Finished a new project today and I love the result! I've been wading in my craft room looking for supplies for a while now and realized I'm spending more time trying to find what I need than actually working on my projects. I'm sure you've never done that!
I actually emptied three plastic boxes of tools and now have them organized here! I could never find my markers and now all I have to do is look behind the door to find them. I have four tape measures and barely found one for this photo....so now when I run across them, I can put them up here. So handy! I'm sure the organizer will evolve over time, especially as I add more organizing stations within the room. What I like about this finished product is that I can now see things instead of them being boxed up.
Because of this project, I actually ordered some new paint and brushes. Go me! Any excuse to get more craft tools is a good one, right? They are in the mail. After finding some paint and decoupage, I found out I had enough product for these pictures. I'm still gettin' the new stuff, though! Just sayin'
The best part of this project is that it was so inexpensive. I normally sell items on the local online auction, but this time, I ran across a vintage baby bed for sale, so for $4.50, I got it! I have already designated the other pieces for two more projects, so this one had a total cost to me of $1.50! Whoohoo!!! I love saving money and getting what I want at the same time! Take a look at the inspiration organizer I found online. Wow, just wow! Why are things so expensive! I liked the look of having things readily available for crafting. It's clean and neat, but not a hundred dollar bill neat!
So let's go through the steps... I started by just cleaning up the piece. I used some sandpaper and a soft dry rag. There were a couple of rusty spots and a little dust, but overall it was in great shape. I had to take off the little metal pieces that attached to the frame...didn't need them. What do you do when you can't find a flathead screw driver in the house? Return to your "rigging" roots (we call it Riley Riggin' here!) and use a butter knife!
I delayed working on this project because I didn't have any spray paint. Well, I had black and white....but I wanted a color. Something to contrast with the white wall. My Mom is homebound, so that pretty much makes me homebound too. I can make quick runs to the local stores, but I needed to go out of town to get what I wanted. It finally dawned on me to use what I have!! That's what upcycling is all about and keeping the cost down is a cool challenge to me!
So what did I have? Small bottles of acrylic paint and not in the color (green or blue) that I wanted. I had a dark purple and pink though. So I put that together in my recycled butter dish and made a lavender color. I wasn't sure it the metal springs would accept the color , especially with a brush, but had a willingness to try it out. It worked! It's a soft color with a soft texture; no gloss. Perfect!
With the background set, I had to get into the details of how to use this piece as an organizer. I rummaged around the house and found only a few pieces of hardware to utilize. We had an auction in 2017 and sold all our bits and pieces. Uhggg! So, scraping by, I found some cool little things to use and then as I went along, I found more. Funny how that happens
During this project, I learned something about myself. I'm hardware challenged. I mean....really hardware challenged. This was such a great exercise pushing my abilities! I had no idea how to attached the knobs and handles and first tried string! HAHAHA Hey, it was tight and worked, but I'm pretty sure it was wrong....just wrong. Thankfully, I have two sisters who coached me along on how to attached all the "things." I hung on to the conversation trying to figure out this hardware language one of my sisters spoke! I finally broke down and started asking all the stupid questions, like what's an eye screw.
Upcycling is a "frame" of mind. I hope you're using what "springs" up (pun intended)! Please send me a comment below to let me know what you think of this idea or show me pictures of your project.
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