Change is so good.  Paint is SO great.   Putting a fresh coat of paint on something can change a whole room.  I bought this old black coffee table on craigslist back in September of 2012 for 40 bucks.  I knew I would paint it at some point but was fine with the black for those winter months.  I added glass to the top after I bought it which made it look a bit better, but I just got replacement window glass so it didn’t fit perfectly.  I am so excited about this because the colors turned out just how I wanted.     First I brought the coffee table outside and prepped my work area.

 Matt and I got out our trusty sanders.

We got to work.  Matt used the belt sander and it killed it compared to my softer sander.

But we got the job done! We also found this circular sander which worked really well.

We got very tired on sanding and figured we didn’t need to sand everything down perfectly because we were using a 2 in 1 paint and primer.  Once it was mostly sanded we cleaned off all of the dust and dirt.

The sun was beating down so this pic is washed out a bit, but this is after a double coat on top and a single coat on the bottom.

Once the whole table was painted, I noticed I didn’t reach the back of the legs well.  I thought I would have to turn the table over and paint them upside down.  Then I had the idea to paint them a different color to add a pop!  I had eyed this Martha Stewart Metallic Golden Pearl paint and knew it was perfect!

After taping the legs off I did a couple of coats of the gold paint.

Once the paint was dried I turned the table and brought it back inside!

Don’t they just add a great little bling?

The glass really finished the look and of course needed a few books, a buddha and some yellow roses!

 

If you have a weekend and want to revitalize your living room, repaint your coffee table!!

 

I made an indoor herb garden!  I have been wanting to do this for awhile, and I finally got the chance.  I walked down to our local farmers market and one stand was selling herbs, 3 for 5 dollars!  I could not pass it up and they were the perfect size.  I started with empty mason jars.

Then grab some little rocks!  These will serve as a filter for the water.

Fill about 1/4 of the jar with rocks.

Then take your herb and place it in the jar.  You may need to pull off some of the roots in order to fit it in.

Rosemary!  Be sure to put them in a sunny window and water daily!

 

Thyme, Rosemary and Basil!  Yum!

 

After staring at about 5 pallet’s in my side yard for a few weeks, I decided to get some more use out of them.  My sister, boyfriend and I will be moving near the beach soon and I wanted to make some beach decor.   I cut a piece of pallet wood into the size I wanted, then printed out letters that spelled out BEACH.  I first painted the piece of wood white, and let it dry.  Then I layed out the letters to get an idea of my spacing.  I took a light green fine point sharpie and pressed down on the paper in dots, outlining the letter.  Then picked up the paper and traced the dots that had bled through.

  

Then all you have to do is paint your desired color in!

And continue down the board just like that…

Then I added an arrow in the mix, the beach is this way!

Once you are finished, let it dry and place it wherever you would like…. maybe a cluttered book shelf!

 

 

We did it ourselves again!  I am so happy my boyfriend has found a new love for making pallet furniture with me!  Building something together is really a true test of a relationship.  It really causes you to hear each other and work together to create something beautiful.  He is also building a bar at his house now with pallet wood and it is turning out great!  We have slowed down our condo hunt, so by the time we do find a place, it will be completely furnished with pallet wood!  Can you say bargain shoppers?  If you can, you have to say it like this.  Haha BLs!

Anyways, here is another DIY with lots of pictures!  The only things we bought at Home Depot for this project was:

- 4×4″ 6 ft. Post (cut into 4, 1 1/2 ft. pieces)

- Box on 2 in. wood screws

- Red Mahogany Stain

Everything else we either had at home, or used Pallet wood!  First you have to decide how big you want your table.  We based ours on how long the one of the pallet’s wood was.  We then took 2 of the legs (the posts from HD), and screwed on a side apron to both sides.  We took a drill bit to it first, then screwed in our screws.

When we added these side aprons, we left enough room for our front and back aprons to fit.  Then we attached those.  We also added some gorilla glue between the pieces to ensure they stay put!

It is already looking like a table! yay!  Now you will be to add some support beams.  The amount is really up to you.  We had some pieces of wood from the middle of a pallet and thought they would be good supports.  We just used two and think it will be enough support to hold our drinks and our feet!

We screwed them in through the side support.

Then we did some more measuring of our middle top pieces and how much room we had to add our end pieces, and started screwing everything in!

 Then we freaked out for about 10 minutes because it was really coming together!  Sophie (the cute doggie) was so excited too! Then we sanded and stained…

Then we let that dry, and later on we added a coat of poly urethane to make it shiny and finished.  This picture was taken and night and I realize now it is aweful!

This morning we brought it inside to sit in its temporary home!

 

Ready for another pallet DIY??  This one stemmed from my boyfriends need of a taller nightstand for his bed, and the challenge of us making something together from start to finish!

First we started our search for something that we could either makeover or add on to.   We looked at Salvation Army first, then ended up finding 2 CD towers at Good Will.  They were $9.99 each.

Then our search continued for a good pallet.  We drove by a Ralph’s grocery store and saw a few by their loading dock.  We took two, and ended up using this one:

Next we headed to Home Depot to get wood stain, screws, white spray paint, gorilla glue, and wood molding.  We used the Minwax, Polyshades 2 in 1 stain and seal.

When we got home, the first step was to take apart the pallet.  This is generally the hardest part in the process.  It requires patience and good hammer skills.  We would hit the pallet from underneath, then use the other side of the hammer to pry the nails up.

Then just pry those puppies off and you have a fresh piece of wood! Next we took off the plastic CD holders, and punched through the backing.

Next it was painting time.  We wanted a white to go with our wood (you can use any color you like), and spray painted most of the CD tower.

We then measured out what sizes the wood should be.  We decided we wanted a square of wood on the top.  To achieve that we measured 3 pallets wide, which was 16 1/2″, then cut each of them to 16 1/2″ long as well.  Then each side was just as wide as the pallet wood so that was perfect.  Then just had to cut the height to about 26 3/4″.

We then sanded each of those pieces until smooth.

One piece of pallet wood had a great bark on it still, which we used for the front of both nightstands.

Then the fun part, staining!

When we were at Home Depot we saw some wood molding. We knew that we would be adding wood to the existing particle board and needed something to cover the front.  The width of the two together was 1 1/4″, so we found a molding we liked that was 1 1/4″ thick, and had the Home Depot peeps cut them to the size we needed.

We took those pieces and stained them the same way as the wood.

A while later we put on a second coat.

Then it needed time to dry.  At this point we were in desperate need of food and beer.

Mmmmm…. that’s better.  When we got home we were ready to finish the job!

First we screwed on the sides.

Then for the top we first screwed in the middle piece.  We wanted no screws to be visible, so we screwed them in from the bottom.

The last step was adding the molding to the front.  We just used gorilla glue for this and let it sit over night.

Then we went to sleep… and when we woke up the next morning….

We really loved the way these turned out.  For just one day of work and we made something pretty beautiful, and we had fun while doing it!