Ooh So Shabby

2012 Calender

2011-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

Free Printable Calender for Owl Lovers or anyone, because this is C U T E!

I've already downloaded mine ♥

Pastel Christmas

2011-12-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

All three trees are finally up & decorated. I have begun the wrapping and nearly finished it.

Favorite wrapping paper this year goes to this love paper. White paper with velour black snow flakes. Super cute and super cheap. Found this roll of loveliness at the Goodwill Outlet brand new.

Little gold pow & doilies name tag

from left to right: Parchment paper from Dollar Tree, Blue paper w/white pine cones are Jaclyn Smith & Silver w/red snow flakes are Trim-a-Tree both from Kmart.

Parchment paper turned out really good. Can't believe I found paper already decorated for a $1.

I'm horrible at taking pictures of Christmas trees, please forgive the craptastic photo. Lavender tree has purple & gold bows though I believe next year they will be replaced with balls. Blue tree has teal/aqua and silver balls and the pink tree is silver bows & balls. This is Pinkys last year, she will be for sell if anyone is interested.


Lights off. Oooh, they really are prettier in person. The blue is my favorite. The bow tree toppers are all Jaclyn Smith.

Let me state for the record getting a decent picture of these babies hasn't been easy. I have a few cats in the house, 2 of which are kittens. Christmas has been a delight for them to say the least. Oh oh and before I forget the drapes are new. Found them at Goodwill for 6.99 a pair. They are a JcPenny brand in a pretty damask cream. Nice and heavy, perfect change for two reasons...Need heavier drapes for the cold (these keep drafts to a minimum) and it's basically a nice change from the floral Laura Ashley drapes we've have for Spring & Summer.

Out With the Old Pt 2

2011-12-04T18:27:00.001-08:00

Tonight I will be sharing one of my new favorite pieces. An old school desk, we did like it just the way it was however I thought it's color was a bit over stated considering the kitchens new paint. Speaking of the kitchen I do have a very small part to share. This is sort of a before & after (I'll have to take a few more afters).
Paneling Hell:

We rent & it's far to expensive to get rid of this hideous paneling so we decided to paint it. The doorway is a door to our landlords storage area, which we do not have access too. If you've seen my hutch redo then you can see this wall is pretty well covered.

Now that I have that out of the way here is the school desk before in it's overstated appearance:

Here she is in all her bright pink glory, not horrible but in definite need of a cleaning. Again just a bit to over stated for the new wall color.

Here she is now:

Nice lighter, softer color to go with the new kitchen wall color dontcha think? I made this blue by combining our living rooms wall color with antique white. Also put baking powder in the paint so it would not be glossy. Sanded it down nice & smooth. I really in love with this piece now. Please ignore the sewing drawers and kittah in the pic. I was in the process of taking pictures for Ebay.

I'm not sure if I'm finished with her. I feel like a stencil might be in it's future, only time will tell. Oh yes and there are plans for the hideous counter top. ewww!

Busy, Busy Bee

2011-12-01T09:52:00.001-08:00

Things have been a bit hectic with Thanksgiving and now Christmas right around the corner. Not to mention all the projects I've undertaken as of late, leaves me little time to update let alone get on the PC.

I thought I'd share a couple projects I've finished recently. I still need to take a decent picture of my finished desk but I just can't seem to get the right angle or the perfect lighting lol. Anyways first up is this lovely jewelry "dresser" I redid:

This is how she looked before. Very pretty but a bit dark for my taste. Found at the local Goodwill Outlet.

Here she is now:

excuse the last 2 craptacular pics. However you can see the top of my desk (probably going to get a recover). This was my first experiment with a DIY chalk paint (I used the baking powder idea). I distressed her only a little, I'm not a huge fan of overly distressed pieces. The inside looks brand new, I don't know if this was ever used. Oh she is a music box as well, so she plays a pretty little tune to go with her pretty new look. Currently this little princess is up for sell on Ebay.

Next is this cute little lap desk/music stand/podium. I'm not really sure what it originally was. When I bought it, it was a hideous green and had mom burned into it.

I kind of forgot to take a picture before I added the wood filler to cover the Mom. However I did remember in time to show the pea green color. Oh ignore all the other crap around, that's where I store all the furniture to be redone. That's my desk in the sanding phase.
Here is the desk/podium now.

I had found this lovely "oops" paint at walmart for $5, it's a minty color & I think it looks great. I don't understand how this is an oops. Anyway I added a Fleur-De-Lis stencil over where the Mom was filled in. I did not distress it because...well I didn't think it needed it. This would be a great gift for a student or for a teacher as a lap desk. Also could be used a table top music stand or podium ? She is currently for sale on Ebay as well.

Last little thing is a set of metal/brass rose wall scones. I've had these for quite awhile, I couldn't decide what to do with them. Finally I gave in and painted them pink. See I feel like I use too much pink, but I can't help it not only do I like pink but I feel like others do as well.

Found at a local Goodwill, I couldn't resist the roses, they are so pretty.

Lightly distressed so you can see the brass a bit. I think they turned out great (if you are a pink person). They are currently up for sale on Ebay (though I admit it will be hard to see them go).

That is all the projects for now, I'll update on a few more tomorrow, plus I'll share the school desk I redid that I am completely in love with.

oops

2011-11-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

So my pictures did not turn out the way I wanted them, as in I have a horrible time setting up a picture to show the item in a presentable manner. I want it to look lovely not like "yup there is a pretty type lap desk sitting on a chair" lol. Plus my niece and nephew were here this weekend so I didn't get to do what I needed because I was busying running them around to get haircuts.

However some time today the desk will be in place and I will do my best to take really good after pictures.

Updates

2011-11-12T16:14:00.001-08:00

I'll have a good update tomorrow. My desk will finally be done, and a mini lap desk that will be up for sell is done as well. I'm still unsure how I feel about the top of my desk but the paint is lovely. I have to poly it and put on the new nobs and it will finally be all done. After that the only chore will be cleaning off my current desk and dismantling for the trash then hauling the new desk up.

We got caught up in our thrift store weekend and ended up buying two pieces of furniture that we really didn't expect to buy. However this gives me a chance to do up our old hutch and sell it and do the "new smaller and much more apartment size hutch" up. Also bought a secretary desk that I plan on redoing for resell. So big things in the works, stay tuned and have a great weekend.

Sarah

P.S. Does anyone have any advice for me as far as Etsy vs Ebay goes? I've been a seller on Ebay for years however that's usually video games/consoles or random items. I'm wanting to sell my "twice loved" items as I call them. Right now it would start out small just so I can see if anything sells. I'm just not sure how a more personal item such as a refabed desk or self made items would sell on Ebay.

Procrastination...My Friend

2011-11-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today has been a serious procrastination day. Okay admittedly I got to do some thrifting and helped mom buy a cool old recliner. By help her buy I mean Will & I picked it up at the Flea Market and carried it up the flight of stairs. Ooh was my back killing me after that, it was sore to begin with but now it kills just to stand up straight.

Didn't find a whole bunch of goodies at the thrift store but just enough to add to the pile of "stuff". The good news is that everything we bought is coming in as is, I do not have to re-do any of it. After much procrastinating I finally took my butt downstairs and sanded the first layer of shiny paint off the old desk I bought to replace my oh so lovely particle board desk that I've had for 8yrs now. I'm really excited to see how it turns out. I'm a bit twisted on the paint color though, I'm not sure if I want it the same light gray as the nite stand I redid a couple days ago, or if I want it slightly darker. The room itself is an aqua blue with one gray stone colored accent wall. All the frames on the wall are either white or black. Then I have GISLEV rug that we got from Ikea down.

I really like the shade of gray, it's not as dark as our wall and not nearly as light as the nite stand. So I keep thinking would the desk look better in a similar shade as the rug? As you can see I am seriously conflicted, I would like it all to match but at the same time I don't want it to be to matchy matchy since none of the pieces in our room are in the same style. I suppose in the end I will decide right before I start to actually paint, that's how I usually work anyways.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and thank you to all of the lovely ladies who left me comments on my hutch redo.

Nite and Day

2011-11-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

In one of my recent romps to a local thrift store I found this vintage side table that I felt would make a great nite stand for our room. While redoing the kitchen I have slowly started to also weed out the old in our bedroom and try to make it a bit more "grown up". The room is painted in blues with one gray accent wall.

Here is where the side table turned nite stand started:

Please forgive the junky looking room. That is quite literally my junk room, it's where all my projects to be done sit until I am ready to work on them. I believe I paid $7.99 for the table, short of some chewing on the back left leg it was in great condition. With a bit of sanding and some paint that Will mixed for me I think she turned out great.

After:

I sprayed the hardware black then distressed it a bit. I'm not big on to much distressing, at least not in our bedroom. I leave that to the rest of the house lol. This was my first time using polyurethane (Minwax), I'm not sure if I did it right or not. However I knew I would need something on it to protect the paint. Regardless I love how she turned out, Will did a great job mixing the colors. He used Antique White (color place) with just a dab of Stone Ebony Black (Better Homes) and it made the most perfect gray. I have a desk and a dresser to repaint and I think for one of them I will be making some DIY chalk paint.

Linking up to:

Linksy Partys

2011-11-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Ugh! I'm nauseous, I just joined my first linksy party and I'm so nervous. However I thought it might be a good way to get my face out there. Not that it matters too much, I started this blog just to have a place to record all the changes this shabby apartment will be going through. To anyone who may come and visit Ooh So Shabby, welcome and I hope you come visit again.

From Trash to Treasure...ish

2011-10-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Bought this desk organizer/remote controller caddy awhile back at Goodwill. I had originally bought it to help my mom make some rhyme or reason to her desk, instead she put all the remote controls to our TV, DVD player and such in it. I'm sure one day it will make it's way to her desk instead.

Before:

After:

I think it turned out pretty good & it matches our walls perfectly. There were screws in the back so I took it apart as much as it would allow and spray painted the inside first. This was actually a bit of a pain to paint, had to be oh so careful about not mixing the colors. It happened a couple places, but they aren't very noticeable.

Paint Used:
Krylon Ocean Breeze (blue)
Krylon Almond (brown/tan)

Out with the Old pt 1

2011-10-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

Finally I have pictures of progress in our kitchen. It has been a long journey, one that took much longer than we all expected. I guess one has to live life as well as remodel a kitchen lol. The hutch is complete, the kitchen cabinets (which was a surprise update) are finished.

This has been a labor of love, the hutch has been around as long as I have. First belonging to my grandmother (it's at least 40yrs old), then lived for awhile in my aunts house, then moved to my uncles and currently our home and when Will & I find a place of our own it will move with us. In other words she stays in the family.

Here she is in the beginning:

from top to bottom, as you can see she needed quite a cleaning. The wood is very soft and was easily nicked. For the most part she has been rather hidden, in our living room no less. With the new kitchen we decided she needed more of a leading role & less of a walk on role. So from the living room she was moved into the kitchen.


Here is the dilemma with the knobs. The one on the right I bought for a desk I will be redoing later, we just wanted to see which would look better. The off white knob with black vines or a big chunky glass knob. Tho the picture is not great I think we made the right decision. What do you guys think?

Here she is all finish:

She is still a work in progress as far as accessories go. As you can see she got a nice white coat with blue accents. I used Kilz primer, Antique White by Color Place and Clear Blue Sky by Glidden (though to be honest we had the color mixed in the cheaper Color Place paint. If you get the right person working in the paint department they will mix it for you. If not then you are stock with buying the $26 paint. We are on a budge & I repeat we are renting. Some will warn that you will not get the right color if you use a different paint, that is to be expected so we did not worry too much as long as it was a close match.) However if you are going to go cheaper paint I would suggest getting Kilz stain blocking primer. We had originally bought just a cheapy primer for $11 and we had a lot of bleed through on our walls. I decided to bite the bullet & buy Kilz, WOW!! what a difference. We only needed one coat of primer as opposed to 2 or 3. So with that being said I also used the Kilz on the hutch since it was so old and has been around a lot of smoke. The knobs I got from Hobby Lobby for $1.99 (50% off). We decided to leave the drawers original hard ware though it is still a debate. I spray painted them with Krylon Ocean Breeze, then distressed them. However my OCD is kicking and I can clearly tell that the blue on the back of the hutch and the blue on the handles are two different colors. Mom says she doesn't notice it and Will says it's "not that noticeable" but I notice. We bought some nice drawer pulls for our cabinets that I've debated on going back & getting for the hutch, but that's for another post.

The plates displayed our various platters that we've either recently bought or have had. The center platter is from my grandmothers china that we inherited with the hutch. I wanted to give it center stage so to speak. The platter on the left was also one of my grandmothers. The rose dish I found for .50 cents at a thrift store & the plate was a project I've posted about. The bell we've had forever, I sprayed it with Krylon Ocean Breeze & gave it a little distressing, as for the apocrathy jar I found at Goodwill for $1.50, I couldn't pass it up. Will made me put back a clear one last week that was only $2.99. I'm sure with time what is displayed will change, plus the very top of the hutch will be decorated as well. I hate leaving all that empty space...empty.

Oh and before I close up I forgot to mention that I mixed some of the Clear Blue Sky with a bit of water washed the center of the lip with it, just to show the details better. I'm still not sure about it, what do you guys think? She also got a very light distressing, I didn't want to over do it since it is a family piece. Now that she is finished I'm am completely in love with her all over again.

Linking up to:

Wheww! Long time no update.

2011-10-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

So we have undertaken a large update for our kitchen. Sure most of you are demolishing your kitchens and getting new...everything. However as you all should know by now, we rent and therefore can't get new everything. So instead of looking at that 1970's paneling any longer we decided to paint it, we also decided that it was time for that carpet (yes you heard me right, carpet) in the kitchen to come up. We decided to go the cheap route & just lay those self adhesive tiles down. Sure it's cheap but my God is the difference amazing. We also got a new refrigerator and stove, in black. I'm really liking how easy they are to keep clean. I'll be sharing pics and updates ASAP.

We've also been doing a lot of thrifting. I have found some great pieces for refurbing, I can't wait for the kitchen to be finished so I can get started. I'll be sharing pics of all my goodies in the next couple days. I would like to thank my fellow bloggers for all the great inspiration you've all been posting. I found recipes for DIY Chalk Paint and chalk board paint. I def. can't wait to try these out. Keep doing what you do everyone, you're amazing.

Before & After

2011-09-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a couple of my thrifty finds that I gave a new look to.

Before:

After:

It's the grey, white & blue striped bottle

Before:


cute find @ the local Goodwill. .99 cents a piece

After:

I like how in all three pictures the wall color looks different lol. Silly flash.

as you can see I sprayed them a lighter color (Ivory) from Krylon, then sanded them a bit to give them a nice shabby look. I really like how they turned out. The bottom one is my favorite.

I literally had a spray painting debate in the middle of Goodwill when I bought these. A lady came up to my cart & saw the plaques. "ooh I love those" and I smiled & agreed I too liked them. She then asked me what I was going to do with them. I told her spray paint them a lighter color & then sand them a bit. She got very vocal "oh no no no, no paint" as if I was a 5 year old. She said the darkness was what made me so lovely. For her maybe but for me it was the design. I do not really like dark things & are living room area is shabby & light. I was actually angry at the woman, don't look in my cart and then ask me what I will do with something if you aren't expecting an honest answer. If she like them so much she should have put them in her cart, instead she walked past them. So in this telling I suppose I'm just trying to state some like dark & some like light. I notice a lot of people get upset when they hear you are going to paint something. It's all a matter of preference, neither way is wrong. I do not think I harmed the plaque's charm or loveliness by painting them.

Go to the Corner

2011-08-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

Usually when someone hear's that, they've done something bad. However this time it's a good thing, well at least for us it is. Well it's an improvement, not so much a good thing I suppose. Remember the little counter wall paneling I repainted a couple weeks ago? Well I fixed the area up & it is looking pretty good right now. I never took an original photo but that corner use to be where I huge oak tv stand was. It's so large & we are rather outdated in the fact that we still have the tube televisions that you couldn't even see that corner area. So it went from a rather invisible "oh this is your TV" to a lovely corner of the living room.


this was the wall after it was painted.

This is the area now all fixed up.


please ignore a.) the horrid footstool, I need to find material to recover it. I was just trying it out under there. b.) the blurred background. There were pots on the stove lol.

We still need to redo the counter top but that is a future project. I should have taken pictures of the huge pictures we hung on the wall as well. Everything pictured we've had but they never really had a "place" The table has been hidden under a tray. You couldn't even tell it was a refabbed window. As I said the footstool is getting recovered & painted. So though it's not perfect yet it is quite in improvement from our bulky TV corner, plus a few wandering pieces found a home of their own in the pretty corner.

I Have Conquered the Wall...well a mini one anyways.

2011-08-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to tackle that ugly little wall with the counter top on it. I'm not sure what this is called or why it's even there. We've debated on getting rid of it, but I fear the mess it will make. None of us here are professionals & we are all heavy procrastinators to boot. I can see it now, wood slivers sticking out everywhere. So instead of dealing with that mess I decided that a little primer and a little paint could make this ugly wall into a wall that at least matched the living room.

We started with this:


This is actually the other side because once again I started without taking a before picture.

Then I primed this baby:


heck even this looked better than the ugly paneling.

Finished product:


Now that is better. There are a few touch ups I need to make with the base board.

However as you can clearly see, anything is better than the before. We'll be working on the counter piece in the near future. For now it has been put on the back burner till we can afford to either have it replaced or paint it ourselves. This apartment is truly a handful, but with the economy believe me it will be worth it in the end.

Any suggestions? Should we lose this little wall or just leave it as is? It separates the living room from the kitchen.

The Non-Shabby Side

2011-08-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

So I've made it pretty clear that most of our apartment is to be decorated in the "shabby chic" style. I love pastel colors & distressed furniture. However with that being said the one room in our house without a theme is our bedroom. I have the blue walls I've dreamed off and with the black & white frames I've wanted displayed, however things are a bit eclectic in here. The only real theme is my love for the artwork of Kurt Halsey. However after stalking many bloggers lately I'm starting to feel my/our room is a bit to young. I've spent a lot of money on this artwork and really hate letting it go, so I figured I'd sale off some small pieces and keep the big ones and start slowly adding some new artwork instead.

Today will be the fresh start the room needs. I again forgot to take a before picture of a mirror I've had hanging in here. In fact it was in my room before we moved only wearing different colors. In it's first life it was an icky tacky gold color. I spray painted it purple then when we moved I decided pink was my new favorite color and so it was painted ballet slipper color. On my wall it has hung for about 10yrs now. The other day I decided she needed to lose the mirror all together and get a white paint job (mainly white because I don't have black paint & I found these usually expensive black box shelves at Goodwill for $3.99). Now she is all dressed & ready for her new debut as a frame.

Pictures to come soon. I'll also be working on the top of our large wardrobe. There is quite a bit of space up there that needs filling up. I'm waiting on a hand sander so I can sand it down & paint it. Anyone have any experience sanding down Ikea furniture? Obviously this is not one of the natural wood pieces. It's a nice large piece we got at the end of the last season for $49 marked down. I'll update with a picture shortly.

While Waiting For the Paint to Dry

2011-08-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd share a couple of my other projects from the day of no sleep. Some was done while waiting for the paint to dry on the cubby shelf while others happened before.


This plate is what started my marathon. It was just a plain white plate with some major cracks & crazing in the middle. I intended to turn it into a cake plate but when I was finished I felt it would be best used as decoration in the future refurb hutch. Plus I don't think you can eat off of it. No the Mod Podge is not perfect, but I don't like my shabby to be perfect.

Close up:


The middle is just a piece of scrapbook paper.

Next up was letter art. I've really been wanting to buy some wooden letters to put over our window on the gray wall. However finding the & was a bit hard, plus whenever I found one they would be out of an S. Always the S never the W. So after viewing some inspiration from one of the many DIY blogs I follow I decided to go the super cheap route...FREE.


Maybe one day when I can get out to a Hobby Lobby or The Flower Factory I can get all the wooden initials I need. Till then I'm quite happy with how this turned out. Thank you Photoshop

The last thing was to paint a icky dark wine bottle:

to white:

again I know it's not perfect and the Fleur de Lil stencil did not adhere so well to a rounded object, but I like it's imperfection. It will later find a home on top of our wardrobe, once I find all the goodies I wish to place up there.

Cubbies

2011-08-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

This past week/weekend has been a nightmare. All I can really say is that I'm tired of dealing with other people problems when my immediate family (Will included) have enough of their own things to deal with. I really hope things get back to normal soon.

That being said I tried my best at creating normalcy Monday. I had a real issue with sleeping so I stayed up a full 24hrs from Sunday to Monday. I had so many ideas running through my head that I decided that 2am was a great time to get started on a ton of projects, or at the very least get all my ducks in a row.
First thing I did was take before pictures of EVERYTHING since I'm horrible at before pictures I thought taking a group photo of all my goodies at once then individually would be a great idea. That way when inspiration hits me and I start painting without hesitation I have no worries because photos were taken. Of course that lasted one day. I started a new project yesterday & primed an item before taking a photo. Will says no worries it's still a before, however the gray primer is an improvement on the hideous color this item was. I like to call it baby poo yellow.

Here is a photo of all the goodies I plan on redoing:


Got all this loot in one day: Lamp, picture cube, light switch cover, desk organizer, shower curtain rings, 2 of the wooden trays, bike basket & the rose candle scones. All of these will be redone.

Yesterday I redid the photo cube & a few days before that I painted the light switch cover gray. The other project yesterday was to take this cubby shelf:

and turn into this cute cubby shelf:

The shelf was $2.99 at Goodwill and all the paint & hardware we already had. We had 2 gallons of the blue so you'll see it used quite a bit. The knobs I got off of a shelf my mom had bought but had later broke. This will later go up for sale, however for now I love it too much so we'll be using it to display some of our shabby nick-nacks.

Cost:

Shelf $2.99
Paint FREE
Knobs FREE

Never hesitate to look around the house to see what you have, left over paint is a god send.

edit

This is currently where the cubby shelf is hanging out. Please forgive the paneling, that is a future project. I'm sure the items will vary when we get new finds.

Get on the Floor

2011-08-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

After many set backs the floor is more or less complete on our landing/hallway. We still need to buy new thresholds but we'll get them eventually. So this may have been a rather cheap update, in my eyes anything was an upgrade.

Have I mentioned I'm horrible with before photos? ...I have? Good. This is after the fact but this is what was covering our hallway floor.


It was a quite stunning 1970's green. Kind of looked like that stuff they use to put in a screened in porch.

2hrs later this is where we were.


Will & I scrapped all the black rubber up then swept & vacuumed. Please excuse the scuffed door frame & the icky doors. Those are still on my project list.

24hrs after this is our new floor


I got a bit excited & took the picture right after it was done. We had to replace a few tiles today due to my being unable to cut straight lines. Once the thresholds have been replaced I'll take a better picture.

As you can see, even in this crappy photo ANYTHING was an improvement. The tiles were rather cheap at our local Family Dollar store. I believe it was $12 for a box and there are plenty of tiles left to redo our tiny tiny bathroom floor. Currently Kmart is also selling these type of tiles for $9 though the box is not as big. I'm sure many can afford to do more but I think it was a great project for a renter, or a young couple in their first place.

Hectic Times

2011-08-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's been really crazy around here lately. My uncle is in the hospital for multiple reasons that I don't want to go into. Due to that my mom has talked herself horse so I've been helping her deal with all the talking and phone calls that are having to be made. On the positive side Saturday is Will and I's 3 year anniversary, we are planning to go to dinner for the first time instead of me cooking. I've also been hitting up the Goodwill's & thrift stores the last few days. I think I got some rather promising goodies (pics will be coming soon). We've also started our floor project for the hallway. We pulled up the ugly horrid green what seems like outdoor carpeting, which didn't take as long as we expected. It's all prepped & ready for the new tiling to be laid which I will start today. I'm excited to see it finished because I know it's going to look amazing with the new paint colors.
We're also going to take down the closet door & put up drapes instead. I hope it looks as great as I've seen on other blogs.

Stay tuned for pics of my thrifty goodies as well as the before & afters of the hallway/landing floor redo.

Is It Really Easy?

2011-07-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

This is a question I asked myself about this deco podging business. Nearly all the blogs I follow at some point or other there is some mod podge mentioned. We recently had repainted a dresser that I had painted a beautiful white & pink with gorgeous knobs. However with the room update the pink had to go. The dresser still needs a lot of work. I'm not completely happy with it. However I knew for sure the knobs tho gorgeous did not work. You see they were pink with pretty pink flowers in the middle & they cost more than knobs should cost ($18 on ebay). That being said I knew I could not afford another $18 for drawer pulls. So I went in search of something cheap but found only 2 pulls for $4. Sure that doesn't sound bad at first, however they were the wrong color & I needed 8. So my search continued. Then once more I hit pay dirt via the local thrift store. Only this time it cost nothing. Outside sitting in their trash waiting for our local bulk trash pick up was multiple broken dressers. Saddly the dresser I wanted to refurb was too broken for my nonpower tool owning self. It was missing the 2 back legs & the one support for the leg was complete split which would have required some cutting. I looked more & there was a completely busted dresser but the drawers were still intact as were their drawer pulls!! YES YES YES!! they were exactly the right size. Later that night Will & I journeyed forth in the heat with screw drivers, collected all the knobs & one drawer and a drawer face for later projects.

The knobs were in pretty bad shape with some really old ORANGE paint. We sanded and sanded & just when I thought I had the paint even with the wood I spray painted them all white, that's when I found out that nope I definitely did not sand enough.

It was okay though because I planned on mod podging something over the front. That being said, prior to this project we had bought a 16oz jar of Plaids Mod Podge for around $11 on Ebay (can you tell we buy a lot on ebay?). So we let the spray painted knobs sit for 24hrs & then I started the "podging" process. Now mind you this is my first time and after much investigating via Google I believed I knew what I was doing. It sounded easy enough.

It's easy, indeed it is. However I think it takes practice. My knobs dried kind of flat instead of glossy, also there were brush strokes. Not that you can see real well unless you have the knobs directly in your eyeball. Oh & doing round drawer pulls I'd suggest a big whole punch. I do not own one so I gave it the ole college try & cut them out myself. I also used a piece of art from my favorite artist that I had saved on my computer. I just went to photoshop grayscaled it, multiplied it a couple times so the lines were nice and crisp, scaled to fit. Then I switched to word pasted 12 (in case of mistakes) picture & printed off. After a couple hours here were my end results.


artist: Kurt Halsey


on the gray dresser drawer


blue & gray. I'm not content. I'm thinking about painting the 2 blue drawers gray.

I'm still not happy with this dresser. I wish now that I had used gray spray paint instead of white. Also it needs a fresh paint job on the frame. Not sure if I will do white or a lighter gray instead. Opinions are welcome & there will be another mod podge project for the top of this old thing soon.

Ending price for this project:

Knobs: free
spray paint: free (already had it)
mod podge: $11 (but it will do a lot of projects)
artwork: free (used something I had copied on my computer)

Total: $11

The Second Shelf

2011-07-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

We live 2 blocks away from a tiny thrift store called The Second Self. I absolutely adore it, not only for it's great stuff but because the manager is so familiar with my mother & I we get stuff at half price quite often. Recently Will & I rearranged our bedroom (after we painted) and we were struggling for a shelf to hold my bulky photo printer but also his xbox 360 (did I mention we are avid gamers?). With no other options we used this ugly little night stand because it gave the xbox room to breathe. Very ugly set up:


please excuse the bad picture & the bad PS.

As you can see my printer is barely perched up there. Add to the fact that my cat Bunny likes to sit up there, it's a miracle that it hasn't fallen. So I searched & searched even went to IKEA, but wasn't willing to spend a lot of money for such a small item. $30 dollars seemed a bit much for such a smaller shelf, plus it seemed too "new" if you know what I mean. FINALLY!! I hit pay dirt at the thrift store. There was a little wooden cabinet for $6.00, then she says to me...I'll give it to you for $3 if you take it out of here. SOLD!!

Just so you all know ahead of time I am horrible at remembering to do the before photos. That being said this is the door of the cabinet so you at least know what the wood looked like.


Not bad looking wood I know, but there is enough wood in our room.

So we decided to paint it to fit our color scheme. We also decided not to put the door back on. We're saving the door however, something tells me it will come in handy at a later date.

My printer fits much better, plus we have an extra shelf for books or games, DVD's or whatever we feel like.

Needing a Little Shade...

2011-07-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

We have recently repainted our room. Prior to it being OUR room it was my very pink room:


Very pink; don't judge me.

Then once it was OUR room I decided not to torture him by making him live in that room for to long. So we painted it a lovely light blue with a gray accent wall:


horrible picture but you can see the accent wall. You can also see that our room is NOT shabby chic.

Now due to this change in color schemes I had a lamp shade that was just not working, so I decided to try my hand at recovering it.

I followed (kind of) the instructions from one of my favorite blogs:

Young House Love

Dark brown shade before:

& After:


whoops is that upside down?

there that's better.

I'm not sure I'll be keeping it on the floor lamp, I have refinished a old brass lamp & might consider using that instead. This is a very easy project but it will indeed take two people. Also I think a round barrel shade would be easiest to use.

Inspired

2011-07-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

weheartit

The Medowbrook Blog
I am absolutely in love with the curio cabinet. I saw a corner cabinet in a thriftstore yesterday, tho small it would have held a lot of our shabby plates & vintage china. Hmm might go back & get it see how it takes to a coat of paint.

WeHeartIt!

Chic-Mania

I did this to a coffee can, though we did not put flowers in it, but used it for storage in the bathroom. However what a great idea. I think I might be spray painting some more cans.

Recycling the Cans

2011-06-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd share a little project I did this winter when I was trapped in the apartment. We have a very small bathroom so it looks cluttered very quickly, especially with all the hair products I use. There were brushes, combs, flat irons & a blow dryer in a very tight corner tumbling over onto the floor. We just couldn't find anything we liked to contain all these items. Then I had an "AH HA!" moment. We had these little buckets that my aunt have given us as gifts a million years ago that just sat in a cabinet. I decided they would be perfect for our needs. This is how I went about it.

Step 1. find a bucket to paint, then clean it off with a bit of soap & water

Step 2. Buy spray paint in the color of you choice. Krylon (ballet slipper) is our favorite since it covers all type of surfaces. We do tend to prime most items though. Especially the glossy/shiny surfaces.

Step 3. After priming spray paint your bucket then let it dry. I waited a few hours between coats, for full coverage it took 2-3 coats. Then add decals if that is your choice. I waited a full 24hrs before I added the decals.

Step 4.Last step was to use a clear coat of Krylon to protect not only the decals but the paint.

Now since I did this in the winter time I was not able to go outside. I just used a large box in a well ventilated room. Had a fan running & a couple windows cracked.

Picture Time, It's Picture Time

2011-06-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

So you found this "to shabby to pass up" picture at your local thrift store/flea market, insert place __ here. Only problem is there appears to be no way to hang it. Do not fear, I Sarah the oh so shabby newbie can show you. I am sure many would have seen the answer admittedly, I however a few years ago would have never come to this conclusion.

Steps:

Find an oh so shabby picture. Ours found on Ebay for $9.99 (you know she was not happy about selling it for that cheap).

Purchase a nifty little Picture hanging kit (can be found at most local dollar stores). Then locate the 2 of the hook/loop pieces & wire.

Next screw one of the loops into the frame. I suggest more towards the top so it doesn't hang to far from the wall, but the choice is yours. Use a measuring tape or something with a straight edge to insert the second screw loop.

Then take the wire that is included in the picture hanging kit & loop it between the two screws. Make sure you get it good & tight on each end. I just used the wire that came with my picture, since it was missing only one screw.

Then TADA!!

Your wonderfully shabby cheap picture is ready to hang.

So you see, it's all rather quite simple & cheap.

Prices:
Picture & frame- $9.99each on Ebay + shipping (bought two pictures so shipping was $21.35)
Picture hanging kit- Family Dollar $1.00

Inspirational Sunday

2011-06-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Later I'll be sharing a few projects I've done in the last year. However for now I thought I'd post some inspirational photos that I've spotted here & there on the interweb.

The Sweetest Occasion

weheartit!

theBerry

Vintage Darling

How to turn a shabby apartment into a "shabby chic" apartment

2011-06-25T20:35:00.001-07:00

Sharing my vision & ideas for turning any shabby apartment into a shabby chic apartment on a very tight budget.
So we've been doing quite a few updates to our very shabby apartment lately and I thought I'd share, for those who are a tight budge but live in an "ooh it's so ugly/dark/boring/old" apartment". I've lived in this rather over sized but under constructed apartment for going on 10yrs now. In these rough economical times I think many would agree that our apartment is the "right" apartment for many reasons:

price (in dayton, most 1bdrms rent for the price our 2bdrm does) plus utilities are included.
size, my bedroom alone is 18' x 10'. Okay it is rather narrow but it is quite long so Will & I have plenty of room. I have seen 2bdrm houses smaller than our apartment.
location...well kind of. There is public transportation literally outside our door, there are plenty of stores within walking distance. It is also surrounded by two historical districts (unfortunately for us our building is not part of the restored historical district. lol). Plus we are near Downtown.
it's still price. it's hard to find any place that will pay your utilities (power, heat, trash & water) we pay for our internet and phone...and cable if we wanted it.

So in stating it's positives there are quite a few negatives. The landlords are an older couple that will fix up any issues but they will do it their way, which is usually the cheapest, fastest way (for them however it takes forever to get done). Our apartment, out of the 3 buildings was the only one that did not receive any loving attention. There is ugh!! Paneling EVERYWHERE! there is carpet EVERYWHERE!! we are not talking wood paneling but that old fake wood 1970's paneling. The carpet...oh don't get me started. Our main concern and what we realize will be the most expensive undertaking is the carpet in the kitchen.
Yes you heard me right, carpet in the kitchen. That will be a slow process, so we've decided to start a project book so that we can do little improvements as money allows.
My first project (Oh I should mention my b/f is not big on "projects" he has no vision for these things. So most of the undertaking will fall to me & occasionally mom will help) was the landing/hallway that seperates our bedroom from the living room. Please excuse the wonky angled pictures but this space is not very big at all.
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Our next undertaking when we have money is to buy oil based primer & paint the doors eggshell. I wish I had taken a picture of the mirror before I redid it. It was dark dark super glossy wood. I just used a can of pink spray paint & distressed it a bit.
Paint:
Paneling: Tropical Lagoon (Glidden 2 in 1)
Trim: Eggshell base (Olympic)
Wall: is a light tan BCI is all that they put on the can (ColorPlace)
Spray Paint: ballet slipper (Krylon)
Time Spent:
3 Days, this would have been a great weekend project but I started it on a Monday lol.
Cost:
This particular project was FREE since I had all paint in house already, and all items were from our own collection However originally the costs were as follows.
Tropical Lagoon - $28.96
Eggshell - Free (friend had extra)
Tan - Free (friend had extra)
Mirror: $18.99 (Ebay)
Shabby Picture: $9.99 (Ebay, had this for years)
Candle sconce: $4.99 (Ebay, had for years)
Spray paint: $3.99
Plus brushes which were about $12.00 total, you can see that this project was rather cheap. I still have plenty of paint for other projects.
Links:
Painting Wood Paneling

I can do this

2011-06-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first post on Ooh So Shabby. I do so hope that you all (hoping one day that there will be an "all") enjoy & find inspiration from the many projects and ideas I will be sharing, on how to change your shabby apartment into a shabby chic apartment.

Here's to many fun projects