Flip the chair over, find & remove any screws holding the backs in place. Remove back (pull or use a hammer), paint chair base, add foam & upholster the top (or leave without padding or upholstery).

SO easy & absolutely no sewing necessary. These bags can be washed & take up very little room so it's easy to keep them in your glove box or under the seat of your car for shopping trips.

This is simple & quick. Use these for hair clips, head bands, to embellish throw pillows or blankets, or as cute bows on gifts. When using a hot glue gun, wear thick gloves to protect yourself from burns.

Click on the picture below to enlarge:

You can take the drawers & drawer parts from another piece of furniture & can modify & add those parts to a shipping crate to give it more functionality & storage.

Soak steel wool in a jar of vinegar for a day or two. Then, put that concoction over any type of unfinished wood. Some type of chemical reaction happens (Science isn't my thing) to give it an aged look. To further age it, beat the heck out of the wood w/ a hammer or any old object laying around, drop the wood, kick it, etc. You can also use a dry brush to lightly add "old paint" to it.

A more labor intensive way to age wood would be to think about all the finishes it would've had if it were genuinely 50 years old. It would've been sanded & stained first.  Then, banged up A LOT & when it was good and banged up someone would've primed then painted it. Then over the years it would've been painted & repainted.  And finally, it would've been banged up more with a lot of wear on the edges, around knobs, etc.  So follow that pattern--sand it, stain it, beat it up, prime it, paint it, paint it, paint it, paint it, beat it up, use a sander to add wear to commonly touched areas & edges.  

My sister-in-law created this beautiful space for my nephew Asher James who is due soon! (September) Asher has a heart condition that has already required surgery in the womb (a life saving procedure that had only been performed twice before) & surgeries after birth. Asher's mama (with a little help from Auntie on a few projects--the bench, a few pictures frames & shelves & a metal fire engine pedal card) created such a calm yet warm environment. My sis-in-law & I both love Restoration Hardware, but the prices are out of our league (speaking of leagues, check the party page next week for photos of Asher's baseball themed baby shower!).  The plan for this nursery was to create a RH inspired room based on their "Silver Sage" wall paint. The Restoration Hardware version of this nursery has a $4300 price tag! 

Asher's mama bargain hunted & used gifts, repurposed items she already had, thrifted finds, clearance pieces from RH mixed with internet, garage sale, IKEA, Target, & Hobby Lobby purchases. Do you see the gold A on the wall? Looks just like RH's, but was on clearance at Hobby Lobby for what you can find between your couch cushions on cleaning day! We repurposed IKEA "AS-IS" section pieces & vintage end table legs to create a sturdy storage bench window seat & she created her own wall art. I love that the old closet doors used to be mirrors, but are now covered with stick on chalkboard paper panels & softened with sheer curtains. 


All said & done the total amount of money that came out of Mama's pocket was only a few hundred dollars (including supplies) thanks to gifts from generous friends & family and my sis-in-law's serious shopping & creating skills.  (Just in case you wanted to know though, I did add up what you would have to spend to recreate the room if you purchased the items that were gifted & it still came in under $1,000. All of the furniture in the room is new, but to save even more you could use thrifted pieces & could come in closer to $600 if you really hunted & were willing to do some DIY.)

We lost Asher on 10/23/12 after a 6 week battle with CHD (Congenital Heart Disease) & thrombosis (blood clots). His 6 weeks here were an amazing gift. Asher became one well known little guy & people from all over the world still continue to send their love to his family. To read his amazing story, please CLICK HERE. 

Distress new wood (with vinegar/steel wool or with stain & paint) to look reclaimed or salvage old wood. Cut wood to size &  use construction adhesive & screws to adhere wood to existing table top. Cut a small chunk or use a scrap to make a drawer pull. 

You'll want to find a dresser or cupboard that is bench height or a dresser that has legs. Legs are easy to remove (they generally just unscrew--those are the easiest). Remove the legs & you have a bench height furniture piece.
Here are a few BEFORE pictures of good starting pieces...

Remove old hardware & prime & paint the piece.

Cut a piece of plywood the same size as the existing top of the bench. Then, spray glue padding & a layer of batting to the top.  Finally, use a staple gun to upholster the top.  Here is a great tutorial from The Little Green Notebook on upholstering a bench top & on how to do the corners (which can be tricky) UPHOLSTERING A BENCH TOP + CORNERS

After the top is upholstered, position it on top of the piece's existing top, remove the drawers (or open the cupboards) & screw it in from the underside/inside with screws long enough to go through both layers, but short enough not to poke through your upholstered bench top.

School desks have these great legs that separate & reattach easily (just a couple screws) & their legs are adjustable! You can use the school desks as is, redo them, or separate the legs from the tops & reuse the legs for other projects.