Condo Blues: furniture
Showing posts with label furniture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label furniture. Show all posts

Thursday, March 23, 2017

When is it Wrong to Paint Furniture and Friday Favorites Linky Party 364

As a DIYer, upcycler, and maker of things, it isn't unusual to paint a piece old and beat up furniture. I do it all of the time and I'm sure you do too.

But I am starting to rethink that updating strategy after hearing about the long and horrific restoration job a friend went through to remove silver spray paint from a set of antique rattan Mid Century Modern footstools. There was one footstool for each spouse and they groused about DIYers ruining a classic antique but it also meant they added them to their collection for a song because the current value was shot.

I understand both sides of the coin. I love a good painted or reworked furniture project but I can also get sick to my stomach when I see someone wreck a piece that would sing on its own with stripping, sanding, and retaining the finish (Flea Market Flip I'm talking to you.)




Which is why I appreciate the extra work Vintage Green took to restore her scratched and water stain dresser rather than take the easy way out and paint it. Bravo!
Let's Party!

Thursday, July 14, 2016

How to Make an Outdoor Chalkboard Paint Table

My outdoor mosaic bistro table and chairs developed so much dry rot mushrooms grew in the table and chairs. I decided to repair it rather than replace it for a greener, cheaper, and more personalized patio table and chair set.

Also, I didn’t find a replacement that I liked in the store. That’s the real incentive for this project.

I got my reused bottle cap craft on and made four coordinating recycled bottle cap mosaic chairs. Read the bottle cap chair tutorial here on Condo Blues. Now it is time to turn my attention to making over the outdoor bistro table with chalkboard paint.

Outdoor Game Table Tutorial

 

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Monday, June 20, 2016

Summer $150 IKEA Gift Card Giveaway!

Many, many, many people take on decorating and DIY projects during the summer because you can work in a big outside space of your yard with wild abandon. Let's hear it for spray paint weather! Woo hoo!

Of course, if you want to decorate with, paint, or hack a piece of furniture or five you need a place to start and everyone knows IKEA is the just the place for that.

Besides supplies, time, and warm weather to work outside, you do know what else helps when you want to start a DIY or decorating project?

MONEY.

And I hope to give it TO YOU!
  
I figure why not spread some summer sunshine you by getting together with a group of fabulous bloggers and give away to one lucky reader a $150 IKEA gift card so you can shop your little heart for something to hack, decorate, or DIY for your most fabulous abode!



Thursday, May 5, 2016

Win a Naturepedic EOS Standard Organic Mattress Giveaway!

Welcome to the Naturepedic EOS Standard Queen Organic Mattress Giveaway ($2599 Value), sponsored by Naturepedic and hosted by Happy Mothering and the Green Moms Network.


  naturepedic-giveaway-may-square 

Shopping for a new mattress can be an intimidating experience. It seems like there are so many mattress brands to choose from, and it can be dizzying to find the one that's right for you. Before you go mattress shopping, let's talk about why most mattresses on the market these days are toxic. Did you know that most mattresses are full of lots of toxic chemicals?

Monday, April 4, 2016

How to Test for Lead Paint on Flea Market Finds

We are the first owners of our condo built long after the US 1978 lead paint ban. We don’t have peeling paint and my family doesn’t lick the walls (which in my opinion would mean we have a bigger problem!) As far as any scaremongering about lead being everywhere in every home, we figured we’re good.

Except.

Maybe not.


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I like to upcycle and recycle found, salvage, and old stuff in my DIY projects. Swap meets, antique shows, and flea markets are my playgrounds. Some of my favorite transformations started out as thrift store finds or from the side of the road. I didn’t think I had to worry about lead in my project materials because I generally steer clear of chipping paint because it is a pain to sand smooth.

I recently discovered chipping paint does not mean an item is covered in lead paint. Neither does the color of the paint. Actually  bare wood or stained items can test positive for lead because of something in the stain or varnish.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

DIY Allergy Friendly Homemade Furniture Dusting Spray

Dusting is not my favorite chore. I tried to make it easier by using a feather duster to dust the stuff on bookshelves and other hard to reach up too high places.

Until my allergist put the kibosh on that. He says feather dusters push more dust around than they pick up (including my fancy ostrich feather duster as well as the even fancier lambs wool dusters.)
Which for most of you will still work all fine and dandy but not for me. I have a litany of seasonal allergens including and especially dust mites.  So how exactly am I supposed to dust the furniture without commercial dusting sprays or a feather or lambs wool duster?

In this instance, my allergist recommended the best way to clean dust and dust mites is also the most non toxic and cheapest cleaner in the world – water!

How to Make Nontoxic and CHEAP! DIY Dust & Allergen Furniture Spray

 

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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

How to Make an Office Chair Mat

The plastic mats under the rolling chairs in our home office have seen better days. No matter what kind of office chair mat I buy, it eventually cracks, breaks, and sheds plastic chunks all over the carpet in the office.

I need to use a chair mat under our rolling chairs to protect the carpeting we aren't ready to replace.  Replacing the mats every couple of years isn’t sustainable. More than that it is a pain!

I solved our problem by making durable office chair mats from laminate flooring I bought at the Habitat Restore. I went with laminate flooring instead of plain plywood because I was concerned the plain plywood office chair mats would crack and break. Laminate flooring isn’t my favorite look but it is built to do the job I need it to do – be a floor.


Pin this tutorial for later!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

10 Amazing Pirate Ship Beds

Ahoy ye matey!

In honor ‘o International Talk Like a Pirate Day I be roundin’ up a bevvy of pirate décor for ye children be they wee pirate lads or wee pirate lasses. Yaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!

 10 Incredible Pirate Ship Beds
Pin for later ya scurvy dog! 


</end pirate voice mode>

I’m using International Talk Like a Pirate Day as a big fat crazy excuse to dive head first into my Pinterest boards (follow me @condobues on Pinterest pretty please?) and share with you 10 of the most spine twinging, shiver me timbers and blow me down pirate ship kids beds that will make you the coolest parent on planet earth.

Or if you can fit one into your master bedroom, make your inner pirate child happy.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Why You Should Never Center a Design on a DIY Project

t is amazing how a few brushstrokes of paint can totally transform a piece of old furniture. By merely changing the color, you can make what started as junk in the trash into a whimsical piece people fight over in an artist’s shop. Even more so if you are talented enough to add decorative paint elements to the piece.


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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Tiny Treehouse House Tour

 Tiny houses are all the rage. They are cute, twee, and have a ridiculously small carbon footprint.

What could be better?

How about a tiny house built in a tree that's a little B and B? That was originally built to be a tiny tree house brewery until the owners converted it into a rental cabin?


 I am completely smitten with the gorgeous arched stained glass window!
Photo courtesy of The Mohicans.


Monday, July 6, 2015

How to Repair a Quad Camp Chair

One of Husband’s coworkers has a HUGE Fourth of July parade party and cookout.

Food was made. Watermelon cut and cubed. Coolers were washed and ready. The one thing we didn’t double check were our first generation armless folding quad lawn (camp) chairs. (aff link)

We discovered one of rivets holding the chair legs to the seat broke after we set up the chairs at our parade viewing encampment. Whoops!




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Replacing a broken rivet on a folding quad lawn chair is a super simple fix. It takes barely any time at all. If you have a jar of odd nuts and bolts laying around, it could be a zero dollar repair. What’s not to love about that?



How to Fix a Folding Lawn Chair

Sunday, June 14, 2015

18 Easy Summer DIY Projects That Will Motivate You

Summer is my favorite season. I think I am part plant because I love being out in the sun after suffering though the cold and harsh winter. I’m  too Type A to sit in a lawn chair and tan (which is actually skin damage. Who knew?) I’m not into sports much either. I spend time outdoors getting my DIY on!

I lovingly refer to summer as Project Season. 

There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing a DIY project. It might be a little project that ends up taking all day because you are new but that’s OK because everyone has to start someplace and every super smart DIYer I know had to start at the beginning.





 Pin me!

I just want you to pick up the tool of your choice and try. I get a thrill when someone like Diane of The Big Green Purse lets me know you were inspired to make try making a repair yourself. You go Diane! Woot! Woot! 

DIY doesn’t have to be all big scary power tools unless you want it to be. One of my favorite gardeners Anna from Green Talk insists she isn’t a DIYer, yet she has an amazing garden and spends hours tending it with love. So yes Anna, you are a DIYer your tool of choice is a trowel instead of a hammer and that’s OK.
 

18 of My Favorite Summer DIY Projects


 

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

How to Make Extra Money Flipping Furniture

I bypass a lot of cast off furniture that would look stunning with a little DIY love. If I don't, my small condo would quickly look like an episode of Hoarders.

If I had the room to store the pieces AND work on them (for me its an either/or not both situation) I could make some cash on the side fixing up old furniture and flipping it - selling it for a profit.


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Monday, June 8, 2015

11 Creative Ways to use Industrial Pipe Shelves

Pipe shelving is one of those projects where I wish I had more room in my house to install a big, crazy wall of industrial shelves. While I was drooling over them on line I noticed that there are more styles of industrial wood and pipe shelves that  could fit into my small home. Come dream with me, won’t you?


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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Refinished Retro 50’s Diner Table and Chairs

It may not be fashionable to admit this, but I kinda have a thing for theme restaurants that hang all sorts of crazy things on the walls. My dream job would be the designer who gets to hunt for and decorate with all of those forgotten treasures.
What can I say? I never met an old advertising sign I didn’t like.
You know what is even better than old advertising signs? Pairing them in your house with a dining set straight out of the 1950’s Daddy-o!
Resin-Table-1024x1024
You will never believe what Morena used to replace the peeling laminate table top – fabric!
I think the bold 50’s print and takes it to the next level. Learn how she made a durable replacement table top with fabric on:

Crafts Unleashed from Consumer Crafts: How To Refinish a Table With Fabric and Resin



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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

How to Organize Your Closet and Clothes in Three Easy Questions

I am convinced bedroom closet organizers are made for tall people. If you are short forget it. You are doomed to live in messy and unorganized squalor.

how to organize a closet in three easy questions


Or at least it feels that way to this short person.

I loved our Elfa closet system when we first installed it. Husband and I can share a closet and not fight over space. It the custom design works but we later learned it sorta doesn’t. 

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Make a Play Workbench for Your Little DIYer!

When you have a toddler, more often than not, you or Santa gives them a kitchen play set. I had one. It was a pink metal play kitchen. Fun fact: My first apartment had pink metal kitchen cabinets.

Naturally I am pro play kitchen. I am also pro make sure it looks cool because it could show up as a real kitchen later in your kid's life play kitchen.  That being the case, I am all over the upcycled furniture turned into a play kitchen.

 But do you know what every kid needs after they get a play kitchen? A play workbench! How else are they going to play fix the kitchen appliances?


I am loving this nightstand recycled into a play toddler workbench on Apartment Therapy. It is a simple DIY that any child - boy or girl - would love to pretend tinker around the playhouse.

I wish I had one as a kid!


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Sunday, February 1, 2015

6 Smart Strategies to Organize a Garage and Workshop

Our garage and workshop was an unorganized mess!  I put the organize the garage project off for long time because I was overwhelmed by the clutter. Where do I start? Ack!

six steps to an organized garage

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By accident or design (I’m going to go with by design because it sounds like I had a plan all along instead of a make it up as I go along series of happy accidents) I broke my big garage organization project into several smaller, less overwhelming projects.

Guess what? Three days later (I had a lot of stuff to deal with) I had an organized workshop I can use without tripping over anything. I discovered some things I thought were working weren’t and why. I made changes according my needs and organization style. My garage is now neat and stays that way.

Yay!

This method worked so well on helping my clear my garage clutter madness that I’m using it to organize other parts of my house. You can too!

Monday, December 29, 2014

My 10 Best DIY Projects of 2014

Wow, 2014 was a great year for Condo Blues! I made a lot of changes behind the scenes to bring you the best projects and content possible. My hard work paid off because more of you have stopped by to my virtual home to say hello.

top 10 DIY projects of 2014

 
Let’s look at the 10 most popular posts on Condo Blues in 2014!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Bathroom Vanity Hunt Begins, Maybe

We are ready to move forward in renovating the water damaged master and guest bathrooms.

And by move forward, I mean trying to decide on a bathroom design plan, pricing options, what to keep, what to refurbish, and what to replace besides what needs to be replaced due to the water damage.



Both bathrooms have this plain jane basic builder's style vanity. The master bath has a double sink and vanity which is the secret to our long and happy marriage.