Friday, August 28, 2015

REDO-the Three Little Pigs, for the boudoir!

Finally getting at my REDOs

One of the best parts of REDO-ing OLD junk has to be saving it from a landfill and the fun of trying to repurpose into a NEW item and making it go GREEN. 


My original post about my June Junking finds is here, Junking Post.
 I'm still working a few items there; the pedestal table will be an entire post on its own. 

Now to the shelves and cabinet.

FIRST an American saying…"ugly as a sow's ear."
Second, an old Danish saying, "Every sow thinks her little piggy is beautiful."
Well here is a a few sow's ears and three little piggies in all their before and after. 

I confess this first one, the three tiered shelf
sat on my front porch in all of its puke-pink glory for two months. 
Finally hubby said, "When ARE you going to do something with that?"

The problem was not just the color, but its substantial proportions 29" Tall by 25" wide. 
As a metal shelf goes its huge!


I originally planned to paint it dark green or barn red and use it for garden stuff, 
but we didn't really have a large wall space in the sheds or in the garage. 

 So, when it came to painting it, I just began with emptying cans of ivory and white on it---yes, just plain old satin spray paint to cover that pink. I could not fathom brushing it with anything else.

NEXT!



This little cabinet, I got for $4 at a thrift store…shallow shelves and glass windows 
and that awful mahogany cherry stain from the 90's.
 I knew the bleed-through under fresh paint would be hideous.
 What could I use that for?

I thought of the box of nail polish bottles, I had cluttering up my bookshelf. 
But, how to keep them on the shallow shelves? 
I imagined myself knocking an entire row off, while trying to remove one.


Honestly that cherry mahogany is nasty!



NEXT!
The before picture of this one…


Just your standard 50's gold metal bathroom shelf, 
sprayed black, and sprayed sorta white.
Basically ugly, but functional. 

LET'S BEGIN!

The two metal shelves I simply sprayed and sprayed and sprayed, white and ivory. I exclusively use satin paint; durable enough to wash off, and basically has very little shine. 
Sealing, waxing is just not my thing, nor is daubing a million surfaces with a brush. 
A 'do-over' is an easy fix over a sprayed satin base, and perfect for glazing too.


Wow, this looks MUCH better! My little piggy is beautiful. 


I'm staging this outside, because I still have no place to immediately hang this. It may temporarily move to the shipping/quasi craft space. But one can dream!


Lots of shelf space on this piece. 


With some of my favorite kitchen pieces---if I had wall space!


The cool white goes well with my blue and white Copenhagen porcelain
 and my grandmother's blue glass birds.



Maybe when the kitchen is redone, there will be a place for this
 or by the UGLY coffeepot, for my mugs and cups. HMMMM!

NEXT the other sow's ear, a potential jewelry display?


Basically ugly, but functional. 


TIP: I always flip my items over and paint the bottoms first---it avoids drips on the surface that shows.

A lightbulb went off in my HEAD!  NEW IDEA!
Since Grandbaby has taken over my dresser, now all my jewelry is hidden and then I don't' use it!

HOW about this for a REDO!


I'm showing this sitting UPSIDE DOWN---but I am planning on 
hanging it on the wall after the bedroom remodel. 
Then the bottom shelf rim can hold more earrings and give room to hang necklaces on little hooks.
 I'm considering bending the back rim of the bottom shelf forward 
to give more clearance for hanging items.



I'm totally loving this idea, I'm sure I will grab something and walk out the door 
looking gorgeous because of this little REDO piggy project!


I wear clip earrings and vintage jewelry---Now, I can stage for the seasons from my collections. 
This will be my late Summer, going into Fall assortment.
 The towel bar is perfect for keeping bracelets sorted.


Total cost for this project $3 plus paint, and maybe some hooks later. 
Now, I need to look for a vintage frame to NEW pin station! 

NOW the wooden cabinet. And those shallow shelves. 


I cut two pieces of NEW beaded wood molding-Michaels $2.49- to fit. See above the goose girl. 
Pounding and gluing that skinny wood was tricky. Hubby finally started up the compressor and 
 (brad) nail-gunned it. The mahogany wood was so hard that nailing just didn't' work. 


After a light sanding, I painted two coats of white primer and 2 coats of white satin enamel, and stopped. I may glaze this later with dusty blue or add another coat of white and distress. I did not weather the finish--yet, as the jury is still out---on its final destination and finish. 


I re-attached the original hardware..even the magnetic catch 
and filled the shelves with all my nail polish.


And added my grandmother's lavender glass birds, my little goose girl box, and a few bottles. Later to be replaced with my small perfume bottles, and maybe another strip of molding!



And now, no fear of knocking all those bottles off those two shelves with the molding.





See how neatly they are tucked away behind the decorative trim molding. 



Total cost for this cabinet, $6.49 + paint. 
Hubby said, "I really like that!" And, he basically doesn't like anything I do with OLD stuff. 

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear from you!

Sandi


Linking to these Fab parties!



All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle


7 comments:

  1. Lots of fun projects. I especially like the metal cabinets...great transformations!
    Mary Alice

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    1. thanks for stopping by…and your lovely comments…anything is better than that pink, TY!

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  2. You are a genius and I love what you did with these awesome treasures. Love the new paint color and the way you are using these pieces is perfect.
    LOVE the blue and white display. Such a fresh style and look that is always so classic.
    Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
    Hugs, cm

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by and your sweet comments!

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  3. Loving the Re-Do's, especially the Jewelry Shelf conversion. I bought some strips of ornate Metal Trim and plan to attach them inside Antique ornate Frames to hang earrings off of. Helps me justify some of the Old Frame Hoarding anyway. LOL Thanks for coming by for a Blog Visit, yes, I agree that us Artistic Types tend to have similar brain waves don't we... very unorthodox but perhaps that is why we can Create so easily and effortlessly?! *Winks* Blessings from the AZ Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian

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  4. Certainly better than that weird pink... but I bet it is just as heavy. You'd need some good hooks to keep that on a wall.

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  5. the big one is going to the shipping room or the craft room…yes, it's heavy..hence a cart from now on for junking excursions. ;-)

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Thank you for any and all comments. I will be happy to answer any questions or comments in replies or email! HUGS!