Giant Calendar/Chalkboard/Closet Doors

This project was NOT from the thrift store for once, but it was definitely thrifty. It's been one of my favorites. We live in an early 1980's fixer upper. When we moved in, our laundry closet was festooned by ugly, louvered, bi-fold doors. With all the other things we had to replace (everything!), those doors were low on the priority list. I'd been Pinteresting around for a giant chalkboard calendar idea, but I knew my husband wouldn't take kindly to me chalkboard painting one of the walls we worked so hard to refurbish. A few months ago, one of the doors broke. Ah, sweet serendipity. I grabbed the cheapest hollow core bi-fold doors I could find at Home Depot,  put those puppies up myself, then painted them with chalkboard paint. I told my husband about my calendar idea. Thankfully he helped me measure out the lines. Straight lines are not my strong suit. We made a preliminary grid with some chalk and a yardstick. We left some room at the bottom for notes and in case our dogs happened to brush against it. They could take out an entire week with a tail swipe. Then, I simply taped over the lines with masking tape. I thought about painting the lines, but I didn't necessarily want them to be permanent in case we fell out of love with the calendar. The masking tape has held up beautifully for months now. The whole family loves the calendar. It's right in the kitchen where everyone can see what's going on in a glance. Aside from my terrible chalk drawings, it is a thing of beauty. 

Old Door = New Entryway Happiness!

With all the new furniture happiness going on in the living room, my entryway was looking pretty sad in comparison. I've always thought it would be nice to have an actual foyer area where I could put a substantial chest of drawers or something. No luck. Every house or apartment in which I've lived just dumps you straight into the living room. My current house is actually the best of the bunch. There is a little delineation at least. I've been craving some kind of small console table for awhile. For the front door not to hit it, it could only be three and a half inches wide. That didn't exactly give me lots of options. After some Pinterest inspiration, I came up with this. I like it quite well, and it really finishes the room. 

Before. Just sad.

After. Happy! I also painted the front and closet doors black. More on that in a later post.

All the hooks, accessories, purse, boots, etc. are from Goodwill. Of course.

I got the door and trim from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The door was $15 and the trim was $3. I bought three trim pieces. I rigged together a shelf with two of the trim pieces. Explaining how I did it would be highly confusing. I'm really not even sure, but it worked. I attached it with some metal brackets we had hanging around in the garage. Then I put the old hooks from the first picture under it. The second trim piece I attached to the top of the door to make it look all fancy. Here's what it started out looking like...

A new coat of paint helped it shed its boring persona. After I got it attached to the wall (with much help from my hubby), I put a spray painted thrift store frame around a thrift store work of original art (.88!) and added a little $3 thrift store lamp. I downloaded some free number stencils and painted our house number as a finishing touch. Done!

The Ugly Duckling Sofa Set Becomes Beautiful!

I bet high on the very dirty sofa set I bought at Goodwill last week. For only $108 with tax for both pieces, how could I not? It looked like a very messy toddler had been given free rein all over it. There were juice stains, marker drawings, watercolor paint marks, and general griminess. Most of the damage was confined to the cushions. I figured the worst case scenario involved me making new cushion covers. The back pillows were already missing, so I knew I'd be sewing anyway. After I got it home, I doused the the stains in stain remover and took a chance on putting the covers through the wash. To my delight, they came out nearly perfect. I borrowed a steam cleaner for the rest of the upholstery. That also cleaned up amazingly well. All I had to do then was make some new pillows for the backrests. I sold the old sectional for $75 and spent $50 on new pillow materials. It was like getting a new sofa set for $83. Besides being incredibly cheap, they are such good quality. Much more than I could ever afford at full price. Huge win! So, here is their transformation in pictures...

Here's the old dog bed sectional. It did have back pillows. I just removed them to use for other stuff before I sold it. 

The new set, calling to me at Goodwill.

The very dirty loveseat. And this was the cleaner of the two pieces.

Marker stains, juice stain, general ick. 

All prettied up! Frankie is my spokesmodel. 

A closeup.

Remember all that dirt. No more! Plus new back cushions.

Lovely!