DIY Headboard

I know I’ve been MIA for a while, but don’t you worry -- I’ve left time for a little crafting here and there. My most recent project was building a headboard for my bed. I was surprised at how easy this project turned out to be.  I found an old attic door at a local “vintique” store in Knoxville. This DIY would easily work with any old door, depending on your bed size. I’ll admit, my attic door is a bit small for my queen-sized bed, but I just couldn’t pass up this charming old white door.

Supplies:

-an old wooden door

-a tape measure

-two 2x4's to serve as posts for your headboard **You’ll need to measure the height of your bed and door (height of door when laying horizontally, that is) to figure out what size pieces of wood to buy.

-a drill

-12 wood screws, long enough to drill through your wood slats and half of your door

First off, make sure your 2x4's are flat on the bottom, so that they will stand up level on the ground. Now lay your door face down on the ground (so that the back is facing up), and line up where you will connect your 2x4's. You are essentially just attaching the wooden posts to the back of your door to act as legs. It’s a good idea to have the wood run almost to the top of your door for added support. Most importantly, align your wood so that the legs match the height of your bed (so your wooden legs won’t be visible). I used a tape measure to do this, and I drew a line where the wood should align with the edge of the door.

Once you’ve lined the wood up how you want it, secure your legs by drilling 6 screws into each post. Place two screws at the top of your slat, two in the middle, and two at the bottom.

Flip your door over, stand it up, and you’ve got yourself a new headboard!

 It may be a good idea to paint the top of your wooden legs the same color as your door, just in case an inch or two shows when you forget to make your bed! My door was a vintage white color, and I happened to have extra spray paint leftover from my window frame shelf. So, I just spray painted the top half of my legs, and now I never have to fret about raw wood peeking out. Here’s my finished product. I simply stood it up against the wall and pushed my bed up against it.

P.S.  Recognize those lamps on a string? They finally found a home above my bed!

-A

Read More

DIY Vintage Dresser

I’ve spent the past few days searching through just about every thrift store in Knoxville looking for an old dresser to re-do. Unfortunately, I just never found one that I loved. I knew I had a cheap Target dresser stored somewhere, but, being that it’s made out of cheap wood and particle wood, I thought there was no way I could re-do it. Well, it wasn’t until I ran out of thrift stores that I turned to my storage closet. I pulled the dresser out to see what I could possibly make of it. After some brainstorming and some suggestions, I came up with a plan. I was so pleasantly surprised with my end product that I had to share! The neat thing about this furniture tutorial is that you could probably find almost the exact dresser at Target or Walmart.

Materials Needed:

a dresser

enough slats of wood to cover the top of your dresser (mine took 7 pieces of 2.5x33” wood)

power saw

wood screws

drill

wood stain & a paint brush (my stain is Minwax Weathered Oak 270)

tape

knobs of your choice

medium grit and fine grit sandpaper

Measure the top of your dresser and determine how you need to cut your wood to fit it.

Mark your pieces of wood and cut them with your power saw.

It may seem like you could lay your pieces on your dresser in any order, but there is actually a little strategy to it. Try different pieces of wood in different places, and eventually they should sort of fit together. Mark tiny numbers on each piece so you know where they go.

Sand each piece of wood with medium grit sandpaper followed by fine grit sandpaper. Wipe down each piece of wood with a wet paper towel.

Starting at one end of your dresser, place your first piece of wood down. Firmly hold it in place and drill a small pilot hole in one side. Now, screw in a wood screw. Drill a hole in the other side and in the middle, and screw your wood screws in those holes too.  Follow this procedure for each piece of wood, making sure your screws are aligned. Some of my pieces of wood were warped, so I had someone push my piece of wood against the dresser as I screwed it in to prevent a bumpy surface.

After your pieces of wood are all attached, tape the dresser directly under your wood.

Paint a layer of stain on your wood and wait 15 minutes. Now, wipe your wood with a rag. Let your stain sit for 4-6 hours.

While your stain is drying, you can change out your knobs! I found mine at Home Depot for $1.20 each.

After your knobs are in, sand the corners and edges of your dresser. I did most of my distressing on my drawers, because they were the best quality wood, and thus, easiest to sand down.

After 4-6 hours have passed, you can decide whether you want to add another layer of stain or not. If so, just repeat the same process as earlier. (I did 3 layers of stain on mine.) 

Let all that stain dry, and there you are -- your vintage dresser is complete! It hardly looks like the same piece of furniture if you ask me. :)

-A

Read More

DIY Vintage Nightstand

This DIY project was partially a gift, but I ended up getting to help out with the end process. A certain someone took note of my 7524805714 pins of distressed mint green furniture and took action… :)

DIY Vintage Distressed Nightstand

All this project calls for is an old piece of furniture (in my case a nightstand), sandpaper, an old candle (or candle wax), primer, and paint!

1. Find your old nightstand. (Try Goodwill or a garage sale!)

2. Clean it with a wet rag and dry it.

3. Detach all handles.

4. Sand down the entire piece of furniture using medium grit sand paper followed by fine grit sandpaper (if you’re lucky enough to have an electric sander, this step would be much quicker). Also, you can create notches, rough patches, etc. with a knife if you want.

5. Wipe away all excess dust with wet rag and dry.

6. Using an old candle- or piece of candle- wax all the edges of your furniture and any other places you want the wood to show through.

7. Now, paint your entire piece of furniture with interior latex primer. Allow the primer to dry (most primer dries relatively fast).

8. Once the primer is dry, paint the piece with the color of your choice (my paint is just Walmart interior flat paint, color- Norwegian Vintage Green). Since you’re going for a distressed look, only one layer of paint is necessary. Let the paint dry.

9. Using fine grit sandpaper, scrape off the paint where you previously rubbed the wax (you can scrape off as little or as much as you’d like, depending on how distressed you want your piece). For this part, make sure you sand lightly. You can also use the back edge of a butter knife to distress smaller areas that are difficult to do with sandpaper.

10. Don’t forget to reattach your handles! (if your original handles are not-so-cute try Hobby Lobby for some cuter ones!)

And there you are. Your own custom-made vintage nightstand- of course much cheaper than any you’d see at an antique store :)

-A

Read More