Bags and Rags Tips: trash to treasure

Showing posts with label trash to treasure. Show all posts

Thrifty Thursday

I just wanted to share a little project that I completed recently.

I got this coffee table at my local thrift store. I loved the lines of it, and thought it had great potential. The finish HAD to go though...

I topped it with a quick coat of primer, and followed up with a couple coats of "oops" paint that I found at the Home Depot. I sanded it a little, for a distressed look.

Then finished the whole thing off with a couple coats of poly. I LOVED the original hardware, so I just gave it a quick coat of black spray paint...

What do you think...do you like how it turned out? If you're in Arizona and are interested in purchasing this table, leave a comment and I can work out a GREAT deal for you!!

Giving Lamp Shades New Life

Danielle from EatBreatheBlog is sharing tips of how to dress up your existing lamp shades. Great ideas to use what you have to change up your decor.

Creative and Inexpensive Lamp Shades
A lamp shade can set the mood for any room. A bland, plain lamp shade can set the tone of understatement and boring. Lamp shades should do more than just soften light in the room. It should be a reflection of your personality and style. It should also bring character to a room. There is no need to spend loads of cash on expensive lamp shades, when a personalized inexpensive lamp shade will do just fine. Purchase a plain light-colored lamp shade that matches the color tones in your room. Pick any of the following ideas, or come up with your own to personalize it.

Magazine Articles
Magazines are notorious for having gorgeous pictures. The pictures can be beautiful scenes, funny sayings, cartoons, creative shapes and characters. You can also put all of your to-be-recycled direct mail advertisements to use by cutting out letters and lifestyle images. Simply sort through your old magazines and direct mail postcards, and find pictures you like that suit your tastes and room decor. Cut them out and use

spray glue to adhere them to your lamp shade. Let the lamp shade and article completely dry for a few hours before handling it.

Creative Thought: For a toddler’s room, find a character your child likes and cut them out. Glue them to an inexpensive lamp shade. Let the glue completely dry in a well vented area. Should your toddler get a hold of the lamp shade, you will only have to spend a few bucks to recreate it.

Leftover Trims

Just about every sewing box has leftover trims and notions. Old buttons make great colorful additions to a lamp shade. For a classier look use any lace remnants you have. Simply hot glue the lace trims to the bottom and top rim of the lamp shade. In seconds you have transformed a plain lampshade into a personalized, gorgeous addition to your room.

Creative Thought: Embroidery floss can be used to make patterns on any plain lamp shade. Simply unroll a section of floss. Dip the floss in plain white glue. Use your imagination to create patterns with the floss. You can make swirls, free-form shapes, basic shapes (like squares, circles, triangles) or spell things out (like names, "go team" and more). Do one section at a time so that it can dry without sliding out of position due to gravity.

Flowers
Silk flowers can be found at your local dollar store or craft store. The great thing about silk flowers is you can find them in any color, size or style that fits your room and personality. You can accent a shade with a few flowers or cover the entire shade with blooms.

Source: http://rosyredbuttons.blogspot.com

Creative Thought: To soften a room and add a year-round, spring feeling, find pastel flowers to match your room. Cover the entire shade by clipping the bloom close to the base of the flower. Use a hot glue gun to glue the flowers in place. Add sprigs of silk baby's breath to soften the flowers. Finish by adding a touch of lace (as mentioned above) to the bottom rim of the lamp shade. During the winter try creating a shade using poinsettias.

Lamp shades can add so much character and warmth to a room. Do not settle for a store-bought rendition of what someone else designed, when it is simple to create your own. You will not only save money, but have a personal touch to talk about with guests.

Thanks for sharing Danielle! Don't forget to check out her blog,EatBreatheBlog. Lots of great information on health, wellness, and life.

Would you like to do a guest post on A lil bird? We would love to have you feature a project, your blog, or anything that strikes your fancy. Email us at bagsnrags3 (at) gmail (dot) com, we look forward to hearing from you!

Friday Freebie...and a FAIL!

Do you ever have a project that you work on FOR DAYS, only to have it not turn out? That is what happened with my original project for today. FAIL! So I will be posting about a project I did a couple years ago~~ it wasn't free, but very inexpensive~~to my delight!

I found an old desk, similar to this at a yard sale, I offered $5.00 and the woman was happy to get rid of it.

I used my trusty sander, and scuffed up the finish a bit.

After a coat of primer, and three cans of this...

I ended up with this! It resides in my living/dining room, and I get comments about it all the time from visitors.

I love the little details and the pretty feet.

What do you think? What projects have you started and FAILED? Happy Weekend!

Friday Freebie... bedside table update

It's so great that I'm posting about free furniture finds. If you'd have told me 10 years ago that I would be uploading pictures of my "redos" on the computer, and allowing people to see the progress, I would have never believed it! This redo features a little bedside table that I picked up for my first-born. It was a roadside rescue, and was heavy as could be! I pulled my little 2 door car over, and hefted it into my tiny trunk. It just needed a quick coat of cream spray paint, and it was good to go!

That was 10+ years ago. This little table's been through 3 more kiddos, and it's age was starting to show!

I wasn't able to get to the store, and had to use paint that I had on hand...
PINK I think! I only had a half a can left, but knew I could line the inside of the table with wrapping paper. I focused on getting the outside painted really thoroughly.

While my paint was drying, I measured and cut this paper to line the inside.

Here's the finished table...I love the vintage look of it!

A close up... added a couple little friends, and our "G" block.

The original knob...

It really adds a little "pop" to baby's room.

Bedroom lamp redo..redo

You may remember this little lamp redo that I did a few months ago. My lamps went from this...

to this...

I decided to use a pair of lampshades that I picked up during a thrifting escapade, but the cream base with the cream shade just wasn't working.

Thus, another makeover was in store for this pair. I bagged them, and taped them up really good.

Then sent them outside for a couple coats of this...

In the meantime, I cut some fabric strips and rolled some roses for my lampshades. You can find my tutorial for this here.

I attached them to my shade and popped it back on top of my newly painted lamp.

I like the contrast much better, but it's almost like I've gone back to the original. What do you think?

Dig it out and use it up!

I have been Spring Cleaning for the past week, and one thing that I realized, is that I collect too much stuff throughout the year. I am from a long line of collectors. My grandfather had an entire orchard of things, mostly machinery, that he collected. My mother has a couple craft rooms filled with her wonderful collections. If I had the luxury of a craft room, it would be filled to the brim with crafts and my collections. It's probably a good thing that I don't own more square footage, because I keep way too much stuff as it is.

One of the things that I collect, and would love to use in my home, is vintage sheets. I buy them with the intent to use them in a sewing project, but it's too hard for me to cut them to bits.

I also collect fabric. It seems that whenever I find fabric that's on clearance, if it's in a shade of color I like, I buy a couple yards. This little obsession has led to quite a few baskets FULL of fabric.

I had a couple sick kiddos this weekend, so we couldn't leave the house. I decided it was a good time to get to work on some quilt covers for my girls. I was able to dig through my baskets of fabric and pull together some fabrics that coordinated well enough for this project.

My first attempt... big floral in the center was a little too over-powering. When I laid it on the bed, I didn't like it at all.

Second attempt...I love a plaid and floral mix, but wanted a little more color.

Final attempt... I found this cute plaid, buried in a basket, after I had cut all my green plaid strips. I started over with the multi-colored plaid. It may be too busy for some, but i think it's FUN!

Friday Freebie.... the haul

Okay, I don't actually have a project to blog about today, because it's our bulk trash pickup week, and I've been too busy hauling stuff home. I know some of you are cringing right now, "yuck...someone else's crap!" I just have to say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and there isn't anything a little Lysol and paint can't fix-up.

Specimen #1: Check out this awesome VINTAGE lamp!

Specimen #2: A pair of folding chairs...great for lounging outside.

Specimen #3, #4 and #5: A COFFEE table! I don't love the finish on this baby, but the curvy-ness is AWESOME! A pair of glass cabinet fronts, and a tri-fold mirror.

Specimen #6: Smallish dresser with all it's DOVE-TAILED drawers in perfect working order.

Specimen #7: An ENORMOUS frame. The glass was "not included" with this one, but I think I can still make it work.

As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me. Be sure to visit on Fridays to see how my projects turn out.

Friday Freebie

My hubby and I were cleaning out the garage last weekend, and we almost threw out this little table. It was just a roadside rescue that I had been putting off working on. The truth is I thought it needed a lot of work, and didn't know if it was worth it.

I told myself to spend just an hour on it, and see what I came up with. So here it is in the beginning...I know, why did I even bother rescuing it from the roadside, right?