DIY Bench, Vintage Tray, and a very cool African Bowl!! Oh yeah, and a Wooden Stump and some Orange Mid- Century Chairs.

The space under my new picture was looking a little bare so I though a bench, for more seating, would be perfect.  I had a picture in my head of what I wanted my bench to look like so the search was on.  To save you all of the boring details of my endless search on Craig's list and multiple trips to Goodwill, I finally found one at the Goodwill for $25.  Goowill you have been so good to me lately!
This coffee table was pretty beaten, rusted and burnt but nothing a little sanding, paint and fabric couldn't fix.

 

wet tin foil and some baking soda= no more rust




before



after





The base of this coffee table is awesome and will definitely be re-purposed later.  It is solid stainless steal.  So worth it's $25!!

 I didn't take a picture but you obviously know what I did with the top...yup, sand and paint.  Then I took some of our extra ply-wood we have from construction and cut a piece.  Added a piece of 3 inch foam and some awesome fabric I found that was 50% off  to make the seat.

 We were recently in Colorado and I found this super cool vintage tray at an antique store. Love it!!

My family room is slowly coming together one Craig's lists and Goodwill purchase at a time. 

While we were in Colorado I saw this totally awesome hand made African bowl.  My very kind mother-in-law thought I needed to have it ;).  So glad she did because I LOVE it and it's going to look great on our new cabinets in the family room...once those are finally finished.

When we moved into this house there was a big wooden stump in our back yard.  At one point I told my husband to burn it in the fire pit but he thought it was a cool wooden stump.  Never thought wooden stumps would be cool???  But did you know, they're the thing to have now?!?!  Who would have thunk?

Here are some examples I have seen...

West elm $200



Gold leafed I imagine?




An end table...exactly what I needed.



As I was strolling thru Z Gallerie a light bulb switched on...



Can you tell it's silver?  Hmmm, I'm liking it!



Here is my plain ole stump...

A bit too plain for my taste.

So I silver leafed it.  I have never silver leafed in my life but turns out it is really simple.  I sprayed it with some spray adhesive then layed the silver leaf on it and lightly went over it with a soft paint brush and presto...a silver leaf wooden stump/ end table!

I love that the wood still peaks thru



So it's not the most level end table, as my father in law pointed out lol.  He already offered to make it level but I don't think it will stay an end table forever so I am thinking I will keep it the way it is.  As you can see it still works.

 

Some of you may have seen those orange Mid- Century chairs I had gotten on Craigs list a while ago.  They have been sitting in the corner begging me to finish them.  $50 for both of them!!!  I have seen these exact chairs in mid-century design pictures and they sell for $500+ depending on the shape. I can't tell you how excited I was to find these!!!!

 I did attemp to take a chair apart and it took me alllllll morning to do so!  At least 3 hours.  And my hands KILLED afterwards.  I think that is when I secrectly decided this was a job for someone else... and so they sat and sat and sat until I finally decided to swollow my pride and pay someone to finish them.

    Anyway, they are finally finished and I still spent wayyyyyy way under what they cost normally.

I really am still in awe that I found these on craigs list for the amount that I found them. I know this sounds silly, or maybe it dosen't, but everytime I find a really great deal on a piece of furniture I thank the Lord up and down!! I have ask the Lord to help me find bargins. I really love re-finishing things and working with my hands not to mention save big time while decorating my house in a style I love.

Enough about funiture. 

 The girls love to play dress up...and the dogs are usually apart of that.

Rupunzel, let down your haaairrr.

Mid-Century Planter

 It's always good to have life in the house (beside people).  A little green adds a lot in a room.  I of course love the mid-century planters 

 Some guy by the name of La Gardo Tackett made these and they can get preeetty spendy!  $1000 for a planter...pshaw...whatever!!!

There are plenty DIY mid-century planter ideas out there like this one and I was actually planning on doing one but that was like #48 on the list of 50 other things I want to do.

Today I took a stroll thru the Goodwill and low and behold...there it was!  It's authentic, it's mid-century, it was $15.00 and I am doing the happy dance!!  So off to the nursery I went to get me some Yucca.

What is that, Velvet?

 Another great Missouri find.  The the final trip my in-laws made in their move from MO to AZ I had them pick up one last great craigslist find.  It was $20 and my MIL cracks me up when she talks about the first time she saw this chair.  I wish I had taken pictures of the back!  It was a cats scratching post.  You can tell this chair belong to the cat and it drove my dog CRAZY!!  It was a mustard yellow corduroy.  It didn't look like much but I could tell she was going to be a beauty!! 

Helloooo love, welcome to your new home!!!

The funny thing...it's my MIL's favorite chair now.  She is trying to convince me to give it to her. 

I'm trying to decide if I want to paint the legs?