When we bought our house it came with some really awesome features.  Some of those marvelous features were 70's wood-like paneling and wallpaper the likes of which powder scented grannies everywhere would kill for.

During the month of July I'm teaming up with Becky over at Broken Pencils are Pointless for a little crafting challenge. If you're a craft-a-holic, enjoy re-purposing or up-cycling things, then breathing new life into them this challenge is for you!

Here's the challenge. Find something that was never meant to be used in a kitchen. You can get said item at a thrift shop, yard sale, anywhere used goods are sold. We're not picky, so you can even use something you already own, as long as its not currently being used in the kitchen.

Once you've chosen your item, refurbish it into something for your kitchen. We will be showing off our fabulous "new" items at the end of July in a co-sponsored linky party.

If you saw this on Pinterest please repin and get the word out! The more the merrier. If you have questions, just pop them in the comments section and I'll answer them directly.

We're still debating on a prize and how to choose a winner, but I'm thinking about a custom designed bracelet for the craftiest gal or guy who submits to the linky.

One of my all time favorite kids movies is A Bug's Life. I don't know if it's the silliness of Dennis Leary as a ladybug called Francis that pulled me in or the caterpillar, Heimlich.  He loved to eat, spoke with a German accent and was morbidly obese, yet convinced that someday he would be a beautiful butterfly. No matter which character you like best, at the heart of the movie it was about rooting for the underdog.
A while back, we decided to gut our family room (mostly because it was covered in 70's era paneling) and start fresh. Part of that renovation included selling our bar, which were some old, very heavy, but unique jewelers cases. We decided we'd find some new furniture and re-purpose it into a bar. So, I found us some of the ugliest furniture I could.  Under all that nasty is some WWII era waterfall furniture.  How do I know that?  I stripped it!

Dresser - in all its spray painted glory

More of the beautiful paint job

Grain in the top of the dresser

Sides still needing a bit of work

I used Motsenbocker's Lift Off.  It's green, water based, low-VOC and biodegradable.  You still need to wear gloves (just not latex ones, if you're stripping latex paint, it will eat the latex in the gloves too) because it strips the oils from your skin, kind of like clay does.  You paint the stuff on, wait five to ten minutes and use a stripping pad to start rubbing the paint off.  Take a rag with some warm water over it to wipe off the mess and scrub a bit more.  In no time you're down to the wood.  The dresser took me about three hours to strip, which wasn't too bad, it's a fairly big piece.
While the furniture isn't quite done yet.  It still needs some sanding, priming and white paint.  It is my Heimlich, and my underdog.  Soon it too will be a beautiful butterfly.

Can't see me! I have camo.

This past Sunday, we decided to get up and go to the freak show.  Most people refer to it as the Flea Market.  But, when admission is free and you actually can see a dog-faced boy, or two, it's a freak show.  While the people weren't as exciting as they have been in the past, we did see an odd thing or two.  My personal favorite was the  bright orange hummer in the parking lot, complete with camo.  What we didn't find were lamps, or anything else that is on my family room wish list.
Also on today's list of things to do: prime the walls in the family room.  We decided on the Kilz brand clean start with no VOC.  One coat was enough to cover the drywall and barely smelled at all.  The only bad part was that it was thicker than regular primer.  Well, that and the King decided to 'help' with the painting.  He did well relieving me when I needed a break.  Then, as I was using a brush to get into the stubborn corners etc, he decided to help some more, and clean up.  I really should have known that I should have given him explicit instructions when he said he was going to start the clean up.  Instead I went blissfully into a corner and back to painting.  When I finally finished up, I was taking my supplies to the kitchen and passed by the guest bath and there was the King, elbows deep in paint and paint stick pieces in the bathroom sink.  The very shallow, very black marble, scalloped edge sink.   I wasn't sure if I should have laughed or cried when I asked, 'what the hells are you doing?!'  He looks at me with this satisfied smile and claims to be 'cleaning up'.

Primer!

There is now more paint than I've ever seen anywhere splashed all over the bathroom, and a pool of it on the family room floor (thankfully we plastic covered it) from the roller he forgot about.  I explain to him how to actually clean this up, and send him to the kitchen with the roller as I start to clean the other pieces of the paint stick, and the sink, mirror, walls...etc.  When I was nearly finished cleaning up the disaster that became the guest bathroom, the King stuck his head back in, smiled at me and said, 'To be fair, you know paint hates me', as though this would stop me from daydreaming about painful ways to kill him as I scoured a little more paint off the bathroom.
Later, as I'm making dinner he wanders back in the kitchen with this silly grin on his face and proclaims, 'I have paint on my hands, my arms, my legs and my shoes.  The best part about that?  I wasn't even wearing shoes!'

*Not to scale

I can only imagine trying to explain to the nice police officers, as they are loading me into the squad car why it's perfectly fine to have strangled the husband, Homer Simpson style.  But officers, we live in a republic, we have no monarch, so it's was completely fine to kill the King.
I think in the future, I'll refrain from letting him 'help' me paint.  I just have to convince him that the paint stick is not the royal scepter and all will be well.

Before cleaning

I was helping minion #2 put dishes away the other day and was noticing just how awful my dishes really looked (the husband says he thinks they're awful too, but has more to do with the pattern than the little gray marks from silverware).  I've had this set of Corelle since realizing I couldn't heft a pile of stoneware (which was WAY more ugly than the Corelle) above my head while I had my right arm in a sling and wasn't supposed to move it for about six weeks.  Which, by the way was roughly 20 years ago.  I really love that it's nearly indestructible, and when minion #2 is putting the dishes away, that's extremely important.  Our glasses have not fared nearly as well.
As you can see, the plates were not looking their best.  A few years of being stabbed and mutilated by silverware has nearly done them in.

Halfway through

Hand washing them did nothing, nor did bleach or scouring cleanser, also with beach.  I recalled seeing a post from someone a while back, but it was for cleaning ironware.  My logic, was well...if it works on other white dishes, might as well give it a shot.  My grandparents swore by this stuff to clean the copper on the bottoms of pans.  I should mention they also have Corelle, and don't have marks on their dishes.  I'm betting they also know this secret, and haven't told any one.  What is this wondrous product?  Barkeepers Friend.(site has a coupon that will bring it down to about $1.25)  I'm no barkeep, but it's definitely my new best friend.  You don't have to scrub all that hard, just sprinkle some on and be amazed at your 'new' dishes.

Ta da!

I can also say it does amazing things for stainless steel.  My kitchen sink looks a whole lot more like a shiny new sink and less like something you find along the road being thrown out.  Silly sink didn't somehow grow another bowl or get any deeper, but I guess you can only expect just so much from a cleaning product.

Now, if I have any more energy today after sanding the family room, cleaning the dishes and the never ending loads of laundry around here, I might see what it does with my ugly shower floor tile.

The remodeling of the family room continues, still.  I've forgotten how long some projects can take.  How much mess they make, and that I had that muscle, and that one too.
Dad came by last week and helped the husband pick up a few sheets of drywall.  Sixteen of them to be exact.  They're conveniently sheltered in the garage for the moment, just waiting to be picked up, cut to size and screwed in.

Ugly brick

While we were waiting to collect the drywall, we got to stare at the fireplace for a week in all its ugly-ass glory.  After a discussion or two it was decided that painting the brick was the best option.  I know a few of you just gasped at the audacity of that statement.  Painted brick- oh the horrors!  You can't undo it!  It will get dirty...the list goes on.  The truth is, the brick was broken in many places, extremely pitted and very uneven, even the mantle is uneven.  So I broke out some old paint from the depths of the basement, found a paintbrush and got to it.  After one coat it looked better, after two it looked great except for the deepest pitted areas and a few breaks in the brick the paint couldn't hide.

Bye bye ugly brick

The husband took a look at those spots and decided he had some white caulk that would fix that right up.  He disappears out to the garage to dig the caulk out of whatever box it was hiding in and brings it back in to warm up a little before I use it.  A few hours later I grab the caulk, and fill in all the holes.
Standing back from the fireplace, it looks fantastic.  The white of the caulk blended right in, so good in fact I had trouble finding some of it when I was smoothing it out.

White and glossy

The next day I walked into the room and was completely mystified by the holes in the brick showing back up.  I actually said, 'did the brick soak up the caulk or something?'.  Keep in mind, I was told it was white caulk.  I just never looked at the tube, you know, where it says CLEAR.  After poking at the clear caulk and being teased about my reading skills, I painted over the caulk and finished the fireplace.
We managed to get the drywall up over the long weekend.  Only a few sheets left to go at this point, and then the taping and mudding can begin.

"I have a hundred bucks, a couple of tacos, and two sticks of gum, let's go!", says the husband.  When I finished laughing at the absurdity of that, (and absently wondered where the penguin was) we headed over the river and through the slums to 19th street to check out a furniture consignment gallery.  I'll get this out of the way right now, I think most consignment places charge too much.  I get that when you have a middleman, the prices are higher, but seriously, when you can buy it new for that price, you're charging too much.
Now that my rant is over, they had some nice things.  Some priced correctly.  Some not even close.  They did however have something we want.  And, it's priced in our budget.  Not only does it fulfill the want of a bar, but it has an absolutely adorable side table.
I already have coffee flavored dreams of that little table with a lamp on it.  The three little drawers have books in them, and a few coasters.  If I catch anyone putting their sweaty glasses down on my not yet existant table, there will be trouble.  Of course, I still need a chair to sit next to that cute little table.  I'm hoping for something I can curl up in.  Something I can let myself sink into, maybe even fall asleep in, but only if it goes with the table.

Don't judge him, he's just dirty

Did I mention we didn't actually buy the furniture?  Yeah, we did the whole, let's think about it.  It's still at the consignment place.  At least until tomorrow.  Then I'll go adopt my little table and bring him home, where he belongs.

And so this past Sunday morning began with a decided lack of muffins.  I was having dreams of fresh, warm from the oven muffins.  Something with cranberries in it.  One of the minions, who for his personal safety shall remain nameless, ate all the applesauce.  Muffins could be made without it, but they just don't taste the same.  So, a pox on you small child, I know where you sleep, and when.  Just for spite, I may explain all about Santa on a random Tuesday.

After some coffee, the last prednisone for this cycle (no tail yet, btw), and some cereal (I put craisins in it, just because) we trudged back to the family room. With crowbars in hand, the last of the paneling was dealt with.  I had no idea you had to put paneling in with railroad spikes, but in a few places someone decided it was a great idea!  It's not.  Paneling in general is just a bad idea, so if you ever considered it, just stop.  Stop now.

Gold Leaf Beaver

The day before this, we spent running about the countryside looking at different types of furniture.  Some interesting, some not, some expensive, some not, but we did agree on a number of things.  We now know what we're looking for, if we ever get the walls put back up.  And, $39,000 for a gold leaf beaver is really just too much.