Along Came Poly

April 10, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 3 Comments

If you checked out last month’s post on Bower Power about polystain, then you know it’s a miracle product.  Polystain is awesome because it allows you to stain and protect wood in a single step by combining stain with polyurethane.  Last weekend, my mom took it upon herself to single-handedly keep Minwax in business by polystaining just about everything that she came across.

While taking a break from decorating her house for Easter, Mom tackled a slew of sad little pieces with just a few coats of Minwax’s PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany.  A rich stain instantly transformed this plain oak frame into the perfect surrounding for a sweet bunny print:

Along Came Poly

The pastel, floral base of this lamp was off-putting to Mom so she never used it.  After a few coats of polystain, the base was neutralized and the bunny lamp was finally allowed to participate in the Easter festivities.  Turns out polystain works on more surfaces than just wood!

Along Came Poly

Mom recently converted my old bedroom into this warm, inviting guest room.  (What, did she think that guests wouldn’t like the electric purple room of my youth?  Whatev!)  The newly slipcovered wing chair looked great in the room, but the medium-toned wood on the chair legs simply didn’t blend in.  After a few coats of polystain the wing chair blends perfectly with the deep chocolate brown that accents the space.

Along Came Poly

This little bench is the piece de resistance.  With stains and a dull oak finish, this bench had seen better days.  Now it’s a gorgeous mahogany tone that will look great in any room of the house.

Along Came Poly

What do you feel like polystaining?  I’m thinking about tackling that awesome headboard that I practically stole at a garage sale . . .

[By the way - be sure to stop by We Chirp to check out a really cute and unique giveaway!!]

Garage Sale Greatness

March 23, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 5 Comments

I was driving down a swanky street on Saturday when a sign in the yard of a swanky house caught my eye – garage sale!!!  Now that spring is here and the weather is beautiful garage sales have popped up all over town, and I was excited to see what my first garage sale of the season had in store for me.

As I walked up the driveway to the garage sale, I noticed a beautiful, carved wooden bed set – for $125.  Bummer!  Not exactly the deal I was looking for – my hopes for this garage sale began to dwindle.  I kept walking and spotted another carved wooden headboard and footboard for a double bed – based upon the high price of the other bed set I figured that it was out of my price range, but took a look at the price anyway.  Score!!!!  This set was marked at only $10!!

I was totally surprised, and confirmed with the homeowner that it was really only 10 smackers – turns out she didn’t think the set had any value because it was missing the bed rails.  Details, details.  The headboard alone made the $10 price tag worthwhile!  My head began to spin with possibilities – sand down and stain, new paint, use headboard only or try to find new rails . . . and all this for only 10 beans?!?!?  How could I not pull the trigger on this fabola purchase?

Take a look at this beauty that I practically stole:

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Isn’t she gorgeous??  I can’t wait to have some spare time to gussy her up for our third bedroom.  And let’s zoom in on that awesome price tag (sorry, I just can’t help rubbing it in):

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Have you scored any awesome deals at a garage sale?  Got any ideas for how I should spiff up this steal of a bed set?  Can’t wait to hear from you guys . . .

Flashback: From Painted and Dated to Refinished and Refined

March 4, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 2 Comments

When we first bought our house, our front door was nothing short of frightening.  Friends and family that weren’t put off by the huge iron bars were scared by the peach and mauve color scheme:
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We assured them that we had no intention to leave the door the way it was – but we had no idea what we were actually going to do with it.  Replacing the door wasn’t an option, as we quickly learned that a replacement door and sidelites can run in the thousands of dollars.  Then we noticed that the other side of the door, the side that we could see from our entryway, was actually quite pretty (if you could look past all the glistening finishes to actually see the door):

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So, finally we had a plan – the front door would be refinished and restored to its pre-painted glory.  A few days later, after the door was scraped within an inch of its life, it was stained to match our new wood floors – or so we thought!!  Turns out that the door was made out of a different type of wood than our floors, so the door took the stain much differently than our floors did.  Moral of the story – always test out the stain before you apply it!!  Luckily, we’re pretty happy with the finished product:
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(The lighter part at the bottom of the door is actually just glare – the door is really all the same color).

Deciding to refinish our existing door instead of replacing it saved us thousands of dollars, and we think the end result is awesome – warm and inviting instead of a scary mix of paint and metal.  What parts of your home did you revamp instead of replace to save some bucks?

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