The Repurpose & Upcycle thread....

[Hollylane]

Yesterday, after my fishing trip flopped, I consoled myself by stopping at a few yard sales on the way home. I scored with an antique wood picture frame, and an antique weather station (not sure if that is what you call it, but it displays humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature), for $1.00. Both were pretty grungy but cleaned up nicely with a damp cloth, a little Windex and a teeny bit of household cleaner.

My other score of the week was picking up a picture of two red poppies for a dollar, and a tiny picture frame (.10) that matched the one the poppies were in, I took them to work last Friday, to my friend Danielle, and asked her to paint me a miniature picture of the poppies. She gave it to me today, and I am amazed at her talent. I think I may have her paint something for the antique frame I found the other day too. I'm thinking purple irises.

I posted some pictures in my upcycle gallery, if anyone is interested.

[watersoilair]

Does anyone repurpose wooden items, like the dresser in the first picture? I'm really interested in things like that. Like hanging old windows as wall dressings.

[Penelope]

I don't repurpose wood items (yet) but I did find an old wood framed screen that I have as "wall art". I didn't end up needing it for a jewelry holder (my first idea) so I thought I would stencil on some designs with paint. It worked ok but not great as most of the colors are hard to see on the screen. I'll try and get the picture off my phone to put in the Gallery.

We found/bought some wooden crates as I would like to make a coffee table. I've seen it done online a ton of times but we haven't set aside the time to do it as I will need help with the project. I'm not exactly a woodworker by nature.

Originally Posted by watersoilair

Does anyone repurpose wooden items, like the dresser in the first picture? I'm really interested in things like that. Like hanging old windows as wall dressings.

[laruss]

I don't mean this as an infomercial but I absolutely love this product.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint www.anniesloan.com

It is readily available in the States, a bit harder to find here in Canada but it is absolutely amazing for reimagining older pieces. No sanding, no priming, sticks to everything, including plastic, varnished wood, glass, fabric, leather, you name it.

It comes in 31 colours here in North America, but it is a pure pigment paint and can be mixed together beautifully. After painting you apply the wax which dries to a hard finish and you can add dark wax to help give it an antiqued look.

I spent years refinishing furniture and finally decided it was too much work. I am now back at it. I bought a bunch of wood frames at a garage sale for a dollar each, threw some paint on them and now sell them for $40 each. I have reimagined a hideous dresser, a chair, and have two tables waiting for paint. You can finish a whole project in less then a day - start to finish.

Anyway, I am in love with this paint. I have to say as an artist when I was told about it, I thought oh yeah it's paint. Then I tried it. It is addictive.

I am lucky enough to work in the only store in our city that sells it so I play with it all day at work too. If you type in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on Pinterest or YouTube you will find thousands of ideas and tons of tutorials, but it is super easy.

Anyway, like I said, I didn't mean this to be an infomercial but I found this the best paint for reimagining items.