ATTACK OF THE TOOL GIRL!

I have discovered over the past few years that paint is my friend. Paint can cover a multitude of sins and make ugly beautiful...or at least less ugly. I also have come to the startling conclusion that I like building and fixing things.


Except for "Home Goods"...Home Depot has become my favorite place to shop. Weird huh?? I've discovered however if you spend too much time inside this glorious big orange box, you will get an uncontrollable urge to buy power tools. Now my first power tools were pretty girlie...in fact if I could have found them in PINK I would have been in heaven. But I found a set that is pretty darn convenient...the whole thing sits right inside your junk drawer. This set included some screwdrivers, a hammer, a stud finder (calm down BJ not that kind of "stud") and a cordless drill that was made lightweight and smaller to fit a womans hand. Now that was all well and good...but I discovered it didn't give me enough ***POWER***. So after my first project or two I went and got me a BIG GIRL DRILL!

NOW THIS BABY HAS TORQUE! Give me a glue gun and a drill and there is no STOPPING ME!

One thing you will NOT find anywhere near my craft table/tool bench is a power saw. If I had one of these----->















I wouldn't have any of these

One of the coolest things about Home Depot is that when you buy any type of lumber from them....Those sweet orange-apron wearing critters will cut it for you to the exact size you want FREE OF CHARGE!


So if you'll indulge me, I would like to take you on a tour of things I've fixed with paint, built, or altered in some foolish way.....
One of the first projects I tackled was making these cornice boxes for my living room. It's a super easy project that only takes a drill and a staple gun. It helped me build some confidence to try other things.



I made this bench for our master bedroom. Another very simple project. I bought the legs on-line as well as the big yummy nail head trim. The total cost of this project including the fabric was about $150.00.




I made this headboard for my guestbedroom...plywood, masonite, egg & dart molding, and some nailhead trim. Another really simple project...and if I hadn't got so greedy and had to have the embroidered silk fabric it would have been a really inexpensive project too! With the fabric however this ended up costing somewhere around $150.00

In this same room I reupholstered a chair I bought at an auction for $30.00 or so...I just used the old fabric as a pattern. This was also an easy project except for the massive blood loss during the removal of the old upholstery tacks! And I bought the bedside table at a yard sale for $8.00 it was ugly beat up pine but all it needed was some black paint!

























I made another headboardy sorta thingie for our other guestroom. This one was made with one of those cheap mirrors you hang on your door...I just took off the frame they had it in and I had a $6.00 mirror. Plywood, more egg & dart molding, and some iron scrolls I purchased on-line from a company that makes parts for wrought iron railings. The iron scrolls were only about $5.00 each...so this whole thing cost about $80.00.





This cabinet started out life as an oak computer center. I replaced the upper wood panels on the doors with chicken wire and then painted and distressed it. It's now in my guestbedroom and houses linens and some quilts my mom made.



This cabinet was natural pine..it was purchased for a different house years ago. It no longer fit in with any of my decor and I was going to yard-sale it. But a little bit of black paint and now it fits in just fine. It's currently sitting in our library until I can actually afford bookshelves someday.

If you need cheap wall art...here's the ticket. I bought black "dollar store" frames for $1 of course, and painted them green and distressed them. Then I cut the pictures of the flowers out of a magazine. Even up close they look pretty dang good for a total of $4


This yellow cabinet was originally a drop leaf secretary I bought at a yard sale for $10. The top drawer was busted so I removed two of them and put in shelves instead..then added the baskets. I removed the drop leaf because it was beyond repair...then painted and distressed it. The screen behind it is just 1 x 4 pine boards cut to look like fence posts. The hinges were originally shiny brass and I rusted them with a really cool paint technique. Total cost of the screen was $22.00


And finally....a bench I made out of a damaged cabinet that was supposed to go over a fridge. I bought the bun feet on-line and added a wood top. The sad little bench pad is my pitiful attempt at sewing...which is one of my NON-skills