

Which makeover was your favorite?

See ya'll next time,

-Lisa

OLD WINDOW MAKEOVER for Laundry Room

Since making my last Old Window Makeover post, I've been inspired to try something new. And this time it is a vintage window with the glass left intact. I am turning it into a decoration piece saying, "General Store," to hang in my laundry room.

Here's how it went.

I started out with a plain, old wooden window. I left the glass in it this time. The only "work" I done on the window frame itself, was to add a sawtooth hanger to the back.

Here it is before:

The other side had less peeling paint, so I made it the front.

After making up my mind that I wanted to put "General Store" on it, I printed out the words using Microsoft Word. I kept playing with it until I got the size right. I then taped the printed out papers underneath the window and outlined the words "General Store," with a black permanent marker. This helped me tremendously to get the wording kinda centered.

Then I just peeled off the tape, and colored the rest of the words in with the same black, permanent marker. So easy!

It was very simple. The permanent marker dried really quick. The only aggravating part was that you have to make small markings to fill in all the words really good.

But other than that, SUPER EASY!

Oh, and then I took a plastic, red and white checkered place mat and put it on the backside of the window with some clear packaging tape. Just a few pieces, one on each edge. This way it made the words really stand out. And since my kitchen area and laundry room are joined, the red and white checkered matches my kitchen!

And here it is again, all finished, from a little farther back.

That is all directly above my washer and dryer. I think it looks really cute. And I added the old crock and red handled rolling pin to try and tie it in with the kitchen decorations.

And there you have it, an old kitchen window makeover for my laundry room. Hope you find some old windows here or there to re-do. I got this window, along with 4 others, for only $2 each at a yardsale a while back.

To see what I done with the other 4 windows I had, click here.

Flea Market Finds & Auction Goodies

OMG! I've been so happy with items I've won at local auctions lately, that I've decided to start a regular running post here about them now and then, along with my crafts. I hope you don't mind!

I buy all kinds of items for re-purposing and resell in my Peddlers Mall. But my last find isn't going any farther than my master bedroom.

Here's a quick pic of it from when I won it. It's a solid wood, oak cabinet. (Oh, btw, I love oak furniture the most- it's so country.)

All is intact. The doors are perfect and the two drawers. I'm 5'4" and this is just a little bit taller than me.There is very minimal scratches on it towards the trim at the bottom. All and all I'm super happy with it. I like a little wear on my items because our home is so country and "lived in" look. lol. It's going in my bedroom and house all my old quilts. And the drawers are gonna hold my sheets and such.

What did I have to pay for this? Well, I had the winning bid of only $30.00! I could not believe it it. I was loving it before the auction and I told my husband that I wanted to go up to about $80.00 on it. In no way ever, did I expect to get it for only $30.00!!!!

Do you attend flea markets or auctions?

Distressed Wood Sign

I'm posting about making my Booth #555 sign because it can apply to any worded sign you may want to do. Just find or buy you a preferably blank piece of wood. And you can print out any saying you'd like (fresh eggs, welcome, ect.) simply by using:

Microsoft Word
an ink pen
sharpie marker
acrylic craft paint

I wanted to make a new booth sign so passer bys could easily remember my booth number. Most booths at the Peddlers Mall only have tiny printed out numbers taped on the outside wall of their booth. I have always wanted a way to stand out. So here's how I made it.

I started out with an old broken wooden wine rack, (I'm guessing) that I won from an auction.

First off, I printed out a few different size "5's using Microsoft Word. 

Then I unscrewed the two screws holding on the broken wine hangers and removed them.

I ended up using the one that was almost center of a regular printer size paper. It was perfect for my size board.

Then I eyeballed it and centered the middle one as best as I could, leaving room for the other two. And I used a ball point pen and traced the 5 onto the board. Pushing enough so that there would be an imprint left behind for me to paint along.

And after tracing, here's what I was left with. A good enough impression to keep me painting straight. Look close and you can see it.

Next step was to paint all the 5's in with an off white, acrylic craft paint.

Plaid-Craft MS32100-23 Martha Stewart Pearl Acrylic Craft Paint 2 Ounc (Google Affiliate Ad)

one by one........

Ah, it was finally starting to come together now. Then I decided to take a shortcut and use a black sharpie marker to outline all the 5's. I just figured it would be way faster than painting those thin little lines and it was. I was worried about feathering from the marker on the wood, but thankfully it didn't happen. Be careful with yours!

I did the same lines on each one, to try and keep it consistent. Then I came back and forth until complete. Be careful that your hand doesn't smear the marker before completely dry!

I then let it all dry for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to take a risk because my next step involved sand paper. lol. I took some medium grit and roughed it all up a bit. Kinda giving it a worn look, but not over doing it by rubbing off an entire 5 or anything.

Then I got out my all purpose sealer and put on a light coat. I did this 2 times so that my sign can withstand being dropped, scraped, thrown in the back of my truck and so forth. lol I'm kinda rough on items unless they are really fragile!

After that dried, I thought it could still use a bit of something. So I got out some pieces of grapevine garland and stapled some on the edges. I also hung a little metal brown star in the middle,  look close, and I wrote "crafts by Lisa." And then I was finally done and happy with it. Here it is all finished.

I hope this gives you the gumption to start making a wood sign. Ideas could include, Fresh Eggs, Welcome, Primitive, Laundry, Cottage....the list goes on and on. Keep in mind that it was super easy with the pre-printed out 5's! And it's now sitting on a shelf right in the center of my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall in Morehead, KY.

Happy Crafting ya'll!

~Lisa