Sunday, September 29, 2013

DIY Behind-the-Sofa Table

So I bought a sectional, yeah that was a big purchase and took forever for me to find the perfect one. I had it delivered and realized wow that sectional is huge!! I pretty much had no more room for any type of end table or coffee table or anything. After procrastinating on Pinterest I came across the idea of a behind-the-sofa table, I however could not find any blueprints or tutorials of how to make it. It can't be that hard I thought to myself so I measured out the couch and how tall I wanted the table to be and headed off to Menards. I bought a 2x10x12 because the length I needed was 11.5in. Then I bought a 2x10x8 for the table legs, I cut it into 3 pieces that are 31in. I bought wood screws and L brackets to keep the legs attached to the table top. It is super easy to attach the legs onto the table top, make sure you have two people though because someone needs to hold the legs and someone needs to run the drill. Unfortunately I forgot to take any picture before all this......onwards and upwards though, staining the table. That was so dang easy and some what messy but easy!!!! I used minnwax ebony stain because I wanted a darker table. I brushed the stain on and waited about 15 minutes then I used a clean cloth and wiped excess stain off. Now it's sitting outside drying.

Before the staining 

Another before. 

The stain drying. 




 Up close of the stain. Love the look of this!!


  
This table is going to look awesome in my living room! I haven't decided yet on two coats or just one. So stay tuned!


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Carriage Fit For A Princess

My niece recently celebrated her First Birthday!!!! I knew I wanted to get her or make her something totally awesome that I know she would use and love. I found a little tikes cozy coupe for like $10 on an exchange site and I instantly bought it! I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it exactly but I knew it had possibilities.

Here is the cozy coupe before!

 After getting it home and really looking at it I decided it looks a lot like Cinderella's Carriage, with that in mind I got to work drawing out some sketches. I then went out and bought spray paint, I decided on Rustoleum Light Blue, Dark Blue, and a Metallic Gold.

The car and paint colors.

Okay so after a TON of research on spray painting Little Tikes items and a some what failure before I decided to "prime" it with Krylon spray paint! The Krylon was just plain white, I followed the instructions to the T. I painted it one night and then repeated the process the next night, I used TWO cans of the Krylon paint. Now here's the sucky part, I waited 7 days, yes 7 days, until I started to spray paint again. Krylon recommends 7 days of drying until its supposed to be tough and hard to chip.


After the "primer"

So after a full week of the waiting game I started the blue :)  I used TWO cans of this blue and once again followed instructions. I painted one coat of blue then after about 20 mins I painted another coat. I originally was going to paint the inside chair part dark blue but I was on a time crunch and decided to just paint it the light blue.



The Blue Coat Drying

Ok so now things get tricky! I was going to spray paint the door edges gold and add something to the license plate area but I knew that would be difficult so I bought gold paint and hand painted those parts.


Hand Painted Gold Accents

So after that was all done I decided it was too much blue!!! It was then I decided to tape off and cover up any parts of the car that I didnt want gold. I then proceeded to paint the top gold.

Getting The Gold Coat

So after that dried I clear coated the whole car a few times. Once again following instructions, I did small coats a few minutes apart. And here is the finished product:




I even spray painted the gas tank black and added two small circles above it to make it look like Mickey Mouse ears! I also added an old english style C to the main door. (All of this done before the clear coating.) My niece loves this car! I literally pushed her around in it for at least a hour the day I gave it to her and since then she's gotten a lot of use out of it. I won't lie to you though it does chip :(  Nothing too terrible but parts of the inner door have chipped off due to the door rubbing against it and anytime my niece bumps into things a little too hard it starts to slightly chip. I expected all of that though and honestly she doesn't notice it and loves it so it works :)