Curbside Creativity...

Boy, am I an indecisive person.  If given too many choices, I waffle - big time.  For instance, I thought I had an idea of what I'd like to find for my son's apartment in the way of a coffee bar.  I was leaning towards something like the industrial table that Dee from DeeConstructed made out of an aquarium stand.  

Then, I get an email from Dee's friend Gary Meincke.  He sent me a number of really cool flips.  When I saw this one, I was immediately torn.  Something like this would be cool for Zach's apartment!  It could serve as a coffee/wine bar.  So, now I'm back to square one.  (If someone else submits another potential option, then I'll just have to leave it up to the readers here to choose.) 

Gary saw this dresser sitting curbside.  He brought it home and removed the drawers.  He cleaned up the inside area with 1/4" MDF.  Then, he separated the two sections building the stem glass hanger and the bottle holders.  He left the right side door for storage.  Because every good bar needs lighting, he ran LED rope light thru the glass and bottle section.  He chose the color Merlot for the exterior and Cappucino for the interior.  (See?  Wine & Coffee names! Meant to be!)  He changed the hardware to "grapes" and he was done.

Isn't that terrific?  Very creative!  This piece sold quickly. 

Currently, Gary sells by word of mouth and via Facebook.  He's building up his inventory though, and he'll be going the flea market route soon.  

Thanks Gary for sharing your furniture flips!  Your one of a kind table will be coming up very soon on the blog. 

That wraps up another week of furniture flips.  If you have a furniture flip you'd like to show off, email me at furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

~ Stephanie

Basements, Boats & Picket Fences...

Jack painting his Grandparent's house in 1960.

As I've mentioned here once or twice before, I correspond with Jack.  He is the 80 year old grandson of the original owners of our house.  He is a wealth of information and I love hearing his stories of spending time in this house and neighborhood.  

Mr. Bell in 1924

Many of his stories involve people I remember and some I do not.  He speaks often of Mr. Bell.  He lived in the house to the East of ours.  He knew Mr. Bell from the time he was a small boy.  (Years later, I met Mr. Bell when I was 8 years old.)  He said that he would wear a path out from his parents home to Mr. Bell's house every day.  Mr. Bell called him Buddy and would give him a candy bar each day after work.  (Mr. Bell was a salesman for a candy distributor.  He had long retired by the time I met him, so I didn't get in on the candy bar giveaways.)

Mr. Bell once built a boat in his basement.  (The basement of that house is rather large with tall ceilings and plenty of space to work.)  He worked hard building that boat and when it was finally finished, it was too large to exit the house using the doors.  It's a boat after all.  So, he had to excavate a portion of the basement/foundation and remove it that way.  Quite an undertaking for a boat!  He named the boat "Buddy" when he was done.  Isn't that an awesome piece of history?  So sweet, too!

This story that Jack told me came to my mind again when I saw today's furniture flip.   

Our very talented furniture flipper, Diane Kelly of DK Fabrics, located in Barrington, R.I., was quick to act when her friend dismantled a well worn picket fence.  Diane snatched up three sections of it and took them home.

She decided to upcycle these fence pieces into a bench.  She didn't take the easy route, but put some good sweat (and probably some tears, too!) into it by using an old fashioned handsaw as her tool of choice.  Much like Mr. Bell did, she didn't give much thought to how she was going to get it out of her basement once she was finished with it.  Luck was on her side though, as it was able to barely squeeze through the bulkhead and emerge from the basement.  (No removing foundation for her!)

Let's take a look at this fantastic "new use for an old object". 

Very nice!  It's amazing what one can do with a piece that had been headed to the landfill.  Fantastic rescue!  

You can see more of Diane's work on her DK Fabrics website and on her Facebook page.  She is an amazing upholsterer, too.

Thanks so much Diane for sharing your awesome Furniture Flip!

Dear readers, have you submitted your furniture flip yet?  Whatcha waiting for?  Email me before/after pics and plenty of details to furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

Oh, that picture of Jack painting his grandparent's house in 1960?  He likes to let me know that he has painted this house twice in his lifetime.  We are tied!  Because I've helped paint this house twice in my lifetime, too!  Thank goodness for siding.  I don't like painting houses.  

~ Stephanie

Pimp My Crib

I am so glad it's Monday!  Why?  Because, when our furniture flipper Martin Hodgson of Pimp My Crib sent me today's flips, I was so excited about them I almost couldn't wait for today to show them to you!  I know you will love them just as much as I do!  

Martin is based in the United Kingdom and has been making children's themed beds for years.  Last year he decided to try his hand at cribs, too.  He took a second hand crib and decided to make a sample one.  (Martin stresses that when making one to sell he always uses a new crib.)

He worked his magic on it and turned it into a carriage, fit for a little princess.

Here it is all ready for paint.

And here it is finished...

Isn't that fantastic?  Can you imagine having that in your child's nursery?  Wow!  Amazing.  

Wait, there's more!

This next picture Martin sent shows a complete nursery full of furniture he created.  

What a lucky little baby Indianna is!  Speaking of Indianna, I have been trying to get somebody in my family to name their future daughter that!  I have been trying for what seems like FOREVER!  So far, nobody has.  I'm still hoping.  (They could call her Indy for short!)

Martin is a fulltime dad who pursues his craft on a part-time basis.  He keeps pretty busy with his orders.  Check out these other themed beds he created.

What lucky children to slumber in these beds.  

Look at the one with the slide.  You'd never get your kids out of their rooms!
 
Thank you so much Martin Hodgson for sharing your incredible talent!  

You can check out more of his work on his Pimp My Crib Facebook page. 

How's that for a start to the week?  Have you submitted your furniture flip yet?  I hope you do!  Email me before/after pics and plenty of details to furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

~ Stephanie  

Buh-Bye Dark & Dreary...

Dark & dreary...that could describe my mood on days when the sun doesn't shine.  Well, it could, if I didn't look for the little things that brighten my day.  Case in point, the picture right here.  On this particular day these things were making my day!  My new duster that I used all over the house that day.  The fact that the M&M's in my cookies matched the flowers on my counter.  My always makes me happy regular iced coffee from McDonalds.  My open windows.  Finally, the sound of my wind chimes.  Yep, that's what it takes to turn a potentially dark & dreary day into a happy sunshiney one for me.  It's the little things...(Come on Spring!  I want my windows open again!)

Speaking of banishing dark & dreary.  Check out the two pieces that our lovely furniture flipper Kellee of The Charmed Workshop rescued.  

Both of these are from the 1970's.  The top one piece with the gold fabric was Kellee's first save.  She found it at a local thrift store for $4.50.  Her husband couldn't see the potential, but Kellee could.  (How many of us wives have had the same reaction from our husbands over a piece we've dragged home?  Raise your hands!  Quite a few of us.)  

Kellee fell in love with the metal grid on the doors and knew she wanted to highlight them.  The entire cabinet was too dark so she lightened it up by painting it Marine Isle by Behr.  The old gold fabric was removed and she added some feet to it.  (I love when feet are added!)  Look at this beauty now...it's now living out it's life with new owners but I hope they tell it that Kellee thinks of it often.

The other piece's size impressed Kellee.  She started painting it in cream but didn't feel that it was quite as light as she hoped.  So, she went over it in a white glaze.  Adding the new feet to it really changed the appearance of it.  Finally, she replaced the hardware with new.

What a difference! 
These two pieces are no longer dark & dreary.  

You can see more of Kellee's work on her Facebook page, The Charmed Workshop.  She is located in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Head on over there and let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'.

Thanks so much Kellee for sharing your furniture flips!  Keep 'em coming.

Speaking of flips, dear readers, have you submitted yours yet?  What are you waiting for?  Email me at furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

~ Stephanie

One Of These Chairs Is Just Like The Other...

Happy Leap Day!  I hope you don't plan on wasting this free day.  It won't come around for four more years.  Me?  Oh, I fully intend to waste the day.  I'm so good at that, why change now?  I say, if you find something you are good at, then stick with it!  So, I am.  I shall spend too many hours on the weird wide web.  I shall make many high scoring words in my Words With Friends game I have going with my sister and then cackle to myself as I say, "Take THAT!  Lee Ann!"  I will also restart the dryer a few times because I just don't feel like folding laundry when the buzzer goes off.  (On more than one occasion I have restarted it three times, only to find out that it was empty! I even put off work that isn't even there to do! Hahahaha.  Read:  cackle, cackle, cackle!)  

Those reasons are precisely why I could never pull off an instructional video on how to do something.  I'd get distracted by something and you'd have a hard time reining me in and keeping me on track.  Good thing I'm not the subject of today's blog post.  (See what I did?  I just caused you to waste 38.01 seconds of your day reading the two paragraphs preceding this line.  Yes, I timed myself proofreading them.) 

I can promise you this:  the rest of this blog post will NOT be a waste of your time.  You are going to be inspired AND you will learn something.  And, it's all thanks to our furniture flipper Jami Ray of Jami Ray Vintage.

Jami and her husband Zeb have got it going on!  They have a DIY Channel on YouTube full of instructional videos.   Their website is a chockfull of stuff.  It's like one stop everything...shopping, DIY tutorials, before & afters, so much to see!  Today, we are going to focus on these two Queen Anne chairs that Jami recently redone.

Here's what they looked like when they found themselves in Jami's capable hands.  Sturdy but dirty.  Jami stripped them down to their bare bones and went to work.
 
She repainted them with Fairy Chalk Mother paint in Fresh Cream.  You can purchase that and more colors on her website.   She then distressed it by sanding followed by an application of Fairy Chalk Mother Antiquing Glaze.  

When it came time for fabric Jami chose a faux grain sack fabric that she created herself using a drop cloth.  She very graciously shows you how you, too, can create this look through one of her videos.   

I'm going to skip over some of the steps she has taken and jump ahead to the reveal of these chairs.  You can see this makeover step by step in her video tutorial.  (I spent a lot of my Friday watching her videos.)

Isn't that fabulous!?!  Love them!

Jami Ray Vintage is located in Lehi, Utah.  I'm serious, you will fall in love with her work and you might as well chalk up today as a wasted bonus day, because you will be too busy watching her videos to get anything else done.  But, then that's not really a wasted day because you'll be having fun and learning something, too.  You can also visit with Jami on her Facebook page.  

Thanks Jami for sharing your talented self with all of us!  Oh, and your talented husband, too.  Can't forget him!  

Dear readers, have you submitted your own flips yet?  What's the hold up?  I don't have all day you know!  Or, do I?

See you tomorrow!

~ Stephanie

Here's Hutch. What Happened To Starsky?

Get It?  Stars, Key, & Hutch!

If you are a furniture flipper, I bet you have now, or have had in the past, an unwanted hutch top sitting around doing nothing.  I had one.  I can't remember what I did with it.  All I know is that it was in our garage, and now it's not.  I think my husband had something to do with it's disappearance, but he hasn't copped to it yet. 

(This pic has nothing but the title in common with this blog post.  And that hutch doesn't look like that anymore either.  Apologies to long time readers who have seen this feeble attempt of humor through pictures before.)

Anyway, today's flip.  The hutch part I'm talking about looks like this.  It would sit on a base.  Many times, people just want the base and have no idea what to do with the top part. Well, here is a spectacular idea that will make you weep for days at the loss of all of those hutch tops you (or your spouse) may have tossed.  

Let's talk about Julie from Simple Redesigns.  I adore Julie.  I check out her website for her work and follow her Facebook page.  I have to dole out my compliments to her projects a little at a time, so she doesn't get a restraining order against me.  A makeover of hers will pop up in my newsfeed and sometimes I make sure I'm NOT the first one to like it.  Haha.  Then after the appropriate time has passed I come back to it, like, comment and dream that I own that piece.  Like today's.  
 
Julie took this hutch top and transformed it.  It's new purpose was going to be as a sink base in a bathroom makeover.  Julie added mirror to the doors to hide the plumbing and whatever other bathroom necessities would be stored there.  Then she painted it in a pretty color.  

After her part was finished, she handed it off to her friend Mindi of MindiFreng Designs.  From there, Mindi's plumber took over and finished its conversion into a bathroom vanity. Look at it now! 

Isn't that something else?  Doesn't that make you want to run out and find a hutch top to convert?  It does me!  If you find one send it my way!  I DISLIKE my bathroom vanity and would be in bathroom heaven to have a piece like this!  

Now check out the one that Julie did for her own 1/2 bathroom.

Julie has excellent taste!  You seriously need to go check out her work.  She very generously shared, too, the recent remodel/reno she and her husband did on their own Mid Century Modern house.  Gorgeous is the only way to describe it.  

We've seen Julie's Simple Redesign work here before on the blog.  I have a tendency to pigeonhole Julie into the "furniture into bathroom vanity" category and that's just ME.  Because of MY obsession with furniture being turned into bathroom vanities and my hatred of my own traditional bathroom vanity. Actually, those conversions make up a very small part of her vast repertoire of furniture flips.  Once you go on her website or Facebook page, you'll be inspired for days.  

Here's what has been featured here in the past...

Her single vanity was a huge hit!  That green desk is so much fun!  The double vanity? Well, there aren't enough words to describe its beauty.   

Head on over to Simple Redesign's website.  There you will find finished pieces available for purchase, unfinished pieces available for you to you request your own look to it, and much more.  Julie & Simple Redesigns are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Head on over to her Facebook page, too.  Let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'.  I'll be over there lurking.  Hehehehe...   

Keep up the fabulous work Julie!  

That concludes another week of Furniture Flippin'.  We shall take a break for the weekend!  Woohoo!  See you next week!

~ Stephanie 

I Present To You King Charles...

Don't get your hopes up Duchess Of Cornwall Camilla, I'm not talking about your husband.  Not placing bets on when he'll get that throne.  Nope.  "King Charles" happens to be the name of today's most magnificent furniture flip.

Now, we've all seen benches made out of beds.  We've even seen rocking chairs made out of beds, "wink, wink" (our Triple Rocker).  The bench I'm going to show you today is pretty darn awesome.  I saw it and couldn't wait to show it to you!

The only problem is, there is no "before" pic.  I'm making an exception today and breaking that rule because this is just that cool.  

Today's creation is courtesy of Jenniver of The DORE To LAWRENCE, located in Canyon Lake, California.   This was only the fifth piece that Jenniver made.  The four previous pieces were a test of sorts, to see if she had the gift.  (She does!)  When she saw two separate sale ads on Craigslist, one for a headboard, the other a footboard, she decided to bring them together and create this...

Isn't that unique?  I've never seen a bench quite like that one.  Jenniver has been branding her work with a handstamped copper tag.  Each piece is numbered.  This piece was the first one that Jenniver started numbering, it's number is 2013.1 and she is now up to #2013.174.  She has been busy.

Head on over to The DORE To LAWRENCE'S website for more of her work.  She is in her third year of business and her work includes furniture, handmade clocks, wine barrel pieces and much more.  You can also visit her on her Facebook page.  Let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'.

Thanks so much Jenniver for sharing the details of this fabulous bench!

Get your flips in people!  You don't have to be into furniture for profit, it can be flips you've done for yourself.  Let's see what you can do!  Email me before/after pics & details to furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

See you tomorrow!

~ Stephanie