Jewelry Box Redo

I found this beat up jewelry box at a thrift store for $2.

Before

With a little TLC, I thought it would be the perfect gift for my niece’s 13^th birthday.  The outside of the box was scratched and dirty, while the inside had sustained water damage.  The felt lining on the inside was stained with brown water spots and was peeling in several places. Also it was missing a brass knob. But still, I knew I could do something fun with it.

I started off by ripping the old felt out of the inside.  It came off pretty easily.  I saved the pieces so that I would have a template to make a new lining.  I removed the hinges from the door, pulled the brass knobs off the drawers and detached the spinning necklace hanger.  I decided to spray paint the box brown. 

The most fun part of this project was putting a new lining on the inside.  Inspired by my suitcase project (link post), I found some fancy wrapping paper that would complement the brown paint.  I got some poster board from the grocery store and traced the old felt lining on it.  I did this for each drawer and for the taller compartment.  Then, I cut the pieces out and I wrapped each one in the fancy wrapping paper and glued it into place inside the jewelry box. 

The wrapping paper needed some additional protection, so I used Mod Podge to give the inside a protective, plastic-like coating.  I really like the texture and glossy look it created. 

At this point, I reattached the hinges and necklace hanger.  I scoured home-improvement stores for new tiny knobs, but I had no luck.  So, I went to the craft store and picked out some crystal looking buttons.  I attached each button by threading it with fishing line to a bigger button on the inside. They held securely. 

It turned out great, and my niece loved it!  Success!

Finished!

Happy drawers!

Lamp Revamp

This lamp was found at the Salvation Army for $6.  It’s not often one can find a lamp with a matching lampshade in good shape at a thrift store.  Sold!

Lamp Before

Krylon makes a spray paint line called Krylon X Metals.  It can be used to paint metals.  I thought it would look nice on the lamp. The paint can says that you can use an optional special primer.  I opted not to use that, but I wish I had.  The paint went on nicely, but it dripped in a couple of spots, and I think using the primer could have avoided the dripping. 

I have seen lots of lamp shade redos online, and I have wanted to try it myself.  The shade had a nice drum shape.  The fabric I chose had enough white in it so that the light would shine through nicely.  I sprayed the entire shade with adhesive rubber cement glue (use the spray adhesive outside, it’s messy stuff).  Then I carefully laid the shade on the fabric and pressed it onto the shade smoothing out all of the wrinkles.  Then I trimmed off all of the excess fabric  except for a quarter inch or so.  I then wrapped the excess quarter inch of fabric around the top and bottom of the frame and glued it down with craft glue so that no raw edges of fabric show.  

Shiny Red!

High Chair Redo

I like the look of old high chairs because they blend into the décor of the house so much better than new plastic ones.  I found an old high chair that was perfect in looks and price at an antique store. In fact, this high chair was the first thing I purchased when I found out I was expecting.

The wood grain on the chair was quite nice, I just wasn’t a fan of the orange-ish color.  So I decided to strip the chair with the intent of restaining it a reddish color so that the grain would show through.  Being pregnant, I had my husband strip the chair with spray on stain/varnish stripper.  We quickly learned what a mess that creates.  We both lost interest about halfway through the process.  So the chair sat for about two months with dried paint stripper on it.  It was a big mess.  Finally, I got up the nerve to begin again. With steel wool and sandpaper I was able to get the dried stripper and old varnish off the chair.  It was ready for stain.  The local paint store had a stain called “fruit punch”, I liked the look of the paint chip and so I went ahead and had some mixed.  Big mistake.  It came out looking hot pink.    So, there I was again, with steel wool and sandpaper, getting “fruit punch” stain off the chair.  Being a little discouraged by the ordeal this project was turning out to be, it sat stagnant for another couple months.

Stripped and sanded with a hint of "fruit punch".

Then, the nesting instinct kicked in and I suddenly had a new drive to get this chair done! Not wanting to spend too much more money, I went to the store and bought the cheapest red spray paint I could find.  With me being pregnant, my sister volunteered to do the spray painting.  It turned out great!  I opted not to paint the wood on the tray and foot rest, which was a nice way of preserving some of the pretty wood grain.   We thickly coated it with polyurethane so that it will endure spills and withstand general baby wear and tear.

Last but not least, the tray needed some latches so that it would attach to the chair.  I found some high chair hardware online here.  Perfect!  They latch and unlatch easily.

Redoing this high chair was a lot of trial and error, but in the end, it turned out very cute and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Ready for Baby!