Aviator Dresser

This dresser was given to me from my Mom and I used it for our oldest when he was a baby. It had a few drawers broken, needing glue and drawer runners that had been used as star wars light sabers and had broken(funny how that happens with boys around!), so I took some wood and “made” new drawer runners. Yes, I took wood, planed it down and notched out the corners to make new runners. I even fixed one of the drawers corners.Now that it was all fixed, it was ready for a little pick-me-up! I had just bought my first Annie Sloan Paint that I would need for another client’s project but, since this was a new paint for me, I wanted to try it on something else first before I used it on the client’s dresser. So, this dresser became the guinea pig for my new paint. I painted the dresser Annie Sloan’s French Linen grey color. B-E-A utiful!!

I wanted the dresser to be masculine , so I knew it would be striped and distressed. I used some tape and made three bold, masculine stripes and painted them in old white(another Annie Sloan Paint color).

Here’s the Aviator Dresser ready to go to it’s home to live with airplane’s and vintage maps. Perfect for a little boy’s room. Super stylish  Masculine!!

The paint was fun to distress and then I used Annie Sloan clear wax and then a dark wax on top to highlight and give some age to the dresser.

I was heading to my hometown that weekend (two days away). I texted my sister a picture of the dresser (the first picture when it was painted all white with mint green knobs) and she said it would be perfect for her little boy. I asked her if she wanted it painted before I came, she said sure and gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted to the dresser. This meant, I had two days to decide what direction to go with this dresser and paint, distress and wax it! Phew…glad I got it done!! (what we all do for family….ha ha…good thing I love her!!) I decided to go with an aviator theme and have since(meaning, today) found her not one, but three vintage maps for her little boy’s room and paid $2 for all three maps (a steal….I know!! Gotta Love Public Auctions!). She picked up a red airplane this last weekend so, she should be able to put this room together soon.

So, I can’t wait to see it all put together!! Side Note: I told her when I finished this that I wanted to keep it! She hadn’t seen it finished but said, “If YOU want to keep it…then I DEFINETELY want it, it must be awesome!” Too bad I already promised her I would take it out to her (that is why it isn’t all staged for pics…It went straight from the garage to the trailer, to her house…remember the two day timeline!) plus the weight of moving is still hanging over my head and I know I can’t take everything! So, off to my nephew’s room it went..at least I can still see it and I guess it did stay in the family!

 

Bench made out of a Baby Crib

I have been meaning to go to my neighbor’s and ask her about taking a picture of the crib bench that I helped her make out of her children’s crib. The crib was sentimental and she didn’t want to just throw it away but, with all the new regulations, it probably wouldn’t be a working crib anymore. So, we sawed, cut, built a seat, filled screw holes, primed, painted and distressed to reveal this beauty!

Here is the crib on the long wall that she couldn’t ever find the perfect piece of furniture to fit and the crib bench fit perfectly! It’s skinny so it doesn’t impede the walkway and brings in the pops of turquoise she is infusing in this fun family room.

The turquoise blue is so pretty and the pillows are the perfect colors to bring the brown of the room over to the bench.

Different view of the room.

I am so glad that I was able to help you build something that can be special for many reasons. I love when pieces are sentimental and functional at the same time. I was happy that I could help you/teach you how to build this bench while I was building two others. It was a fun few days. I still can’t believe we built three benches, one with a shelf, no less, and had them done in three days. Wow, looks good! I will definitely make a bench out of my own crib when my baby is finally done with the crib. Thanks for letting me come and take better pictures of your fabulous bench made out of your children’s crib!

I love the colors, the lines even the pillows on this crib bench! So fun and now you have a functional piece again from a used-to-be functional crib!

Family Orchard Gallery Wrap Photos

My family had pictures taken this fall by Shannon Elizabeth Photography. I love taking my kids photos but, I can’t take family photos when I am supposed to be in them. Kind of difficult!! These gallery wrap photos were a Christmas Present from my husband. Of course, if you take into account that I purchased them on Groupon last fall and got a killer deal on them(like 75%off, plus free shipping)….I guess it was technically me buying my own Christmas present. But, this is what I wanted for Christmas and when he asked I told him gallery wrap photos. He gave me a raised eyebrow expression and said, “And WHERE do I buy THOSE!!” I told him I already bought them on Groupon but, needed to print pictures, make sure the lighting was perfect and I would probably be ready to order them around Christmas. (Yes, I sound like a perfectionist taking so long here but, I really did want to make sure the pictures were perfect before I blew them up to this size and could see every little imperfection. See, you all understand, RIGHT?? Sometimes it is a good thing to be a perfectionist. LOL)

Here is the wall where I finally decided to hang the gallery wrap photos. I originally wanted them above the stairs but, I did have a fancy ladder that would allow me to hang photos on a tall wall, actually I don’t even HAVE a ladder, so I chose this wall as my next best choice. It has been blank forever and needed something!

The wall was laid out on the floor and I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted things before I started winging it. I should have used my hanging photo tricks but, I got lazy and didn’t want to cut out huge paper replica’s of these pictures. Take my advise and do my gallery wall hanging tricks and you won’t have to rehang two of your pictures like I did before I came up with this grouping. 

BEFORE and AFTER      

I love how the pictures stand out from the wall and because the picture wraps the edge, you don’t need frames. Yeah!!! More money saved!!

It’s funny that I just got these hung in time to have to take them down in two months but, I get to enjoy them now and I already know how I will probably hang them again. Plus, who wants these beautiful pictures sitting in a box…right….get enjoyment!! I’ve only been waiting since last fall to see these pictures go from an idea of an orchard to beautiful pictures on the wall….gallery wrapped no less!! Merry Christmas to me……just a few months behind schedule….although, getting these pictures one-by-one by the brown UPS sleigh was like Christmas every time one showed up. It was fun for the kids too because they would all try to guess whose picture had come in the mail….anticipation/fun for everyone!!

Busy Doing…Still Need to Post

I can’t believe how incredibly busy we’ve been lately. It has taken me two months to go through every drawer, closet, armoire, kids closet, etc, etc. I have left the miscellaneous drawer for last because I figure…after everything has been gone through…if it is in the miscellaneous drawer….maybe it can go because it really IS miscellaneous. So, that little project will be coming soon. I have been busy doing projects but, haven’t been keeping up on posting them. (No excuses…just no time!)

One of our guest beds has been on the floor since we moved around some things. I’ve wanted to fix the bar system we built as side rails for the antique bed. We thought the pre-fabricated metal would be JUST long enough but, alas, we should have added six inches of metal bars to our metal made bed frame. It was easy enough and my husband helped, which made this project a quick fix…that is….once we already had the supplies!

We used pre-fabricated bars that fit into the antique bed frame. They were a pre-bought length and we though(ha ha originally) that they would be long enough. The mattresses could squeeze between the headboard and footboard just perfectly. Well, not so perfect…it happens to be a little too tight. A tall person’s feet might (from what I hear, ha ha) might have to put their feet between the bars to get a good night’s sleep. So, this little project has been on our list for some time but, probably because it is the guest bed (sorry visitors!) it hasn’t gotten on the priority list. Now that we are moving and this is going to be the only guest bed we take, we decided, it better be worth taking…so fix it we did!!

So we added more to the bar by adding length with another bar (we cut to size adding more inches) and drilling holes for bolts to hold everything together. Now the bed is the proper length for the mattress. So, if you have a antique bed with no side rails, it is fixable….with supplies at your local Home Depot but, you might have to adjust the length because apparently..people don’t like sleeping with their feet in the bars. (LOL)

Now let me give you a taste of a few of the other projects I’ve been working on and will be posting on soon…..

I’ve been:

hanging family gallery wrap photos.

changing hardware color to finish a cabinet

painting frames

refinishing a dresser(in two days because my sister wanted it and I was headed her way and could deliver it!!)

fixing drawers

cutting wood to make new drawer runners

painting chairs

and planting my Easter grass so it can be officially Spring Indoors.

WHEW…..see I knew I had been busy but, going through these photos has made me shake my head at myself. I need to get posting because I still have a long list of things to get done before we move and I better post what I’ve already done or I’ll get really, really behind and that is SO NOT LIKE ME!! So, expect more posts coming soon.

Selling Refinished Antique Girly Dress-Up Trunk $100

I am selling my dress-up trunk. I am sad to sell it but, we’ve decided we cannot take everything, although that would be nice but, alas we can’t take it all (we are moving to Kansas for my husband to start nurse anesthetist school in May). I love it but, realize that we can’t take everything so, here is a piece for sale that I never thought I would sell.

I am selling it for $100 OBO. This is the price I bought the trunk from the owner of the store I used to sell in. This is what she had bought it for and was willing to sell it to me for cost because she knew I would transform it beautifully! I thought it would be the neatest little girl’s dress-up trunk. It’s pink and brown and has drawers for all the tiara’s, necklaces, shoes, etc. The left side of the trunk is lined with pink/brown paper (sealed of course) and has places to hang all your little ladies dress-ups!

I am selling it for $100 OBO (which is the price I bought the antique trunk for). We are moving and can’t take everything.

The bars extend so the little diva can be ready to change into her next fabulous outfit! (Can you believe that this is where they used to put all those big poofy dresses they wore back in the day!!?? No wonder their trunks had to be able to store lots)

The first one to email me at cassandradesign30@gmail.com will be who I honor the first option to buy this piece. We will be out of town for a few days but, I will still be checking my email and will be back soon to honor the first one that would like to buy this beautiful dress-up trunk. It’s great because you can close it up and it looks cute from the outside but, it opens up to reveal room to hang all the colorful dress-up clothes that are cute but, you don’t want to see all the time. It’s a little princess’ paradise and would be the perfect way to store all those dress-up clothes!

Pot of Gold Birthday Gift

My daughter was invited to a birthday party. She was very excited about this party and asked me what we should do for a birthday present. I told her to ask her friend what she liked at school that day. My daughter came home from school and said that her friend said “money!”. My first reaction was ,'”No, we don’t just give money for birthday presents.” But, then my brain got a tickin’! It’s close to St. Patrick’s Day and recently my daughter got a gold coin (gold presidential dollar that are collectable) from the Tooth Fairy. A rainbow, a pot of gold flashed in my head and this is what I came up with. I sketched out a simple drawing (sad I know) and texted it to my friend Emily and she shot me back this mock up! Talk about perfection! Emily from Good Frau put this together and had it printed and ready to pick up in just a few hours! Talk about a good friend! Check her out for awesome bridal and baby shower invitations…she’s crazy talented!

Simple supplies needed (I used only stuff I had on hand): Xacto Knife, glue, tape(used on the end of the x-acto cut so it wouldn’t tear) and gold/yellow ribbon.

I needed a bag, small and the size of five stacked coins. Yikes! So I grabbed the only bag I had on hand, a sandwich bag and the coins fell into the corner and I knew it would work perfectly. I used gold string, metallic fibers and a yellow ribbon to tie up the coins.

I cut a slit at the top of the pot of gold and inserted the gold presidential dollars.

The bow holds it perfectly in place and doesn’t let it fall through the cut. Now I just needed to attach the back. Both the front and back were 5x7.

The front said, “Hope this birthday is the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow!” and the back “Happy Birthday ------- These Lucky Coins will be worth even more a few years down the road. Save them if you want to cash them in for some college cash!” (Emily came up with the Lucky Coins part…see I told you…so smart!)

The front side: the top of the coin bag showing out of the pot of gold! I love how the bag showing gives the card a 3D effect.

The two sides were glued together except where the five gold coins made it too thick to glue the two sides together. This ended up being a good thing since it made it free standing! Added bonus!

The back: up close. The rainbow is a mirror image of the front so that the rainbow comes from the same edge of the card. Perfect!

A Happy Birthday Card/Gift with a Gold Coin Pot of Gold! If you have a birthday party coming soon and want something other than the typical Barbie….this is the perfect solution, collectible coins that can make a little money in the future! A Perfect little Pot of Gold!