Surprisingly, I went from being well manicured (nails done, hair done, everything did) and sitting on a desk all day, to spending my days with paint, saw dust and everything else that entails refurbishing furniture --all over the place--- including my clothes, hands, arms, you name it. Needless to say, my nails have not gotten much attention lately....other than keeping them clean after painting or using power tools....and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Keep in mind, I have never used anything other than a power drill, ha! Today, I am building quite the tool collection.
Let's back up a moment. Let me tell you how this all started (you may find this helpful too) When I first embarked this journey, I became a frequent customer at every craft store nearby. I was spending way more money than I'd like too, for example...I felt the quality of the pre-cut/stained wood I was purchasing was over priced and since I wanted to sell some pieces, quality is important. I figured why not try home depot? This way, my future customers will be happy and so will I. Welp! I was hesitant........this would mean that I'd have to actually prep the wood myself (sand, stain, poly) Lucky for me, I have a well seasoned wood working partner around and that has been EXTREMELY helpful. & WAH-LAHHH! We just saved a whole bunch of money by switching to Geico...ehem, I mean Home Depot.
After experimenting with small projects (I have not been into this sorta thing, like ever, in my entire life...until now) I decided to go from using a chop saw, orbital sander, drill and staining my first piece of wood....to create this cute mason jar scone:
To hand painting and decorating many pieces of pottery. I'll just post one of my faves...Oh! I painted and lined those baskets too:
Ultimately I embarked remaking unwanted pieces of SOLID wood furniture because lets face it, I want to save the trees and the older the furniture, the better it was built! They just don't make 'em like they used too! Both pieces were white washed and given a summer/beachy look:
Someone loved it just as much as I did....and it found a new home.
Soooo, I started thinking.....can I actually profit over doing something that I love? Why not try? without any further hesitation, I've been refurbishing many items and furniture. I am still trying and learning and most importantly, I'm having fun along the way.
Here is another project with the before and after photo:
I am not sure that I will ever get rid of anything again....not without at least trying to repurpose it!
Now this is not an easy task and much to my dismay, not all of my answers could be found on the internet. I had to revert to learning by good old fashioned "trial and error."
That being said, I am currently taking lots of photos while working on my most recent project. My goal is to give you insight on how I get this done, and if you decide to give it a try, I'm building a list on what mistakes to avoid (& ohhhh, I've done plenty) Hopefully, my next post and others to follow, will help save at least one person precious time, awful headaches and frustration! And hey, if this is not your thing and you find that you like some of my pieces, you can stop by my Etsy shop (or Facebook Market) and support a small business. I promise to do a happy dance if you do:-)
Link to Etsy www.etsy.com/shop/NestDesignsandMore
Oh! Feel free to follow me on Instagram if you're there. This way, you can see my inventory before they're posted on Etsy
IG name: @nest_designsandmore
Until next time! Thank you for your valuable time.
