THREE - Toned Desk

What can you buy for $5.00?  A value meal at McDonalds, a Grande Caramel Macchiato (hold the whipped cream) at Starbucks, half a gallon of gas, and my favorite - furniture!  Remember this desk?  I bought it at an auction this summer for $5.00!  (Click here if you don't believe me!) 

It was in decent shape and the character of this piece was to-die-for!  Watch out Kim Kardashian...this baby's curves might just give you a little competition!

Like all pieces, I sanded it down with my trusty, dusty DeWalt palm sander.  I usually use 150 grit sandpaper, but depending on the shape of the wood I sometimes use 60 grit.  For those of you who aren't common sanders, the lower the grit the rougher the paper.

After sanding, I gave the desk a good wipe down with a wet rag.  I LOVED the way my recent end tables turned out, so I decided to follow suit and try something similar.  I started with an antique white flat latex paint (did you know that you can buy this pre-mixed at Lowe's for $10?!?).  Once the paint dried, I stained the top and painted the drawer fronts baby blue (another $5 mis-tint at Lowe's).  I got so excited during this transformation (and rain clouds were lurking above) that I forgot to take a lot of "in between" pictures...

 

Lastly, I added a layer of rub-on poly to give it a little shine and to preserve the beautiful top.

Now it is simply stunning and patiently waiting at the Sleepy Poet for the perfect shopper to come along!

Project Notes:

1.  Paint before you stain - otherwise the paint will splatter and ruin your stain-job.

2.  Check the weather forecast so that rain won't rush you along.

3.  When hubby questions using three colors on a piece, tell him not to disturb your creative intuition!!!

4.  Shop at more auctions!

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

 

 

   

From Drab to Fab

Several years ago, my sister bought a beautiful mantle at one of my favorite places, The Old Lucketts Store, near Washington, D.C.  It was turquoise and GORGEOUS!  She has the most incredible row house in Washington, D.C., and she decided to put it on her back patio with plants, candles, and lights galore.  (Laura - when you get a chance, send me a picture!)  

Because I'm the younger sister, and I HAVE to do everything that my sister does, I wanted my own turquoise mantle!  However, mine started out not so turquoise and not so gorgeous - 

This project was simple and fabulous.  Mr. Dump had paint leftover in his sprayer after completing the hutch featured here, so I lugged the mantle out of the garage and gave him my best pouty-face...  Of course, he couldn't resist!

When he was finished, I went to town with the sander.  I didn't really have a method to my madness, but the more I sanded, the better it looked!

Here is the final product...  

This was so easy that I decided to take it into the Sleepy Poet and create another masterpiece in the near future.  For now, I guess I'll have to visit my sister and stare at her beautiful mantle.  

Here's another shot of the mantle in our booth...

I know what you're thinking... Two posts in one week?!?!  Dumped and Discovered is going CRAZY!  I have had so much fun reading your fabulous comments and seeing new followers hit our page that it has inspired me to keep going, and keep posting.  (Plus, tomorrow is a teacher workday so I don't have to do lesson plans tonight!)

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

 

 

 

No Pain - No Gain

End tables are extremely versatile.  They can be used by the bed, by the sofa, next to a recliner in an office, or even in the kitchen when trying to reach something in the top cabinet.  My sister and her friend were shopping in a "REAL" furniture store looking for deals. My initial reaction was, "Seriously, Laura... Do you think Dumped and Discovered can afford "REAL" furniture?" Get ready... I'm about to eat my words. 

On the very top shelf, hidden away from a non-thrifter's eye, were these beauties.  My sister is a little vertically challenged, so she persuaded her friend to climb up and grab these.  Apparently, when she pulled them off the shelf, one of the drawers attacked her nose.  Sorry, Adrienne... Dumped and Discovered hasn't quite gotten to the point of providing Worker's Comp!  Needless to say, loads of scratches, holes, and dents from Adrienne's nose didn't prevent them from buying these...

Mr. Dump was at work so I had all the freedom in the world to paint these whatever my little heart desired.  I started with a baby blue on the drawer fronts. 

Then I painted the rest a beautiful antique white.  Unfortunately (and later fortunately) the wood was in such bad shape that you could see brown stain coming through the white.  I could have used Kilz to hide the imperfections (that stuff covers everything), and try again.  Instead, I decided to save some time, and I changed colors completely.

I used a soft gray that would cover up the imperfections in the wood.  I then distressed them pretty heavily to preserve the beautiful accents.  Over the phone, Mr. Dump did not fully understand my vision.  Once he got home, he wanted to keep them for himself.

Here's another shot at my attempt to stage them before they found their way into the Sleepy Poet!

My advice for the day: (thanks Jane Fonda and Adrienne!)  "No Pain - No Gain."  

Mr. Dump's advice:  "Although furniture can sometimes punch you in the face, you have to get right back up and keep painting."

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

 

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

Who's the fairest mirror of them all?  Hard to say after these transformations!  It seems that my sister *might* have a small addiction to mirrors.  Not to looking at her reflection, mind you, just to the mirrors themselves.  She has bought a LOT of mirrors over the past few months, and Mr. Dump and I have been no slouches in that department, either.  Hence, lots of mirrors to transform.  While it was raining (and the rest of the world was shopping for Christmas presents), we painted and staged some formerly tragically gold mirrors into beauties.  It was super easy - because of the rain and the limited space to paint in the garage (it is stuffed to the ceiling with "treasures" waiting to be transformed), we simply spray-painted these pieces - anyone can do it!

The before picture of the saddest mirrors you've ever seen - look how they've given up on life, just laying there on the driveway, waiting to be run over:

One thing to note is that spray paint is a little harder to distress than regular paint, so we didn't mess with perfection here.  We found some cute patterned paper on clearance that we filled some of the frames with, and cleaned the mirrors (amazing what a good cleaning can reveal!) 

Here are the beauties in our booth at The Sleepy Poet, just waiting to be snapped up!  We may or may not have been humming "I'm too sexy for my car, too sexy for my car....." while hanging these up......

There was another one hanging where the reflection is, but it sold too quickly to make it into the picture! 

This one didn't even make it to the Poet - it's hanging in our newly transformed dining room with a Christmas-y wreath.  Is there any space that a mirror can't improve?

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

Extreme Makeover: Turquoise Edition

You know it's bad when furniture is sitting OUTSIDE a thrift store.  These are the pieces that nobody wanted when they were INSIDE (or they were so heavy that the people that were carrying them, decided not to bother).  Most of the time these pieces have been sitting out there for quite some time.  Waiting, begging someone to bring them home.  They have persevered through all of the elements: rain, wind, snow (not really - winter seems to be rather warm this year), and maybe even the occasional earthquake.  That's how I found this beauty -

She was sitting outside a store in D.C.  I already had several large pieces that I needed to bring home to Charlotte, and I knew that I didn't have room for her.  But, she kept looking at me... She was begging me to load her into the back of the truck.  I may have even heard a slight whimper.  As you can see, she was in pretty bad shape.  Apparently, her New Year's Resolutions were to: 1) Stop tanning and take on a paler image; 2) Keep the weight off - we couldn't find the door anywhere; 3) Change her wardrobe and add more color.  She thought she needed a brow lift, Botox, and a tummy tuck.  But... what she truly needed were a few nails, some sandpaper, and TURQUOISE!

The makeover started when I ripped off her top and back - they were made of cardboard, and I promise it didn't hurt.  Then I sprayed them the most beautiful turquoise you've ever seen (the picture doesn't really do it justice).  I wood-filled the holes where it used to have a door.  I wonder whatever happened to the door.  Oh if it could see this beauty now... It would beg for a little Dumped and Discovered attention and hop right back on this piece!

After it dried, I painted it white and distressed the edges.  I finished it off with a little vacuum and window washing.  Now she is truly one of a kind -

Finally she is inside and loving life.  She feels 20 years younger, and "so fresh and so clean clean" (thanks, Outkast!).  We forgot to stage her at home because we were so excited to bring her to The Sleepy Poet.  Hopefully, she'll never have to sell herself on the corner again.

By the way - Thanks for voting "inserts" or "no inserts" last week in our dining room post.  Looks like the vote was 6 - 4.  Sorry, Lola!  Inserts win!  Mom will be happy!
Happy Junkin'!

Sarah

 

   

 

Happy New Year!

Well... we've officially "Dumped" 2011 and "Discovered" 2012 (I couldn't resist)!  2011 brought many new possibilities and adventures for The Dumps.  Just one short year ago I started my love of yard sale, estate sale, side of the road, and thrift store shopping.  Most of you know that in my normal life I am a fourth grade teacher.  I have a passion for kids, and I love what I do.  However, I have found a new love of thrifting, blogging, and running my own business on the side.  We started our business by selling our painted pieces on Craigslist while we waited for a booth to open at The Sleep Poet.  Finally in January, we got the call (after Mr. Dump annoyed them to the point of "finding" a spot for us - I wonder if they miss his daily phone calls...).  Before we moved into our booth on February 1st, it looked like this:

Note: That's not our furniture - it was just waiting to welcome us!

After some painting, creating and heavy lifting, it started to look like this:

 Just one year later, this is what our booth looks like:  (Thank goodness we discovered the beauty of color!)

I completed MANY new projects during my winter break that I can't wait to share with you (some of them can be seen in these pictures!).  In order to continue to find that balance that we all search for, I have decided to update the blog every Sunday evening until this summer (when I'm free again and can paint my heart out!).  Keep checking back to see lots of transformations while The Dumps continue to learn, grow and create in 2012! 

Happy Junkin'!

Sarah