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Repurpose Old Kitchen Chairs

May 31, 2013 By Erica Deuel 56 Comments

repurpose old kitchen chairsAs we were preparing for our move, I was in major purge mode. I was sending things to Goodwill and the dump like it was my job. My old  kitchen chairs were on the “Do Not Move” list. I was determined not to let them make the cut. My husband, Matt, kept shooting this one down. Every time I’d move them to the get-rid-of-area, he’d scoot them back. I’d take them to the carport to haul away and he’d slip them into his office.

One Saturday, I started working on my new craft desk. I look over and I see Matt pulling out the kitchen chairs. My heart lept, “Ah finally he’s getting rid of these things!” Then he started tinkering. I have been asking him to make me a bench for years. When he pulled this thing together I was stunned. Not only did he repurpose our old kitchen chairs but I think he created something really special – the bench I had always wanted.

I wanted to share with you the basics of how he did it, so you can repurpose some chairs of your own!

old chairs

Matt started by removing the cushions from the chairs. As with most of the projects we do, our little helpers wanted to give us a hand.

removing chair cushions
We then lined up the three chairs that were in the best shape. In order to have arm rests on the ends of the bench, we used the two arm chairs that traditionally sit at the end of the table. Matt removed one arm from each chair to “open up” the bench.

armrest
He then squared up the chairs. Our chairs have a nice square front, whereas they have a bit of a funky curve in the back. I know a lot of chairs have more rounded legs and features that could make it difficult for the chairs to sit flush together. This is where you will need to do a little problem solving and get creative. Susan from FrouFruGal created a Chair Bench with her husband. Her tutorial inspired Matt and they have some great steps on squaring up and connecting the chairs. 

wood glue chair legs
Using wood glue and C-Clamps Matt attached the front legs together. Once the legs were glued he then sunk a few deck screws into the legs for more support.

C-Clamp Tip: To get the most out of your C-Clamp connections you want them to be really tight. This however can create some indentations in your wood from the clamps. To avoid scuffing up your projects, use some scrap wood or even slip some thick cardboard in between your clamps and your project.

wood glue with clamps
We decided this bench was going to go in the foyer at our new house. Inside the foyer you see our stair case with the black wrought iron stair spindles. Instead of going with the silver bars on the chairs we wanted them to be black to tie in with the staircase. While the glue was setting on the legs we used painters tape to wrap a portion of the chairs and spray painted the rods.

taping off to spray paint

spray paint bars

We had some Pine 1×4’s laying around from other projects that we used for the bench. Matt measured them to hang over the front edge by one inch and over the side by two inches.

cutting boards for a chair bench
He used deck screws and screwed the boards directly into the chair frame. If you want the screws to disappear from your design, make sure to sink them in a little deeper than the surface of the wood. Depending on the power of your drill and softness of the wood this may be easy. However, if you pre-drill your screw holes with a small drill bit, this helps in sinking the screws deeper.

As you can see, Matt also cut a small notch in one of the boards so that it could fit around the arm rest.

making a wood bench
Because the front legs were square they were easy to attach and secure. As I mentioned, the backs of the chairs and the legs have some curve in their design. We knew the bench boards would provide support for the whole piece by securing the chairs together even more. Regardless,  Matt wasn’t satisfied with the back having no other attached support. (Can you tell he’s a perfectionist?) He created two pieces like the one you see below to add some reinforcement in the gaps. Again, they were secured with deck screws into the frames of the chairs.

reinforcing chair legs
Once all the boards were attached, he went back and filled the screw holes with carpenter’s wood filler.

wood filler
To help age the chairs and bring out the rustic look we love so much, we sanded around the chairs and worked to scuff up the edges.

sanding a wood bench

sanding a bench
Finally, using some of our Disney Cool Marine paint, Matt painted the bench boards to complete the project.

painting a wood bench
As I said, I was stunned with the results. These chairs were on the way out. Matt not only saved them, he earned them a spot right by the front door!

before and after chair makeover

I decorated them with some of my pillows and placed three baskets underneath. This is the “Drop Spot” for the kids as they come and go from the house. It’s been incredibly helpful getting them to have a pair of tennis shoes and sandals in these baskets. Rather than wrestling them to go back upstairs and find shoes, this helps us to get out of the door faster in the mornings.

DIY chairs to bench makeover
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

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Recycled Old Dresser Makeover

April 12, 2013 By Erica Deuel 67 Comments

vintage recycled dresser

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is exactly the phrase I attach to this fun piece of furniture. I found this pretty wood dresser in my neighbor’s trash. No joke. I wish I had a picture of the sign because it said “take me home” and that is just what I did.

old dresser before

old dresser project

This is a real wood piece. I loved the shape and size immediately, but it needed some loving. The bottom two drawers were broken. I stared it for several weeks trying to decided what I wanted to do with it. I debated colors and if I wanted to fix the drawers or just turn those slots into shelves. I liked the idea of the piece have space to hide a little bit of stuff, so I left one drawer. I kept picturing the other slots holding pretty craft supplies and baskets, so I am glad I took a chance and turned them into shelves. I love what I came up with! I am going to show you exactly what I did step by step, in case you have an old piece that needs some tender loving care as well.

The first thing to do is to give your piece a good sanding and brush off all the saw dust.

sanding a dresserNext, paint the dresser. It was really hard for me to leave the top wood. I knew if I could fight the urge to paint it, I would love the result. And I do. I love the contrast of the dark stain with the teal paint. As for my paint, I didn’t worry about priming or using a paint and primer in one paint. I knew I was going to re-sand the piece, so my paint job didn’t have to be thick or perfect.

painting a dresser

If you are a messy crafter like me, there might be sections of paint on part of the piece where you didn’t want paint.  Simply sand that area again.

touch up sand job

Staining is the next step. You see the piece really come together and the dramatic change. I stained my whole piece. I did the top, all the teal paint, and even the inside of where my shelves would be.

staining woodThere were areas I went back and did a second coat of stain, but the stain color you use will determine a lot of how your piece looks. The stain I used here is called Early American and its a nice deep brown. It’s not too dark nor does it have any shades of red.

Here is where I recruited my awesome husband. Saws scare me. I will use them, but I love it when I don’t have to. Matt cut some 1/8″ panel boards and attached them with wood glue for me. Isn’t he amazing!?!

making a dresser shelf

After the wood glue dried, I stained those boards as well. Note: Be careful with the wood glue! If you get it on your board, it wont stain over that area as well, as you can see below in my picture.

staining dresser shelves

Once the stain is dry, your piece is almost done! I switched out my knobs for some vintage, deep yellow wood ones from Hobby Lobby. I bought them months ago because I loved them, and I have been saving them for a project like this one. It was a perfect match! I love how my piece turned out.

old dresser after

I don’t know where it will end up in our new house, but I am excited about it. Isn’t it funny that you can pick an item out and not know where it will go, but if you love it…you will always find a use or way to incorporate it into your home? That is this piece to me. I hope the teal works somewhere :). It could go in our craft room, the dinning room,  in our foster kids’ room, or maybe even behind a couch? I’m not sure yet, but I will keep you posted on what we do with it.

before and after of old dresserCan you believe this piece that is full of life and fun used to be that old brown dresser? It is crazy what a little paint and time can do. Now I will leave you with some eye candy. Since I can’t stage my shelves for me yet, I staged them up for you to get an idea of how a piece like this can be used. I hope you are inspired!

vintage dresser

recycled dresser

vintage dresser makeover

vintage furniture

Thank you so much for checking in today on one of my favorite furniture makeovers I have ever done! It is Friday, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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The Christmas Tin Can Makeover

November 16, 2012 By Erica Deuel 3 Comments

Do you have any of those Christmas tin cans (that came holding a snack) that you don’t know what to do with?  I have a really cheap makeover that you can do with them to use for a gift for THIS christmas.

This beautiful tin can cost me only a dollar to make.  Granted, I had all the paint, metal, sandpaper, and jeweled embellishment already on hand.  I did not have the can though!  While thrifting with my family over the weekend, I found one for a dollar.  It was big and tacky, and there was a whole shelf of them to choose from.

I was inspired for this design from these beautiful tin cans at Hobby Lobby.  You know I love that store and am constantly browsing and shopping there. I think I went three times this week. NO joke.

Although these cans are beautiful, they had a pretty price tag of $19.99 each.  I didn’t want to pay that, so I came up with my own.  Let me show you how I did it.

First, I spray painted my tin with two really good coats of a soft lavender color.  While my paint was drying, I went on the hunt for some scrap metal.

My brother had this scrap piece and let me cut a few inches off the bottom of it.  I used some sharp gardening scissors to cut the metal. You could try using scraps from an aluminum can. Home Depot also sells rolls of “flashing” that is used in roofing projects.

I took my little piece of metal and cut tons of petals out of it in all different sizes.  I just eye-balled each petal, so each one is slightly different.  I love that.

I chose four fun colors of acrylic paints I had, and I used them to pain the petals.  I cut the petals in about four different sizes, so I painted each size a different color.  I was ok if they were not  covered perfectly because I was going to lightly sand them to make them more rustic anyways.

Once the petals were dry, I lightly sanded them, bent the ends up, and then I started glueing them together.  I used my handy hot glue gun and glued four separate flowers (each color counted as one flower).  Once those flowers were dry I glued and stacked them together.  I finally glued a little jewel embellishment in the center and it was done!  I lightly sanded my tin.  Tip: Don’t sand the can too much or you will see that Christmas picture below it!

I love how it came out.  I created a different flower from the ones that are on top of the Hobby Lobby cans, but that is the beauty of being “inspired” and not totally copying.

I think I am going to put it in my little girl’s room on her dresser.  It would be cute to hold all her headbands, but she already has something for that.  Maybe I will keep her socks in it, or all her lotions.  Either way it is probably best that it is kept up on top of her dresser, since it is not the most child safe project I have come up with.  🙂  Beware of the sharp ends!

The process of this Christmas can makeover was so quick!  If you have some of the needed materials on hand, this could be such a cheap gift to make for a family member or friend.  I think the can alone would be cute to give, but you could also use it to wrap a present that you place inside.

Have you ever reused one of these Christmas cans?  I think I might have to actually keep the next one I receive, so I can reuse it again!

*I linked this project up at Miss Information, The C.R.A.F.T. Blog,  Crafts Aholics Anonymous, and Home Stories A to Z.

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