Pop of Color

Adding color in unexpected places makes an ordinary piece of furniture EXTRAordinary!  You all know how much I love turquoise and I would paint every piece that color if Mr. Dump would let me.  The shelves pictured below were dark and uninteresting when I bought them.  They were in desperate need of a makeover to show off all of the beautiful accents on the bottom.

I was so excited about this piece that I forgot to take a lot of "in between" pictures!  I painted the inside turquoise, and the outside a soft white.  Then I distressed the edges and now it is absolutely perfect!  If you want to show off the great details on a piece, white is the perfect solution!

On a different note, I went back to school today for the first time in two months.  With all of the fun that I've been having this summer with Dumped and Discovered, I wasn't sure how I would feel about going back... As soon as I walked into my classroom, my uncertainty turned into pure joy.  I have the best job in the world and I cannot wait for a wonderful year!  Don't get me wrong... I am going to miss painting everyday, but teaching is what I am meant to do.  Have a wonderful week doing the things that you love.

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Coffee Table Makeover

School hasn't even started and I am already slacking on my daily blogging projects!  I am so sorry!!!  What a week this has been...  My sister was visiting from D.C. and we had high hopes for all of the wonderful projects that we would complete.  Her car was full, and our paint guns were ready.  Boy were we dreaming!  It turns out that Mr. Dump and I decided to officially pull the trigger and rent our house.  We have had our house on the market for quite a while and haven't had a whole lot of interest.  Instead of painting furniture, we prepared for a gigantic moving sale and packed most of our house.  Needless to say, our garage is still full and we were only able to complete one measly project...

This beautiful coffee table had major problems on top, but loads of character.

We decided to mask all of the imperfections by sanding the top to its original form.

Then we painted the legs and stained the top.  After distressing the edges and adding a layer of rub-on polycrylic, it is now a beautiful coffee table that we may consider taking to our next house. 

We added the original claw feet, but may end up painting them black to add a more modern feel. What do you think???

We also added more pieces to our booth at Sleepy Poet.  Thanks to my sister's boyfriend, Kortney, we have a new and improved website that will be up and running in the near future!!  Here are some pictures to give you a little taste of what is coming!

Thanks for being patient during this hectic time!  I cannot wait to get settled and start painting!!!  More projects will be arriving this week!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Digging into the D and D Vault - Part 5

Well, I'm digging into the vault for one more post.  The final piece that I want to share with you from long ago is lovingly known as "The Beast."  This was a piece that we inherited from Mr. Dump's family, and it is one that we never thought that we would be able to part with.  

We loved the beautiful inserts on the glass doors, and the piece was in fairly good condition.  There were a few scratches and minor dings on the top, but overall it didn't need a ton of work... Or so we thought...

We painted the piece antique white and the stain started bleeding through the paint.  This was early in our painting career, so we thought that another coat would cover it up... WRONG!  We ended up having to Kilz the whole piece to keep brown spots from shining through.  We put what seemed like twelve more coats of antique white over the Kilz (hence the nickname) and it turned out to be one of our favorite pieces.  We sold it at The Sleepy Poet and we are still bummed that it is not sitting in our house.

I can't wait to show you what my sister and I have been working on this week!  Brand new pieces are coming soon!!!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Digging into the D and D Vault - Part 4

I'm a little freaked out...  Actually A LOT freaked out.  After traveling to visit with family in Baltimore, I discovered that people are actually reading this blog!  I was completely overwhelmed with the compliments and feedback that I received from EVERYONE!  It was beyond amazing, and it made me feel really good that people are enjoying reading about this crazy obsession hobby of mine.  We had such a wonderful visit and it made me excited to come home, complete some of my projects, and share them with the world!  My sister will be in town this week, (apparently her car is FULL of stuff) and we will be painting like crazy!  Before I show you some of those projects, I have a few more to show you from long ago.

I bought this china cabinet at The Salvation Army.  It was dark and had lots of awkward metal accents.

We cleaned it up and sanded some of the rough edges.  Then we painted the piece antique white and distressed all of the wonderful details.  I spray painted the hinges and pulls to give them a more modern look.  After putting the whole thing back together, this is what we ended up with:

I have one more week before I head back to school (sniffle... sniffle...), so I'm going to be working nonstop to get ahead on some of my fabulous finds!  Thanks so much to everyone that is reading about my projects, and thanks again to my Baltimore friends and family for such a wonderful weekend!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Digging into the D and D Vault - Part 3

The buffet and hutch pictured below was in good shape and had beautiful details.  The only problem was that it was a bit dark and outdated.  It was the first LARGE piece that we completed, and it was a bit intimidating at first!

We didn't do anything too terribly fancy with this one.... We painted it antique white, distressed all of the wonderful accents, and added cute knobs.  Now it is PERFECT!

We have a new buffet and hutch that we're working on next week!  Check back soon to see the end result!

 Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Digging into the D and D Vault - Part 2

Day two of the "Vault Digging" series brings us to one of my hardest (but most rewarding) transformations.  I bought the desk pictured below for $15.00 at a store in Staunton, Virginia.  Before I show you the glamorous "after" picture, I have to describe this store for you.  While visiting family in Virginia, this is the ONE store that my sister and I HAVE to visit while we're there.  It is located down an alley in the center of town.  The store owner, Old Man Withers (not the masked man in Scooby Doo or the haunted amusement park owner in Wayne's World) sits outside his shop waiting... Waiting for his next victim... Waiting to make a great deal... Waiting to have someone to talk to...  As soon as you enter the smelly basement, he follows you around to give you the "pretty girl discount."  I'm pretty sure everyone gets the pretty girl discount...  My mom is really freaked out by Old Man Withers, and my sister and I go there just to drive her crazy!  If you can get past the hugs and occasional forehead kisses (I'm not kidding!) you can find some really great deals!  Okay... Back to the desk...

The desk was VERY sturdy, but it needed the years of wear and tear to be stripped off.  We spent DAYS sanding this piece down to it's original wood.  When I brought it home, I stained it and added cute knobs.  Now it is in our home office and looks much better than it did in Old Man Withers' smelly basement.

Staining furniture is not one of my favorite things in the world, but when the end result looks this good, it's worth all of the hard work!  Get ready for more transformations soon!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Digging into the D and D Vault - Part 1

With all of the traveling that I've been doing, I haven't had the opportunity to transform the (MANY) pieces that are patiently waiting in my garage for a makeover.  I've spent most of my time stealing buying furniture at thrift stores, yard sales, auctions, my parent's attic (this is not a store... it's really my parent's attic), antique stores, and basically anywhere that I can find a good bargain.  For that reason, I decided to spend the rest of this week reaching into the D and D vault from long ago to show you some of my favorite "Before and After" projects.  These happened before my blogging days, so I don't have pictures of the in-between steps. 

These end tables were really beat up!  They had scratches all over them, but were very solid and had lots of character.  I cleaned them, sanded them, and painted them a soft white.  (Who am I kidding?!?  My sister did most of the work while I cheered her on!)

I distressed all of the wonderful accents on the tables, and sold them to someone that lives in Charlotte.  It was hard to let them go, but I had to make room for the next set of end tables that entered my life.

 Keep checking back to see more "Before and After" projects while I catch up on my more current finds!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

From Rust to Rustically Fabulous

I found this table at a cute antique store in Churchville, Virginia.  It was sitting outside and appeared to be totally ignored and unloved.  As you can see, it was in terrible shape and needed quite a bit of attention.  The whole thing was metal (minus the enamel top).  Paint was chipping and rust was growing at an alarming rate.  I completed another enamel table not too long ago (Everything's Better Red), and I wanted to see what I could do with this one! 

When I flipped it upside down, I noticed that it had an unusual marking underneath...

I sanded the entire piece and covered it with Kilz.

I decided to use spray paint instead of my normal spray gun method.  I thought that it would stick to the metal more effectively and I was trying to make less of a mess (in hopes that we would have a second showing on our house!).  I forgot to take a lot of "during" pictures because the heat was clouding my brain.  When I brought the piece inside, I noticed how awful the drawer was!  It was also made out of metal and was rusty and peeling like the rest of the piece.  I used paintable wallpaper to match the outside and cover some of the imperfections.

Here is the FABULOUS "after" 

Other fun things that happened today...  I was featured on Better After!  I have met so many great bloggers this summer, and I am enjoying reading about all of the wonderful transformations that are happening in other homes!  Also, thanks to all of my wonderful followers out there!  I am up to 49!!  I look forward to sharing many more projects with you this week!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah