SEWING CABINET MAKEOVER

I have revamped a few sewing cabinets using a piece of back painted glass but this time the customer didn't want none of that and was hoping to have a solid top.

It started off looking like so….

And here is what we ended up with….

I picked up a piece of this from Lowes and cut to side.

After softening up the edges with my sanders, I wiped it down and stained it.  I used some left over board to find the stain I wanted bc my client didn't want it too dark.

Brushed on and let sit for a bit...

I wiped off. I really like how it looked after just one good coat of Minwax Chestnut, so decided to leave good enough alone.  Something I rarely do:)

After.
I am loving the rustic look of this top.  After the stain dried, I sealed with 3 coats of clear.  The graining raised a ton so sanded very well between coats.

I TILE OVER EXISTING UGLY LAMINATE TOO!

No ugly surface is safe from me…evidently I will tile over just about anything!  I didn't really know this  about myself but like I have mentioned before, DIY BUDGET updating is waaaayyyy different than a new build or gut/renovation job.

Here is where we started. Looking back, the wood cabinets were not bad and knowing we would be gutting this room, probably should have just left them…but that's just not what I do!

We cut the corner part off and was left with a raw edge that needed to be covered. We also removed the lower shelf to house our tv. Because you could loose a small child in the 3" thick nasty and very old carpet, we removed that and replaced it with (very cheap and even nastier) carpet.

Because this room, like the kitchen was going to be gutted at some point, I wanted to spend little to no money. Luckily I had just enough left over travertine tile from a shower in our last house to cover this countertop.
This isn't the tile I would choose for this house or what I would have purchased but hey, it was FREE!

I had a handful of 12" x 12" tiles and 6" x 6" tile.  I played with a pattern until I figured out how to make them fit with very little cuts.  Then ripped down 12" tiles for the drip edge.  I also had enough grout (well, 2 bags of different colors I mixed together…see, I am CHEAP!)

I then added molding to the back to cover the seam.  Something I would not do in a kitchen but it was a quick and easy solution for this project.

Even did a fancy little design with the bit of marble marble I had left!

 Ok, this is a shot I wanted really hoped to avoid wanted to show the entire countertop. And you might notice the color patches on lower cabinets…my quest to find the perfect color for kitchen cabinet trickled into the den! 15 shades of gray later, (I think) I found my color:)

I really have a love/hate relationship with this room!  I hate the ugly paneled walls, the old inefficient window, the cheap carpet, the scratched up leather couch. But I love the fact that this is where we watch movies, kids laugh and friends hang.  So even when I redo this room, it will definitely have to be "kid friendly".

LOVING ME SOME 2 TONE FURNITURE!

I can't get enough of mixing wood and paint.  I always think it looks so classy no matter style!

Here is a set I just finished up today as well as a few other pieces I completed in the past 2 weeks.