Crafts from my Couch

Friday, October 12, 2012

Dining Room Seating

During our last weekend garage sale-ing adventure, we stumbled upon dining-room furniture that was just too good to pass up. While we had plans to make "free benches," out of an old pallet, the cost of the legs, hardware, and stress would have actually been way greater than what we paid for these three gems.

This lovely little piano bench was only $8. We were in love with the fun vintage fabric, which wouldn't actually match our dining room set. But we knew we could use the fabric elsewhere when we removed it from this piece.

And these seat-less chairs were only a buck each!

Granted, they were gross.

And missing some very crucial pieces, but that didn't scare us away.

We soaped them down, and sanded all the rough spots, and then added a few coats of paint.

Already looking better.

Now for upholstering... Alan brought the chairs and the bench into the hardware store with him and got some pieces of plywood cut to the exact measurements. Each chair needed one for the seat, but he also got one for the bench which already had a seat. We painted this piece white, and used it to turn the bench into a storage space. More on that later. While he was at the store, he also got a dowel to fit between the legs of the bench to help it's wobble factor.

While the paint dried, we stapled 8 layers of quilter's batting to the seats.

Looking oh-so-comfortable, wouldn't you say?

And then we stretched and stapled some gray suede-ish fabric on top.

I know this is a crazy angle, but to get the seats to fit snugly onto the chairs I literally had to sit on them while Alan laid underneath and drilled from the bottom.

Don't the chairs look SO MUCH CLASSIER?

For the bench, Alan drilled the painted plywood into the underside, flipped it over, and attached the seat with some small hinges, to allow us to flip it open.

Then he had a stroke of genius. If we were going to be flipping the bench open all the time, the backside of that seat should be adorable too.

So he added some amazing, bright, vintage sheet fabric we scored a few weeks back. To avoid visible staples, he used an iron-on fusible to attach it.

PERFECT!

Total Cost and Time Invested:

3 or 4 hours

Furniture: $10

Sand paper: Free (already owned)

Screws: Free (already owned)

Plywood +Cuts: $8.19

Paint: $14.99

Dowel: $4.59

Batting (garage sale): $0.50

Gray Fabric (cut from a garage sale curtain): $0.50

Bright fabric (Cut from garage sale sheets): $0.50

Total: $39.27

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Our Tiny Garden

Two weeks ago, our plan was to skillfully turn a couple of free pallets into a dining room table and matching benches. I had suprisingly little apprehension for a person who owns NO TOOLS, and possesses NO SKILLS.

Alan had enough apprehension for both of us. But he was managing to be supportive. He even "blue steeled" it when I took a picture of him sawing the pallet in half by hand. He's amazing.

A week later we scored some amazing dining room furnature and gave up on the idea to turn that pallet into benches.

So we were left with a sawed in half pallet... and Alan's dream of a garden.

He took the two halves, flipped them on their sides, and screwed them together using some scrap wood from the hardware store. He lined the bin with some shade material and filled it with compost and lovely eatible plants.

Red Lettuce

Pansies

Basil

Spinach

Dill

And Rainbow Chard (Yes!)

Total Time and Money Invested:

Around 2 hours

Pallet: Free on Craigslist

Screws: Already owned

Wood Scraps: Free

Shade screen: $6.00

Compost: $5.99

Plants: $10.00

Total: $21.99

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Lamp Love

Remember when we scored these ugly lamps for $2.50 each?

And they were disgustingly covered in animal fur?

Time for a remake!

Supplies:

Cream colored spray paint: Free (already owned)

Rit dye in blue and green: $2.60 at Michael's

Sand Paper: free (already owned)

Blue Tape: $5.93

First, I sanded down the bases, so that the paint might stick better.

Then I taped up anything that I didn't want paint on, and gave them a few coats of spray paint.

After using some additional tape to remove cat hair, I made a small cup of water and the dyes, and painted it on the shades.

I was super disappointed with the blotchy result, so I filled the sink with water and dye and dipped them in for a minute each. I didn't rinse, because whatever the shades are made of didn't hold the dye very well.

Much happier, I set the shades out to dry...

Ta-da! New lamps!

I love how they go with the quilt.

And how much softer their light is than the overhead one. Also, the only other light in our room is turned on and off by climbing up onto the bed and pulling on the chain connected to the fan, so these are SO MUCH EASIER.

Mostly though, I love that they don't look like old lamps from the 80's anymore. Yea!

Total time and money invested:

A few hours

and $13.53

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Week 38: Fenceboard Wall Hanging

Hey! Remember when I picked up all this GORGEOUS ceder fencing for free?! Remember how I was obsessed with it, but Alan was feeling warily supportive? Remember how it then lived in the trunk/backseat of the car for weeks, and our car got super buggy? Well I've made something out of it!

I'm actually still in the process of making a table top with it, but I finished an art piece with some scraps. Yeah!

I had to cut it all up into much smaller pieces. So I had to figure out how to use this crazy saw thing. I'm basically amazing at it, seeing as I still have all my fingers.

And look at those smooth lines...

So I took some left overs of differing widths and laid them out to make some signs...

LOVE this scrappy wood.

Then I flipped them over and added some scrap wood left over from a friend's wine rack project. I screwed them together with a drill. Slightly challenging because of the wood's OLD quality. Notice I didn't say "poor quality."

Then I nailed a heart into the front of the wood. I drew a heart on some magazine pages, cut it out, and nailed all around the edges. I LOVE plump hearts so that's what I made.

Then I strung twine all around it, and decided that this heart is too plump. Filled in with twine, all I could see was a butt. Bummer.

So I pulled some of the nails out and re-wound the twine. The nail holes aren't too noticeable thanks to the somewhat holey nature of the wood.

Then I made an E for Erin...

And an A for Alan, to go around the heart.

Because that's the truth friends. Man I love that guy. I love how patient he's been with this garage sale-ing, wood gathering adventure I'm dragging him along on. I love how he fixes up my bike for me without me having to point out that I don't know about bikes. I love how hard working he's been, even though his current job is part time, which means I'm "bringin' home the bacon." I love how he actually makes sure to pick up bacon to cook for me when I'm on my way to work, and how he wakes up with me at 5:30 so he can send me to work with a warm breakfast and a lunch with little notes and a sandwich shaped like a heart. I love this guy, and art that proclaims it.

A few more notes on making this art:

If you're working with antique wood like me, you may need to shout expletives every now and then, when all the nails and screws come out. This might be an easier project with newer wood.
To hang the signs, I screwed eye-hooks into the pieces of wood that hold it all together. I figured that the older wood wouldn't be strong enough to hold it together.
I tied a piece of twine between each hook, and then hung it on a nail. SO EASY!

Supplies and Cost

Wood (free scraps of fencing)

Twine (Free, left over from wedding crafting)

Screws (Free, left over from table project)

Huge box of Nails ($4.59)

Eye Hooks (free, in possession)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Furnish Our Apartment With Free Stuff Challenge! Running Total: $129.75

Remember when we moved to Turkey and sold (almost) everything we owned? Furniture, decor, clothing, books, movies, games... EVERYTHING that wasn't a handmade family heirloom?

Well, we're back, and starting fresh. We have nothing but a few quilts, and stuff that made it back with us from Turkey. Also, we have no money. AAAND... we have a fresh outlook on life: we don't want to be such consumers, such buyers, such owners.

We want to reduce the amount of useless crap that clutters our lives. We want to reuse and recycle someone else's previously loved stuff. We want to give new life to something that looks un-savable. And maybe, we want to turn a profit on it in the next six months.

'Cus, oh yeah, we're heading out of the country again sometime next year (fingers crossed). Absolutely no part of me wants to spend a bunch of money amassing all new stuff to give away and sell at a fraction of what we paid for it.

So here's the challenge: Over the next six months we will get everything we can for free, or next to free. We wont collect things we don't need unless they are free, or borrowed. At the end of our time in SLO, we will try to sell/donate all of our things for more than we paid for them. (I realize you don't get paid for donations. I'm just saying, that in total, the amount we spend on our apartment furnishings should be less than the amount we earn later.)

As a way to keep track of this goal, I will add to this post all of the treasures that we amass, and the amount we spent on them. Throughout the next six months I will craft-with/up-cycle many of them. And in six months we'll see if we can earn our money back.
As a gift to the reader, I'll put most recent purchases and finds first. Your welcome.
Unfortunately you'll still have to scroll to the bottom to see the running total, because I just can't put the total in the middle.

October 1st-7th
Super comfy chair and ottoman that definitely need to be recovered. Moving sale. (If you are thinking about becoming the garage sale-ing type, your best bet for great buys are moving sales. These people aren't just getting rid of the crap they don't want anymore, they're getting rid of everything which means you can get some good things. Also, they're getting rid of everything because they can't continue to store it, so they'll sell it for CHEAP.)
$5

2 Chairs. Listed for $2 each, but one had some wood glue issues, they were both looking pretty grimey, and they were missing seats. I hesitated for a moment, and the girl cut the price in half. Woohoo! Garage Sale.
$2

Up-cycled here.

Bench. Same garage sale as above. The bench is pretty wobbly (nothing a dowel wont fix), and the seat comes off (secret bonus), so a bit more hesitation, and the price was slashed from $10 to...
$8

Up-cycled here.

Pans Alan has been dying for. Moving sale.
$3

We were specifically not supposed to buy more fabric, but 4 curtain panels for a dolla'? Moving sale.
$1

Used here.

Large plastic container for Alan's surf stuff. Moving sale.
$1

A bunch of things for a buck. I wouldn't normally have spent a dollar on any of these things, but when I go to a garage sale, and only buy one small thing, I don't feel like I have too much haggling power. So a scarf, a bathmat, and gym sized toiletry bottles...
$3

Alan has been on the hunt for a tea kettle. Good thing I found the most beautiful one EVER. Garage sale.
$1

Large pot. We officially need no more pots. Rummage sale.
FREE!

This week's total:$31

Also... I've been borrowing a friend's BEAUTIFUL orange bike for the past 3 weeks. I love everything about it, except that now my friend and I can't go on bike rides together, cus she doesn't have a bike anymore. So when I saw this bike + replacement tires at a school rummage sale marked $35, I hesitated. It had already been marked down from $45, and when the guy walked by, he dropped it to $20! I was sold. Unfortunately, we only had $7 left in our wallet, so we decided to head to the bank. On our way out we ran into the school owner, who slashed the price again (conveniently to $7) and threw in the big pot above, for free! It's great to know people.
$7

September 24th-30th:
2 small end tables that we're using as night stands: free from a friend! She says we can sell them later, because she doesn't want them ever again, but we'll check back before we sell the gorgeous brown one.
$0

Both will need some love and refinishing, but they are so sweet!

Tupperware! Or fakerware as the friends who gifted it to us called it, but something to store all of our food in! My husband is beyond happy.
$0

Blender: Gift-back! When we moved two years ago, our friends took it as a back-up. This week they brought it back to us!
$0

Matching lamps: first order of business is cat hair removal, second is a coat of spray paint, and third is lampshade recovering. These are gonna be darling. Garage sale.
$5

Up-cycled here.

2 Throw Pillows to be cleaned and covered for the couch. Garage sale.
$0.50

Little vase filled with kitchen tools. Garage sale.
$0.25

Laundry basket. Garage sale.
$0.50

Mini cutting board. All that scummy stuff washed right off. Garage sale.
$0.50

Wicker Basket: for holding all of our crafts-in-progress. My foot made it into the picture for scale. Garage sale.
$0.50

Canvas (Army?) Bag: We have a plan to get rid of all of the ENORMOUS and HEAVY suitcases we own, and replace them with bags like these. We'll need to add some straps. NBD. Garage sale.
$0.50

3 Bath Towels. Garage sale.
$1.50

1 flat sheet, 1 fitted sheet, and 2 pillow cases. Garage sale. Kinda pricey, but still in original packaging, and will make GREAT fabric.
$5

2 Bowls and a Can Opener: We NEEDED a can opener (Alan opened one with a pocket knife this week), and he fell in love with the so-ugly-and-oldschool-that-they're-beautiful-look of the bowls. Garage sale.
$2

Vintage sheets and pillow cases. Alan fell in love with these too. Garage sale.
$2

Used here.

Set of 4 Cloth Napkins. Garage sale.
$0.50

2 Garbage Cans. Not exciting but SUPER necessary. Garage sale.
$1.50

Travel Sized Hair Dryer. Straight hair for the first time in 3 weeks! Garage sale.
$0.50

And the find that makes my heart sing...
This lovely dresser! Check out the engraving! And the cute little drawers! Now imagine it with the child engraved stars sanded off, and painted a bold color. We're thinking navy for the outside, and tangerine for the inside of the drawers. I CAN'T WAIT!! And the best part was the price! I told myself to be calm, and not let the lady know how badly she was under-selling this. That came out like me jumping up and down and shrieking "SOOOOOLD!" Then some guy tried to buy it and I tried to be polite: "Sorry... No I'm not BECAUSE IT'S MIIIIINE!" Polite wasn't in the cards I guess. Garage sale.
$5!

This week's total: $25.75

September 17th-23rd:

Bed: full mattress, box spring, frame, foam top, pad, sheet set, pillows, and throw pillows shown in another picture.

Note: We were willing to pay $50 to a friend of ours for all of this stuff because while we could get this for free on Craigslist, we were squeamish about sleeping on a bed that might be totally gross.

$50

Lamp: on lone from a friend, so free, but not something we can sell later.

Ottoman: Shed Shopping! Borrowed from Alan's sister and brother in law. Free, but not for sale.

Coffee table: More shed shopping!

Book Shelf: Shed Shopping

Chest: Alan's heirloom, borrowed from the parents. Maybe used for a seat, or an end table.

4 pallets, to be used to build a table and a couch. That's right guys, The Craft Couch just got more meaningful. Craig's Listed.

Up-cycled here.

Pillows to be used on said couch. Some are on loan from a friend with a smaller than usual apartment, some are from a garage sale.

LOTS of different fabrics (table cloths, curtains, pillow shams, lace, crochet, and linen), for covering the multitude of pillows we will need for our couch. Garage sale.