Favorite Project Yet

One day when I was outside, I noticed a piece of furniture down the street. I hoped it was what I thought. I quickly tried to walk down the road (not to look to ridiculous) and grab it before anyone else did if it was what I thought it was. I was right. It was a free piece of furniture...an undone dresser or something.

My husband was at work and I didn't want anyone else taking it, so I carried it home. My determination gave me the strength to carry it (although I had to stop every 10 steps.)

We brainstormed some possible uses for it since it had no inner shelving. We tore off all the paper and had this.

We decided to make it into a TV stand. We are not builders, but with a little help from Home Depot and a lot more determination, we figured it out. We first added a some backing.

Then we slid in some finished plywood to create a solid back.

I couldn't have done it without my husband. I had the brains, he did the hard work :) He added in a top shelf and middle shelf.

This is what we had after Day 1:


We liked it, but it only got better...

We sprayed it with a brown primer. We were going to do it a black brown finish, but we couldn't find that color in spray paint. So we resorted to real paint and I think it actually saved us a lot of money.

And now for the grand finale...(Of course, knowing me I'll probably switch the decor around a million times before I love it)

We are so happy with how it turned out! It is perfect for our small little apartment.

$3 End Table Project

I found this end table at a thrift store for $3. It was really ugly, but I saw it's potential. I also learned a few good lessons. When priming a small piece of furniture, I learned its best to use a spray primer. I used regular primer and a brush first, but the strokes were too strong. So I primed another layer of KILZ spray primer. Then I used Krylon's Ocean Breeze to give the table a final coat. I love how bright and cheery it turned out.

Candle Sticks

Nifty Thrifty Tip: There are so many items at thrift stores that don't need a ton of work. Keep your eye out for simple spray paint projects.

I found these at DI for $2 each. I love the scalloped edges and knew that with a little fix-up, they would be perfect for our mantle.

*Lamp Redo

Nifty Thrifty Tip: Sometimes its cheaper to buy things new and not at a thrift store.

I found a set of 3 lamps at Target for $20. I have been looking for lamps forever and they are so expensive. When I happened upon these, I had to get them. The only problem was:

They were bronze. And quite honestly, bronze just doesn't go with what I had.

So I bought a $4 can of black spray paint at Home Depot. My husband is an expert spray painter, so I had him do it for me.

We were quite pleased with how they turned out.


Total Cost: $24 for lamps and spray paint

*Sometimes its a flop!

Nifty Thrifty Tip: It's okay if some things don't turn out--especially if you didn't pay a lot for it

I found this turkey at Savers for $1. I thought I could stain it and modernize it.


After several attempts of re-doing it, I finally gave up. It just wasn't turning out. I gave it back to DI and learned that sometimes its okay to declare something a flop. At least it was worth a try.

I think these projects are good every once-in-a-while so it helps me not buy everything I see :)

Halloween Cauldron

Nifty Thrifty Tip: Don't be afraid to ask for a price reduction if you could get the item cheaper brand new.

I learned a great lesson buying this cauldron at Savers. They had the price set at $3. $3 is not that much, but the original $2.47 price tag was still on the bottom which is great because it means it was brand new, but not-so-great because I could buy it a real store for cheaper.

So I talked to the store manager and he marked it down to $1.50. So remember, check for original price tags and if items are cheaper brand new, they may mark them down for you.

Advent Wreath

Ever since I lived in Germany, I wanted to find my own Advent Wreath. I was determined to find one at a thrift store and that I did! I found this at D.I for $4! They retail for over $30 and they aren't as classy.

Total Cost: $5 for wreath and candles (hot chocolate and muffins not included)

$1 Wreath

I found this green wreath at D.I. for $1.



I used to have it in my bathroom, but I currently have it on my front door. It is so inviting. I just love wreaths!



Total Cost: $1

Chair Redo

I found these chairs on Craigslist for $4. When my husband saw them, he gave me a look that meant, "Are you sure you want those gross things?" He didn't realize that I had plans to recover them.

The wood was in great shape. It matched our other kitchen chairs so I left it as is.

I waited until Jo-Anns had a 40% off fabric sale and then bought 2 yards of fabric.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of how I did the cushion, but I'll give you the steps:
1. Remove cushion from the chair
2. Take out all of the staples
3. I then used the old fabric as a pattern for the new fabric.
4. Cut out the new fabric
5. Use a staple gun to attach it to the chair seat. (The padding was in great condition so I did not redo it. )

The finished chairs. I love the stripes!!

Total cost: $8 for the chairs and fabric

Coffee Table Redo

My husband and I were in Park City one day. We saw a sign for a garage sale and since we LOVE garage sales, we decided to check it out. As we were browsing the goods, we saw a coffee table. The lady running the sale asked us if we wanted it. We asked her how much it was and then she said the most amazing words, "Oh, we are just trying to get rid of it you can have it for free." You can't beat that.

The trick was fitting it into our small car, but since there was a will, we found a way to bring this home:

My husband and I had not been married that long. And we definitely had no experience redoing furniture. Needless to say, it was a HUGE learning experience. We tried sanding it by hand until after just 20 minutes, we had not even a dent in it!

So here we began again with an electric sander:

(If this isn't a glamor shot, I'm not sure what is :)

Sanding took hours and days and weeks. Remember, we had no prior experience. We just kept sanding until we had this:

We used a very tough sand paper for the majority of it and then used a fine paper for the details. The legs sure gave us a run for our money!

Then we used a deep brown stain to match our bookshelf. We painted 4 coats until we got it the perfect shade.

We jokingly call this our marriage table. Doing this project is like achieving a great marriage: it takes lots and lots of time, patience, and fixes. I say fixes because when we were staining it one evening, a ton of mosquitoes got stuck in the stain. We had to sand them out and do another coat! We are so happy with how it turned out.

Total Cost: $35 for stain and sand paper