DIY Patio Table

After we got married, we decided to buy "adult" patio furniture. You know, to replace the fold up camping chairs that had previously perched on the back patio. It was the end of summer so there were a lot of sales going on, and Menards had a cute stone top patio table with 4 matching chairs for $500.  Sold.  Fast forward to four years later and the stone top was literally crumbling and falling apart.


Let me back up for a second and share a little background.  Ever since before my kids could walk, they loved playing in the sand.  I mentioned to my husband that we should get them a sandbox.  He promised to make one.  After quite some time passed I found a used one on marketplace and checked that off the list.  Did I mention he had already bought the wood for the sandbox but never got around to actually making it? Yeah.

So here is a picture of the crappy crumbling stone patio table.  See what I mean? Yuck. Even my kids noticed the mess of a table falling apart.  I decided that the base was in good shape and the chairs were good, we just really needed a new table top.  I removed the table top from the base and gave the base a quick scrub and fresh coat of paint.

The next step was to locate all of the "sandbox" wood to repurpose into a table top.

I cleaned off the dust and gave the wood a good sanding.  I then cut two smaller boards that were the same length as the table and attached it with two screws in each board.  This wood helps keep the table top in place and gives the base something to attach to.

After the base was dry, I attached it to the table top with a few screws.

That's it!  Maybe someday I will stain it but for now I'm liking it natural.  Please note, I am not claiming to be a carpenter and I know its not perfect and I could have framed it out and made it more "pretty" but I think its fine for now. Here is the final product:

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My go-to paint and finish for painting furniture

Let me start off by saying I have tried so many different brands of paint, so I have a lot of experience with different types of paint.  However, my background is business, not science so I can't speak to the chemical make up of each different type of paint, I'm going off my training and experience. Since there are so many different types of paints out there to choose from, which can be overwhelming, I'm going to focus on the General Finishes brand. General Finishes has a great line of water based paints, two of which is milk paint and chalk style paint.

What is General Finishes chalk style paint?  A casual, chalky interior matte paint to be used when you want a textured finish.  A topcoat is recommended with this paint as it is not self sealing.
Advantages: Fast drying, water cleanup, low odor, can be brushed or sprayed, easy to distress.




What is General Finishes milk paint?  A premium interior/exterior rated paint for furniture, cabinets and millwork.  Its mineral based paint named for its low-luster sheen, which mimics the look of old-world furniture paint.  It is not a powdered, casein-based milk paint like some might think, but a premixed modern version that is so durable it does not require a topcoat unless you want to change the sheen.
Advantages: Fast drying, water cleanup, low odor, can be brushed or sprayed, can be distressed, self-sealing.


My first choice for furniture painting is General Finishes Milk Paint.  It sprays so smoothly in my Fuji Paint Sprayer, and provides a nice finish. Even though milk paint is self sealing, I typically spray high performance topcoat in satin or semi gloss to provide even more durability.  Spraying the topcoat ensures that there are no brush strokes, and protects against wear and tear and even spills.


Speaking of topcoats, lets talk about one topcoat that I tried once but will never use again: wax.  Wax and chalk paint seem to go hand in hand, although I don't find any advantage to wax. First of all, the process of applying wax and buffing it is tedious and hard work.  This is why man invented tools (like a paint spray gun) to make our lives easier.  It takes me less than 5 minutes to put on one coat of high performance top coat with my spray gun, why would I choose anything else?  Also wax needs to be re-applied every couple of years, and since my furniture is usually sold to clients I don't want them to have to go through the torture of applying wax on their own every couple of years.  Wax also doesn't protect as well against heat (which is why it should never be used on kitchen  cabinets) or some spills, especially oil based spills.


Something else I never use on furniture: latex paint.  Its meant for WALLS, not furniture.  Even if you find a way to make it into "chalk" paint...at the end of the day, it is still latex paint.  Not to say I haven't done it because I tend to learn best from experience. There are some advantages to latex paint, like the wide variety of colors available and the low price, but you get what you pay for. I have also been tasked with refinishing furniture that was once latex painted.  It tends to gum up when being removed and often peels off in chunks with a stretchy feel to it.  This also makes it more difficult to distress, as the glue can be activated in latex paint so it kind of rolls up or comes off in chunks.  I'm not saying that it can't be used for furniture, I have done it in my own home as a learning experience on my own furniture.  Although latex paint should not be applied unless the proper steps are done to prep, which includes sanding and priming first.  Latex paint should also be sealed with a topcoat for durability, and even then latex paint is not as durable as milk paint or chalk style paint.


To recap, if you are attempting to paint furniture on your own, General Finishes milk paint is a great paint to try.  You can mix colors together (in the chalk style paint or milk paint) to customize. I'm not affiliated with General Finishes in any way, and they have not compensated me to blog about their products.  I'm a firm believer that if I feel strongly about something, I share it.


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It’s 3:00 PM on a Friday. Do you know where your underwear is?

Ladies and gents if you have missing undergarments, I can tell you where to find them. Want to know how I know? Because I find those missing undergarments almost every day.

 

Try this fun experiment and I’ll prove my point. Remove your dresser drawers, one up and one

down from where you normally keep your unmentionables. In the very back of the dresser I

guarantee you will find a long lost treasure. I find items such as these in almost every piece I

refinish. Surprise! It’s like you went shopping. You now have more clothes today than you had

yesterday.

 

If you want to try another experiment, see if your husband notices your “new” underwear. He

won’t!

 

A few months ago, I was refinishing a bedroom set for a client. I won't mention any names, but

he is happily married I assume. Well of course I found three pairs of ladies underwear in the

dresser when I removed the drawers. I didn't think much of it, because this is so common to me.

I simply put the items in a pile in the workshop and continued my work.

 

My aunt came over the next day to help with the kiddos and she saw the items laying the garage.

She gave me a very weird look. I think she thought we had a 50 Shades of Gray thing going on

in the paint booth

 

I didn’t correct her or provide her with any context. I love messing with my Aunt. Anyways, I bagged up the undies for my client, and gave it back to him when I delivered the refinished bedroom set. He wasn't home at the time, but his daughter was and she let me into their house. I set the bag on top the dresser and left. In hindsight, this was probably not a smart move. What if they didn’t belong to his wife? What if he thought they were mine and I was giving it to him? How embarrassing! He never mentioned anything to me so I am hoping for the best. I hope he is still a client!

 

So, lesson learned, check behind your dresser drawers. Especially before you plan on selling

your furniture or having it refinished. To prove my point, I put my own dresser to the test.  Guilty as charged.

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New Year, New Project List

A new year brings a fresh set of resolutions, new goals, hopes, promises and whatever else you can dream of.  In my case, I have a list of house mini remodel projects that I want to complete.  Now I know I promised my husband that once we went through a complete house remodel a few years ago that I wouldn't do any more for awhile...


But that was a couple years ago and I'm starting to get the itch to redecorate and rearrange and dare I say...remodel.


First things first. Living room seating.  Someone broke our reclining loveseat and one of the seats which no longer reclines and nobody will confess to the crime but the chair is pretty much useless now.  Anyway...a couple of years ago I drove an hour round trip to pick up two wingback chairs that I just had to have and shoved them in my mom's SUV with the hatchback open because they didn't fit all the way.  Those 2 chairs I "had" to buy have been permanent residents in the basement for the last couple of years.  Along with the fabric that I already purchased to reupholster them.  So wingback chair set...you are on my list.

Speaking of furniture living in my basement.  Next up is the stack of dining chairs and new dining room table.  Another one of those "had to have" purchases that I never got around to refinishing.  I'm not sure if its the fact that I have young children that is holding me back from having nice things or if its my lack of motivation due to my dislike of painting chairs and all of their details and crevices.  Either way, look out dining room, hopefully by the end of 2018 you will have a new dining room table set!

Current Set:

Hoarded Basement Chairs:

Now for the project I'm most excited for as it will help with clutter in our house, especially with the cooler weather and the need for extra winter gear.  Wish list: Locker area with seating and storage. Location: after searching my house for a good spot, it has been determined that if I remove the cabinets in the laundry room it should allow for enough room to host a locker area.  Bonus - the laundry room is directly located off the garage entry way and also has a door to shut to hide the inevitable mess of boots/jackets/backpacks/hats/etc.  Due to the fact that I like to DIY, this project will be done by me even though I have never removed cabinets or a countertop before but nothing a little sweat, tears and research can't do!

Last but not least, is the aforementioned basement.  While the entire basement is definitely on my remodel list, I will have to take it a little at a time as it is currently serving as my hoarding area and also over 1,000 finished square feet of straight up 1990's era.  Meaning blue carpet, honey oak wood, shiny brass hardware, and horribly ugly dated lighting.  Within this area is also a full bathroom, and I'm itching to paint over the honey oak cabinets, remove the brass hardware, update the builder grade bathroom mirror and maybe *Ben don't read this part* redo the flooring.  We shall see.  By that I mean, lets see if my husband does indeed plan a trip to Vegas with his friends so that I can start the remodel job without him knowing.


So there you have it.  The great house list project of 2018.  Now that its published I feel like I'm accountable for finishing all that I set out to do.  How about you, do you have any house projects that you hope to tackle this year?  Don't forget to remind me of the list of projects just to make sure I'm actually getting them done.  Stay tuned for updates on my Facebook page, Flipping Unbelievable.  You can also follow me on Instagram.

Painting a Couch

My photographer friend was seeking an older Victorian couch for her outdoor photo shoots.  She messaged me that she found this one:

Beautiful isn't it?  Seriously I love the detail on these old couches but the fabric is typically, well, dated.  Knowing that she was going to be using this beauty for pictures in the woods, I told her it probably wasn't worth the investment for new upholstery fabric and a professional to reupholster it for her, and the fabric itself was in good shape. Like most things in my world, I told her that this could be made beautiful again with a little bit of paint, and I'm not talking on the wood!
My friend wanted a light neutral color, but with all of the red stripes on the existing fabric I knew this wouldn't be possible.  We settled for a medium gray color and gave the couch a good vacuuming.  The supply list for this project is short and includes the following items:

Spray bottle filled with water

Paint brush

Small detail paint brush

Chalk style paint

220 grit sandpaper

The fabric needs to be damp in order to allow to allow the paint to fully be absorbed. Spray the fabric with water and keep the spray bottle handy so that as you are painting you can spray as needed. Then just grab a paint brush and paint and start painting!  It will probably take two coats, here is the couch with just one coat of paint.

You can see some of the stripes still showing through.  After one coat of paint is applied, allow to dry.  The fabric will be a little bit stiff, so use sandpaper to smooth it out.  The fabric will always be stiffer than what it was initially, so keep that in mind.

Here is an in progress shot.  The fabric looks damp in some areas while the paint is drying.

Two coats of chalk paint gave very good coverage.  You can still see the texture of the original fabric, but the colors are now covered with fresh paint.

Now without further ado, here is what it looks like now!  Even more beautiful and easy for anyone to do.  Just two coats of paint with sanding after each coat. No sealer is necessary.

Here is the same couch set up and ready for Christmas pictures at a tree farm.  I think the new color looks great!

What do you think?  Do you like how it turned out?  Are you brave enough to paint fabric?
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Create Your Own Ornament Wreath

If you are like me and you have somehow accumulated no less than a million round ornaments that you will never possibly be able to use, this project is definitely for you!  I love the look of the ornament wreaths, but I'm cheap and hate paying for them.  I figured out how to make this beautiful ornament wreath and it was so easy to do!

I bought a foam wreath form at Joann Fabrics.  I have a hot glue gun and glue sticks on hand so if you don't already its worth the investment!  I had most of the ornaments I needed in various sizes, but they are also very inexpensive to buy in bulk or you can get them at the Dollar Tree.  You should have at least 2 different sizes, I have 3 different sizes on my wreath.  Decide on a color theme or go crazy with multicolor! I stuck to metallic and added some matte and some glitter for a little bit of contrast.

Start by gluing the larger ornaments on the outside circle of the foam. Glue to the foam as well as the adjacent ornaments for durability.

Then glue the ornaments along the inside circle of the foam.  Once complete, fill in the remaining area with various sizes.  If you see any bare spots, fill with smaller ornaments.  It can help to lay the ornaments on first without gluing just to give you a better idea of the layout.  Vary your colors so that they aren't all grouped together in the same area.  Here is what mine looked like when complete!

You can hang it with a pretty ribbon of your choice. My kids actually really enjoyed helping me with this project.  They took all of the hooks of the ornaments and handed me the ornaments as I glued them on.  It went really quick and I love how it turned out!


Do you plan to tackle your own ornament wreath this holiday?  I would love to see yours if you do!  Visit me on Facebook and see more of my creations at Flipping Unbelievable.

From Sticker Disaster to French Provincial Beauty

Is it normal that I got excited when I first laid eyes on this piece?  My love for French Provincial must hinder my eyesight I guess, because this dresser was in rough shape.  It was structurally sound though and to my surprise, very clean inside all of the drawers.

Even though I refinish older furniture to give it an updated look, I tend to stay true to the style of the piece.  In this case, I could tell the hardware on this dresser was not the original, and was doing nothing for it, so I bought new French provincial style hardware to compliment the style and painted it white.


After quite a bit of goo gone, a heat gun and sanding, I was finally able to remove all of the stickers and glitter.  A couple coats of primer and this piece was ready for paint!  I choose a gray color and painted the entire piece.  I then used white paint and very carefully painted the grooved details.  I love how it turned out!

Here is another before and after comparison.  I found a pretty mirror that really complimented the piece and ended up selling it with the dresser.  What do you think, would you even consider tackling a dresser like this?

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