TUTORIAL: Ikea Raskog Kitchen Cart Makeover

I'm sure by now you've all seen that super cool vintage-inspired kitchen cart at Ikea called the Raskog. I have loved it since it came out, seriously, I would pet it every time I went to Ikea. Almost as if I was visiting it like I would one of my kids at a sleep-away camp. How are you today? Aren't you just such a pretty little cart! Aww, you're sold out, you are so popular!  Everyone loves you! 

I kept telling myself I should by one and I had a running mental list of all the things I could use it for...but I never bit the bullet. Until now. 

image via 

Yessirree Bob, I am now the proud owner of a Raskog...woo to the hoo! 

I think the biggest hurdle I had for not buying one was the colors.  I love the turquoise color but wasn't sure if it would work so well in the long term. Most of the furniture I fall in love with is white...it's clean looking and well, goes with everything. So, after my latest trip to Ikea I finally had a light bulb moment while staring at My Precious and realized...I could just paint it white..duh! And that is just what I did. *giggles*

This is seriously so easy to do, I have no clue why I hadn't thought of it sooner! It took me a good half day to paint it using two coats of a Primer plus Paint spray paint. I assembled it after 24 hours although the can said if you spray on metal that it will take 5-7 days to cure. 

Now, I wanted that vintage chippy look so I assembled mine after only a day...and it did scrape the paint much to my heart's desire...it looks so awesome.  I suppose it may keep chipping to an undesirable level but you could always spray a clear top coat to protect it so there's that.

So, if you are interested in doing this too...think about all the color options!!...this is what I did.  (again, super easy folks, this truly shouldn't even be considered a tutorial but hey, here it is.)

Unassembled, place your metal baskets on a piece of wood or something similar and spray.  I did the side you see in the picture above first (two coats) and then flipped it over and did the bottom. Don't forget to spray paint all the structural pieces too!

Oh, this is the paint I used...although after the first coat I realized I didn't like the look of the Satin finish. The paint that comes on the cart is a shiny gloss, so I switched over to a Gloss finish and wowie zowie, how I love it so!

Like I said earlier, I wanted that chippy vintage look. I bought the Dark Gray Raskog as I thought that the dark color would show through really nicely underneath the white paint. I didn't take too much care while assembling it. I also scraped up some of the edges and sides of the wire baskets too.

And there you have it...love and love!
I am so happy I finally get to own this sweet little cart and in a color that is just perfect for me!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Washi Tape Stool Makeover

I bought a sparkly white step stool at Target a few years back thinking it would be the perfect clean and pristine piece for the kids' bathroom upstairs and boy has it been helpful to help the mini's reach the sink.  But as much as I love the simple white look in my home I have kinda fallen out of love with the new dingy white look its gotten thanks to dirty footprints and toothpaste smears....kids!

I've been wanting to revamp it somehow but I really like the simple white color (I can't help myself...except for the fact it showed dirt so well!) so I thought why not give just the top some love in the form of a Washi Tape makeover!

This project was so easy!  And what a perfect one for Michaels RE-Love Blogger Challenge too :-) Taking my dingy old step stool and transforming it with a little (and I mean little!) bit of effort to a happy and bright piece that fits my home and personality perfectly. No need to spend money on a new stool, I just needed to revamp the one I already had, holla!

Washi Tape Stool Makeover

One old stool

Washi tape in your choice of colors and designs

X-acto knife

Mod Podge and foam brush (optional)

Of course the first thing I did was run to Michaels to buy some (yes more!) Washi Tape.  I love their selection of colors and designs. I went with bright yellow and aqua colors for a nice, cheery look!

To makeover your step stool, wash and dry the surface you will be decorating first.  Then, one by one, line up strips of the Washi Tape right next to each other and press firmly so that they adhere well to the stool.

Flip your stool over on a cutting mat and use your X-acto knife to cut the excess tape to the size of the top of your stool.

 Flip back over and Voila! You are done!

Now, if you think you will be needing to wipe down the surface of your stool you may want to give it a coat or two of Mod Podge to protect the surface, Washi Tape definitely isn't waterproof!

 Ahhh, what a thing of beauty I say!

If you'd like to find more inspiration on how you can RE-Love something in your home, visit Michaels Lookbook here!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

** I have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions are truthful and my own.  This post contains paid links.

Vintage Crib Makeover-TUTORIAL

So I finally went through all the pictures of the vintage crib makeover I did right before Oliver was born.  Yup, he's almost 4 months old so I'm just a leetle late.  He's been a fun, little, smiley pudge to snuggle these last few months though which makes the late posting of it all okay, right? Riiight.

Here is the before of the crib.  Isn't is so cool? I had been eyeing, and I mean down-right staring at this sweet thing for several months at a local thrift store but there were a number of factors getting in the way of my ownership of this vintage treasure.  One being that it was being used as a display piece for as long as I can remember going there.  Nards!  Don't you hate when thrift stores use awesome vintage furniture or crates as display pieces with those big honking signs sayin, 'NOT FOR SALE For Display Only!'  

Then one day, several months back of course, I walk into the store and magically see a very tiny for sale price tag on it...but at over 100 dollars that was not about to happen.  Oh well.  I could only hope in the fact that everyone else felt the same way...or that the pricetag on it was uber tiny that you really had to be checkin' it out to see it, hah.

Then, of all things, Mr. Smashed Peas and I have the day to ourselves.  Crazy I know. We had a wedding to attend to so we had a babysitter for the entire day...whaaaat!?!?  Woot Woot!  That never happens.  Well, after the wedding we were driving up to the reception locale and on the way passed by this particular thrift store.  I asked (ok, begged...Mr. Smashed Peas is in no way fond of thrift stores...at all.) if I could just pop in real quick to peek around.  He said I could only if I dropped him off at a store of his choice first and went back to pick him up in half an hour.  Umm, yeah, I'll totally do that.  And guess, what!  That leetle tiny price tag had a big red slash on it and the new price said....wait for it...

$30

Yes!!  Totally True!!

$30 freakin' dollars!  I swear that never, ever happens to me!

I was so excited I bought it on the spot.  

Then I had to somehow figure out how 8 months pregnant me was going to get it into my car.  Thank goodness for the two very gentlemanly teenage volunteers who offered to carry it out to my car aaaand even loaded it in all in the nick of time to pick up Mr. Smashed Peas.  Wooo Hooo for perfect timing :-) 

So here is the before and after, again.  The original crib is made of a really dark wood and then had some sort of icky half on/half off varnish on it.  I didn't love the dark color but saw potential in it for a more updated version for our home.   Since I didn't know if Oliver was an Oliver or an Olivia (just kidding, Olivia was not on our girl name list...that's our dog's name silly!) I wanted to paint it a neutral yet vintage-y white since it was going to find it's new home in my sewing studio.  I figured I could make fun gender-oriented sheets for a little mattress once we knew boy or girl.

Like I mentioned in this post here.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Zinsser Cover Stain Primer spray paint.  This stuff is sooo awesome.  And no, they don't pay me to say that.  I just love it so I could eat it up.  I used two cans to cover the entire crib inside and out (the flat board took the most primer, it was a lot more surface area than I originally thought).  And then I used less than one can of the Rustoleum White in a Satin finish as a lovely top coat.

It turned out beautifully, don't you think!

Oliver is about 2 weeks old in these pictures.  Can you believe it?

What a plump little babe he has turned into!

 I love the froggy-leg sleeping positions babies sleep in, ahhh.  Sigh.

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

How to Paint Ikea Laminate Furniture-TUTORIAL

Oh yes, I did.  I painted laminate furniture.  Can I get at 'Holla' for a pretty furniture makeover!  Something old and ugly turned into something cute and keepable :-) And it really wasn't that scary either, promise.

So here's a peek at the old furniture look.  Yikes on the electric orange, yellow, and red!  We had originally bought this little child's table and chair set at Ikea about 5 years ago for Noah and his bright green room (more on that make-over in another post!).  I still liked the bright colors of it but I wanted it to be more simple and well, white, so I could put it to use in the girls' room (which we used to be Noah's bright green room).  The look of their new room is soft and feminine...I love it...but that is for another time, today we talk laminate make-over!

Here is a backside view of the chairs.  Aren't they cute?  I love the little squirrel cut outs.  I thought about just selling this set and buying an unfinished set but then thought, 'what the heck, why not try to paint it and see what happens!'  I'm glad I did, cause it turned out soooo awesome!  I couldn't be happier.

The laminate was chipping on some of the edges due to normal wear and tear.  I thought this would be a plus in my make-over as it might give the new paint some character so I didn't sand any of the chips and dings down at all.  This set was in our basement being unused for the past year so I just did a quick wipe away of dust and then a little scrub here and there of old kid goo that just comes with 5 years of toddlers living in my home.

I ended up going through four complete cans of this. Zinsser Cover Stain Oil-Base Primer.  This stuff rocks...big time. It allowed me to cover that dark yet oh-so-bright orange/red and do so WITHOUT sanding any of the surfaces!  Cut out a step?  Yup, I am all over that!  I need to work quickly during Oliver's naps so I tend to choose spray paint over regular paint in a can.  I just can't deal with brushes and drips when I'm on a time constraint, I'm waaaaay to impatient.  This stuff was the perfect thing for me.

 

After I wiped everything down, I sprayed all the furniture completely with the Zinsser Primer.  That means no orange showing through whatsoever.  I let everything cure for 2 days just in case I had some weird peeling issues, which I didn't, yeehaw!

Then I used this stuff.  Rust-Oleum Paint Plus in Semi Gloss White.  I LOVE this spray paint.  It covers so dang well.  I feel like it's an endless can of spray paint with how many projects one can covers.

I used one, that's right ONE, can of paint to cover the entire set of furniture.  Awesome.  I gave it one coat as the coverage was so great.  You see, even those little nooks and crannies by the squirrel cut out were covered nicely.

Do you see that coverage?  Love it.  PS.  Please ignore my new-to-us white grass, Christmas has come early around these parts ;-)  No really, I should probably use a drop cloth but the impatient in me just has no time to get it out.

I let everything dry in my garage for a day before bringing it all inside to get the 'royal' treatment for the kids, ie. crayons, markers, chairs being tipped over and stood upon.

And guess what?  The paint has stood up fine!

So if you happen to have some laminate furniture in your home that you are not loving, try a little painty-paint job on it and give it a new life.  I am so lovin' this new piece in the girls' room, it totally fits the feminine style and look of their room so much better than that bright orange and I didn't have to buy another set and sell the old one to get it, yayyyy!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Furniture Rehab: Painting Over Varnished Wood

So here is my first ever furniture rehab project ever!  It was so fun and easy and I can't believe I waited this long to rehab something.  I think it was all the sanding, priming and painting I had heard about that was freaking me out.  Does that freak you out too?  Ugh, I just hate sanding.  Maybe because my dad made us wake up at the crack of dawn on the weekends to sand all of our basement doors when we finished our basement when I was in high school.  Definitely not high on the list of things I wanted to be doing on a Saturday morning :-)

Just look at this sweet little vintage children's bench.  Can you imagine having to sand all those spindles?  

Not cool.  

I bought this little bench at a local thrift shop for only $6, a total bargain.  But it looked like this when I bought it...

So much potential yet it seemed like too much work having to sand and prime all that varnish off of it (especially being pregnant) so I literally sat on it for over a month trying to figure out what I needed to do, at least I know it's a comfy seat!  

I finally talked to the lovely ladies over at the most adorable vintage treasures shop called Tattered Tiques and they helped me see the light.  The light being the combination of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and beeswax.  They held my hand (and played with my children!) while they walked me through what I needed to do to re-paint a varnished piece of furniture.  Ahhh, sweetness.

{Blerg!  Look at that icky varnish}

{Ahh, love!  Pretty vintage goodness!}

So just in case you might be in the same boat as me...scared of having to sand, prime, and then paint lots of nooks and crannies on a piece of cute furniture...I thought I would share what I did and how it worked for me.  It was actually really super easy and took me less than 5 hours from start to finish, yahoo!

First off, I bought some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP).  Yes, this little can is quite a bit more expensive than your regular 'ol paint from Home Depot and Lowes BUT it cuts out so many steps in a furniture rehab project that involves varnish or laminate and to me, that is sooo worth the expense.  I didn't want to have to spend hours on end in my garage with a protective breathing mask on dealing with sanding, etc.  Plus, I barely used any of this paint for this project (and I used two coats!) which means I have plenty left for other fun projects I have up my sleeves :-)  I also heard this paint has great coverage for painting over cement, brick, stone, etc and although I have never tried it on those surfaces I wouldn't doubt it, this stuff literally rocks my socks off. 

Here is my wee little bench after one coat of chalk paint.  I just wiped the bench clean with a damp cloth and then painted the chalk paint right on top, no prep work!  You can still see the varnished bench underneath one coat of paint, and from what the ladies over at Tattered Tiques told me this is normal.  Usually laminate or varnished wood needs two layers of ASCP.  The first to adhere to the icky stuff and the second coat for coverage.  

Oh, make sure you cover your work surface before you start!  I am not the neatest painter on the block so for me this is must.  I just put a huge piece of foam board down first...it's my spray painting ground cover...and placed my bench on top of that.  Good thing I did, right?  Mr. Smashed Peas would not have been the happiest camper if he had seen I made this mess on top of our outdoor table :-)

I let the paint dry for about an hour and then I applied a second coat.  See the coverage now?  Muuuuch better!  Actually, it's perfect!

Then I waited two hours for the paint to completely dry and rubbed in some Beeswax.  Yup, weird I know.  I didn't even know you could buy this stuff but you can.  I bought mine at Home Depot.  You could buy the Annie Sloan wax but I was told that this was just as good and oh so much cheaper which it totally was!

I just squirted some on the bench, a little at a time, and wiped it on using long strokes with an old, soft t-shirt.  You want to go slowly and use it sparingly because if you use to much it is going to be really hard to wipe off.  Once the bench was completely covered in beeswax I let it cure for about 45 minutes.  You can see my t-shirt left little bits of lint all over the chair.  No worries, you will just wipe them off later!  

After 45 minutes, I came back with my old t-shirt and rubbed it in using a circular motion.  After it was all rubbed in I let it cure for about a day and there you have it!  Easy peasy furniture rehab!

As soon as it was done I put the bench in our front room and would't you know it but my kids were like magnets to it.  They loved the new and improved bench and would sit (and stand) on it with their dirty summer sandal feet.  I about had a heart attack after I saw all the little black footprints.  But, amazingly I just used a damp cloth and wiped it all away with no problems at all.  The paint still looks great to this day.  I may go back and 'rough' it up a bit with some fine grade sandpaper but for now I like the clean look of it.  What do you think?

So the end all be all for me is that I love me some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, yup, LOVE!  I just think this stuff is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Go get some today, there are tons of amazing colors and so many furniture rehab possibilities with it!  I'm currently eyeing the French Linen and Versailles colors...so pretty!

By the way, this is not a sponsored post just my true feelings about an amazing product!  Although I will gladly accept any ASCP sent my way :-)  

Thanks for stopping by and reading today!

XOXO,