Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Unfinished Furniture

Unfinished furniture is a great way to get exactly the look you want.  You can paint it, you can stain it, you can make it any finish you would like.  The best part...you don't have to be super artistic.  AC Moore and Michaels are a great place to get unfinished tables and shelves.   They run sales on their unfinished wood all the time (it's worth waiting for the sale - usually 1/3 off).


This side table above is from AC Moore which I bought a few years ago as a night table for my son's room.  It came unfinished with two drawers.  I first sanded the piece completely using a 220 grit sandpaper.  I next painted it using leftover paint from a bed we had painted.  It is painted a navy blue.  It came with basic knobs which I replaced with the baseball knobs.  I got the knobs at Target.  In less than an hour I had a great little table using left over paint.  Total cost was under $30.

This is a table I made for a friend's daughter's bedroom. Again, it started out as an unfinished table bought from Michaels.   I was decorating her room in lavender, pink and green.  The top of the table is a piece of 12x12 scrap book paper which I trimmed to fit and decoupaged to the top of the table.  The rest I just used my imagination and started painting.  I made a simple bubble letter for her initial which I filled in with paint and the white dots were made using a sponge brush (also sold at Michaels and AC Moore) in the shape of a dot.  Total cost under $20.


This is my favorite little table.  I made this table when my daughter was a few months old.  I sanded it, and painted it white.  I would suggest using a primer.  I didn't and after a few years the yellowness of the wood underneath is seeping through.  I may be re-doing this piece in the near future.  For the top and little shelf below I used a checkerboard stencil.  For my daughter's first and middle name I again used a stencil, but instead of paint, I used colored pencils.  I actually couldn't believe how well the pencils worked.  I wanted some flowers and butterflies on the piece but wasn't that confident in my ability to paint them.  Instead I bought rub-on decals (the kind they sell in Michaels/AC Moore where you use a popsicle stick to rub them on).  It looks like paint, even up close.

View of the top of the table

How about making shelves to match your child's decor?  These were so easy.  Again, I sanded and painted a base coat (one was pink and one was white).  I then used blue painters tape to tape off the stripes.  Again I used the rub on decals for the flowers and butterflies.


Rub-on decals are the best.  They make me look like a great artist.

Hope you try one of these projects at home.  Please forward me your pictures.  I would love to share them.

-Judy


I am joining Debbiedoos for her before and after party. Come take a look.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Judy thanks so much for joining in today. Was this your first party? FYI, every Friday I have a thrift one too. What you need to do which is simple...is either add my button or link letting everyone know that you are participating in the party. You do that for all linkie parties you join. Which there are tons...you will find your favs. Mine are small, which I like, the gals seem to be very good at visiting eachother. Which I recommend you visit a few too, the girls would love to see your blog. I love your HOME:) thanks so much.

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  2. Ok...first go to edit your post...at the end of your last paragraph...you can type I am joining Debbiedoos for her before and after party....then highlight that Debbiedoos for her before and after party...hit the link you will see it by the little picture box.....then add my blog URL...now you can copy and paste it right in there too. You will see a lot of blogging is copy and paste. Also you will see on my side bar my little button debbiedoos...if you just copied the letteres in the box below and pasted it to the edit post, that would work too. You will figure all this out in due time. Hope that helps

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  3. Hi! I'm coming over from Debbie's Party and just have to say, OH MY GOODNESS!!! Your home is gorgeous and I am so glad you joined in the blogging fun/madness! :-) I already went through all your previous posts and drooled over everything. You have a lot of talent and I hope to see much more of you here in blogland! Hop over and say hi if you get a chance sometime!
    I'm a new follower now too!
    Vanessa
    P.S. There are a lot of linky parties out there (Debbie's is one of the best!) and I also host one every Friday if you would like to join in the fun!

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  4. This was fantastic info ive been commrnting on blogs for weeks trying to increase my page rank this will really help me thanks.

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  5. The room is beautiful. I love that striped shelf with the decals. Love decals too!

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  6. Hi, hope all is well with you.Looking forward to you updating your adorable blog soon.

    Susan Graham

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  7. I really like to work with unfinished furniture for its solid wood quality and to be able to do cool projects like these.

    If you don't have an Unfinished furniture store in your area you might try SunnyBrook Furniture as I know they ship nationally. Here is their web address http://www.sunnybrookfurniture.com

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