Here are a few shots of the original ashtray. It was quite tarnished and beat-up.
Beautiful marble inlay and lots of detailed work in the metal.
I was looking for a very small (12″ or smaller) side table to fit in the tiny space between my sofa and wall. The couch sits on an angle and there really isn’t much room, but I wanted a little spot to place a drink. Having no luck what so ever, I decided I needed to think outside the box. I started brainstorming possible bases for a tiny table and quickly thought of a vintage floor standing ashtray. I picked this vintage ashtray up for $20 off of Kijiji and was confident it would be perfect. It was one of the easiest upcycing projects ever. I removed the screws that held the handle and twisted the ashtray from the base to dismantle it. This allowed me to remove the small marble piece near the base, clean the stand and then spray paint it all without having to tape off the marble. I chose a basic white spray paint and gave it one coat. For the top, I picked up an oval piece of wood with routered edges from Michael’s and used the 40% off coupon so it only cost me about $10.
I used a fine grain sand paper to ensure the wood had a smooth surface before applying two coats of paint. I recently bought the Benjamin Moore Advance furniture paint in my favourite colour ~ Simply White. The paint goes on and cleans up like latex, but dries like oil paint, so you don’t need to clear coat it. It also has a “flooding” element, so the coat looks nice and smooth. After painting the top, I wasn’t happy with the shade of white on the base of the ashtray stand, so decided to give it a quick top coat of the Simply White using a roller and it too dried beautifully.
To attach the top, I simply placed screws in the holes that previously held the handle in place and screwed on the new table top. I love the detail on the pedestal and base. One of my favourite upcylces! So cute and the perfect size for this space.
I love the detail work on the pedestal and the tiny top create the perfect tiny side table.
We had been in dire need of new living room furniture for well over a year. I was having a very hard time making decisions about what to buy. I loved the idea of a sectional and have always wanted one, but the reality is that our space is just not that workable. In addition to deciding on a style, I was also struggling with leather vs. fabric. We have always had leather and our family is very accustom to the easy care and wipe-ability of leather. Like a sectional, I have also always wanted white furniture. When making a big purchase you want to make sure you are getting it right and thus we shopped and browsed for months on end with no decisions being made. Finally, when our sofa was destined for the dump, we had to make some decisions.
The first conclusion Tim and I agreed on was that the living room/dining room swap that we made a few years ago was really not working for our family. The larger of the two rooms is located in the center of the house and just off the kitchen while the second smaller room is located just to the right of the front entrance. This room is quite lovely with French doors, a wall of windows and a fireplace. The trouble with it is that with so much going on, there really are not many options for room configuration and at times this is frustrating. We suspected that a sectional would never be an option in this space and so approximately two years ago, we moved our living room (fireplace room) to the larger room just off the kitchen. At first, we loved it. It allowed Tim and I to work in the kitchen and be more engaged with the kids if they were in the living room. Our home is far from open concept, but the close proximity seemed to help. However, over time, we realized that other sacrifices were being made. It seemed like our busy schedules, coupled with the dining room’s more remote location led to more and more meals taking place in front of the television. Setting the table seemed like a big job now that everything needed to be transported across the house. We also found that the “kitchen” noises often interfered with the television and the dishwasher was often not put on until bedtime. Finally, we found that the wood burning fireplace, one of our favourite features in our house, had sadly sat unused since we made the switch. Once we decided to move the rooms back, the other decisions were also easier to make. Using our old furniture and a measuring tape, we tried many variations of furniture arrangements and came to the conclusion that a sectional would never work in that space. Since we both had our hearts set on getting one, we decided to go with a chaise sofa and chair/ottoman combo instead. Although we felt this would work, we weren’t 100% convinced it would fit properly into the room. We decided to save ourselves a few thousand dollars and go with fabric, so that we could live with it for a few years before committing thousands of dollars more to a “leather” decision. It seemed like a good compromise. In the end we went with a darker almost charcoal gray even though I really wanted something light. Sometimes you have to consider not only your desires, but also the function of the furniture. We do not have a living room and family room or even a basement hangout for the kids. Needless to say our furniture gets lots of use. I can be pretty uptight and I knew that the change to fabric was already going to cause me some stress. The sofa covers are all washable, but the reality is that I think white or even something very light would become an ongoing battle to maintain. We opted for what we thought would work best for our family.
Feeling excited to set-up the new furniture, Tim and I unpacked and assembled our new Ikea sofa. (I never actually thought I would purchase a sofa from Ikea, but I was quite taken with the Ektorp series. I loved that there were several colour options, the style seemed both traditional and contemporary at the same time – if that’s even possible and surprisingly, it is super comfortable!) After the months of indecisiveness, I’m sure Tim almost blew a gasket, when he saw the look on my face once everything was set up and arranged in the room. Yep…you guessed it….I hated it. Not the sofa or the style, but rather how it looked in the room. Our new sofa looked more like a denim blue against the light green walls (Castleton Mist) than gray….Yikes! I could see it in Tim’s eyes “Oh no…here we go again!” Although he thought we should consider taking the covers back and swapping for a different colour choice, I was convinced the grey would be perfect once everything else in the room was changed! Yes, we would need to paint (wasn’t anticipating that) and the side tables don’t look right. Too bad the curtains will no longer match. Oh and that fireplace has always kind of bugged me! Ugh! I really was not planning a room make-over. Our plans included a new sofa/chair and coffee table. The end. I was prepared to refinish a coffee table because I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be able to find anything new that fit with the look I was going for, but that would have been a simple sand/paint job.
So, although there are a few things left to finish, I already love the space and am not even worrying about the few remaining projects….I’ll get to them eventually. So far, we’ve managed to paint the room, strip and stain the mantel, build a tiny side table from a vintage ashtray and sew new curtains. Believe or not, I found the perfect coffee table on Kijiji and someone else had already done the work – score! I still need to paint the cabinet that the TV is sitting on and want to shorten the little half-moon table by a few inches, but other than that we’re done.
The light gray walls (Benjamin Moore ~Stonington Grey)look fine with the oak trim (despite my reservations). Besides the limited wall space for setting up this room, it is also a difficult space because of the limited light. Although it boasts a wall of windows and two additional high windows on the fireplace wall, it is not a bright room. It is north facing and really only gets late afternoon sun. So in choosing a new colour, I not only had to consider a colour to coordinate with the furniture and strong oak presence in the room, but also the limited light. I must admit, I’ve never really paid any attention to LRV (light reflective value), but for this room I did my homework. There is nothing worse than picking a colour that you love on the swatch, but hate when you actually apply it to the walls in your space. Paint colours can look completely different depending on the lighting in your space. For this room, I chose a gray with an LRV of 59 which meant the colour would pretty much stay true to the swatch in my space. For more information on how to choose paints that will work well in your space, check out this article on Kylie M. Interiors. I found it really helpful.
As a side note – I have been a Benjamin Moore paint snob for many years now, but I decided to try Sherwin Williams Duration for this job. Their paint was 40% off and I had heard good things about it. I loved it! The application was beautiful and I even hesitated to do a second coat. My living room is about 17 and 12 and I did two coats with one gallon and the first coat was almost perfect even though it was covering green. Very impressed! (They can make colours from other companies, so I used a Benjamin Moore colour, but had it made with the Duration paint.)
I absolutely love this coffee table. What a great find! Can you believe I got it for $70?
Love the beautiful coffered ceilings in both our living room and dining room.
You can see the TV cabinet really needs a paint job.
Sorry, no great pictures of this dessert! I snapped this one quickly before putting on the plastic wrap and taking it to work.
If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you already know that I love pumpkin! There is no better time than the fall to try out a new pumpkin recipe and this fall was no exception. In fact, this recipe is so yummy I’ve made it twice and can’t wait for an opportunity to make it again!
Let me begin by saying that this recipe was adapted from Jennifer W.’s recipe Better Than Sex Pumpkin Dessert on Key Ingredient, so suffice to say…it’s delicious!
I’m sure the original recipe is fabulous…. I only changed it because you can’t buy Heath Bits here and I prefer homemade caramel sauce. Here is my version.
Pumpkin Poke Cake Dessert
Yield 8 – 12
Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix
2 cups pumpkin puree (be careful not to buy Pumpkin Pie Filling)
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub Cool Whip (I bought the larger size and had some left over, even with a generous layer)
½ bag SKOR Bits (original recipe calls for Heath Bits)
1 batch of Ree Drummond’s homemade Caramel Sauce . The original recipe calls for a jar of Caramel Sundae Topping, but it is worth the tiny bit of extra effort to make your own ~ so good!
Directions:
Preheat your oven 350º and grease a 9 X 13″ cake pan.
In a large bowl, mix the cake mix and pumpkin puree until a smooth batter forms.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake according to the directions on the cake mix box.
Test with a toothpick to ensure it is cooked. (Toothpick should come out clean when poked into the cake.)
Let cool for about 10 minutes after baking. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake. (The first time I made this, the holes were nice and uniform, the second time they seemed a bit gooey and I was worried the cake wasn’t cooked even though I’d tested it. Don’t panic, mine tasted great both times.)
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake and spread as is necessary to fill the holes.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove the cake from the fridge and spread a generous layer of cool whip over top of cake. Sprinkle the SKOR bits on top and drizzle with caramel sauce. Reserve the balance of the sauce to serve over each individual piece.
Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours or overnight, if possible.
This recipe is super easy and a real crowd pleaser! Enjoy and thanks Jennifer!
If you love pumpkin as much as I do, why not check out some of my other recipes!
From the very beginning of this laundry room project, I created a list of old/vintage items I might like to incorporate into the space. I had a vision for how I might use some vintage sewing machine parts and happened to find one on Kijiji that was in very bad shape. Of course, that was great news for me because I was able to pick it up for a mere $25. Score!!
I had intended to use the base, but as the room has evolved, I’m not sure that I will proceed as originally planned. However, I did take out the drawers, give them a light sanding and then added a layer of turquoise paint followed by a top coat of Simply White. Once completely dry, I distressed it slightly by sanding back through the layers of paint.
Although the vintage sewing machine came with some of the original hardware, I didn’t like it because unlike the rest of the machine, the handles were much less weathered looking. I decided to try to rust and patina them myself. I followed the instructions on Treasures from the Heart to get that perfect aged patina look. As suggested in the tutorial….be patient. I was surprised how much the pieces continued to deteriorate even after many hours of sitting out. I did end up doing a second dunk in the vinegar/salt solution and once again left them to sit for several hours days. Time is definitely your friend in this process and patience does pay off. I’m so pleased I stuck with the original handles, as I now love them with rusty patina surface.
Finally, I went through my crafting stash and found a bag of small wooden ball knobs. They made perfect little feet for the drawers. I glued them on with No Nails and gave them a quick coat of paint.
When I purchased the fabric for my laundry basket, I bought a second coordinating fabric to go with it. Although I wasn’t sure what I would use it for, I decided drawer liners would make the perfect accent in my new laundry room.
Loving these!!
When we originally began this whole process, I moved my scrapbooking room out of what is now my new laundry room. I moved most of my craft/scrapbooking things into what is now my very own space. The old spare bedroom (which has never actually held a bed) is now my dressing room and scrapbooking room. When this whole move took place, I decided that I could no longer keep my sewing machine upstairs, so all of my sewing gear got moved to the basement. The good news is that it is very portable, so I just carry it up when I plan to do any sewing and for the most part this works fine. However, I have found that it is quite a pain running to the basement everytime I need a needle and thread, so I decided to make one of the drawers into a mini sewing kit that would be the new home for my sewing scissors, measuring tape, seam ripper, a few spools of thread and my new make shift pin cushion. I simply added some batting to the top of the sealer lid and covered it with a fabric scrap that I hot glued in place. The ring for the sealer was spray painted white and voilá ….a coordinating pin cushion. Obviously for any real sewing job I’ll still need to make the trek to the basement, but this is a great solution for those tiny jobs that require a quick fix.
BEFORE: We picked up this small cabinet for $30. The style was perfect, but it was in dire need of upcycling.
AFTER: A fresh new look that works perfectly in our new laundry room!
Although I’m generally considered the Kijiji master in our house, it was Tim that found this little gem. I wanted a small cabinet to hold odds and ends and add a bit of weight to the far wall of my new laundry room. This ghastly piece was pretty ugly with its black paint and gold accents, but we loved the wrought iron behind the glass and at $30 it was a great deal!
The glass and iron pieces were secured in place by a few screws, so they were easily removed for painting. After roughing up the surface, I primed and painted the cabinet out in my favourite Benjamin Moore white ~ Simply White OC-117. Originally, I gave the wrought iron a fresh coat of black spray paint, but when I put it back together I didn’t like the contrast and opted to take it apart and repaint the iron white. I love the white iron behind the glass and am pleased I took the time to re-do it. Spray paint comes in limited colours, so I was not able to get a perfect match, but I actually don’t mind that the whites are a little off.
Right from the start, I had a vision for how this laundry room would come together. With the major components out of the way, the fun began. I envisioned the room having many contrasting elements of old versus new in a shabby chic sort of way. I love upcycling and really wanted to include many re-makes in this room. One of the simplest projects involved the custom wire laundry basket I made for the space.
I found this great tutorial on Apartment Therapy and was able to create an awesome industrial looking laundry hamper. The best part was that I actually had everything I needed on hand with the exception of the fabric.
Materials Needed:
Galvanized Square Mesh Fencing
Wood circle (about 15″)
4 casters
sandpaper, stain and urethane (for the circle) – optional, depending on where you get your circle
wire cutters
staple gun (tutorial suggests screws, but I used my staple gun)
heavy string (for my version of the hamper)
binding ribbon ( another adaptation)
laundry bag to fit (I made mine)
When I began this project, I decided to start by checking out my stash and sure enough, I had a circle left over from the wooden Lazy Susan I bought for my homemade Rumoli Board last Christmas. I didn’t care about the hole in the middle as it would never be seen. It was the perfect size and would not have needed any sanding, stain or urethane if it weren’t for the fact that I wanted the wood to be a darker tone. It was a simple fix and I like the rustic look of the darker stain.
The casters were originally purchased for another project, but ended up not working so they had been sitting in one of my project bins and would be the perfect size for this hamper.
The wire was bought several years ago and used in lieu of glass/wood in the shaker style doors my husband made for an 80’s dresser that we converted in to a TV cabinet.
With everything I needed at my fingertips, I set to work and had this baby done in record time.
I followed the steps in the Apartment Therapy tutorial exactly. The description and pictures were spot on and easy to follow. I will say that working with the wire is a bit tricky. Mine was rolled up and it was not easy to get it to stay in place while I worked. In addition, the little ends are sharp and you need to be careful. Wearing gloves is probably a good idea, but I found them cumbersome and opted for the pain and discomfort.
When you wrap the wire around the circle, you need to make sure you leave enough wire to overlap. Once you have the sides overlapped, you need to fold the wire ends back over the wire from the other side to secure it. (Sounds complicated but the tutorial makes it easy to understand.) I was really struggling to secure the wires because the fencing just wouldn’t stay in place. In fact, it created so much tension that some of the wires were snapping when I tried to bend them. I was worried that I was not going to be able to secure them properly and I didn’t have enough extra wire (in the overlap) for other options. I ended up running string the length of the overlap. I intended to place the string there temporarily while I bent the wires, and then remove it when I had it all secure. However, I actually liked the look of the string through the wire and ended up re-stringing it in a more patterned look. So in the end, the string serves two purposes, it adds strength to structure and is a nice finishing detail.
String and binding ribbon are added.
This is the pattern I used when adding the string.
I made a second adaptation to the original tutorial, when I added white binding ribbon to the top rim of the finished basket. Although I had trimmed the sharp wires off, I still felt that the fabric of my newly sewn laundry bag might catch on the wire ends. I was going to use hot glue to attach it, but ended up doing a simple stitch all the way around.
You can see the little wire ends poking up.
Binding ribbon to prevent the fabric bag from snagging.
The fabric and the binding ribbon were the only things I had to purchase for this project, so the cost was minimal.
The bag was simple enough to make by tracing the base of the hamper and adding an extra inch or more to the edge of the circle to allow for seam allowances and ensure it was a generous fit. The circle becomes the base of the bag. When cutting the fabric for the bag itself, be sure to make it big enough that it fits over the top of the bin. You don’t want to make it too small and then learn that it won’t sit nicely over the top. (You can always “take it in” if it is too large, but too small is a problem.) I also added several extra inches at the top to create a very tall bag (maybe a foot or so beyond the top of the basket) because I wanted to see the printed fabric folded over the edge of the hamper and down a few inches inside the basket. I simply finished the top seam and folded it over to the desired finished height. I stitched a pocket for the string and then secured the folded over piece for a finished look.
Although I don’t really have a reason to roll my hamper around my tiny laundry room, the wheels work great and I love the finished look!
I love how he even moved the outlet above the counter top.
I’m feeling bad about the lack of activity on my blog, especially since I’ve had my new laundry room up and running for almost a month. September is super busy at work and in all honesty I find I don’t have much “gas in my tank” for much else during my down time. We have been plugging away at the finishing touches, but as for function – it is totally awesome! I can honestly say it has changed my life. I pop in loads every day or two and have absolutely no laundry building up. I used spend my entire weekend doing load after load and now it just seems to always be done – so thankful for this convenience.
We really wanted to transform this space at minimal cost and I have to say we have been pretty successful. I bought paint and we paid someone $100 to drill the hole for the dryer vent. Tim did all the plumbing and electrical and we managed to carry both appliances up ourselves (without too much difficulty I might add). The last steps to making the space functional involved some essential storage space and a counter. Originally we had planned to put in a sink, but after contemplating it, we decided we could always add one in later if we thought it was needed. To be honest, I don’t think it is something I will need and I knew it would take away some of the limited counter space, so we opted to wait.
Tim bought plain old 2 X 6’s for the counter for under $60. We had the screws and stain on hand, so there really weren’t additional costs. I know he spent several hours measuring, sanding, building and staining it, but I love the finished look. The dark stain looks great with the white/blue and ties in nicely to my dressing room/scrapbooking room which is the adjacent room. Projects like this are always harder than you initially expect because nothing is ever “square” in a 100 year old house. I am so proud of him and the great quality work he did. He did such nice work that my 10 year old appliances don’t even look half bad (although we do need to adjust them slightly as they aren’t quite level).
We picked up this Ikea cabinet through Kijiji for $60 (I think). It provides perfect storage for my vacuum, gift wrapping supplies and extra linen. As you can see, we still need to figure out the space below the counter top, install some shelves, the ironing board and a few other finishing details. We’ll continue to chip away and completing this project in the next few weeks, but at least it is up and running!
One of my favourite things about the laundry room is the awesome smell of freshness! I never even noticed this before because I always did “load and dash” when I had to do laundry in the basement. Now I love to linger in my new space and actually enjoy folding the clothes on the large counter top! It’s bright and pretty and smells great too! Feeling blessed.
My friend Robin passed on this recipe and I’m not yet sure whether to be thankful or not. It is like a tiny piece of heaven and seriously addictive. The best/worst part is that it’s pretty healthy. Not sure about you, but sometimes the most incredibly delicious nutritious snacks are the worst ~ I seem to be able to convince myself that a little more won’t hurt because it’s good for me. I love that this granola is grain free! This is where I should mentioned that if you or someone you live with has a nut allergy, bringing this into your house would be a huge mistake and ill advised. However, if you’ve managed to dodge that bullet and enjoy nuts ~ you absolutely MUST try this recipe. I take no credit for this incredible concoction, but believe it is one recipe I will never tire of. It really is that good! (In my opinion of course.) The down side is that it’s pretty costly to make and for that reason alone, my friend said I would soon learn to ration it!
All the credit for this recipe goes to Gwen at baD.I.N.K.adink (which she adapted from the Paleo Cupboard). Not only is the recipe great, but I love the name of it ~ “Cracknola”!
Her Cracknola recipe consists of 4 cups of mixed raw nuts (I used cashews, pecans, almonds and macadamia ~ so delicious!), coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and dried cranberrries tossed in a wonderful coconut oil and honey mixture. Have I mentioned how good this is? For the full recipe, check out Gwen’s site. You will not be disappointed. I made it according to the recipe, but did bake it a little longer as is often the case with my oven.
It is delicious on yogurt and porridge, but great to snack on by the spoonful as well! Enjoy, but remember to proceed with caution….highly addictive!
Like any room make-over, you generally have a vision for how the space will look when you’re done. I have dreamed of a main floor laundry room for a long time and although I have a very distinct style in mind, there are so many great ideas out there that it is hard to narrow it down and decide exactly what I want in this new space. My old laundry room was really not a laundry room at all, but rather a corner of my unfinished basement that housed stinky hockey equipment, various tubs of items in storage, boxes for electronics that were still on warranty, the freezer and so much more. It was nasty to say the least. If one doesn’t hate doing laundry because of the nature of the task, having a complete and utter dump in which to do it will turn you off for sure.
The one thing I knew for certain was that I wanted to do lots of upcycling in this space (not unlike the rest of my house), but with deliberate intention to mix old and new. For the light fixture I wanted something old and worn that would add a bit of character to the space. I have high 10 foot ceilings, so I knew that a pendant would be necessary in order to get adequate lighting. Although I didn’t know what the final form would take, I trusted that I would know the piece when I saw it. Sure enough, I found this incredible antique metal basket at one of my favourite antique stores “Candle and Co.” in West St. Paul. I picked it up for $40 and the best part was I didn’t have to do one thing to it! I loved the colour and the peeling paint/rust was exactly the look I was going for.
I actually picked up three items for $46! Love this basket.
In addition to the basket which would end up being my make shift shade, I also picked up a set of two pendant lights for $5 at a garage sale. (Yes, that is $2.50 each – what a deal!) All I needed to do was remove the glass and spray paint it black.
To create the finished fixture, we just took the spray painted pendant and reassembled it with the basket between the rod and the bottom ~ way too easy and I love the finished look. The colour is a hint darker than my walls and the old style bulb is a great finishing touch!
This is sitting a little wonky because the fixture was already taken apart, but basically the glass shade sat inside the metal basket part.
All we did was unscrew the the fixture to remove the glass and spray paint it black.
Tim and I moved the washer up on Thursday. It is hooked up and ready to go. The dryer gets moved today and although the room isn’t even close to being finished with many smaller projects left to complete, my goal is accomplished ~ starting today I can do laundry on my main floor! The light fixture looks great in the space, the only thing I may do, is use a small “s” hook to hold the handle up. It doesn’t interfere with head room, but I may play with the finished look a bit.
Deep sigh….feeling so blessed to have such a handyman for a husband and so appreciative that he spent his entire two weeks of holidays working on our laundry room!
AFTER: Upcycled antique washboard for my new main floor laundry room.
You may remember my beginning of summer post with so many lofty goals I hoped to accomplish this summer. Although I have definitely fallen short on my scrapbooking goals. I did manage to plow through many of the items on my “to do list”.
I have to say that purging is what took up most of my time. I went through tubs and boxes and old toys and extra linens…..you name it, I purged it. I posted many items on Kijiji and although there are still lots of items that are up for sale, I have sold a ton and it feels so good to de-bulk. All that accumulated stuff just feels heavy and I must say it is so cleansing to rid your home of all of those things that are not essential and that you just don’t like. As with any great purge, I also came across several great items I forgot I even had. Such was the case with this old washboard that actually once belonged to my mom. (I’m not really sure where she got it, but I do know it once belonged to her and having lost her over 17 years ago – it was a great find and something I wanted to hang on to.)
Finding the old washboard during my summer purge was perfect time with the relocation of our laundry room to the main floor. The washboard was not in great shape and the words on the front plate were faded beyond recognition. I decided to upcycle the washboard to go into my new laundry space. This involved a simple coat of paint and application of the words I wanted on my washboard. I can’t say this was my idea, I saw it on Pinterest and copied the words verbatim. I used the same process when I created the homemade Rummoli board last Christmas. The tutorial I followed for both was from Little Bit Funky.
Letter Transfer:
Create the word art for your project using Word or Pages. To get the curved LAUNDRY word, I inserted a circle and stretched it into a large long oval shape. I used the top edge of the shape to place my letters in the desired shape. To do this you need to place each letter in its own text box and then rotate the box slightly to match the curve of the oval. (In Pages, you hold the command button while clicking a corner of the text box in order to rotate it. )
Carefully glue a piece of freezer paper (waxy side up) t0 a sheet of 8 1/2″ x 11″ cardstock. Make sure it is cut to exact size and glued down on all the corners.
Place the paper inside your printer. (If you don’t know if your ink lands on the top or bottom of your page, you may want to do a test run on a blank sheet of paper so you place it in correctly.) *I place my page with the waxy side facing down.
When you go to print the document, you need to choose: BEST quality on plain paper and FLIP HORIZONTALLY (mirror image). Once you choose this option, your print preview will display your image in mirror image. Press print.
Carefully place your image ink side down on the desired surface. You must be very careful not to smear the ink as it is just sitting, wet on top of the waxy surface. You can not adjust it once placed so do it right the first time.
Use the edge of a spoon to press/transfer the lettering/image to the surface.
Spray with a clear coat (urethane) to seal the image and prevent future smearing. Do not drag a brush over it.
I love how this method is not perfect ~ it gives a great vintage look! My laundry room is certainly not at the decorating stage, but I can’t wait to hang this up when it’s ready for the finishing touches.
BEFORE: Antique washboard with original lettering faded and hardly visible.
Washboard primed and painted out in Simply White by Benjamin Moore.
AFTER: Upcycled antique washboard for my new main floor laundry room.
vintage ashtray up for $20 off of Kijiji and was confident it would be perfect. It was one of the easiest upcycing projects ever. I removed the screws that held the handle and twisted the ashtray from the base to dismantle it. This allowed me to remove the small marble piece near the base, clean the stand and then spray paint it all without having to tape off the marble. I chose a basic white spray paint and gave it one coat. For the top, I picked up an oval piece of wood with routered edges from Michael’s and used the 40% off coupon so it only cost me about $10.
Finally, I went through my crafting stash and found a bag of small wooden ball knobs. They made perfect little feet for the drawers. I glued them on with No Nails and gave them a quick coat of paint.
When I began this project, I decided to start by checking out my stash and sure enough, I had a circle left over from the wooden Lazy Susan I bought for my 
Like any room make-over, you generally have a vision for how the space will look when you’re done. I have dreamed of a main floor laundry room for a long time and although I have a very distinct style in mind, there are so many great ideas out there that it is hard to narrow it down and decide exactly what I want in this new space. My old laundry room was really not a laundry room at all, but rather a corner of my unfinished basement that housed stinky hockey equipment, various tubs of items in storage, boxes for electronics that were still on warranty, the freezer and so much more. It was nasty to say the least. If one doesn’t hate doing laundry because of the nature of the task, having a complete and utter dump in which to do it will turn you off for sure.
