Upcycled: Amy's Painting

When Amy and I became roommates, Amy brought with her a painting that was given to her from her office. This painting wasn't really a painting at all... it was more of a print on a nice canvas and Amy asked me to paint something for her over the original piece. 

I told Amy to pick something out and let me know what she wants me to do. A few days later she came across these two paintings in Nordstrom at the Galleria.

The original painting was orange, brown, blue and white stripes like the image below.

First I had to cover up the lines and mark out the center, then I was able to start painting. 

The painting took me about two weekends... Only because I got frustrated with my artwork and I had this habit of covering up what I didn't like and starting over. I repeated this about three times before I liked what I had done. 

To be totally honest with you, the process of painting something from scratch to resemble a painting was rather difficult. I realized why I hate painting. Amy was a great encourager, but I am too hard on my creations and definitely a perfectionist when it comes to painting in general. 

The final piece is solid brown. Here is a photo of the center.  

All in all I am happy with my work... Just upset about the battle with my perfectionistic painting-self. Maybe one day I will enjoy what I paint and not have to go to battle. 

New Dresser!! (Not Upcycled)

I mentioned before that I purchased a dresser. Originally I wanted to buy an antique piece and restore it, but in the end I ended up purchasing something that didn't need anything done to it. 

My Mom, Dad, Amy and I drove out to Waxahachie to visit a dealer who was going to sell me something like this: an antique dresser, approximate value ~$350

When we got out there, however, the dresser was probably from the 1950's (instead of "early 1900's"), was missing an original knob and had a different mirror attached to it. Chances are someone a long time ago broke the original mirror and replaced it with another to keep the value and purpose of the piece. 

Luckily we picked up on these things and I did not make the purchase.... It was not worth the listing price. 

Depressed and hungry, we went to the old square and walked around looking (and smelling) for something to eat. We walked into an antique shop called The Dove's Nest and found out that there was a restaurant attached to the side. (Which by the way has fantastic food and is a great idea--Antique shop + restaurant... I want to do that one day!) 

My Mom, Amy and I became distracted by the first booth after entering the store and my Dad walked straight up to this and said, "Elizabeth, I found your dresser!" 

Basically it was love at first sight. It's a mirrored dresser, and I probably paid too much for it, but I love it, so I don't care!

Upcycled: Push Pin Wall Art

So, this was a little project that I wanted to do after going to an antique home in OKC. I deleted the photo that inspired me, but basically it was an antique frame with center that was burlap over a magnetic center.

I decided that it would be better to do a cork backing, that way we could use push pins and rather than magnets. 

After a few hours of searching for the frame (Note: I found plenty of frames--just not for the price I wanted to pay), I stumbled across Lots of Furniture Antiques Warehouse and was able to negotiate the price for the gold frame below. 

After purchasing the frame, I went to an art store and picked up a canvas that I could carve down to the appropriate size, Target to get the cork backing, and then my parents house to steal a burlap sack that we used to use for sack races. 

I came home, carved the canvas, applied the cork backing and burlap and then nailed in the center to the frame. 

Originally I had kept the frame gold, but then I purchased a mirrored dresser and the gold frame did not look good with the dresser, so I painted it grey. 

Here it is!

Upcycled: Old Barn Wood Headboard!

This was an idea I came across one day when I was on Pinterest. I had wanted to make a headboard for the longest time, but I did not know what exactly I was going to do nor how I was going to do it.

The above photo was of a bathroom wall makeover 

and I thought the idea was completely original and unique (at the time).

So, my dad and I carved out some time to go to  Oor-Reed Wrecking Company one Saturday and purchase some reclaimed wood. To my surprise, I was able to purchase all of the wood I would need to build the headboard for less than $50.00!

The most frustrating thing about building the headboard was the frame. My dad and I argued for about twenty minutes on how the frame should be built. I had already drawn up a sketch of my idea of  measurements and such, but he said that I drew a board below where it should go for supporting the weight of the wood. Eventually he won the discussion because I decided I didn't want to risk ruining the wood I just purchased! And he was right, of course!

After building the frame and attaching the backing, I was able to start laying out the design!

And finally after attaching all of the wood pieces, we have a very heavy, reclaimed wood headboard! 

It's awesome!

Here are two photos of it in my room!