Vintage Revivals • Page 58 of 120 • Fearless DIY

My Latest Thrift Store Scores!

By Mandi | 05/29/2015 | 12 Comments

Holy cow, it’s been a bit since I’ve found anything super amazing at the thrift store. (I am 100% convinced its because I haven’t been going as much. The amount of great scores is directly related to the time you invest into finding them.) But still, who likes to leave empty handed every freakin time?! No one.

Well, maybe my husband, but he doesn’t count.

Last week I made a super last minute trip inside as they were closing (like at 8:56 and they close at 9) and found some pretty great stuff! Finally!!

All of these little candlestick holders and vessels were $.50 each!

The frame on this is not awesome, but any photograph of Southern Utah is a must have. ($5.00)

This wicker basket ($4.00) will be the perfect plant holder (I’m picturing a bright colored pot inside it!)

The last treasure is this solid wood mid century desk for $30. I LOVE the drawer fronts and handles. Its just so good. You could leave it as it, or paint parts of the drawers, I mean the possibilities are endless!

Have you scored anything amazing lately!? Make sure to hashtag #colddeadfingers on Insta so we can all see (and be super jealous!)

$15 Simple DIY Shelf (seriously cute!)

By Mandi | 05/28/2015 | 15 Comments

You guys know that I love a good shelf build. Lately the obsession has been with floating shelves, but I got the idea the other day for one that I just had to try out!

You’ll need:

1”x2”x8’ board
1”x8”x4’ board
Picture Hangers
Wood Glue
Finishing Nails and/or Wood Screws

Start by cutting your 1×2” board into 4 pieces. Mine are 32”and 10” with a 45 degree angle on each end.

Attach the boards to make a rectangle.

Use wood glue and finishing nails and make sure that your edges line up!

The next step is to attach the 1×6 that makes up the actual shelf. I decided to use screws for this instead of finishing nails, but you can use whichever you prefer.

If you are using screws make sure to drill pilot holes first so that you don’t split your wood!

Next cut 2 boards down that measure 11 1/2”. On one end cut a 30 degree angle, and on the other cut a 60 degree angle. (because we are working within the 90 degree angle the shelf makes your angles should always add up to 90)

Find (and lightly mark) the center of your shelf then measure out 2” on either side. This is where the inside edge of your angled boards are going to line up.

Attach with wood glue and let them dry!

Once everything is dry, flip your shelf over and attach the heavy duty picture hangers.

So much cuteness right?!

I staged it with some thrifted treasures that I had laying around.

Watercolor Wonderwall

By Mandi | 05/26/2015 | 18 Comments

Hey hey! You guys. I am SO excited today!! After what seems like months, actually it literally was months…I can finally talk about something that I’ve been working on behind the scenes!

Have you heard of The Design Network? It is an awesome video hub full of informative and entertaining interior design videos. You have got to check it out. And the best part is that Vintage Revivals has a series! It was such a learning experience and I am so excited for you to finally see it!!

The series is called Fearless DIY. Each episode has a brand new project and shows a little behind the scenes of the blog and the creative process that happens.

The first episode shows what happens when you have a project fail and the magic that can come from jumping in with both feet to try something different.

Check out the full episode here! There will be a new episode every Monday so stay tuned!!

Cedar Fence Post Garden Planters

By Mandi | 05/22/2015 | 11 Comments

A few years ago I was pretty in to gardening. In fact I was so into it that I dedicated a huge strip of land on the side of our house to it. It was awesome. Then I started to travel, (I’m pretty sure we were actually home for 4 weeks the entire summer of 2012) and the garden was a little overlooked. It got pretty overgrown and had lots of weeds to keep the tomato plants company. We were so busy that I was fine with it, but Court said never again. The first chance he got the garden was gone and in it’s place was freshly laid sod.

For the last few years I’ve wanted a garden again, but something more manageable. Every time I brought it up to the husband he was unwavering in his response of “You are ridiculous. No.” I mean, how is that even an answer?!

A few weeks ago my sister was in town and we decided to tackle the project. This is what the requirements were: Inexpensive, Fast (so that it could be done before Court got home from work) and it couldn’t be in the backyard.

There is this little spot in our front side yard that was just useless. Basically its job was to be a prime location for weeds and trash. It is the only part of the yard that isn’t landscaped. You wouldn’t really notice it because of the tree in front of it, but it was the perfect spot for a small garden. There were a few things that made planter boxes a must. At the beginning of the year we put down Preemergent to prevent any weed growth, but doing so also prevented us from planting directly into the ground. Also, there is kind of a lot of stuff right underneath the surface, sprinkler lines, drainage pipes, decapitated Littlest Pet Shops in their final resting place (<— not a lie). Above ground planting was an absolute must.

So I did what I always do, I went to Home Depot. The employees there recommended Cedar because its really weather/rot resistant so we grabbed (16) cedar fence posts and (2) 8’ cedar 4×4’s.

The finished size for the bed was 8’x3’. I started by cutting the 4×4 into 18” pieces.

The next step was to attach the boards to them.

If you hear nothing else that I say today, hear this. Self Drilling Screws are FREAKING AMAZINGGGGGGGG! You don’t have to predrill your holes (which saves you a ton of time) and the star tip on them makes them less likely to strip. They have a little notch cut into the tip that is like magic.

The fence posts are 6 feel long which meant that we needed an additional 2 feet past their length. This worked out really great for the stability of the boxes too. I just made sure that the 4×4 post sat right between the planks.

Stagger the short board (1 one each side) this will give you 4 posts on each long side of your box (the 2 on the corners and 2 at 2’)

The walls of the planter at about 12” high, the additional 6” goes into the ground to stabilize it.

Once your boxes are built, take them outside and mark where the posts need to sit in the ground. Dig down deep enough that the edges of the box sit flush against the ground.

We have kind of some weird sloping action so we had to build up the dirt in some places so that the boxes were level, you can kind of see in the front right corner in the shot below where it needed to be filled in. Also if you make it look like you are having a blast then your kids will beg to help. 😉

Remember earlier when I mentioned all of the stuff that was underneath the ground? Well….one of the posts in the planter box next to the house landed at the EXACT wrong spot.

That would be a drainage pipe from the rain gutter. Luckily at this point we had only built one box and could modify the second one with shorter 4×4 posts to accommodate the pipe situation. I know you’ve already seen this picture but if you look at the posts in the far left you can see that they only sit in the ground about 2”. All of the other posts on the planter at the normal 18” length.

We moved the dirt inside the planters to build it up along the edges.

Once they were filled we took a trip to a local nursery for dirt. We got 3 1/2 ton bags of pay dirt (they were about $25 each) and brought them home. So do you have those moments when you KNOW something is a bad idea but peer pressure takes over and you do it anyway? Amy my sister can get me to do practically anything. Its a problem. I didn’t want to inconvenience our neighbors so we (as in Amy) decided it would be fine to back the truck up over the grass and unload it that way. For the record I thought it was a horrible idea. She said it was fine. I trusted. As I was backing it up she said everything was looking great but we needed a different angle, so I pulled forward and backed up again.

Imagine the horror when I got out of the truck and saw that she had TOTALLY lied about it! The grass sunk in 2” where the tires had been. Court was going to be SO pissed. So I did what I should have done, pulled the truck off the grass, knocked on the neighbors door and asked them if they could move their cars.

Court always jokes that I am like Zorro and leave my mark on everything I touch. In this case he is 100% correct.

Oops. Maybe its an M for Marvelous?

Once the planters were filled (2 hours later) we installed a simple drip system that connects to our automatic sprinklers. It has worked out wonderfully and everything is starting to thrive!

I planted a few varieties of tomatoes (they’ve always done really well for me)

Spinach (from seed)

Rainbow Chard (this is new to me this year) My parents always planted Swiss Chard when I was a kid and I hated it but I haven’t tried it as an adult so I thought it might be a good tester.

Beets (from seed) they need to be thinned out but it is just so fun seeing them grow!

Carrots (from seed) this was Dylan’s pick. I have NO idea how they’ll do.

Bell peppers

Zucchini (from seed), yellow squash, cilantro, basil, and the one that I am most excited about…

Asparagus! They are so teeny and cute! These came as root bundle. Court’s grandma has the best stories about picking wild asparagus so I thought it would be fun to try it this year.

So here is what I’ve noticed. Over the last 3 weeks the dirt that we built up has partially washed away but the new dirt hasn’t come through so I think the dirt inside is still holding up. We need to still bury the drip lines into the ground and I want to put some sort of mulch or something down to make it a little prettier to look at, but other than that it has been a complete joy! Its so exciting to see how fast everything grows and changes!! This coupled with our surprise peaches is going to make for one delicious summer!

The total cost for the planter boxes was about $45. The dirt, drip lines and plants were another $100 so the grand total was around $150.

Hope you have the best Memorial Day weekend!!

Finding Forgiveness

By Mandi | 05/19/2015 | 73 Comments

Do you guys ever feel like you just want to talk, heart to heart style? I’ve been struggling lately (hence the lack of posting). When I’m feeling less than positive my creativity shrivels up and I find myself in this cycle of frustration for not wanting to work and frustration for not having ideas that motivate me to work. Basically its a lot of frustration and that just makes the entire thing worse. #frustrating

I’m no stranger to the reality that hard things make you a better person. So as I’ve been embracing the crap and sifting through it for nuggets of understanding, I’ve also been learning a lot about myself. And hello, we all could use a little bit more self awareness and clarity right? So I thought I would share. I don’t do this kind of stuff often because I know most of you are here for project ideas and paint colors, but I hope that maybe the stuff that I’ve learned about myself the last little bit could maybe help one of you. Feel free to come back tomorrow if you are only lookin for projects, I’ve got a goooood one.

Ok so, you know those things that weigh on your heart? Like every time you think about a person or the way that you handled a situation you are stabbed with guilt and regret? I have. I do. You would think that sitting in two 12 Step meetings a week for the last 5 years would have helped me work through it right? Sometimes it takes a shift in our self awareness to be willing to do the work to get rid of these things. So I have 2 stories for you about forgiving ourselves and others.

Many years ago I worked for a really great family. It was at the time that I was pregnant with Ivie and Court was at the height of his addiction/in jail. I was so over my head in turmoil that I wasn’t able to see what a huge blessing their stability and love was to me. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own perspective that we are unable to see the situation with clarity. This is exactly what happened to me. I left the store on not great terms because of the way that I chose to handle things. I severed a relationship that I didn’t think I needed anymore for reasons that I cant even remember. For 10 years I have felt bad about it. Guys, 10 years is a really long time. The family had since moved out of St. George so I didn’t have to worry about running into them (because hello, that adds a whole new level of guilt to it right?) but I still thought about the situation frequently. About a month ago I finally got enough courage to message them on FB. I apologized and told them how sorry I was for the way that I acted. When I hit send it was one of the scariest things that I’ve done in a really long time. I wasn’t sure how they would respond. I’d heard rumors from former coworkers that they hated me and thought I was a horrible person, but I didn’t want to live with the stabs of guilt anymore. They say people don’t change until the pain of the problem becomes worse than the pain of the solution. That is where I was. It was less painful to send the message than it was to worry, and project my over dramatic feelings onto the situation, and feel bad anymore.

The response that I got was wonderful. For 10 years I had created this insurmountable problem in my mind and pushed away these people who cared about me at my worst because I was embarrassed and ashamed. How tragic and honestly what a waste of energy. It’s incredible how quickly healing can come when we want it more than we want to hold onto the pain.

This weekend we were at Dylan’s dance recital (she was absolutely adorable btw) I walked out into the hallway to find Court and found him talking to a family that he used to work for at the height of his addiction (obviously we are super into that sort of thing?) It was so great for me to see them, they had always been so wonderful to him, especially when he didn’t deserve it. As we were standing there talking, one of them started to cry. Before Court and I were married she sat down and told me that I could do so much better and should leave, and for like 13 years had felt horrible about it. She avoided the restaurant and was so concerned that we were still mad at her about it. Truthfully I didn’t even remember it, I mean lets be honest, everyone in my life at that time had that conversation with me. But she held onto the guilt about it. I was so glad that she said something so that I could tell her my point of view of the situation, that they were wonderful and I was so grateful for the support that they gave Court.

9 times out of 10 the situation is SO much worse in our minds. When Ivie was a baby I swear every time I turned on the TV the same commercial would come on with its stupid catchphrase “Immunize by 2, its up to you!” I was a first time mom and in the aftermath of Courts addiction. Whenever I would hear that phrase I was racked with guilt because I was convinced that Ivie wasn’t completely immunized and that I was the worst and only mother on the planet that had messed this up. I felt like I had already failed her so many times in her short life. I couldn’t even do this one thing right. It was horrible. Finally when she was 3 I had had enough and swallowed my pride and embarrassment and called the Dr. to make an appointment to get her all caught up. Guess what? She already was. She had been immunized the entire time. And hellooooo, there are people who don’t immunize their kids at all (lets not open that can of worms). I had made this so much bigger in my mind than it was in reality. Its really easy to do that. We feel like we are too far gone, we’ve failed too many times to find peace in our lives again. Its simply not true. There is always a way back, it might not be easy but man oh man its worth it.

When people hurt us it is only normal to want answers, but the thing is sometimes we don’t get them. And guess what? We get to move forward anyway. Their choice and the way they handle the situation is filtered through their life skills and perception. Not ours. The best we can do is find the nugget in the junk and let it make us more compassionate toward others and grateful that we are able to learn from the situation. Because how many times are we the ones that wronged others? And don’t you want compassion and understanding too? I know I do.

Mostly I just want you guys to know that I think you are wonderful. That’s all. Life is hard enough without unnecessary weight of choices that we’ve made that we are still lugging around. Stop agonizing over the details and your part in them. Take a deep breath and reach out. Its pretty incredible when the weight is gone.

xo
M

#colddeadfingers All-Star

By Mandi | 05/14/2015 | 27 Comments

Oh man I am itching to score something amazing. Every time I end up at the thrift store (which is admittedly not as frequently as it should be) there is nothin. Every time I jump on Craigslist? Overpriced. I mean, I can justify spending $40 on a dresser that I don’t need, but spending $400? Meh. So I do what any one looking for a good thrifting fix does…check out the #Colddeadfingers hashtag. YOU GUYS ARE KILLING ME!

There are a few people that are probably made out of gold they are so lucky with their finds and every time I sit down to write one of these post I am like “Ok, so I featured her last time so I probably shouldn’t do it again….but how can I not share these finds?!” The internal struggle is real. None more so than with Katie from The White House Girls. She is SO hardcore. In fact she is so legit that she drove from Fargo ND to Salt Lake City UT for SNAP just so she could thrift her little heart out.

Also it doesn’t hurt that she is adorable (Katie is the one on the left)

Katie and her sister Sam are junkers to the core.

Can I be the first to say, who knew Fargo had such great stuff? I mean, all I thought they had was snow.

Ok and can we just talk about Garbage Throw Out Week? WHYYYYY is this not a thing in Utah!? If you are unfamiliar get ready to die. Basically everyone in the city moves all of the stuff that they don’t want out to the curb and you can just drive by and pick it up! (If its not in a dumpster, if it is then you have to ask permission.) HELLLO. For my birthday next year I am going to garbage throw out week. That is all I want.

Does your city do this? Do you know how lucky you are?!

You will most definitely want to pop over and check out The White House Girls. Find a sitter for your kids and grab a snack, you’ll be there for a while.

Now is the really fun part. If you are on Instagram snap a picture of your most treasured piece(s) and tag it with #colddeadfingers. I LOVE seeing what your favorite things are and I know everyone else does too!

How To Paint A Laminate Dresser

By Mandi | 05/11/2015 | 33 Comments

There are a few tips that you will hear when it comes to thrifting furniture. 1. Check to make sure its sturdy. 2. Give it the smell test. 3. Always buy real wood.

Well guess what? As great and fine as those are sometimes that isn’t an option…especially when it comes to #3 on the list. Buying real wood. If you are in love with vintage furniture the chances are great that you will come across a piece or 99 made from laminate. Chances are that parts of your piece may be real wood, while other parts (like the top) are laminate. Its just the way things are. So does that mean that you should pass up your dream piece because its not real wood?

HECK NO.

Painting laminate is a totally doable DIY. You just have to know what the right products are for the job. (This is where I come in.)

I have tried every technique that pinterest can offer and I am so excited to tell you about the fail proof way to paint laminate.

One of the most popular tutorials on Vintage Revivals is this how to paint furniture post. I 1000% recommend using Pro Classic if you can. The only downside is that Pro-Classic doesn’t come in a deep base so if you want a darker color then you are sort of out of luck.

BUT. For National Painting Week I thought it would be perfect to kill 2 birds with one stone and show you the best way to paint laminate and what type of deep base paint I use to do it!

The color is a vibrant rich green called Arugula.

Ok so this is where I started.

Before I was able to do anything to this cute guy I needed to clean off this space age duct tape that was stuck to it. You guys, this is the kind of stuff that will take off your fingerprints…from your fingers…permanently. Goo Gone and other adhesive removers didn’t work so I pulled out my favorite paint stripper and gave it a good dousing.

Thankfully I was able to scrape the majority of the adhesive off after using that.

The first step to painting laminate is to give it a nice little sanding. Laminate typically has a hard shiny finish that makes it scratch resistant and durable. If you don’t give it a little texture then the paint and primer have nothing to stick to and will easily peel off. I used 150 grit sand paper on this part. You can see in the picture below that I didn’t sand off the laminate, just the surface of it.

Once everything is sanded, wipe it down with a damp rag to make sure that all of the dust is out of your life. If you don’t do this then you will have a situation on your hands.

Ok are you ready to have your life change? The secret to a durable long lasting finish on laminate is the primer that you use, specifically Sherwin-Williams Multi Purpose Primer. It is a bonding primer that basically sticks to anything and everything that you could ever want it to.

Use a Mohair roller to apply 2 thin coats to your piece (make sure that they are fully dry in between.)

Once they have had a few hours to completely dry, give it a light sanding with 220 grit sand paper.

Then wipe it down completely to get rid of any dust.

If you are using a color that can be mixed with a light or medium base, go with Pro-Classic. If you are using a color that needs a deep base you’ll want to use Sherwin-Williams All Surface Latex Enamel.

The Latex Enamel doesn’t lay down quite as easily as the Pro-Classic, to combat that we are using a dry time extender. This gives your paint more time to relax and level out before it dries, giving you a smoother finish.

Latex Enamel is amazing for its durability and has such a great finish.

I could not be happier with how this little guy turned out!

Now for the REALLY fun part, there are a whole slew of bloggers sharing project ideas and paint palettes for National Painting Week, you will for sure want to be checking those out here.