Tag Archives: home decor

We Refurbished This Oak Dresser

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The oak dresser we’ve had for several years in storage is now refurbished. When we bought it, the base literally fell apart as we were loading it, but that mirror was so worth all the work it was going to take to bring it back to life. The mirror is beveled and has just a bit of aged patina.

Researching it, we found the company Estey Furniture produced it in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The original handles were a bail type handle, but were replaced at some point by these Depression knobs from the 1930s.

Danny took the dresser completely apart. He loaded the base into our SUV and took it to a grands babysitting gig and stripped it. A few weeks ago, he loaded it again and when we were babysitting another grand in another city, sanded it, and put it back together.

We had completely forgotten what the mirror looked like. Wow! It changed my whole idea of how I wanted to refinish it. I decided a whitewash look would bring out the grain detail and take away the orangeish look oak raw oak sometimes has. The drawers were not pretty on the inside and sides so I stained the insides and stenciled a pattern on the outside.

This is the difference between the whitewashed look and raw wood after stripping and sanding. After whitewashing everything, I gave the base and mirror 3 coats of water-based Crystal clear Varathane Polyurethane in satin finish and 5 coats on the top of the dresser.

I couldn’t wait to take pics. I used an app called ProKnockOut to remove the mirror reflection and change it out to a new image of a bedroom I found on pixels.com and to cut out the dresser itself and to apply a plain background.

It already has a new home. This piece ranks right up there as one of my favorite pieces we have ever refurbished.

O’Cedar Tree, O’Cedar Tree …

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One more little craft, then taking a short break for our 50th anniversary coming up on the 28th! Hoping to see some beautiful fall foliage and an eagle 🦅 or two.

We found a bunch of these cedar rounds thrifting.

Amazon

I’ve already made a snowman’s hat, a stand for my teeny tiny snowmen, and now I’ve used one for a small 5” high cedar tree.

I had these faux cedar pieces I bought after Christmas last year. They were attached to a table runner. 🙂 And… since these are cedar rounds, I thought why not make it an air freshener, too? I just happen to have Young Living’s Cedarwood essential oil to use on it. 🙂

I love the smell of this Cedarwood. P.S. It freshens up furniture drawers, too! I think I will put a couple of the rounds with a drop of Cedarwood in the dresser I just finished!

Mini Jute Rope Christmas Tree

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I had such fun making my 8” tall jute tree https://sharsumpaint.com/2022/10/17/spiral-jute-rope-christmas-tree/, I had to make a smaller one this morning.

I changed it up a little. This one is 5” tall. I used a small 2 1/4” wood slice for the base and cut down the size of the skewer some. It still has a point on it for piercing each strand of jute. I just cut it off at the end.

The jute pieces I used:

12 – 4”
12 – 3”
12 – 2”
2 – 1”
And a half inch piece. For this one I used more glue and pressed and molded it to round off the top.

I cut off the skewer and left enough to glue the greenery and the star to the skewer and glued some jute to the back of it to cover.

This one got caught in a snow storm so has a bit of snow (paint) on the branches.

Olaf Found His Head!

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This is why I seem to never get anything other than crafting done. Lol

I made this Olaf out of wood slices last year and still had him. One of my favorite enablers, sent me this inspiration Olaf this morning.

I knew I could adapt him to hold up his head with his little arms after he lost it, so I did. Lol

My Olaf now belongs to her. 🤪

Spiral Jute Rope Christmas Tree

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I found another way to use some of the roll of jute rope I thrifted. I created a spiral tree with it. 🙂

I used a long stem piece of green floral wire and using craft glue to secure, twisted the jute around the wire.

I then shaped it into a spiral form. The center of the spiral I thumbtacked into this chunk of birch tree I had. I used craft glue to glue the rest of the bottom edge to the base. I added sprigs of faux cedar and daubed on white paint to represent snow. I also daubed a bit of paint on the jute.

I added little balls of a muted green, red and cream color from a garland I had. They had wire attached so I just wired them on.

I cut a star from a piece of aluminum foil I spray painted copper and daubed white paint on it. I used a small piece of Velcro to attach the star to the top.

I sat the tree on a little round base then sprinkled some of the fallen copper dried hydreanga blooms I had left from another project around the base for the photo.

I’m having so much fun finding ways to use my big roll of jute rope I thrifted. 🙂

Shabby Jute Rope Christmas Tree

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I found one thing this morning to make with the big roll of jute I found at an estate sale… a shabby jute Christmas tree. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to make.

My little tree stands about 7 1/2” h x 7 1/2” w.

I was inspired by a tutorial I saw come up on Pinterest. My jute was a little thinner than the tutorial so I adapted it some.

https://countrydesignstyle.com/rope-christmas-tree/

I used a 10” skewer from Dollar Tree but ended up cutting several inches off when finished. I also used 5 – 3” pieces 3 -2” pieces and 3 – 1” pieces of jute instead of what they did. I also used Dollar Tree Super GluecWood Glue on the wood round stand and on each stand of jute as I built it.

Then I just kept building.

Here it is pictured next to this cool sign I also thrifted. Sure wish I had could have created that, but sadly, no.

Copper Dried Hydreangas

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I saw this idea and had to try it. I had leftover hydreangas I had dried for a wreath I made. Someone suggested spraying them with metallic copper so….

I finally got some metallic copper spray paint. They are gorgeous. Every once in awhile a little of the green I missed peeks through. I decided I liked it like that. Even prettier in person.

I had two more containers. A copper coffee press from Starbucks I’ve had for years and this little ceramic pot I thrifted. It was some kind of an egg cooker. It had an orange silicone bottom. I put copper wax over the bottom. I also added a gold leaf rub on from Dollar Tree then used my finger and daubed copper wax over it.

Stenciled Cutting But add Book Stand

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Another morning project. I paid more than I usually do for a thrifted item, but this piece was in perfect condition.

This book stand is perfect for propping your phone, your iPad, the book you are reading, or an old fashioned cookbook.

I added the Dollar Tree stencil, using a light gray chalk paint. One trick for getting crisp lines with no bleeding is to use a clear sealer first. Let that dry and then paint over the stencil with your color of choice. The front is sealed with Wise Owl Salve.

Decoupaged Soap using Rub on Transfers

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I tried decoupaging a napkin on Dollar Tree Dial soap and it worked perfectly. The soap suds from the bottom, leaving the sealed napkin side intact.

I then decided I was going to make several of them and sell them at a Christmas Open House at the Antique Mall where we have a booth. The owner is very kind and is allowing me to have a small space to sell my smaller crafts that day. We’ve not worked out the details yet, but now I need to get busy with stocking stuffers and small gifts and Christmas decor.

I went in search of more bars of the small hypoallergenic Dial Soap carriers but wasn’t finding it. I looked online and they weren’t selling it online either. As I read more it sounds like Dial quit making it. Darn. I was able to find the last 8 bars at my local store so I happily got them.

Any soap that has at least one flat side will work. I just liked the size of these. And they fit perfectly into the little bags Dollar Tree sells in the wedding section. If you are a hoarder of the little soap bars from hotel stays, they might possubly be an option, too.

But then, I wondered if the rub on transfers would work. After a trial and error of trying to apply the transfer to just the soap and the transfer wouldn’t rub off, I decided it might work if I applied a layer of decoupage medium first. I used a water-based sealer (in this case the Wise Owl clear one hour enamel, but any water-based top coat would work). That did it! The rub on transfers worked perfectly then. I used a variety of rub ons I had. Some were just left over from other projects. I’m sure left over pieces of the high end rub ons would work also.

I sealed each bar with two coats of sealer and they fit perfectly in the little bags. I also noticed Dollar General sells the bags, too, but they are an off white. I like the white color of the Dollar Trees ones better. I plan on selling them for $4 each.

A Rustic Wire Lampshade/Cloche

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You learn something new every day. I bought two of these wire rustic forms at Goodwill. One for me and one for my friend.

They were called lampshades. But Danny and I couldn’t figure out how they could possibly work.

They appeared to be new and they had about 6 of them. I was wishing I would have bought more because we figured we could cut the wires out of the bottom and make cloches. One had a bigger hole and I was able to wedge a candle wreath holder and candle through it. 😬

Danny just now went to cut the wires and called me to come take a look. He tugged hard and pulled on the bottom out and Folks….we have a lampshade. 😂😂 I wonder if the original owners wondered what kind of lampshades they had gotten and sent them off to goodwill. They were hard to pull out.

Anyway, he did cut the bottom wires off on one because it fits perfectly on a charger plate and will look beautiful decorated French Country style for my friend’s dining room table.

The other we are leaving for now because I’d like to try it on my pendant light in my kitchen. I think the top hole is too small for it, though. Maybe Danny can figure it out. If not, I will spread it flat for a different kind of cloche.