A Menagerie of Makeovers

Summertime, is a busy time. With yard work finally able to be taken care of and everyone wanting to enjoy every moment of warm summer sunshine. Though it’s typically a bit busy, it’s also a time that beckons for projects to be done, so thus, I undertook a few smaller things and decided to share them here ☺️

Starting with a coffee table.
I’d been keeping my eyes open for a coffee table on the local buy and sell pages for sometime.

Wanting a change from ours but nothing too pricey and also wanting it to be something a little less detrimental to small noggins, as Lakes mobility increased.

It took sometime, but I’m happy with the waiting as it lead me to this $50 table that was in Birch Hills.

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We picked it up one Sunday after church and in the following days, it got taped off and the legs were spray painted gold.

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I like using the Design Master Brilliant Gold spray paint from Michael’s for a slightly antiqued looking gold color ☺️

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A couple coats later and violà, ‘a new to our home’ coffee table that I’m very pleased about
😁

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Next up was a mirror that’s been sitting in our garage for literally years.

It came with a dresser I’d purchased second hand when we’d first moved and then once the house reno was completed, the dresser didn’t actually work anywhere.

I’d had the idea for sometime to do an anthro-esque inspired DIY to the mirror but just never got around to ordering the required things/pulling it out to do it.

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I hesitate to undertake anything that requires sanding these days, as I have to time it juuuust right to not only get the sanding done but also have time for a shower afterwords, all while Lake naps.

So that’s another reason I just never seemed to be able to get around to finishing it 🤪

I sanded it down and admit to unfortunately scratching the mirror with the sandpaper 😒

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So be cautious of that if you do any such similar project.

After sanding and wiping it down, I taped off the mirror itself using painters tape and Amazon packaging paper 🤪

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I ordered these wooden plaques from Amazon and spray painted them along with the wooden frame of the mirror.

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I had to wait for Mike to get a chance to cut the bottom flourishy bits, as I didn’t want to attempt it and break them, as I most likely would have since I lack skill and patience 🤪🙈

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Using wood glue, I placed the appliques where I wanted them and… once again, a mini makeover was completed and I was very pleased with the end result!

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I’d originally thought it would go in our bathroom if we got around to a refresh in there, but we never did… so now it’s done, but has no home. For now I placed it on the dresser in our living room, though I’m not certain I like how it looks with the staircase wall behind, being smaller than the mirror.

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(Peekaboo to the little misbehaving stair climber;)

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Oh well, it’ll work somewhere eventually I’m sure 😉



Last and quite literally least (in amount of effort anyways)
 to be honest, was this little wooden bowl from our local antique store ☺️

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We stopped in there one Saturday and after looking around, I took this wooden bowl home for $5.00.

I quickly sanded it and though it took away the woods various colors more than I expected, I didn’t mind too much.
I got some liming wax from my sister and quickly applied some to the sanded and cleaned surface with a rag and that was it.

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A simple Saturday salvagery that left me with a beachy wooden bowl to use for whatever I desire ☺️

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Upcycled Accent Storage

 

Back in February while Mike was away visiting his family in Holland, I finally decided to take the time and tackle the makeover of this piece we salvaged from the items in the Mac house makeover 🤓

Firstly it got a good scrubbing with some TSP cleaner.
Next it was taken apart and I gave it a light sanding, followed by another wipe down/vacuum.

The entire process ALWAYS takes longer than one first thinks when looking at a potential project, so this was done over two full days with multiple breaks, delays, movies for background noise and nourishment stops 🤪

I gave the dresser a coat of primer and while that dried, took the old hardware and gave it a vinegar/baking soda soak and scrub before spray painting it all gold ☺️

Mumsie had dark teal/blue paint in the color I had envisioned so luckily I was able to use that and love how it turned out.

It took multiple coats and I had to first brush the paint in the cracks and then roll it on the remaining surfaces to get full coverage.

After I’d got it all painted, the doors were to thick/tacky to actually close, so I had to shave them down… it was a soft wood and I was able to do it using a utility knife.

Thankfully so because I don’t like power tools and that would have meant needing Mike around for completion and I really didn’t want to wait for him to finish this thing that I had started in order to semi surprise him when he returned home 🤪

He did have to install some sleek new gold handles and magnetic cupboard latches when he retuned but after that, it was officially and totally transformed! The gold handles were purchased from Amazon.

The dried palms displayed are actually from my own palm plant.

When one leaf starts to die, I cut and save it to dry and use for filler… maybe not the most beautiful thing I could find but it is free and I have contemplated being able to spray paint them if I want them to look a little more ‘purchased’.🤪

I’m super pleased with how the dresser itself turned out and am always game for extra storage 🤓👌🏻

The decor vibe in the basement is semi different from our upstairs and I’ve struggled a bit with it but I like the sort of ‘eclectic/travel vibe’ that I feel it is now starting to embody, in part to this piece 🙂

A Refreshed, Rental Investment

So we bought a second, or I guess I should I say, third house, a couple months back 💁🏻‍♀️

Hubster found a bank repo for sale in a town 15 or so minutes away from us, so we went and were the first people to take a look.
The rest is history 🤪

This one was purchased with pretty much only the intent to clean it up, fix a few things and then rent it out.
I wouldn’t have minded cleaning it up, making it look a bit better and trying to sell it again right away buuuuut Hubster wanted to get his fingers in the rental market, so that’s what we did 🤪

 

 

What’s really unfortunate about it all, is that we (the sister and I) cleaned for about 8-10 hours, I cleaned for a few hours alone before that and Mike repainted all the walls, took out trash annnd you can’t really see ‘missing dirt’ in ‘after’ photos 😬

 

So the look isn’t much different from photo to photo, but imagine if you will, how gross it was if it took two steady cleaners, 8 or so hours to scrape off unknown substances from the walls, baseboards, kitchen cupboards and then vacuuming, mopping and carpet cleaning and then a few hours of bathroom scrubbing.

And, that isn’t touching the state of the basement, aside from what Mike and a friend did, removing a bunch of the old owners items.

We now have a renter in it and are just trusting all goes well in this new venture* 🤓
Fingers crossed we don’t find too many terrible ‘surprises’ in the yard once the snow melts 🤪
By surprise, I mostly mean dog poo, as that was found multiple different places, IN the house 😬

*Since I wrote on here last, Michiel began his own construction and renovation business! The name is ‘Hagenouw Ventures’ and so far, he’s been kept pretty busy and is still enjoying being able to use his hands and set his own hours 😉

@HagenouwVentures

A Pop Of Color, Whereupon To Perch

Some spare bar stools were purchased from you guessed it, the Facebook market place 🤪👍🏻

 

Though officially our kitchen island only fits four, we’ve had one extra person/mini person sit on each end during visits, so we needed the extra bum rests😜

This specific makeover took an oddly long span of time for me to actually get at and tackle but I’m so pleased with the results 🤓👌🏻🛠 Continue reading “A Pop Of Color, Whereupon To Perch”

Sanded Down Storage Solution

Hi!

It’s time for another before and after… which seem to easily be my favourite type of thing to post about 🤪

 

I’d spotted this on the Facebook buy and sell page and loved the front panels and felt like they had the dark ish tropical kind of vibe I’m aiming for in our bedroom and we really needed more storage space.

Continue reading “Sanded Down Storage Solution”

$70 Sofa & Love Seat Makeover

And finally, some details about the mini couch makeover the sister and I undertook! 😁

We often send each other postings of goodies that are for sale in the local areas, ooing and awing and just as quickly saying ‘no’ and forgetting about them 🤪

This time, that was not the case.
The moon phase was supposedly full and affecting people and their decisions… not sure if I believe that’s a thing but we will use it as our excuse 😂

She sent me a picture of the two blushing beauties, saying how they looked to be in great condition for only $50 but she didn’t need them.
I replied that ‘yes, too bad I didn’t need them either’. Continue reading “$70 Sofa & Love Seat Makeover”

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