diy furniture – A Diamond in the Stuff

DIY Aqua Storage Cabinet

Courtney Carmean — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 12:00:29 +0000

Every few years we move. Every move we have a new home with a new configuration. Our last home had two great hall closets and this house has zero. Zero hall closets. So we’ve had to get creative. There was a spot at the end of our hallway that was the perfect spot for a DIY Aqua Storage Cabinet. So we got our build on.

Ok so I’m not going to pretend to be amazing at whipping up some awesome plans for this build. The inspiration for this project came from Ana White and you can find her plans HERE. What I can do is show you how we built ours.

So here we go…..

We started with some 1×12’s to create a large rectangle box. Then used some 1×10’s to create shelves. Some 1/4in plywood made up the back of the cabinet. We attached the plywood to the 1×12 frame and the 1×10 shelves for extra stability.

To make the cabinet look more finished we created some faux crown moulding with some 1×2’s and 1×4.

Now for the doors. We used 3/4in plywood for the doors and cut 1/4in plywood into strips to add some more character to the doors.

Check out these cute little legs! I just couldn’t resist adding a little leg and curve to this project.

The doors were attached with 3 hinges each, they are pretty tall doors. We added some magnetic clasps to the cabinet and doors to help them stay shut. Lookin pretty good right? Time for paint!!!

Is it really any surprise that it was painted aqua? I mean really? I decided to whip up some home made chalk paint and tackled this huge beast. I think it turned out beautifully.

It is providing a great amount of storage for us and I have to say, it sure brightens up this hallway.

The doors on this project ended up proving to be more difficult than they sounded. Somehow adding doors to a project and expecting them to match up, hang right, and fit suddenly become too much to ask. However, I LOVE to be able to shove stuff somewhere and hide it away. So we could of kept it a glorified bookcase….but these doors make my inner OCD happy!

The top of the cabinet looked pretty bare and boring so I shopped the house. I decided to put my little birdcage collection up top. These cages were around the house but together I think they made a bigger impact.

Don’t you think those little legs add just the perfect amount of….something? So cute!

I’m so happy with how the DIY Aqua Storage Cabinet turned out and I have to admit….I’m glad it’s done! It was a big project. How do you think we did?

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Looking for another fun build? Don’t worry this one is much smaller…..

Need a place for all those blankets? How about this DIY Salvage Blanket Ladder?

DIY Simple Window Coffee Table

Courtney Carmean — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 11:00:36 +0000

These days I am operating my project list based partly on what I happen to have lying around. Which is a lot. I mean, garage full a lot. I have actually been doing pretty well in pairing down the volume. At least I think so….the hubby who is determined to eventually be able to park at least one of the cars in the garage may not think so.

One of the piles of “stuff” I have in the garage is a pile of old windows. I actually LOVE my pile of old windows and get a little sad when one of them gets turned into a project and leaves. Weird I know. But I love my old windows! I’ve been turning them into memo boards, adding vinyl sayings to them, and now it was time to turn one into a piece of furniture. Enter my DIY Simple Window Coffee Table…..

It all started with this chippy 6 pane window. It was a perfect window for this project because the wood was still in good sturdy condition and it had all pieces of glass intact.

Have you ever purchased wood legs from the hardware store? They are expensive right? I mean, the legs I needed for this project would of been almost $10 each. So that’s $40 right there in table legs. So then I got to thinking, “Is there a cheaper alternative?”. I wandered over to the spindle aisle and found some for under $2 each. Much better. I needed to cut a little off the tops and bottoms, but for the price it was worth it! I stained the spindles with a dark wood stain and then painted them with some off white paint I had on hand.

After the legs were stained and painted, I ruffed them up a bit with some sandpaper. Then they were attached using two L brackets on each leg. Pretty simple right?

I pretty much left the window alone; let rough edges be rough and let chippy paint be chippy. Cuz that’s how I roll.

Didn’t the spindles turn out awesome? Not bad for $2 huh? Totally the look I wanted too!

Pretty simple right? But oh so cute! Sad part is it looks so super cute in my living room….but alas it must go to my booth and find a new home! Hopefully someone will love it as much as I do!

So what do you think of my of DIY Simple Window Coffee Table???

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Wondering what else I’ve been up to lately? Come check out my latest DIY project here:

The Bottomless Chair Makeover

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:00:46 +0000

Last summer (whoa it’s been that long?) I found a bottomless chair. Most people would probably pass a bottomless chair by….but not I. Great now I’m rhyming. It was ugly and sad but I knew it could be so much more. So let’s get to my Bottomless Chair Makeover.

Pretty sad looking isn’t it? Awful worn down green color, dirty stinky old pillow, and oh ya a hole where the seat should be. I played with a few options and I finally decided on replacing the bottom and restoring the chair.

To replace the seat I started with a piece of plywood cut to be a bit bigger than the massive hole in it. I bought some chair padding, batting, and fabric. I laid out all the layers on the floor in the order they needed to be in, then I pulled out the staple gun and got to stapling.

I decided to paint the chair Heirloom White and do a little distressing here and there. The seat was a little bit more difficult. I wrestled with it quite a bit to get it attached and in the end I used some Gorilla wood glue to do the trick!

I think that the chair may still need a little pillow for the back. What do you think?

I absolutely love this fabric that I found. It’s kind of this white and grey color with beautiful black French lettering.

There you have my Bottomless Chair Makeover, looking like a completely different chair all together. So the lesson here is: never pass up a cute piece of furniture no matter how hopeless it seems!

Linking up to these great link parites!!!

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Yesterday the Time to Shine link party went live!

I would absolutely LOVE if you would come link up your projects!

DIY Farmhouse Coffee Table

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Several months ago I was given a coffee table. The owner no longer wanted it and I have been dubbed the person who takes all cast out furniture. A role that I am of course happy to play. I gladly took the coffee table, stored it in my garage, and wondered what to do with it. The table just lacked any personality. So I decided to give it a little face lift and turn it into a DIY Famhouse Coffee Table.

I knew I wanted to cover up that blah pressboard coffee table top. The first step was very nicely asking the hubbster to help me cut some 1×4’s. We cut them to the length of the old coffee table top, with a little over hang.

Once the boards were cut it was time to do some staining. I used Minwax wood stain in Dark Walnut. The dark color of this stain is right up my alley!!! I used a couple coats of wipe on Polyurethane to protect the wood.

While the wood stain and poly was drying I whipped up some creamy DIY Chalk Paint. I am loving the pairing of white furniture with stain wood combo. I painted the coffee table with the chalk paint and did a bit of distressing.

I waxed the painted table once the chalk paint was dry (I usually wait 24 hrs for the paint to REALLY dry). Then I called the hubs in with his nail gun to attach the stained boards to the newly painted coffee table.

Is it just me or is knotty dark stained wood just dreamy???

Here’s a close up of some of the distressing that I did to the chalk paint.

I seriously think if I didn’t already have a coffee table I would be making this on all mine!!! The new top of the coffee table is oh so much better than the drab one of the past.

Do you have a boring coffee table at home in need of a little something? Why have a cookie cutter coffee table that looks like everyone else’s, when you can make a DIY Farmhouse Coffee Table of your very own!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

Check out some of these other farmhouse inspired projects that I’ve done……

Stained Inlayed Wood Table

Little Farm Table

Farmhouse Buffet Table

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While your visiting I’d love for you to come by the Time to Shine party!!! We’d love to have you party with us!!!

Little Farm Table

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Is anyone else glad it’s Friday? I know I sure am!

A couple months ago I found this little formica table at one of my favorite thrift stores. I loved the little table and it’s lovely legs. I didn’t however love the formica top, I kept debating what to do with it. Then I had an “ah ha” moment and decided to turn this outdated little table into a sweet Little Farm Table.

The first thing I did was remove the formica top. Ahhh much better! Maybe?!?!

I went shopping in the junk pile on the side of my house for some wood to use for the new table top. See this is why I keep piles of junk around…..I WILL find ways to use them. They may just sit there for a week or year. But who’s counting? This wood was once the old fencing up around the old houses here on base. They were torn down along with all the old homes.

The hubby pulled out the plainer and got rid of the first couple layers of the nasty wood. I still wanted them to look old but with less yucky stuff (technical term). I also had the hubby cut some of the wood into three pieces to fit on top of the table.

Of course I was very happy to have all the nastiness cut off of the wood but I wasn’t a big fan of the new exposed wood. It didn’t look aged and old like the rest of the wood. So I gave vinegar staining a try.

I put some steel wool into a bowl and covered it with some apple cider vinegar. I put some saran wrap over the bowl and stuck it away for about a week. I’m sure I didn’t need to let it sit that long but that’s what ended up happening. On the photo below you can see one plank of wood has some of the vinegar stain on the newly cut wood and the other two do not.

Since I’m crushing pretty hard on my DIY Chalk Paint I decided to use it on this table. I choose an off white, antique white color. I love how easy it is to distress the chalk paint, especially because I wanted this table to have a fair amount of distressing.

I ended up putting the vinegar stain all over the planks of wood to darken the wood up. The look I achieved was exactly what I was going for. I attached the wood boards with just some good ole fashioned hammer and nails.

Since the table was so….rustic, I decided that a little bling wouldn’t hurt. I used some clear crystal knobs to help keep things balanced.

Didn’t the wood turn out fabulously???

What a transformation this little table has gone through. From outdated formica to country chic!

Is it wrong how much I love this Little Farm Table??? Because I do!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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While your here I’d love if you came to look at my lastest project……

My Wine Subway Art and my Wine Bottle Hurricanes.

Have a great weekend!!!

diy furniture – A Diamond in the Stuff

DIY Aqua Storage Cabinet

DIY Simple Window Coffee Table

Top 10 Posts of 2013

The Bottomless Chair Makeover

DIY Farmhouse Coffee Table

Little Farm Table