Trash-For-Mation #2 Bookshelf Tutorial

trash   (trash) ,  n.  1. anything worthless or useless; rubbish.

I found this shelf on the side of the road in the big and bulky city pick up.  It was just waiting to be rescued by someone who could see it was clearly not "trash".

                                   

The paint was peeling too bad to just paint over it, so I scraped most of it off and then sanded it down.

I added a plywood back to give it stability and well, a back!  Here it is sanded with the back.

I then took a scrap piece of molding I had and drew and cut around the shape of the curved back of the side so the top shelf would have a back too and be a little "spiffy".

 
                        

I also added a piece of the same molding to the bottom as there was nothing there at all to start with.  I had already started painting it and realized it needed "something".

It was a pain to do two different colors and I don't know if I would invest again in the time it took to tape off, paint one color and then tape off the other surface and paint the opposite color.  (Had I known ahead a time I was going to use two colors, I would have painted the backing before I put it on.  This would have saved hours!) I then distressed it and rubbed a stain over the whole shelf to antique it.

Here it is finished:

  This is what they saw:                Here is what I see: 
BEFORE                                                         AFTER

                     

Tutorial: Trash-For-Mation #1 DESK

One of the features I want to add to my blog is a segment where I show how I transform and refurbish what someone else has defined as "TRASH".  These are pieces I usually pick up on the side of the road somewhere. (I have no shame--at least not in this area!)

trash   (trash) ,  n.  1. anything worthless or useless; rubbish.

  
I have a distortion problem.
I do not see what others define as "trash".

This is what they see.... 

This is what I see........

 

The top was a glued-on laminate.  I started to peel it off with the intention of adding a new piece of wood when I saw how beautiful the wood underneath was.

I scraped it off (this took some time).  I then sanded it down to the bare wood, making sure to get all the glue off.

I also lightly sanded the legs.  The drawer had layers of paint so I filled in the holes where the knobs were and sanded the drawer down almost to the wood.  It was more work than I wanted to invest so I changed plans mid-project (which is what creative people can give themselves permission to do) and left some paint still on the drawer.

I then used an "oops" sample of  Glidden sample paint (not a typo) for .50 from Home Depot.  Sorry I don't know what the name of the color is.
I painted the drawer full strength because of the aforementioned problem and with a damp 100% cotton sock I rubbed in the paint on the legs and bottom so some wood would still show through.

I wanted to highlight the wood after the paint dried, so I rubbed stain on and then wiped it off the whole bottom, including the drawer.  (Sorry I don't remember what kind of stain I used.)
I stained the top with a built-in stain/finish so I didn't need to polyurethane it.

I then replaced the 2 wooden knobs with a metal pull handle and then added 2 metal brads for decoration where the old knobs were.
              And there you go!
                   
BEFORE                                                                                                                AFTER