Transformation Tuesday

In 1992, I was pregnant with our first baby, and I decided it was time to upgrade from the castoff couch that we had inherited from my parents. So, we purchased a sleeper sofa in the ever-so-popular country blue color. Later, I wished I had chosen something more neutral since we ended up keeping the sofa much longer than I had anticipated. Two summers ago, when it was 16 years old, I decided to reupholster it rather than replace it, since we had two teenage boys and I didn't want to purchase a new one just to have it covered in pizza sauce and spilled soda. If you live in an all boy kingdom like I do, you'll know my distress.

So I was faced with the dilemma of figuring out how to bring the old sofa into a new millennium on the cheap. The old blue recliner lives in the family room now, thank goodness.

When my hubby and sons were off on a fishing trip, I headed to the nearest Mill's End Textile store for fabric. I ended up finding it for just $3 per yard and since it took about 10 yards to do, the whole couch at $30 was less than I'd spend on one of those bunchy looking pre-made furniture covers. 

I sewed and stapled and tugged until the sofa looked like this:

That makeover prompted others, of course. Who ever starts a makeover project without it turning into a much bigger one? I'll share other phases of the makeover in future posts. 

How about you? Do you have a piece of furniture that you just have to stick with for some reason, but you really hate it? Reupholstering is much easier than you think.

What Would You Do Wednesday

I saw these Tiffany style lamps at an antique shop and it made me thing of WWYD Wednesday on T2T. Oh, I know some of you are huge fans of Tiffany style, but it's not really my style (please forgive me). So it got me thinking, what if I owned a lamp this this? How could I change it to fit a different style?

Today on WWYD, I'm wondering what you'd do if you found such a lamp at a resale shop? Would you buy it and use it as is? Or would you change it somehow? Maybe you're an expert and you know that it would absolutely destroy the value of it. We want your input too, since sometimes us trash to treasure people get a little carried away and ruin stuff for good. Think painted antique dressers and you know what I mean.

Tell us in the comments section below what you'd do with a Tiffany lamp. I'll choose my favorite idea and post the name of the winner next week. Feel free to include a link to your blog or website in your comments.

Photo of the Week

I took this photo at the camp where my husband works (and I assist as a volunteer). It's been a stressful week for me, and sometimes I need to remind myself that peace exists, even in the very place that leads to much of my turmoil.

Be blessed and find peace today.

Summer Update Friday Blog Party

We've landed smack dab in the middle of Summer, if you measure according to Memorial Day and Labor Day. So let's have a party!

For today's Follow Friday Blog Party, share what you've been doing this summer...projects, vacation, whatever has kept you occupied for the first 6 weeks of summer bliss.

Follow Friday Blog Hop

Blog Hop Instructions:

• Be sure to link to a specific blog post not your home page so that we can find your fab projects and posts easier. 
• Please include a link to the site and mention on your blog post that you're linking up to T2T OR Mention on your twitter account that you're linking up to Trash to Treasure for the blog hop and include a hyperlink to this post. If you tweet a link please mention my twitter name: @trash2treas in your tweet.
• You can even get the code and paste the blog hop on your own blog if you'd like these very same ideas posted for your readers.

Mary Kay Hutch Makeover

Today's Transformation Tuesday makeover comes from a reader who is in a different type of makeover business; she does beauty makeovers. Shauna is a regular reader of the Trash to Treasure blog, and she sent me a link to photos of her project. She needed some sort of cabinet just for her Mary Kay business supplies, so she set out for her local thrift store hoping and praying she would find just the right thing.

Wouldn't you know it, she did find just the right thing and right in her price range. Of course it needed some trash to treasure TLC, but she knew that was no obstacle when the price was perfect at just $20.

Shauna's hutch started out like this.

I think the wear on the drawer was just a little more trash than treasure for Shauna's taste. So she got to work. She sanded and prepped...

This is how it looked after her husband helped her sand it a little.

Of course, she chose a color that would set off her business supplies perfectly. Mary Kay is all about pink, so why not paint the cabinet pink?

After all that work, it turned out really cute.

I think the black trim really adds something. Shuana splurged a little on the new hardware, but in my opinion, it's worth it.

All said, this project was under $50 with the paint, hutch, and hardware. Thanks for sharing your great project Shauna. We love it!

For all of my readers, if you have T2T projects and don't have your own blog or website, I'd love to feature your project for you. Just drop me an e-mail and tell me what trash to treasure transformation project has you just itching to share it with someone.

Thursday - Low Cost T2T

Quick and Simple

This quick and simple T2T idea wasn't exactly trash to begin with, but it was a clearance item that needed help. After Christmas, a local department store had its decorations marked 75% off and I picked up some decorative words. They were around $1.00 each. I brought them home and hung them on the wall, but I thought they were a little bit gaudy for my taste. They were silver with silver glitter on the fronts.


You'll have to trust my description because I can't seem to find the before pictures. I must have deleted them or filed them in a place I can't find. Anyway, when I had out the spray paint for my chandelier makeover, I decided to give my sparkled words a spritz of paint to tone down the glitz a little.

They still have some sparkle, but now they're more platinum than silver. Words and monograms are all over the place. Next time you see one that doesn't suit your taste, why not consider the possibility of spray paint?

Deck Makeover Finale

Earlier this summer, I showed how we took our deck from the front and recycled the wood to build a little back yard retreat. Now, I'm excited to show you the finale of the deck project. We had a hodgepodge of older furniture that was beginning to show signs of rust. Plus, it didn't really match with the brand new bistro set I purchased this summer, so I've been taking my trashy furniture and turning it to treasure.

One of the old chairs.

Dated colors and a rust issue.

 And a table to match...

Plus another table that doesn't match...

So, I took the table apart.

And used a wire brush on the rust.And then I spread everything out in the yard and primed it all with a new Rust-Oleum product called Ultra Cover 2X Coverage. I used a rust-colored primer on everything.

Priming in progress...

While the paint was drying, I decided it was the perfect day to finally get the deck stained. When we re-used the lumber, we turned each board over. There were a few drips from the old stain that showed on the edges and I sanded those off with my palm sander. A few weeks back, I also gave the wood a good cleaning with a commercial deck wash.

Ready for staining.

I gave the wood two coats of semi-transparent oil-based Thompson's WaterSeal Deck and House Stain in the premixed shade of "Sierra Brown". It took less than a gallon to coat it all twice. It soaked up the first coat quickly since the wood is well aged, so I decided it needed the 2nd coat. Now the water beads up nicely when it rains!

While that was drying, I went back to the furniture to give it all a coat of Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2X satin spray paint in a brown shade called Espresso. It matched the color of my new brown wicker set. The paint really did coat well and I highly recommend it for your next paint project.

A finished chair on the newly refinished deck. I love the rich color of the wood. I replaced the chair cushion with a new tan one. I forgot to take a before picture of the old cushion. Just imagine 90's hunter green and burgundy stripe.

The table after its makeover.

 

The brand new chair that I'm trying to make everything else fit with.

And now for the reveal....drum-roll please...

The plastic chairs are beige and I left them as they were since they matched the existing umbrella and the plain beige chair pad on the newly painted brown chair.

This has become my back yard retreat. I work with my laptop, read, and just relax. It's my favorite new office! Here's a panoramic view from my favorite chair:

 My husband is still working on resurfacing the steps next to the deck. For that matter, we haven't yet added a second set of steps to the deck, but who cares? I can enjoy it right now. It's quickly becoming the favorite place for parents to wait while I'm giving piano lessons too.

With the 2X Ultra Cover paint, I was able to coat two chairs, the side table, the big table, and a footrest with just three cans and around $11.

I've linked up this project to:
Frugal MomX3 for the Backyard Oasis Link Party

Follow Friday

Happy 4th of July! I'm so grateful to those who have given their lives for our independence and for those who continue to fight for our freedom. Some time ago, I wrote and recorded this song. I thought I'd share it again with you today.

Praying for our soldiers and their families!

For the Follow Friday link party this week, show what you've whipped up this summer, especially any projects related to celebrating your patriotism. I have flags all over the place in my house and I love Americana decor! This week, your projects don't need to be all decorating related. Feel free to link up blog posts celebrating our freedom as well as those celebrating our soldiers too.

Follow Friday Blog Hop

Blog Hop Instructions:

• Be sure to link to a specific blog post not your home page so that we can find your fab projects and posts easier.
• Please include a link to the site and mention on your blog post that you're linking up to T2T OR Mention on your twitter account that you're linking up to Trash to Treasure for the blog hop and include a hyperlink to this post. If you tweet a link please mention my twitter name: @trash2treas in your tweet. (note the change in the twitter address from previous weeks. Can you believe I had my OWN address wrong?)
• You can even get the code and paste the blog hop on your own blog if you'd like these very same ideas posted for your readers.

Did you miss me?

It's been a whole week since I posted something! I was speaking for a group of 3rd and 4th graders at camp for a week and then had to speak at a women's tea, so I had to be disciplined with my priorities and unplug for a few days. But this week, I've been working on some fun trash to treasure projects that I'll share with you next week. In the meantime, I hope you're finding some time to be inspired and creative this summer. 

Stop back tomorrow for the 4th of July link party on the Follow Friday blog hop.