Upcycled Buffet

So, I scored this hutch on Kijiji (like Craig's list for Canada) for $40, not bad. Do you think I can make it look good??? We shall see. . .

Pretty hideous, I know

 First thing I did was I sanded everything down to get rid of that nasty blue paint. I took out the dreadful fabric panels that were covering the glass doors. Next, I nailed some door casing onto the bottom to give it an updated look (p.s. I used the saw and nail gun all by myself--my mama would be so proud)! Then I primed it with Kilz 2. After 2 coats of primer, I sprayed it with Heirloom White (off white) spray paint. I debated whether or not I should use spray paint or suck it up and buy a gallon of latex. I thought the spray paint was a mistake at first, because I ended up using more paint than I thought I would and it gets a little pricey, however, for the stenciling, it is the only way to go. I tried other ways and it just didn't work out, but I'll explain that a little more in a minute.

My tools: Stencil I made (this particular pattern I didn't design but the one on the drawers I did), spray adhesive, off white spray paint, green sample paint from home depot, painter's tape, and my paint brush. 

To paint the drawers I bought a sample can of paint for about $5 from home depot in the color I wanted. I simply painted the drawer front the solid green. I looked all over for a stencil in the pattern I wanted and sadly it was a lot harder to find than I anticipated, so I made my own. I stenciled the drawers using a graphic that I created in Paint (that freebie program with Windows), then I used a program to cut it out onto cardstock using my Cricut. I only did this because I couldn't find the pattern I wanted anywhere and I'm not even sure what it's called, plus I'm not one to easily give up when I get my mind set on something. To paint the stencil on, I used spray adhesive to stick my stencil to the drawers (already painted solid green) and spray painted over them with the off white. . .worked pretty well. On the sides, I wanted more green, so I sprayed them solid white and I was going to paint over them, however after 3 failed attempts this just didn't work; the latex paint kept bleeding behind my stencil and since my stencil was cardstock, it also made the paper soggy. So after my failed attempts, I sanded the sides down again, painted them solid green and sprayed over them like I did on the drawers. What a headache.

Here is the buffet after being primed, painted, and all the stenciling done on the drawers. 

Now painting over the stencil that didn't work. 

The side now painted solid green.

Here is the finished product. I found the knobs at Hobby Lobby. They were just a little smaller looking than I hoped for, but I think the style is very fitting and they add a nice little touch. I know the buffet is a bit funky but that's what I wanted. I LOVE the way this turned out and even more, I LOVE having the extra storage space in my kitchen.

Close up of the knobs and stenciling 

Lessons learned on this project: ALWAYS use a good brush! It makes all the difference in the world. Take the time to mask off. . .it saves time in the end and looks WAY better. Don't try to brush on latex paint with a stencil. . .it bleeds behind the stencil no matter how hard you try. And last but not least. . .don't rush it, things just take time sometimes.

Oh and if anybody is interested, here are the stencils I used:

This is the one I created, and therefore, it isn't perfect. The circles line up pretty good, but not exact, just for the record.

The link for this stencil is: here but I actually modified it just a little so it would cut out on my Cricut better. 

Ruffled Shower Curtain Tutorial

I came across this cute idea for a ruffled shower curtain from Moda Bake Shop. I thought it was really cute, so I tried it out, only with a few modifications.

Materials you will need:
* 1 inexpensive, plain shower curtain (72" length x 70" width)
* 9 yards of fabric (one yard ea. of 9 different patterns if you wish)
* 2 yd jumbo ric rac

The first thing I did is lay out my shower curtain and using a ruler I drew horizontal lines every 2 inches beginning just below the grommet holes where you hang the curtain.  You should have about 35 rows.

In an effort to save money, I just bought nine yards of fabric rather than using jelly rolls like the Moda site recommended.  I also liked that by doing this my rows were a uniform pattern across the whole row. I cut 2 1/2 inch strips with my rotary cutter with a pinking blade. This wasn't as much work as I thought it was going to be, so I'm very glad I did it because I saved at least $50 right there. I cut 12 strips of each fabric except for one which I cut 9 (because I had 35 rows). Because of only needing 9 strips of one fabric, I could've gotten by with only 3/4 or 2/3 of a yard of one pattern. Then I pretty much followed all the instructions on the Moda Bake Shop site.

I laid out all my strips to decide the order I wanted to sew them onto my curtain.

To make one row for the shower curtain, you will need 3 strips of fabric sewn together to create one long row.

When it came time to sewing my ruffles, I used my ruffler foot to sew the rows into ruffles.  You can use any method of ruffling the fabric that you choose, I just found this to be easiest and it gave me nice uniform ruffles.

I started at the bottom of the shower curtain and sewed the strips on one by one, using 1/4" seam allowance.

No close up shots, but to finish off the raw edge at the top of the shower curtain, I simply sewed on some jumbo ric rac of a coordinating color and TA-DA!

Ah, I am in love. . .I am very pleased with the way it turned out.




Here is what I liked about the project:
*You don't have to be an excellent seamstress.  If you don't sew perfectly straight you'll never know because the ruffles conceal it!
*You can personalize it as much as you'd like.
*I love the ruffles and I love the way it looks in my bathroom!


Tips:
* I thought it would be slick to use my ruffler foot to create the ruffle and attach it to the fabric at the same time.  I thought it would save time, however, it cost me time in the end to fix all the places where the thread missed the fabric.  I should have sewn my ruffle strips, then attached them in two separate steps. 
* If you're going to put this much time and money into the project, use a fabric shower curtain to sew onto.  I've heard that you can sew onto vinyl curtains, however I worry about them becoming brittle with time, so I'd recommend spending a few extra bucks on a fabric curtain.