Roadside Rescue Dresser Turned Entertainment Stand

Have you ever been on your way somewhere and you spot a discarded piece of treasure on the side of the road?

Then you have to rush home and figure out how you're going to ask your loving hubby to take the truck and make a trip to grab it before some other DIY'er nabs it?

Well that is what happened....

He said seriously honey, not again......dont you have enough projects going on?

He graciously agreed and off we went.

All he could say as we were loading it is babe, this is a piece of garbage.

I said It may be a laminate top but I would not call it garbage......just help me load it.

So he did and off we went with a big smile on my face!!

As you can see it was missing all the drawers except for two and I put those on the bottom.

The dresser was not solid wood

but that is OK I saw some potential and I had never painted a laminate piece before so I wanted to dig in and get some practice.

 I took my favorite tool, my sander and sanded all the laminate until it was dull.

I have read that laminate has to be primed so out with the primer.

I wanted a grey undertone since I wanted to paint it barn red and have some grey color showing through after I distressed it.

So I added some black acrylic paint to the primer to turn it grey.

Here she is with the first coat of primer........

Now the second coat of primer just to make sure the laminate is good and covered

after a light sanding .....

it was time for a purdy coat of barn red paint

Once I had the two coast of red paint on

 I lightly sanded..........

I love the way glazing on furniture looks

It gives it a rich antique look

It makes the color pop as well

I chose to Mod-Podge a cool woodsy turquoise paneling scrapbook paper onto the backboard of the dresser/entertainment center.

This is not easy to do for someone who likes things perfect......

because when the paper gets wet those of you that have done this know exactly what I am getting ready to say.

it wrinkles and bubbles up............

you have to be be patient and work it and work it to get out the bubbles and wrinkles.

I have learned to get the worst out and the rest will usually take care of itself once it dries.

I distressed it with some sandpaper so some of the grey would show through.

The inside walls were painted a pretty turquoise color to match the scrapbook paper I put on the back.

I ask my wonderful hubby to cut me some pallet boards down so we could make rustic shelving to replace the missing drawers.

I Love me some pallets that you can get free at so many places.

These come in handy when you need some rustic wood.

I stained and added a semi-gloss poly on them to bring out the grain of the wood.

can you say beautiful!!

All the sliders were removed of course from the side walls when I paint the the yummy turquoise color.

I used the original hardware and spray painted them a color that contrasted with the inside of the dresser/entertainment center.

With a little hard-work and creativity this roadside find turned out beautiful.


My girlfriend Kaye moved into her new home and I gave this to her as a housewarming gift.

She loves it!!

She has it in her living room with her TV on top and all her goodies nestled inside this warm trash turned to treasure.




What have you rescued from the side of the road lately?



Until next time,

Before & After Thrift Find

Meet Mary Jane!

One Saturday a good friend of mine Kaye and I set off to Goodwill to find some thrifty finds for her brand new house that she had built and just moved into. 

She had ask me to help her decorate her place and I was super excited to accept the challenge. 

I laid my eyes on this Shabby piece for 12.00

When I saw it I said, wow...My friend Kaye said ......UH~REALLY (with  a look of horror) what are we going to do with that?

I laughed :)  because all she saw was this ugly piece of furniture with runny gold paint and no top.

I said ............oh this will be awesome, trust me.

She said ........OK.......(sigh) .......I trust you .......let's get it.!

She had no top as you can see above but she did have doors ...............................

I was so excited about the redo that I forgot to take pictures before I took the doors off.

The great thing is this piece was solid wood, however she was in rough shape and needed a good sanding to remove some gold spray paint that someone had attempted to spray on.

Kaye and I took to our project sanding off all the mess.

Oh I forgot to mention Mary Jane had these old gold caster wheels which we removed.

Like any good DIY'er I saved those casters for another project down the road.

I had Mr. CIS to cut me some pallet boards to make a top for this piece, I had a vision and was hoping that it would all come together in the end.

I ask her what color she wanted on Mary Jane

.................. she said what do you think?

so their I stood trying to figure out the perfect color for her new thrift find.

She had a multi color rug in her foryer and it had one of the colors I thought would be perfect.

This turquoise has been one of my favorite go to colors this year.

So we painted Mary Jane and immediately she had new life in her.

I told my friend, now we need to distress her a little and age her with some glaze.

At this point before the distressing and glazing my friend was falling in love with her now found thrift find.  :)

We stained the top boards before they were attached......

we stained the center board for contrast as well as the inside shelf.

Oh did I mention Mary Jane had STORAGE!!

Once we finished the glazing and distressing we spray painted the hardware with oil brushed bronze and put her all back together.

Now she was all dressed up and perfectly ready for her new found home.

Into the Foryer she went......

The pretty wood tulips sitting here we picked up at goodwill that day as well.

what do ya think of our Mirror we found the same day at goodwill?

Oh my our heart went pitter-patter when we saw this.

I knew it would be a great match to hang over Mary Jane in the foryer.

So what do you think of Mary Jane?  My friend loves, loves her new thrift find sitting in her new found home.

Until next time,

Linking up at: funkyjunkinteriors.net    diyshowoff.com   my1929charmer.com

Kitchen Shutter Valance

For many years now I have not had a curtain on my kitchen window over my sink.

 Is that bad?

Have any of you left your window lonely with nothing to cover it?

If you remember reading this Farm Fresh Egg Sign Tutorial

......................I put her above this lonely window.

One day I ran to restore and found these cute shutters.

a Score for 3 bucks....

OK they had a few flaws but nothing that Mr Color It Simple could not fix.

The one thing he couldn't fix was this blurry (before) picture I took (grin)

I went to my supplies and thought to myself what was I going to do to this shutter to make it warm and inviting.

Do you love Stained wood?  I love me some stained wood.  So I knew that would be just the ticket

I pulled from my stash of paint goodies my Minwax Special Walnut Stain.................

and my special stain brush.

I proceeded to stain that beauty.  Have you ever tried to paint or stain shutter slats?...

..........well let's just say it was a little tedious!

I pressed on and decided to give it a two toned look so I painted the frame with a cream color.

                                                             I just love it!

Now my farm fresh eggs sign is right at home with the window topper shutter valance

Don't you think they make a great pair?

No more curtain-less window.

So let's talk, tell me about your re-purposed projects made from a shutter

Until next time,

sharing at:  addicted2decorating