Friday, April 1, 2011

Shabby Kids' Cabinet (Under $5!)








Under $5 Makeover!


On Wednesday, my Mom watched the kids for hours, so I could hit the Thrift and take care of whatever else I wanted  to do sans children.  I have to admit, it took me a while to come up with things to do, simply because I NEVER have that much time all by my lonesome!  
At the Thrift, I found a couple of really cheap things that have excellent makeover potential.  
Tiny, cheap, impractical...  and $2.49!

This baby rocks!  No, really, it's a rocking chair.  $2.49! ~ I never understand how they price things  :)


D is from New York...  but I'm still gonna re-canvas this for him.  Father's Day, y'know.

I also got a couple of organizational things (still loving the covered wire separators!) and a bunch of clothes for the fam.  Total there... $33.  Maybe a bit more than I’d have liked, but I came home with tons of necessary items as well as the crafty inspiration pieces. 
Next I stopped at the library, renewed my best friend library card , and then I hit St. Vinnie’s.  It was packed with furniture goodness, but my cargo area was filling up too quickly, so I was judicious and for once passed some things by.  Yes, Honey, it does happen!  I couldn’t pass this by, however.  
OMG, the glare!  My eyes, my eyes...
I’m sure you’ve seen those all over blogland, but I have been living with this...


Icky, icky, ICK!

for 7 years, and it’s time. for. it. to. go.  I have started coming around to milk glass for decorative glassware, and I even enjoy it sometimes as a display piece, usually with pastry, but I hate, hate, HATE it as a lighting fixture.  Seriously. hate. it.  And they were all over this house!   This is the last one, and it’s in the very neglected front “entry” of the house, which has enough makeover potential to get it’s own post.  I’ve got plans, folks!  Hopefully it will happen soon...
Anyway, the lamp.  Only $3, and I’ve got all kinds of paint, so now I have to decide whether to bronze it, or give it a shabby ivory finish.  Only thing I'm sure about it is that it's NOT staying brass!  Coupla days, we’ll have a post devoted to that.  I also have to decide about the starburst thingies on the glass.  Maybe the glass will stay, maybe not.  I’m all for taking suggestions - comment away!
After I visited Vinnie, I knew I needed to head to the dreaded Mall area.  On my side of town there is not a single craft or fabric store; they’re all bunched up by the Fox River Mall, where the traffic (for a city this size, anyway) is really crappy.  People drive like idiots, and there’s ever anyplace to park.  I tend to bunch together my errands for this area, and try to kill all them birds with one trip.  Oh yeah, my grammar is deteriorating daily!  AND I’m destroying metaphors!  I’m giving myself the creeps.
Off to the West side I went, and was just planning an attack on the crafties when I realized I had all the time in the world (well, a couple of hours), and I hadn’t donated blood in, like, forever.  One dangerous quick lane change later, I was there, getting drained and happily anticipating the coffee and dee-lish-uss peanut butter cookies that they serve to ease you out the door.  I also got this!
Yes, it does say  SEVEN gallons!  I wish I knew my real number of donations.  It’s hard to keep track when you move from one region of the state to another, so you might have to start over.  I had to twice, I think, but there weren't too many pints lost.  Still, though, 56 pints!  I’m pretty proud, especially considering the years that I couldn’t donate at all because of pregnancy (four kids, but 7 pregnancies total).  As always, PLEASE DONATE BLOOD!
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur...  Hobby Lobby, Michael’s Crafts, TJ Maxx, and finally WallyWorld to stock up on groceries for the rest of the week.  Home by 3:00, totally exhausted.  Probably that was exagerated a little bit by the fact that I skipped breakfast and lunch, and gave blood.  What?  I ate when I got home - it’s fine :)

Tired or not, though, I had to get to work on this.  It’s such a simple little piece, but I could picture it all finished the second I laid eyes on it, so as soon as I’d eaten, I was taking this baby apart and makin’ her pretty.

I don’t know what she’s made of, but she weighs about 2 ounces.  Seriously, I’m gonna have to anchor her to the wall, or an errant door slam could knock her over.  She had very accessible screw fasteners, so she probably came unassembled originally- made my job super easy.  What was not as easy was getting her to take paint.  I roughed up the pieces with some fine sandpaper, and set about priming, but she wasn’t much in the mood.

Two coats of primer, done in shifts to get all the sides, and I was ready to try the paint.  I used Krylon semi-gloss white, mostly because that’s what I had on hand.  I go back and forth between Krylon and Rustoleum;  I find them pretty interchangeable.  I think there are 5 thin coats on right now - I will need to sand the top and add at least another 2, plus some polycrylic, but I don’t have that on hand and I didn’t want to wait to show this!
When the back panels had had their exteriors painted, I was ready to apply the shelf liner to their insides.  



I’m using this paper for another project for Li’l T’s room, and I love it.  I got it from Michael’s, back in the dollar section (although it was $3) and it’s lasting me forever.  Really sticky, and cutting guidelines that save a careless cutter like myself.
* That other project should come together pretty soon, too, if the temp will just stay above 40 so I can get more painting done!


Putting her back together went pretty smoothly, too, except for one warped side of the front case.  I didn’t notice it assembled, I didn’t notice it in pieces, but I surely noticed it when I was trying to line up those screw holes!  A couple of mumbled curse words later, there she was!  I’m pretty pleased, and so is the Tashster, although she doesn’t look it in this pic. 

Please disregard the piles & mounds of junk in the background...

She wanted to know why she had to pose when she was ready to have a tea party!

Here it is up in her room, staged as it won't be ever again!  One of these days I'll get her whole room looking good on the same day, and you'll have a chance to look it over.



So, I told you this was cheap, and I wasn't kidding.  $2.49 for the cabinet, $2 for the pretty pink knob, from the Hobby Lob, and primer and paint that I had on hand.   Cha-eep!  And beautiful, if I do say so myself.  One more look, ok?



Wordy today, huh?  Hope y'all have a great weekend!  I'll be back atcha as soon as I can put together some more goodies for you!   'Til then...






xoxo,
Tami


linking to:



















9 comments:

By the Bluegrass said...

absolutely precious! Hard to imagine the 'before'. You couldn't have anything cuter if you bought it from PB.
xo,
Sena

Lynnette said...

Tami, I LOVE that little cabinet--great job! And who can we lobby to put a craft store on this side of town??? They even took our crafts out of Walmart over here!

mamax4 said...

Thanks, ladies!

Lynnette, I didn't know you were crafty... maybe we can conspire sometime (over wine!)

Sena, your blog is gorgeous! I am so envious of those magnolias ~ we don't even have crocus yet! Thanks for stopping by!

Kristi Flanagan said...

Very cute! My little girls would love this in their room!

Thanks for planting your creative seeds at Plant a Punkin Seed Party!

Hugs,

Kristi

Andrea said...

Thanks for linking to lush linky party.I enjoyed reading your post and your little girl is so pretty.Great job all round.Andrea

Lina - Fancy Frugal Life said...

So cute! Great job :) I love a good thrift find re-do!!

Lina-Fancy Frugal Life

DIYbyDesign said...

That came out so cute. I love it. Thanks for sharing it at my Swing into Spring party. Don't forget to come back and become a follower. Thanks.

Harry Seo said...

Thank you for such a wonderful post. I enjoyed every bit of it.kids furniture

Becky@Beyond The Picket Fence said...

Cute piece! Thanks so much to linking up to Beyond The Picket Fence.