For the love of crafts...

Hey there, internet!  I know.. it has been a whole week since my last post.  I've had so many blog ideas the last week...but alas-- other priorities prevailed.  #sorrynotsorry

So today is about how I love crafts!  (Meredith just threw up in her mouth a little bit)

So lets start by telling you who I was a year ago... I wanted to purchase all of our furniture new so that we could keep it forever and do the wear and tear on the items ourselves, instead of buying items after the previous owner was done wearing and tearing it themselves. Who wants someone else's leftovers? #eww

Wow--- after my lesson in 'how to garage sale- for real' with Jen and her grandma... How my mindset has changed!  I see so much character and potential in the items I found while garage sale-in' it up.  I suddenly am so drawn by the story behind a piece, why they painted it that color, why they are getting rid of it... not gonna lie- the fact that used things are cheaper was a pretty big deciding factor as well.  I had no idea what I was about to experience...

I walked away with a $30 couch... yeah you read the right... $3-0!  The owners bought the couch 6 months earlier- brand. new. Now it had a beam broken, however I happen to have a good friend with a very hand dad :)  If you all haven't seen Jen's home adventures... you've got to check it out here.  Anyway, her dad is awesome with his hands... very talented! So after some time at the couch doctor... we were moving it on in!

So thankful for the hubs, jen, and jonathan for getting this thing in it's proper place!

So during our garage sale adventures we found a pair of night stands for $10 each.  Yes... $20 for 2 heavy, Broyhill nightstands that are in great shape.  The owner had painted them both black... of course not my color scheme... but I looked straight through that black paint and saw inspiration! haha

Needless to say... Jen is done with her home reno, and is now helping me in my step by step... item by item investment to our home.   :)

So we took the night stands and sanded them down and spray painted them white.  No worries, I didn't want to stop there- thank goodness, right?  I wanted to create a distressed look and the white was necessary for that effect. 

Raylene... what is Jen doing in the top left picture?  So glad you asked, internet... so very glad.  We went to Home Depot to get some paint samples a few days before our designated craft night.  I settled on my favorite gray and mustard yellow swatches.  Well we got a little chatty over dinner and were not going to have enough time to run by walmart AND Home Depot.. so we decided to find the same colors at walmart.  Well Jen-- as you can see... has a great way to color match.... enough said.  oh- and no... there is nothing in her hand :)  #Iheartmycrazyfriends

So.. here is before:

Here is after!  (the lighting is totally different.. but this is really gray and mustard yellow)

Yes, internet, that is a stuffed bear on my night stand.  Scott got that for me for my first valentines day EVER with a boyfriend... so special!

So I absolutely LOVE how this looks in my room.  Please ignore the brass headboard.  That will eventually be replaced by something that comes of this inspiration:

But we will probably wait until we upgrade to a king size bed-- which I hope to do at some point!  Scott is a human radiator... thats all I'm sayin'.

So where were we?  I've gotten carried away with my dream crafts!  So I was feeling extra spunky the day after we finished the night stands and decided that I needed to paint my coffee table the same colors!

Before:

The mustard yellow board is the shelf that rests near the bottom of the table legs... please try to imagine it... I didn't get a picture of it all put together.  But we did give this table the same distressed look as we gave the night stands.  

Everything turned out perfectly!

Our next project is turning an old family dinner table into my dream farm tableish kitchen table!  We are also on the hunt (garage sale hunt, that is) for some original kitchet chairs.. I want 6 different wood chairs (with no cushions) and Jen and I are going to paint and distress them.  We have the table.... which I can't wait to tell you the story behind.  We are starting our search for the chairs!  So if you dig in your garage or basement and find one you'd like to get rid of... let me know!

What projects have you been working on lately?