Easy breezy lemon squeezy!

Before and After...

























So I have wanted to try something for a while and I finally got around to it! It has only been a day and I already have neighbors and friends asking about it, so I told them I would put all the info on my blog.

I have heard of turning old entertainment centers into kitchen play sets and I thought of doing that but we already have one and my older girls don't seem to play with it much. What all my kids do enjoy doing is making a buck and doing it in style. And honestly I was not looking forward to dragging that ugly card table up from the basement every other day this summer. So a lemonade stand seemed perfect. Now that its done I think I will do another one as a puppet show, if that tickles your fancy a little more. So here are the details to "DIY"ing it yourself.

1. Find a center that is real wood. Don't waste your time with plywood or particle board. It is going to be manhandled (or kid handled, which is worse) and the fake stuff will crumble. I found this at a local thrift store. They wanted $35 but I talked them down to $20 since the doors were busted up (I was taking them off anyway). Try to find one on wheels. It will save you $$$ and a huge step.
2. Pull off the back. It's pretty flimsy board and easy to do with a hammer and flat head that you can wedge in there. You will need to use needle nose pliers and pull the staples out. Leave none behind.
3. Take off all hardware. I save all mine for future projects.
4. If you are indeed making it a lemonade stand or something that will get moved around a lot add wheels.
5. Sand it. Sand it super good so that there is nothing that will give your babies little splinters. Focus a lot on the back where you may have left bits of backing and glue.
6. Clean it up. Wipe all your sawdust off. Get a clean surface.
7. Paint it.
8. The fun part is embellishing it. You can do whatever you want and every stand is a little different. Here are the things I did.
a. I measured the cabinet opening underneath and bought a piece of scrape wood from Lowes. They cut it for me and it cost me a buck. I painted it with chalkboard paint. (Then sanded it down and painted it again because my son decided to paint it while I was inside making curtains. Keep kids out to save yourself this mishap) Screw it on.
b. My daughter found cute fabric with lemons and I made curtains.
c. We put rick-rack on the edges of the shelves.
d. We added a sheet of metal to the side for hanging stuff with magnets.
e. I made the flag banner to go around the top in matching colors or the curtain fabric.

So once you have that done the kids can have storage from the back of the cabinet for all there paper supplies and money jars. We also named it and I didn't get the Vinyl letters on before the pictures. We called it ONE SWEET STAND so they would always have the option of selling anything, not just lemonade. As you can see they even got some bows out that they weren't using anymore and sold them for quarter. They have plenty of other space to sell cookies and candy.






Hope you enjoy making yours!

Black & White Nightstand

This nightstand is on the smaller size so it would be great in a child's room or even next to a bed that was not too high. It measures 21 in. tall, 17 in. long and 15 in. deep. I will probably add one more poly coating to it.
I am selling this for $60.

Lined drawers

This is such a classy versatile piece. You could put it anywhere in your house.

Here is what it looked like before its makeover. Sad little used up thing!
I love the way it turned out! Don't you?

My Stuff, Mine!

This is my hope chest that I received for my HS graduation. It was a lighter walnut with brass fixtures. Now it looks like this and I love it! It sits nicely in my entry way. It's a great place to sit as you take your shoes off...hence the shoe basket on the right.

I inherited a whole set of this furniture from my in-laws when I got married. The wood is beautiful and the pieces are high quality. However, it is dated. I have slowly been refinishing the entire set. I have this wardrobe and a desk left to do. I am showing you this picture as a before.

This is the after. Two nightstands and a large dresser with a monster mirror attached are finished.

I am showing you my banister for a reason. This was a pine banister but I wanted a classier look. I waited till my hubby was at scout camp and went to work. Love the finished product! My kids have scuffed it up so much that I love it even more because it has a natural wear to it. Even the zipper scratches from their jeans as they sllllliiiiiiiide down it.

My Kitchen Table

As you can see from the chairs that have yet to finished in the background...this was just your run of the mill pine table. I love color! Especially in my kitchen. I wanted a super fun, energetic table. My legs are purple, top is green. The bench is red and the mis-matched chairs will all be the corrisponding colors. My kitchen stools are finished the same way.

The Scoop!

I have been refinishing furniture since my early married years. You know the story, right. Okay, short version...newlyweds, law school, baby, no money. In student housing people would move out and leave any unwanted furniture next to the dumpster. Free for all! We needed furniture so I took it. I learned how to refinish so that at least my cinder-block walled apartment had some sort of charm. We graduated. We moved out. I took some of my treasures with me, I gave some away. This began a fun past time for me. I have not stopped refinishing. I ended up refinishing older furniture that was just out dated. Searching for discarded furniture that needed some love. Friends started asking me to help them refinish things. It's a stress release and a right brain thing for me. I realized I really don't have much more that I need to redo for myself and no room for new stuff. So I came up with this Win-Win strategy. I get to refinish and you get to buy! Hooray for both of us!