Oh my...

When I first tagged a post as "thrift store finds," I assumed I would use that tag when I found furniture at a thrift store that I would redo, like here and here, I never thought I would use it for a product like the one I found today.

Very rarely to I go into the Dallas, Oregon Goodwill.  Dallas is a smaller, country town, and it is surrounded by even smaller towns, like the one I live in. Because of this, the Goodwill is small and doesn't have a lot of furniture, which is my usual reason for going into Goodwill. Today I was looking for a tray to display a Halloween craft I was working on, so I decided to give it a shot. That is when I saw this mixed in with the random household things:

Seriously. For reals. I don't even know what to say. 

Before today, the most unusual thing I ever saw at a thrift store was a unicycle. This beats that by 10,000.

What is the weirdest thing you have ever come across at a thrift store?

Jewlery Holder: What I learned

In my first Top 5 post I mentioned finishing my new necklace/jewelery rack. I had previously crafted a rack out of a frame and some eye hooks, and to be honest I outgrew it. So, when I came across the inspiration post I knew I was in. It didn't take me long to find this rack at a local antique "mall" for only $5!

For what it is, it was in good shape and had those 3 pegs at the bottom to hang mugs(?) from. But I knew those wouldn't be enough for my growing collection of neck lovelies. And I wanted to make sure I had some shelf space for bracelets, earrings and the like. So I popped those bad boys out and decided to turn it around.

Using wood putty I filled the holes from the pegs and a few little divots from nails and scratches so that I could get a nice even coat of paint over the whole thing. After letting it dry, I sanded over the entire piece.

I still have plenty of marshmallow white paint left, so using a small foam brush I began the process of painting. It took a couple of coats.

Some of those coats were a bit thick, and dripped so I sanded the back after it was dry.

I then started the process of screwing in a couple dozen hooks into the bottom and inside the top of the two longer sections.

I added some picture hangers on the back, and it was almost ready to go.

I put it up on the wall, but I didn't really like seeing the painted wall through the holder, so I added some scrapbook paper to the back of the frame. I liked the contrast of the dark purple against the lilac paint on the walls.

I hung up my necklaces and put away my bracelets and here's what she looks like now!

What I learned

1. I went a little crazy with the wood putty. It said over fill the spots, and I definitely did that. You can still see some "lumpy" parts where I didn't sand enough.

2. Paint the inside first! I didn't do that on the first coat, and it was hard for me to find a good position for my hand/brush when I went to do the more difficult inside.

3. The paint I used was interior wall paint. Not exactly the best paint for this job. Craft paint would have been much better. Maybe even spray paint. I've never used spray paint, and I think I'd like to give it a go on a future project.

4. I really love my necklaces.

Bathroom Desk: What I learned

As I said, the desk I found to give me some more storage/counter space in the master bath was in not so good shape. I don't have any "before" pictures, but know it was a used kids desk that had been marked down three times before it found its way into my home.

I took Little One (the desk) outside and put it down on a drop cloth. I wiped it down and used some goo-gone on the stickers/tape that was stuck to it. Then I went over the whole thing with sand paper and a couple of coats of marshmallow white paint later, I was (for the most part) pleased. I switched out the drawer pulls with some pewter colored pulls from Home Depot and brought it inside and set it up. I liked it, but something was missing. I looked through some inspiration and decided I needed some cute little birdies on the drawers. Since I am a no good draw-er, I did the next best thing and went to etsy for some vinyl decals. I found these from etsy seller Cherry Walls and purchased them in violet.

I added the lovelies (after the three week wait time for freshly painted surfaces) and I lurve the outcome. So cute! The Mister said he put Garbage Pail Kid stickers to his furniture when he was a kid. So it's the same. Here she is:

See how perfectly it fits in the space? And its just the right size for kitty box!

And the up close at the adorable little birds. See my little attempt at staging on the top?

Admittedly, I am a novice a furniture refurbishing so I learned a bunch of stuff from this first "big" project.

What I Learned

1. Small dings in the surface are magnified with paint. Next time, use wood putty to fill in those dings for a smoother finish.

2. Drawer pulls are kind of spendy. I happen to like the less expensive ones, and only spent $2 each, but there were some that were $6+ each. Yikes!
3. Vinyl decals are fun! There are so many on etsy that you can customize with colors/words. Plus, I just saw some at Target the other day that are fairly inexpensive. Putting a larger decal (a whole wall!) would be quite the undertaking, but could make a (removable) impact on a room.

4. The Mister does not share my vision when it comes to redoing furniture- yet. I think he will come around. Maybe.

People Put Desks in the Bathroom?

Our master bath is pretty small.  As far as storage goes there is a nice above toilet cabinet, space under the sink, and a small medicine cabinet. However, there is zero counter space. Since it is where I get ready in the morning, I started using the space around the sink and the window sill to hold my essentials. I have known for awhile that I wanted some sort of shelving or table to provide that counter space that it lacks. There is an open space between shower stall and the toilet that I wanted to put the shelves/table, however, the floor space is currently occupied by Allison's kitty box. So, I knew whatever I was looking for had to have enough space under it for that. At the beginning of summer I began my search. I started by looking at places like Target and Walmart at the laminate shelves and closet organizers that are easy to put together and cheap. Kind of like this...



But nothing I was finding would fit the box under it. Looking at it now, the box could have gone next to it, but I also never really liked the look of these anyway.

Then I decided I needed to have a drawer. So now I was looking for a table with a drawer, with enough space under it for the box. I moved my search to craigslist and to thrift stores without any luck. I pretty much forgot about it gave up hope after we got back from Hawaii. Then one day I was in Goodwill looking for a stool or tall chair for my classroom when I saw it. A small, beat up kid-sized desk that had been marked down three times already. It seemed like the right width to fit between the toilet and shower, and had 4 drawers: 3 down the side and a small one on the top. With that I picked it up and carried it to the front of the store and bought it. I knew it needed some work, but I brought it home and straight into the bathroom. It fit perfectly in the space and the space for the chair was the perfect size for the kitty box.

When the Mister got home I brought him in to the bathroom to show him my treasure. His response: "People put desks in a bathroom?"

Coming up- my first furniture redo/ what I learned post!