Saved from the Dump and a Toy Room in Progress

After I found the blog All Things Thrifty, I started looking at things in a whole new way. I've always been one for projects and saving money. Their blog was right up my alley! This was my first big revamp. My father-in-law gave us this old cubby from a closed elementary school years ago. We've just been packing it from house to house. I almost sold it at a garage sale, but then a couple people said if I was getting rid of it then they wanted it. So I decided to keep it and figured it would come in handy one day.
The day finally came. My father-in-law was going to take this old medicine cabinet from a doctor's office to the dump. My dear mother-in-law told him that I might want it. She knows me well. My plan was to set the cabinet part on top of the cubby. My hubby and I sanded them down as best as we could. I'm thinking paint stripper would've been a better choice at this point. They had so many layers of paint! I finally called it good afters hours and hours of sanding.Before I decided on paint color, I had to decide where it was going. Oh the possibilities! I finally decided to put it in the toy room for storage. I chose Krylon Ivy Leaf for the color. After 6 spray cans of paint, I decided to brush the insides of the cubbies and cabinet. I just grabbed a can of white paint at Walmart and went to it. After I was done, I realized I could have had them paint match it so it would all be green. Duh! Oh well. You live and learn by being a diy-selfer. Is that a word? I didn't think so. I also distressed it and stained the corners with some leftover stain I had. Then I used a polyurethane to try and protect it from the kiddos.

After many more hours than I had planned, it's done! I found the blue baskets at a dollar store. They fit perfectly and only cost $10. We used L-brackets to attach the cabinet to the cubby and for added safety, attached more L-brackets to studs in the wall. I left the doors off for now. I was worried about the glass being in a toy room with kids. You just never know! I am trying to decide how to make the doors kid safe because I think they are cute and I would like to put them back on. But for now it works! The yellow paint on the walls was a $5 can of oops paint and the alphabet is from Eeboo. They are 8x10 cards and I love them. The pictures are so cute. I hung them up with squares of sticky Velcro so that I could take them down if I wanted to use them in teaching the kids the alphabet. Plus, I didn't want 26 holes in the wall. I think I'm going to paint stripes on the top and bottom of them. For the tree, I saw this and decided to do the same thing. I bought some embroidery hoops at the D.I. and at Hobby Lobby. I only used the hoops without the little metals things. I painted them colors to match the valances and then stuck them to the wall with glu dots. I can't believe how strong those little things are!

I'm linking up to Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest!

Earring Organizers

I make earrings and sell them. I needed a way to display them. I had this frame from when we got married that has just been sitting in our basement. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was brown wood with black metal scrolls. I removed the glass and painted it with Krylon Ocean Breeze. Then I bought a roll of window screen from the hardward store. I cut the screen to fit in the frames and superglued it to the back. It worked perfectly! I also made some smaller ones for Bunco and birthday gifts. On the smaller ones, I covered the back with paper and fabric. I also bought stuff called hardware cloth. It has bigger squares then the window screen. I ended up liking it better.

$3 Chair

I bought a bunch of stuff from a lady who was cleaning out her mom's cabin. I got this funky chair for $3. I decided to paint it to match my craft room which is aqua, yellow, black and pink. I painted it with Krylon's Ocean Breeze and glazed it with some black tinted glaze I already had. It's a little rickety, but it will serve it's purpose!

Master Bedroom

I painted our bedroom a dark orange a few years ago. I never liked it. I finally decided it had to go! I've been really loving gray lately so of course I painted it gray! I am in LOVE! My hubby wasn't sure about it, but after it was done, he was in love, too!
I had also read lately about painting your ceilings. I was scared to. Now that I did it, I'm not sure why I was scared. It's so much better than boring beige! It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the ceiling is a lighter gray than the walls. It really makes the crown molding pop! The master is far from done, but I'm loving the change so far!

$2 Garage Sale Frame and Painting

I went to a garage sale and saw this frame for $2. When I went to pay for it, the elderly gentleman in charge, proudly said that he had painted it himself. Feeling guilty for only wanting the frame, I told him that I loved the painting and it would go great in my house. When I got home, I removed the painting from the frame and decided it would look cute in my beach themed half bath. Now I don't feel guilty and his original painting has a new home.

Bar Stools from the Recycling Yard

I got two of these babies that were destined to be recycled. They were covered in grease, dirt, and who knows what else. I cleaned them then sanded the seat and back rest. I primed and painted them with Krylon Bahama Sea spray paint. Then I distressed with my sanding block and glazed them. Much better!

Why a blog?

I want to be able to keep track of my projects. Kind of like my craft journal. I do so many different projects and thought it would be nice to have a single place to put them. I named my blog "The Unfinished Room" because I am always changing things, revamping furniture, and learning. So my "room" will never be finished.