Before and After

DIY – $50 Trunk Makeover

| The Bee Life

You see, we found this old trunk on a neighbors tree lawn and had to snatch it up, it had admittedly seen better days… but that never stops me.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it just yet, but that would come in time… after some trunk searches on Pinterest I determined to flip this baby into a coffee table, but I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted to finish this piece.   I was tempted to go the all white route or maybe pink with gold accents? And then the inside… what was I going to do with the inside?!  Oh, and we didn’t need another coffee table. *smiles*

The trunk was pretty banged up, it had old stickers all over it and then the inside was a little stinky with some blue paper that was torn.  It was a little daunting – how easy was the inside paper going to come off? What about the outside… and getting those stickers off?  Well with a little bit of water and a scrapper the paper came off with a little added elbow grease and help from B.  To my surprise, the stickers came off the same way! Although, I still didn’t know how I wanted to finish this sucker.

After doing some research, I liked the look of Hairpin legs and found these 6″ black ones on Amazon, so I purchased – still trying to figure out the color scheme, knowing I could spray paint to match if the black wouldn’t work.  I finally decided I was going to stick to the trunks original colors and just bring some life back to it! I loved the gold accents and couldn’t cope with the idea of painting over them in white or another color. After a good clean and a few layers of paint, this trunk was seeing new life.

To finish off this DIY, I finally went with some fabric for the inside vs. peal and stick paper.  I thought the fabric would be nice to work with, and a lot of options for the patterns and colors.  $18 later we had our fabric picked out, I bought 4-yards just to be safe and within one night cut and place the fabric to line the trunk with 3M Adhesive spray.   Before adding the fabric, I did spray the inside with bleach a few times (with weeks in between) to help with the smell and kill anything that might be hanging out!

DIY Cost Breakdown:

  • Trunk = $0.00
  • Hairpin Legs = $25.00
  • Paint Supplies = $12.00
  • Fabric = $18
  • TOTAL = $55.00 

We also figured out a home for this guy, with our Basement Makeover happening, this was another piece of the puzzle that fit just perfectly with the overall look and feel of the space.  It’s a little side table and perfect for some extra storage for blankets, games and extra candles!  Of course, I love the way it came out and how the gold pops against the black – plus it looks perfect in the new space.

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DIY – Upcycle Skinny Dresser

| The Bee Life

You guys, I’ve been so excited to share this DIY with you all.  We first picked up this piece in the winter on a curb, it was calling my name – although banged up with multiple broken drawers, I saw the potential.  I didn’t even have a space for it at first, but I just needed to take it and make it over – and I wanted to pull out the stops to make this a show stopper.

First we had to assess the situation, three of the six drawers were busted up, one significantly cut that needed a little extra TLC (still a work in progress).  With a little bit of wood glue and updating, B helped put these back to life.  The old handles really dated this piece, so we removed those and got to work sanding down the surfaces.  Surprise, surprise we went with an off white color that we had from the house and painted this piece instead of spray painting, which is usually my go-to.  Painting was surprisingly really easy, and covered the piece well with only a couple of coats needed.
DIY -- Upcycle Skinny Dresser - the bee life
Let’s talk finishing touches. I wanted to splurge a bit on the finishes and was really hoping to indulge in some hardware from Anthropologie, as mentioned in my Latest Obsessions.  But I didn’t want to order them online, the store near me was SUPER picked over and I couldn’t talk myself into spending $8 or $10 per knob, when I needed six!  So I stopped at Pat Catans on a whim, and found some knobs I kind of liked ($2.99 each) – the first knobs I bought didn’t do much on the drawers, they were small – I need something more… bold. I went back and traded the pink blah knobs for these chunky stunning silver ones.  These still might get switched out one day…

Inside of the drawers was another place I wanted to find something a bit more fun and fancy.  Just as I was about to compromise on some typical contact paper from Target, I ended up getting distracted, swooning over some Opalhouse when too my surprise noticed the wallpaper was 50% off! Light bulb! I put down the gross contact paper and bought this elegant peel and stick wallpaper! For $15, I was leaving with my show stopping piece I wanted to help finish off this piece – not to mention the peel and stick was super easy to work with and customize per drawer.

Cost Breakdown:

  • Knobs: $18
  • Stick Wallpaper: $15 (on sale)
  • Paint: $0 (already had it)
  • Sandpaper: $5
  • TOTAL COST: $38

We have this piece in our dining room for now, and aired out a few other pieces to make this work.  Worst case I will put it in my walk in closet and use it to organize my clothes (bummer!)  But it was a fun piece to update and bring back some new life too.  The drawers still aren’t perfect – but you’d never know!

DIY – Side Entry Tile

| The Bee Life

Our latest home project was tiling our side entry and the stairs that lead up to the kitchen area.  When we first moved in, the space was drab with gross stick-on tile with wood panels and layers of wallpaper.  Well our quick fix was an easy paint job and removing the wallpaper and floor.  We painted the revealed wood floor white and added some grips on the stairs – but as you can imagine white floors for an entry is not the cleanest or the prettiest. So, like I said, it was a quick fix in need of more help.

So it was Bentley’s idea to finish this space and add tile to the landing and to the stairs. This was the first time we tiled a space, so it was a little daunting at first figuring out what we needed, what tile we wanted, and when we would be able to do this.  The biggest piece that helped save us and this project, was being able to borrow my Dad’s wet saw to cut the tiles. B and I split up tasks, he would cut the tile and I would lay the tile!

The stairs went surprisingly well, but because we used large tiles there was a lot of cuts involved, although less pieces. I’m not sure if the stone we picked was the most cost effective (actually I am fairly confident it wasn’t) but we were going mainly off of aesthetic. Once we got to the platform it was very messy and hard to maneuver in the tight space without stepping on the tile! But we finished with only three trips to the hardware store once we got started. *smiles*

We waited the appropriate amount of time and then some before B finished the space with the grout and once that was dried he added some trim work. We finished off the space with a new storage piece to hide shoes and we were wrapped up!  It was fairly easy project once we got going, and we definitely feel like we’re tiling pros now.  This space has been instantly upgraded, it’s more durable, weather resistant and easier to clean up. We love how it turned out!!

DIY – Coordinates Sign

| The Bee Life

Remember our big attic renovation into our master suite?  Well the little details have still been a work in progress, as they usually are. But we are getting closer to getting the little details finished up. I am finally happy to share one of the last pieces to the gallery wall puzzle. It’s a coordinates sign that I made using old wood from our house and the renovation! IMG_4970IMG_4972I love the way it came out, the old wood is what brings this simple sign to life. The metallic silver lettering also pops on the wood grain with a nice mix of old and new. I wanted to keep it simple with the text and not do anything to fancy to really rely on the wood to pull this piece to life with the metallic accents. One of my goals for the gallery wall if you remember wayyy back to my Gallery Wall Inspiration was that I wanted to add color, textures, and different elements that represent B and I without it getting too girly.  I feel like the earthy wood grain in the coordinates sign helps balance the ‘girly’ along with pulling in the other wooden frames used on the wall.
IMG_4716IMG_4972For now the gallery wall is feeling pretty complete. There may be some additional pictures added below but for the longest time there was this awkward section where the coordinates sign ended up going, so order has been restored! And I am loving the piece of our home that we’ve been able to restore in more than one way.

DIY – Window Side Table

| The Bee Life

I am excited to share my latest project with all of you; a window table.  Once you have the materials, this project is pretty easy and low cost! It’s a win-win when it comes to creating a cool piece that’s custom to your needs, whether it be a coffee table, plant stand, or a side table the options are endless.

What You’ll Need;

  • Window (of your choice) – I used an original window from our basement, since they were pulled out when we had glass block put in. Total cost; $0
    • Don’t have any old windows laying around? Check garbage day, it’s amazing what people will put on the curb!
  • 4-Legs; length and style of your choosing. I used: Waddell Ash End Table Leg from Lowes. Total cost; $16
    • NOTE: I bought legs with pre-installed hanger bolts that allowed for a clean smooth finish without needing extra hardware to attach the legs
  • Wood Glue
  • Paint – color of your choice & paint brush
  • Drill and drill bit to predrill holes for legs
  • Blade to scrape off excess paint on windows
  • Timing; finished within a weekend

From there you can prep your window by cleaning it up and sanding if you’d like. I opted to keep the hinges and some of the other rustic elements since I was working with a 100-year old window.

Next, flip over and mark out where you’d like to place your legs – as you can see with the window I was working with the spacing and exterior width was inconsistent and not much to work with so I eyed about an inch from the edges. Once I had those marked, we pre-drilled a hole, although we didn’t go deep enough a few times so we had to go back over the holes.

Before screwing the legs in we added wood glue in the hole and around the bolt on the leg. Make sure your legs get all the way in and are secure, some of ours were wobbly, so we had to re-drill new holes and start over. But once they were in and secure you definitely knew it. The wood glue required about 12-hours to dry, so day one was finished.

After the wood glue was dried, I flipped the table over and began to paint! I opted to use a primer over the preexisting brown, and also did the legs in the same color.  I had to do 3-coats before this beauty was looking clean.

I let B do the fun stuff and scrape the paint I’d gotten on the window.  This really cleaned up the piece to give it that finished look. From there it was just giving it a good clean with some Windex and setting it up in place – we added this gem as an accent in our sun room. The light and airy of the white and windows ties into the space perfectly.IMG_4428IMG_4430IMG_4432Using most of what we already had, the main expense was buying the legs for $16 – you can’t even get a coffee table for that!  I love the way it turned out, it still has a vintage and rustic flare to it. Not to mention it has multiple purposes and I am sure it will change overtime for us!

Happy DIYing!

DIY – Childhood Nightstand

| The Bee Life

I recently received my old childhood night stand from my parents house, but it was in desperate need of a little make-over, since I had last repainted it in high school to match my pink and orange room. *sigh* I still wish I had a pink and orange room…

Anyways, I digress. This was a really easy and low cost DIY because all it really needed was a new coat of paint, especially since in my dark teenage years I had written touching notes on my night stand like; “love sucks” and other cryptic messages. *smiles* So it needed a little sanding and fresh coat of white paint on the base.

Before

Next, I painted the fronts of the drawers, Naval by Sherwin Williams, it’s such a pretty color, I am trying to figure out what else I can paint with it. I was planning on replacing the knobs, but they were painted on from previous paint jobs, and I really didn’t want to deal with the hassle of trying to wrangle them off and potentially damaging the drawers, so plan B. Plan B was to spray paint the handles metallic silver, which I just so happened to have from a few other previous projects. I had to make-shift something to cover up the drawers, so some magazines and painters tape did the trick. It actually worked out pretty well and I only had to make a few touch-ups with the navy.
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To give this even more of an upgrade, I went ahead and added some adhesive/ contact paper ($5.99 at Target) into the drawers to make it pop!  Not to mention, over the years this little nightstand has seen some love, so it was looking a little rough. I decided to put the contact paper on the outside of the drawers as well, so that when you opened them there was an added pop. I did some simple measuring and cutting, this was even easier because the contact paper has measuring lines on the backside – this probably took me about 20-minutes to finish up.

Even though this is for a guest bedroom, I think it’s important and nice to have nightstands and all the essentials for when your guests stay over – that’s why I’ll be getting a lamp as well to finish off this look!

After

Before and After - the bee lifeI love the way it turned out, and I am sure this little night stand will have a few more makeovers in it’s lifetime.  The added detail of the contact paper on the sides of the drawers and inside, just upgrade the whole piece.  I may still try and get new knobs at some point, but for now this little $5.99 makeover will do the trick and accomplishes the task of being functional and matching within the space!  What I love the most about some DIY’s is that it doesn’t take a lot, to make a big difference – time wise or cost.

Hope you all have a great week!

 

 

DIY – Upgraded Built-in’s

| The Bee Life

One of my spring projects was to give a simple upgrade to our living room built-in’s that bookend our fireplace.  I planned to do this with textured wall-paper, that I have used in a few other spots around the house like our dining room built-in’s, our stair-backs on our stairs leading to our master, and even in our DIY bar that started out in our apartment. Overkill? No, surprisingly this is the most subtle upgrade you could do to these tiny spaces for a big impact. Not to mention it’s extremely affordable ($20  for 56 sq.ft.) and super easy to do.

Since we live in a century home, I like to build off the history of the home and add to it when possible, this smaller ‘tin ceiling’ patterned print is the perfect accent to give a face lift without completely giving it an overhaul and taking it into a different era. Textured Wallpaper - Lowes - the bee life

Before:

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After about 30-minutes of leisurely watching eNews (learning all about Lemonade) and measuring, cutting, soaking and putting into place, boom! Instant upgrade. All while dinner was cooking in the oven.

After:

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DSCN1988With the doors closed, and if the lightening is just right, you can hardly notice – but on the flip-side, if the lighting is just right, you can also see how pretty this added touch is.  Sadly, I ran out of paper and was only able to get one side done, I completely underestimated the amount I had left over from the stairs in order to complete these built-ins. But it was a good start, and like I said – easy, not very time intensive, and pretty straight forward for $20 a roll.

 

DIY – Reading Side Table

| The Bee Life

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, I was on a little mission to try and find some “trash treasures” on garbage day, older pieces that just needed some TLC – well I found one that I picked up back in October and finally finished this piece up. It was a side table with no drawers, a few torn spots but relatively in good shape. See for yourself. . .

I had initially wanted to spray paint it a bright color and find some baskets to go in the inside (but didn’t really have a complete game plan for the inside).  I’m glad we waited a bit for a few of the other pieces in our master suite to wrap up, because I ended up sanding this down and just re-staining it to match the tops of our night stands (plus I like staining pieces WAYY more than painting or spray painting). So I sanded this bad boy down, because we had gotten the top a little messier than we we had found it (oops!) and gave it a few coats of stain.  I found my inside solution one day at Target near the front $1 bins – I grabbed some adhesive paper for $3 a roll – and gave it a shot. Well I scored, two rolls later this baby was brought back to life.

IMG_0933IMG_0934IMG_0935The basket was a gift from Kates (filled with wine) that I happen to try in one of the openings and it worked out perfectly! We did have to buy some thin plywood that we ended up cutting and gluing on the top and bottom shelf’s to make them level, since there was a dip down. So other than the nominal cost of that, the only other expense was the $6 for the adhesive paper, since we already had the stain and poly. I love the way it came out, especially with the subtle pattern and pop of color!

Happy Friday!

 

DIY – Night Stands

| The Bee Life

As our attic nears completion (spoiler) I wanted to share a few of the other projects along the way that although much smaller than the overall guts, walls and refinish, have been key for the final touches.

With such a big project like this, I really wanted to try and find a bargain or two especially with furnishings, and I would say we did a pretty good job of splitting that between bargain vs. brand new.

The Before

One surprise that took me awhile to come around too (and find) was our night stands. I found plenty that I loved, but not enough for the price tag that came with them. It had been my mission on garbage days to find some treasures people put out on the tree lawns – but no such luck (only found one).

Enter the “unfinished lamp table with two drawers” from Home Depot. Similar to what we wanted and a price tag that was palatable ($71.99), especially when purchasing two for the price of one finished  – not to mention these suckers are sturdy!

International Concepts Unfinished Lamp Table with 2-Drawer

The After

We ended up painting and staining the tops to mimic one of the pricier side tables we had seen from Target, upgraded the hardware and wah-la you have a high-end night stand for a fraction of the cost! We love the way they turned out.



Since we already had stain and poly from our dining room table project, we saved on materials cost there. We also already had white paint for other projects and the walls (another cost savings) and the knobs I found in a 4-pack at Marshalls for $4.99. Can’t beat it!

Although this was a little extra work on top of all the other finishing touches like paint, trim, caulking, more painting, cleaning, etc. it was totally worth it and we have a completely custom piece that finish the space!