'Up'- Purposing

'Up' - purposing.

I like that word so much better than re-purposing.

Mostly, because I feel like when you re-purpose pieces of furniture/decor you are really making them better.  You are giving them a face lift. And that's exactly what Bill and I have been doing to various pieces around our house.

The following are a few of my latest projects.

THE KNIFE BLOCK.

Have you ever seen a knife block that wasn't unflattering to the counter that its presence graces?

I really can't say that I have.

And ours was no exception, so I decided to add some character to it.

 

First, I popped off the ugly Farberware emblem.

 

I didn't worry about sanding out the scuff it made since I planned to distress it anyways.

Bill recently introduced me to the 'oops' paint section at Home Depot, which I absolutely LOVE for small projects. 

I snagged the can pictured below for just 50 cents!!!

It's called Cloud Burst and it's the perfect shade of turquoise.

  

 

I painted on a few coats with a sponge brush and let dry.

In the meantime, I painted and distressed this tile block I found for around $2.

 I gave the knife block a rough sand with 180 grit sand paper, and attached the tile to the front to give it a little decorative flare.

 

Then I glazed the entire piece.

 

In less than an hour, we went from having an ugly block of wood on our counter top to having a nice pop of color on an unexpected item.

Next came the COAT RACK.

Bill had been 'mentioning' for a few weeks that he'd like for me to re-do the coat rack, as it was sponged white and blue and didn't really go with anything else in our house.

By mentioning, I mean he's lovingly suggested that the coat rack could use some of my TLC.  I may have laughed when he told me that he 'mentions' projects repeatedly, because he knows one day I will wake up and say, "That really needs to be done."  He's planting the 'idea' seed.  

He told me that this coat rack had been passed down through a few generations, but I didn't know the full story of where it had come from until my Mother-in-Law told me yesterday.  It was actually his great-uncles.

I love pieces that have a story.  They mean so much more than the cheaply made pieces of pressed wood/veneer covered furniture that is for sale in most furniture stores today.

 

I removed the hooks and got to work.

I used the same color of paint as I did on the knife block, but I distressed this piece more, and added a water stain.

Water staining is adding part water and stain, and wiping the product off with a wet cloth after brushing it on.

The stain adheres to the sanded portions, and mostly wipes off of the paint.

While the stain was drying, I spray painted the hooks with Rust-Oleum's Hammered Brown.

 

 

I didn't realize it until I put the coat rack back in the foyer, but the color goes really well with the painting my Mother-in-Law painted of Bill's 57.

On a side note: I'm pretty sure I have Bill convinced that it's time to get rid of the 1990 white tile.

Actually, the conversation went more like this:

Me:  That tile REALLY needs to be replaced.

Bill:  *silence*

Me: You know it won't take that long to remove it.  It's a small space.

Bill:  *a long, drawn out moment of silence*

We have more pressing projects...like the office and laundry room.

Me: I know. But you may just come home one day and part of it will be removed.

Bill: *silence*

Me: How mad would you be if you came home from work one day and it was gone?

Bill:  I love you!

Me:  No, seriously.  Would you be mad?

Bill:  *silence*

Me:  Staring at him until he starts laughing.  

We go downstairs to get a snack and when we are going back upstairs he asks, "What would you want to put down in here?"

Me:  I have NO idea, but something needs to happen because that tile is ugly.

Bill: Laughing at my response.

Of course I have no idea, it was just a random thought that I thought he'd immediately shut down.

BUT....Yes!!!  He's 'thinking' about it.  The 'idea seed' has been planted in him this time. Lol.

Not to mention, we need the practice if we are going to buy an old farmhouse to gut and remodel.  :)

Last project of the day yesterday.

NAME SIGN.

After supper, Bill went outside to mow and work on burning all of the scraps we had leftover from our table project.  Needless to say, I stopped him mid-way through and asked him to cut me a slat from one of the remaining pallets.  

A few months ago, I went to Indy for the weekend to visit E, and in true form we ran to the craft store to get a few things.

I ended up finding these really cool black and white post card letters to spell out our last name.

We've been planning to do a photo collage wall in our bedroom, but I haven't been able to a 5 opening picture frame that I liked, so the post cards were just sitting on our dresser.  I decided Mod Podging them to a pallet slat was the perfect solution.

After Bill cut the slat off for me, I removed the old nails and gave it a quick sand with 180 grit sand paper.

  

Using the same paint as I did on the other two projects, I painted a base coat on the board.

Once it dried, I white washed it.

   

Then distressed, and brushed a thin coat of Mod Podge on it.

I placed the letters on and covered the entire board with another coat of Mod Podge.

 

I absolutely love how this piece turned out, although we have yet to decide where to put it.

It's currently perched atop our fireplace mantel, but I think I'm going to end up putting it on the built-in in the living room.  

That is, after I repaint and reorganize it tomorrow.