Springtime Shelf & Coffee Table Makeover

Good morning all!  Yes I have been absent for a little while, and I am sorry about that; unfortunately with working full-time, school full-time, and add in the husband and three child family - you could say it's chaos. 
I have been working on little projects here and there. And I have definitely been building up the project inventory. I also have an amazing client project to get started on as well!

Today I have a two projects for you and a sneak peek of my current inventory. 

Sometimes to brighten up a room, all you really need is a fun and funky accent piece. That accent piece can come from something that normally would have blended in as well. 
When I found this little dandy, that's exactly what I had in mind. 

This shelf is approx five inches deep, and 26" x 25"; so it's definitely a decent size.  

I didn't take very many step by step pictures on this because it was a very easy project. 
Just some paint, a small stencil - then waxing and distressing. 
The finished product turned out very cute though. 

This is a super cute shelf that can be used to brighten up any area of your home. 


Now the other project. 

This gem was found at our local Habitat For Humanity ReStore. This is a solid oak Lane coffee table. Even though it's outdated, I knew there was something beautiful hiding underneath the outdated stain color. The short column legs I saw and instantly fell in love with them. 

There was quite a bit of water damage on the top and the previous poly coat was peeling. 

Lots and lots of sanding. Starting out with 80 grit, all the way up to 220 grit. 

After seeing the beautiful woodgrain I decided for certain that the top would be stained rather than painted. 

But the sanding doesn't stop there!

All the sides were pretty heavily coated in old poly so I wanted to start fresh. 


I stained the top with my favorite one "Espresso". I really love this color
The bottom is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White.  Then distressed to highlight the beautiful feature and curves. 

The top has three coats of poly in a satin finish for protection. The rest of the table is sealed with clear wax.

I love how it turned out so much, that I decided to keep it for myself. It helped to lighten up our living room and fits in wonderfully!


Now onto the upcoming projects. There is so much coming up, and I just can't wait to get started. I found some real beauties (mostly in part to some great friends who are always on the lookout)!

Alright so yes I started working on this already and yes it doesn't look very pretty right now. There were many more divots/nail holes in it than I originally noticed so had to fix that. Not everything starts out looking pretty. 

This is just such an odd shaped table and the door that you see goes thru to the other side. I also found this at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. 

This is actually a set of two. I already took out the drawer pull and found more holes from previous drawer pulls so that is what you are seeing. But look at those legs - love the heavy texture. 

This is also a set of two. While they are more "boxy" that my normal pieces, they are rock solid and I think they could look just amazing. Possibly a fabric backing and some nice texture on the cube drawer from. 





Sometimes it's not just furniture that I find. I love this rooster bakery rack, and originally it was going to go into my kitchen - however I have since changed my kitchen away from roosters. Then there's these old '70s candle/wall sconces. I found these at a rummage sale and since then I've seen them at Goodwill, ReStore and everywhere else possible. I just feel like I can make them look more modern and amazing. 

Finally is this beautiful antique dumbwaiter piecrust table. I am so very excited about this one! It is bigger than the picture makes it appear. I did some research as well about it after I purchased it and wow, I didn't realize how much story was behind it. 


I do have a few more pieces and as I stated before, I have an AMAZING client piece that I can't wait to get started on. This client, Ryan, has directed me to many wonderful pieces and I can't wait to work on the hall tree/stand/mirror beautiful piece she brought in. I won't be previewing pictures of her piece until I'm further along. I hope to really get a good start on it next weekend when I'm home. 

If anyone is interested in the pieces shown, please contact me, as they haven't been started and rather than me picking out the colors and details - you could pick them to match your decor! 

Well I am away visiting my parents this weekend so no time for projects - but next weekend I'll be back in full force.  

Happy Crafting!

Sarah
Second Chances Design

A little more info, and re-charging a dresser!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are all staying warm. We have been hit by some pretty frigid air this last week and today is no different - it's a balmy -5 degrees outside right now. This is perfect weather for inside projects!

A reader sent me a message stating that they would like a little bit of background information about me, and as to why I have so many projects going on in my home.

Where to begin...My name is Sarah. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I was recently married to my wonderful husband in August 2013. We have three wonderful children in our blended family. Chloe is 12, Maddox is 10, and Joaquin is 6. In late November 2013, we bought our first home. We spent months looking for a home as we wanted one with enough space for our children and also for entertaining our large families. Our home is quite eccentric, and I am proud to say it has a wonderful history. It was built in 1947 and we are only the third owners. While our home was very well maintained throughout the years, it was never updated. When our realtor showed us the home, we noticed it had excellent "bones", but was in dire need of updating. We signed the papers the day before Thanksgiving and have been working on projects ever since! Some have been minor projects, others have taken months to complete. We take pride in doing things ourselves, and also try to do them economically. My husband and I both work full-time and are enrolled in school full-time as well. Thankfully we enjoy home projects, and it is what we do in the small amount of spare time we have. We will both graduate with our degrees later this year, so it will free up more time to work on the house.

Now onto the project of the post! 

Shortly after we moved, one of my closest friends also moved. Luckily for me, she needed to downsize and get rid of some extra furniture. I was more than willing to help her with her problem! One of the items she gave me was a dresser.

I should have taken a better picture of the dresser "before"; I apologize for the bad (and lack of) pictures now. I was just so excited to get going on it.  

The top drawer of the dresser actually has three "panels", while the other two were only one large flat panel. 

Just plain white, and a little boring for my taste. 

I wanted to cover it with fabric, but have a finish or seal of some type, so that it was durable enough for the 12 yr old Chloe. 

I only wanted one knob on each side. I used wood filler on the extra hole.

A little light sanding and we were ready to get started.

I found some wonderful fabric at JoAnn's that is heavier duty, almost light canvas.

I also picked up some Matte finish Modge Podge. This is my very FIRST bottle of Modge Podge (MP). Yes, it may be hard to believe, but I have never used Modge Podge before this project. I was very excited to say the least. I read several tutorials about using fabric and MP to cover furniture. I combined them to come up with my own method.  

It was very hard to take pictures during the entire process as I didn't wear gloves and my hands were covered in MP. 

I cut the fabric about 3-4 inches larger than I needed, as I knew I would trim it down.

I first put a medium-thick layer of MP down on the drawer front. (I would recommend either a foam brush or at least one better than shown in the above pic. I was loosing bristles like crazy and was constantly picking them out of the MP.)

After applying the MP, I then laid the fabric down. Since my fabric had a pattern, I had to be very careful that it was as straight as possible. Luckily since I had an almost thick layer of MP, I was able to manipulate the fabric and adjust it as needed. I did pull it up to reposition it a few times, but I think I got it pretty straight. 

I then used my hands and a spackle spatula to flatten the fabric and push out all the air bubbles. Be careful when doing this - when fabric gets any kind of moisture it can distort the pattern if you push/pull too much.I then applied a layer of MP on top of the fabric as well, working the MP through the entire fabric.

The MP only takes about 10-20 minutes to set up and begin drying. I did one drawer at a time, so by the time I was done with one step on all three - I could go back to the first one. After covering the top surface, I then trimmed the excess fabric. I held it tight around the edges and then left about 3/4" that will only be seen on the interior of the drawer. I applied MP to the ends of the drawer fronts, repeating the same process from before. MP layer underneath and on top as well.  For the corners, I tried to wrap it like present.  and they turned out pretty well. My ends did get a little "muddy" from too much MP, so next time I will try to either wipe the excess with a rag or just not apply too much in the first place. 

After all of the MP has dried, you can take a 220/320 grit sand paper and lightly sand the make smooth. Do not do this too much or you could actually start to damage the fabric. Follow this with a fine grade steel wool to lightly buff. I used a 0000 grade. For a final seal, I used a polyacrylic clear satin. Purchased at Wal-Mart for $3.97.  A small amount goes a long way. After applying two coats I still have more than 3/4 of the little container left. I applied this using a small foam brush. Once completely dry, I used a 320 grit sandpaper for a very light sanding to make sure 

I used the same knobs that were on the dresser, but I repainted them with the same Sherwin-Williams "Synergy" that the room is painted - now it ties together.

I should mention that I did clean up the dresser itself with a fresh clean coat of white paint. I wanted to make sure that it was all uniform and was a complete fresh start. 

For a first time MP project, I think this turned out alright. There are a few tips and tricks I will use next time, but I still LOVE how it turned out.

I do have to thank my hubby for the idea of painting the knobs "Synergy" - he's turning into my consultant. I love the POP of color!

This dresser will be going into my daughter's room, which will hopefully be complete sooner than later.  The flooring is done now, and the trim was put in last night. A few paint touch ups to the trim and DONE! We are picking up her new bed today, and will hopefully find new bedding as well - later today when we go shopping. 

Earlier this week I picked up two small end tables with beautiful wooden spindle legs. Plus I already had two other larger end tables. Today, we will be shopping and making a few stops to look for furniture and decor items. I'm always on the lookout! 

I'm also very excited to hopefully be stoping at a stockist for Annie Sloan chalk paint. (Annie Sloan does not retail at your average paint or home improvement store. They call their locations "stockists".) This is something else that is new to me, and I'm thinking about trying it out. I have been researching Annie Sloan chalk paint, sealing with soft wax, antiquing using dark wax, etc. We will see what things that brings our way!

For future posts, I will try to take more pics, document brands, be a little more detailed. It's all a work in progress!

Thanks for taking the time to read this (very lengthy) blog post and I hope that it inspires you to create your own projects at home!

Happy Crafting!

Second Chances Design

Sarah

The very beginning of Second Chances Design

I have decided to try and take a swing at blogging about my crafting adventures.  Just as my crafting projects are, we will learn as we go about this blogging thing.  I find myself hypnotized by craft blogs at times - learning how the other crafty people out there are turning their wickedness into beautiful works of art and also seeing what doesn't work, so that I don't try that (again).  

I have progressively been crafting more and more over the past two years.  Approximately three and a half years ago, I bought a wooden dresser, off of Facebook classifieds, with the sole intention of being my first re-finishing project.  Though that one simple, small, four drawer dresser, I learned many many things.  Mostly things of what NOT to do! But all in all, it ended up being my very first "big" craft project.  
Not every project is a success and the best thing to do with a failed project is to laugh it off and learn from it.  I have learned about chemical burns (yes, you really should use those protective gloves sometimes), spray adhesive chemical reactions to styrofoam, and all about overspray.  While all of these things can be quite dangerous, they are also the side effects that a crafter has to learn to deal with.  

Through this blog, I hope to share with you my crafting adventures.  Lately, I have been doing quite a few projects and have had a lot of questions by friends and family.  I prefer to find older items and revamp them, however many of my crafts also arise out of scrap lumber or even new items when I have a specific item in mind. I do everything from refinishing furniture, yarn/felt wreaths, burlap christmas trees, and I will spray paint just about anything.  The power of paint is highly underestimated. Hopefully, through this blog I will be able to help fellow crafters (or at least entertain them) with their own projects.  I have been trying to take lots of pictures and remember details, but if I miss something, please don't hesitate to ask.  I will give you my tips, feedback on products and answer all your questions

Happy Crafting!


Second Chances Design
Sarah

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