DIY: Weekend Project Fun

Happy Friday to all!

Lucky for me, I have no class on Friday’s so I get to spend all day being lazy (and funkybear posting) I have some fun house projects to share with y’all that I’ve done! Let me know what you think.

Project #1: Antique Wood Shutter

So, my roommates and I found an old wood shutter at a thrift store in College Station last semester. Although it was pretty rough-looking, it was only ten bucks. What a steal. We weren’t sure at the time what to do with it, but a coat of paint later, it came to us.

We simply spray painted the shutter a serene sage green. After we let it dry for an hour or so, we started to distress it using some sand paper. We lightly went over all the natural places an old item would have worn over time — corners and edges, mostly. After wiping all of the sanding dust off with a wet rag, we put a stain on it. This stain simply put a darker tint to the sage green, and on the areas that we had distressed, it brought that out even more – making a very rich and finished looking piece!

As you can see, we didn’t stop there. In order to make it a functional piece — we found some fun knobs at Hobby Lobby (also can be found at a local hardware store, or if you’re wanting to splurge a little, Anthropologie is your answer). We had some fun finding mix-n-match knobs and then got one with each of our initials! The hardest part about all of this was working the screw driver (we’re girls, give us a break) but once we figured that part out, the rest of it was smoothe sailing.

Here’s some more close up views of how it turned out!

While we don’t hang our keys or purses on it, we absolutely LOVE this in our house. Over Christmas time, we hung up our stockings on there and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Project #2: Old-timey Coat Rack

So, I’ve got lots of stuff whenever I walk in the door – umbrellas, jackets, scarfs, and so on. I tend to throw them on whatever chair I see first, or the floor if nothing else.

Over winter break when I was in Austin, my mom and I were just having a leisure day of Christmas shopping in the funky Hyde Park side of Austin (not only did we explore a lot of fun shops, but found a LOT of good food — let me know if you want any restaurant recommendations for that area. I love talking about food).

Any who, while browing an antique resale shop, we stumbled upon this old coat rack! Unfortunately, I did not take a before picture (rookie move I know, I’m still getting used to being a funkybear) — but I do have plenty of after pics! It was an old brass hat rack with lots of dings and scratches on it and looked like it belonged in my grandparents house (use your imagination).

Two coats of a bright NYC Big Apple-style RED later, and it was good to go. As you can see, I love spray paint. And the color red. Here are some shots of my new little baby:

And there you have it! Now go have some fun this weekend, relax, and if you got inspired by any of this, show me what you come up with!

Yours truly,

Caroline, the little FunkyBear