Some Fun Projects- Finished!

My sister left yesterday after staying with us for three and a half weeks. It was a sad goodbye, but she left us with some very fun pieces of decor to remind us of her.

Cabinet makeover

This Ethan Allen cabinet that I snagged for $40.00 at the thrift shop around the corner from us, was originally dark stained wood.  I've always wanted to make it look more cohesive in our living space, but there is no way I would have every carved out two days to paint that thing.  Here's what Christina did with some paint and fabric:

Unfortunately the kids ran off with the hinges and only two were found. I think we will have to buy all new ones.

The next project that I've been wanting to have done is to redo one of the original windows from our old house.  We found this one in the garden room when we cleaned it out.  I wanted to add some more bits of blue to the room since buying my new blue and white chairs, so this was a good way to incorporate that color:

Since Christina is thinking about going into interior design, I gifted her with some real world experience (haha).   First she painted the trim white.  Then she sanded the corners/edges.   She applied some brown stain to the sanded parts, then immediately wiped it off giving it an antiqued look.  painted all white. Finally, she put a clear coat of finish on top of the stain.

For the windows, I printed off this bird pattern from the Internet onto translucent paper. Christina used a magic marker to make a little darker blue.  Then she used contact paper to stick it on the back.  A matching ribbon completed the look.

This last project was a joint effort of my husband, Christina and I.  I had wanted to print this family picture on a canvas, but the high price tag scared me away.  Instead, I printed off this large print for 5.99 at Costco.  I cut it into three equal parts and had my husband cut an old piece of wood into three identical parts.  The wood was sanded and painted black.  Then I glued the picture on the front with decoupage glue.  It was so simple and I saved more than a hundred dollars!  I can't take credit for the idea since I saw it in flier for a hardware store a few years ago.

Thank you, Christina for all your help and hard work.   It was a great visit! You will be missed!!