A little bit of this and a little bit of that

My first FULL weekend home with no softball for the girls. What to do with all that time??? It was a busy one out in the garage. My dad (aka handy man) came over to help with a list I had for him. I always learn quite a bit when he comes over. I know he laughs at my skills but I'm still learning. He comes over and fixes a dresser in 15 minutes that would have taken me a few hours. He also brought over the entertainment center he built for us. Wait til you see the pictures of that. It turned out great. 

My favorite project this weekend was a dresser that I repurposed into an armoire. It was a dresser I received from a friend. I thought the top part would be great for doors instead of drawers and what do ya know it worked!! Here is a before- I know not a very good pic but I get so excited to get started and forget to take the before pictures. 

 Here I took some old fence boards I had and made them into door frames. It worked out perfect and fit like a T. A little elbow grease with steel wool and some poly to finish them off.

  Annie Sloan Chalk Paint of course was my color choice. I used Provence and then Duck Egg for the 2nd layer. Topped it off with dark wax. You can see in this picture I took out the shelves in the top section and added a pole to hang cloths from.

 Here it is all finished up. I decided to use fabric for the inserts in the doors. Those were a yellow buttery cream color curtains I got on clearance at Target. Just cut the fabric twice as wide as you need it so you get some nice pleats in there. The hinges...let's just say when I went to the store and asked for butt hinges the guy at the hardware store thought I was a little odd but hey that is what my dad told me to get and they work great. I love the combination of the rustic, painted and fabric.

Now it is time to figure out what to do with another dresser I got. 

Hope you all had a good weekend!!

Sharing this transformation at:
Not Just A Housewife 
Knick Of Time 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Savvy Southern Style 
Yellow Bliss Road
Funky Junk Interiors 
Miss Mustard Seed 
My Repurposed Life

A Little Bit of Craziness

Yes all of you know what I am talking about. The craziness of this thing we call life.  Juggling what life hands all of us. For some it could be managing the kids schedules, working a full time job and a part time job, taking care of an ill parent or deciding on a big move that could change your life.

We each deal with these things in different ways. Some people exercise, some read, some garden- yeah I have tried all those and while I do feel good after exercising I can't explain what a finished project does for my soul. Kind of a giddy feeling almost. For me it is working in the garage on some project for my little space at Mama's Happy. It could be painting, sawing, hammering or fixing up a table I found on one of my dumpster adventures.

People ask all the time how I have time to do this but to be honest I need to do it. Then as I tell them it is my therapy they kind of chuckle. But ya know I really think it is. I can have one of those days where it is that old saying "Calgon take me away". I'll head out the in the garage after everyone has gone to bed and work for a bit and feel my shoulders relax, start dancing with the paint brush to the music I have on and eventually sleep like a baby. Okay you probably didn't need to know about the dancing part but hey thought you'd get a laugh for the day.

Next month will be my 1 year anniversary at Mama's and it has been one wild ride but I love it. Yeah I'll admit it at times it is a little nuts, stressful (mostly just when I bring another piece of furniture home to put in the garage) but as my grandpa use to say these times will pass.When I see someone so excited to take that table home to set up in their house it makes it all worth it.

So as a I head into another sale at Mama's thanks to all of you for helping me out with my therapy!! Check out what has come from our little therapy sessions.....

See you next month or actually probably tonight in the garage. If you hear the radio and the lights are on stop in and say hi.

Ann

It Was What????

I love taking discarded items and seeing what I can make out of them. I mean you can marry a top from a desk and a table frame to make a cute table or an old table leaf and a metal frame to make a cool coffee table. Spindles from a bed make great legs!! The list is endless.  Well this project was no different.

Here is the before...maybe I should call this project from beast to beauty???

This was an antique fainting couch. The fabric well---let's just say those little cherub things had seen better days but I loved the wood frame and thought it would make a great coffee table. It had great bones. So I  started the tearing apart of this beast. 

It was covered with padding, this white stuff and I think even some horse hair stuffing but look at what was underneath all that.  SPRINGS- I love these things and over 40 of them. Each spring was held in by 2 nails on each side with tacks here and there. Lots of finger work on this one.

So here it is down it's bare bones. Now on to clean it up and take off the head portion of the couch and find some scrap wood I can use for the top. So after this point I didn't do so hot taking pictures until I was finished- yeah I know rookie mistake....

Here is the finished product. I used old pallet boards, fence boards and an old well ruler to make the top.  Dry brushed on various colors of ASCP and stained or kept some natural. I love it. I hope someone will too. I think it would look great at the lake place!! Can you tell summer is finally here and we are ready to spend some time out at the lake? 

A little closer look. You can see the antique well ruler. This was the neatest thing. It was 12 feet long with hand painted measurements on it. I thought it looked great with the other rustic wood. 

So one more look..... before and after.

This beast is now a beauty!!

What have you revamped lately? Isn't it fun and almost therapeutic? 

Linked up with:

Not Just A Housewife 

Knick Of Time Tuesday 

My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia Tuesday Treasures 

It Is Here....

I have been waiting for this day since we found out we were selected as a vendor for Junk Bonanza. Yes I said JUNK BONANZA!! I have shopped at this for quite a few years and am so excited to be a a part of it.

So Tuesday afternoon five of us Mama's loaded up our vans and headed down to Shakopee to get set up. It reminded me of when you are watching a movie and the player walks down the hallway to the field and as he gets to the opening he stops and takes a look around- a look like I have made it and can't wait to get out there. That is the way I felt. We were in the game and ready to play with the big dogs.

Tomorrow I get to work there- no matter what I will get through the 10 inches of snow and make it down there. Might have to plow through the snow drifts in the driveway too.  I hope folks will come out to see us. I can't wait to see all the vendors, all the rusty, metal goodness that fills the building and spend the day with the rest of the gals from Mama's Happy.

I'll be sure to take a bunch of pics so keep an eye out for that. Here is a couple of pics from us setting up.

Through Snow, Sleet and Rain the Mama's Are Still There.....

Okay I woke up at 5:00am  this morning to rain, then freezing rain and by 6am it was snowing and by 10am it snowed about 4 inches.  These are the days I'm glad I only have to drive 3 miles to work.   It has been a crazy spring here in Minnesota and hoping the green grass and sunshine will be coming soon.

Well if you can't get it outside bring it in and that is just what we did at Mama's Happy this month. For those of you that don't know Mama's is an occasional shop here in Independence, Minnesota.  There are 9 Mama's that let our creativness shine each month for one weekend. It is a whirl wind let me tell you but each month these ladies amaze me with their talent. I love being a part of this lil' group of ladies. This month is especially busy since we have the sale this week and then next week we have Junk Bonanza. I can't believe I am going to be selling goodies at JUNK BONANZA how cool is that!! I am so excited to see all the rust, metal, and repurposeness in all it's glory.

Here are some pics of our little bit of spring at the shop this month.......

 

Our Mama Cyndee has been busy making her awesome pillows!!

 

 

 

Love the dresser with the baskets.

 

I had so much fun setting up my space this month. Not sure how we got that bike up there.

 

 

 

Aren't those parlor chairs the cutest!!

 

Picket fence, wash tubs, old rakes says spring.

 

Thank heavens for turf grass!!

 

So if you are in the Minneapolis area stop by. We are open Friday-Saturday, 10-6 and Sunday 12-5. We'd love to have you stop by and share a bit of our spring.