Sunday, June 14, 2009

Thrifty Metamorphosis Monday.

I'm calling it a Thrifty Metamorphosis 'cause I used what I already had and free paint. How clever am I that I combined TWO blog posts into one? Yeah, give me a little credit. I've got to find room in my garage to bring home the projects from the shop bay at work since I won't have that space to work in...and I have NO clue where the armoire will go...I've been made to 'understand' that it cannot go to the shop...CM is ramping up for a kitchen project which means...NO space there at all...it'll be cramped in the garage for a couple of weeks, but if the weather holds, I can get some stripping and refinishing done and maybe try my hand at drawer repair. I'm hoping the bedroom furniture can be painted when he does a run of cabinets this week...again, clever incarnate. I want the furniture painted white, the kitchen cabinets that he is doing this week are white, so they'll just be sort of 'added' onto the run...my paint of course. He'll use the client's paint for the cabinets and mine for my bed furniture. Then I have to rearrange...oh dear, head hurts so I'll get to the point ;D

First was Sunshine's bed. Or rather, Specialist's bed. We had a loft system of bunks for the boys when they were little. They could then be converted to twin beds. We realized that it actually contains enough stuff for 3 twin beds. Specialist took one, Snickerdoodle had one and Sunshine had one. College Dude has the antique iron double bed. Apparently the Army provides beds (or he finally bought one), so Specialist left his here. I finally got into the garage and arranged and manhandled the thing to the old spray tables that CM left when he relocated the shop, and painted them white. I'd been dying to do it for a long time, but hadn't done it for one reason or another. They are pine...anyone remember Cargo furniture from 25 years ago? That's what it is. And that stuff has worn like iron all these years.


On it's way downstairs and out into the garage. Very plain and simple design, but timeless...barring the names, smiley faces, etc. engraved into it.

After:

I'll have to show off the quilt my mom made for her in another post. The comforter is looks faded and soft colors, very feminine, although it is not old at all. Hello Kitty was in the washer. I picked up the little lamp at Goodwill and the lampshade at Walmart for $1.50. It has a blue/white gingham ribbon around the top and bottom that I'll be changing out for pink and white. Because of the construct of the bed, regular bedskirts don't work well..so I cut the deck out of one, and stapled the ruffle to the siderail at the back. I could probably have made it a little short, but it's stapled on, so I can always shorten it that way. The other side isn't on yet. It was going to be shoved against the wall, but by putting her bedside table sideways against that wall, it gave us a LITTLE room beside the door. Very awkwardly designed room. The preferred corner for her bed is directly over the heating vent AND on two outside walls. It would be really cold, along with blocking the vent. There are only two corners that do not get the light in her eyes from the hallway and the bed is currently in one of them...but it shares a wall with the bathroom. See what I mean? I plan to figure out something later on this summer when we get her desk painted. Maybe put it under the window and a smaller bookcase? Who knows? I'll ask for help when the time is closer.

The other is our front door. It's been the ugly, original gray since we moved in. I'm not sure why I didn't paint it before, but I didn't. The inside was white...ugly. The gray might have been the original color of the steel door. I've never bought a front door before so....anyway. I've wanted a red front door for ages. I painted the front doors on our house in SugarLand a sort of maroon color, but they were cheap doors (thinking back, they might have been hollow core too--odd on front doors) so I didn't do much with them other than the paint. But I've been viewing my cousin's pics of her first trip to France and fell in love (again) with the blue doors) She takes stunning pics...my blog header is one of hers. I didn't want a black door, my neighbor across the street hates red doors and since she has to look at it, I kept deliberating. This is what she had to look at until today. It's actually light gray...primer gray.


Well, I had all this paint I brought home from the landfill. I was testing some for the half bath. Okay, that's too dark. Hmm...that's shiny...weird....let's see what happens when I pour a lot of this one into that one...oh, I like that! It's not quite as bright as the French blue, but it gives the same feel of it and goes with the house colors.

I'm 'sturdying' up a plant stand for the porch and painting it. I got the wicker and bistro chairs painted. Now I need some flowers for the bistro chair. After I finish doing that, I'll show the whole little porch. I'm also scoping out exterior gloss white paint for the porch. Since our landlord isn't painting it this year (that we've been told), I'm going to paint the front porch and the window trims. We face west so they look faded and bad. She's such a great landlord and when we downsize or purchase, we hope to get one of her other houses. The body paint itself is still reasonable shape, but the porch is awful. It's only white so that's easy enough. I haven't decided yet if I am going to paint that wicker wreath. There is a storm door on it also and we need to change out the glass for the screen, but I'll paint it also beforehand. I might even decide to hang out there. The two dressers, armoire and chairs that I snagged for the patio are next...more painting. When I went on my usual landfill run this week, the guy did ask if I was spray painting the whole house. Uh, no, but some of the ones I grab from the dump don't work so...when I take them back I remove the lids and the sprayers so no one else gets stuck. AND I scored an even bigger box this weekend...did you know that Kilz also has a can for treating stains on the ceiling? I'm loving Kilz...spell check is still highlighting armoire...it wants me to use 'armour' or 'armoury'. Okay, I don't keep my guns in the TV cabinet!

Now, trot over to 'other Susan' and Rhoda's to check out their treasures.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/06/welcome-to-22nd-metamorphosis-monday.html
http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-thrifty-finds.html

11 comments:

  1. That frame looks great in white and I love your new blue door! Fabulous job...

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  2. Nice transformation on the bed and front door. The color blue you chose is so pretty!
    Nola

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  3. Love that color you chose for the front door!

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  4. Love your new blue door! Looks great!

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  5. Fabulous door! Thank you for the inspiration.

    Blessings,
    Marie
    http://emmacallsmemama.com

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  6. You can get paint at your landfill? How cool is that? Love it. Keep spraying.

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  7. Great Projects....I just popped over from "Between Naps on the Porch" and am enjoying your blog!

    Hugs from Houston...SUsan

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  8. I love the bed painted white! What a difference and yes I remember Cargo very well. Love your door color too. Great change!

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