Buckets-O-storage

Our family goes through buckets and buckets of ice-cream. Having birthdays and get togethers every month ensures an endless supply of buckets for me to use daily; it also forces me to find new ways to utilize them. This post is the first post in the "I have so many ice-cream buckets that I don't know what the heck to do with them" series.

Do your cupboards look like this?

. . .Then you need to find a way of utilizing all those ice-cream buckets instead of throwing them away. Here's a couple ways that I like to use these wonderful plastic pails.

First of all, I needed a way to get rid of the labeling on the outside of the bucket. One day when I was shopping at Walmart, I stopped by the paint section and saw that Krylon was changing out the labeling on their packaging so they had a buttload of their "plastics" paint on clearance (for more on paint for plastics, check out my "shopping spree:The paint aisle" post). I found this cute blue color that I thought I could use more than once. I'm not sure exactly how much I paid but I think it was like $2.00 or something. Awesome!

I put 2 coats of paint on the bucket. . .it covered like a dream! It was so pretty and it could've been used just like that (think those little buckets they sell at Walmart at Easter time).

You could now decorate it however you wanted: stickers, vinyl, markers, even more paint!

I actually wanted them for storage. . .cute storage. I came up with a lining for the bucket (similar to Mileka's makeup storage cans) utilizing old T-shirts (so I could spend as little as possible. Who doesn't have old t-shirts laying around!) Of course you could always use pretty fabric if you had some of that!

Here's how I did it!

Then. . . .here's the hard part to understand for those of you that has never done it.

Get it? Got it. Good!

If you did it right, your bucket (and lining) should now look like this!

It will look great on a shelf and help you with some of your storage needs.

Because I used what I had, this project cost me very little!

Ice-Cream Bucket: F-to the-R-E-E!!

Krylon Plastic Spraypaint: $2.00

Old T-shirt: FREE

 cloth-lined storage bucket=$2.00

Brandi-Lee

The Big Reveal "The desk"

Howdy! k, so remember the old desk (from my sneak a peek post) that I got a century ago from a friend, that I was supposed to fix up? Well, I'm just about done with it. If you've forgotten how it looked before, here it is. . . .

It had some cosmetic issues including wonderful crayon art compliments of the kiddos. Also, it was pink. . . .and I do NOT have any girls in my house (besides me), so although pink is one of my faves, it had to go!

And did I mention the leg was not attached?

Aaah, here it is.

Well, after doing some work on it, I pretty much finished the desk except I hadn't put any hardware on it yet.

K, don't be angry with me but. . .I didn't take pics of the process but I will tell you that it was basic and simple. I worked on the drawers and the desk at 2 different times but they both got the same basic treatment.

1. Sand

I sanded the desk.

2. Fix

 I re-attached the broken leg. 

3. Paint

I painted the desk covering each area with several thin coats.

4. Wait

 I waited at least overnight for the desk to dry before I used it.

Here's the already sanded desk on it's side waiting for it's leg to be fixed. I used my mouse sander and because it couldn't get everywhere (like all the intricately carved places), I hand sanded it. As you can see, I did not have to sand all the "pink" off  as long as I passed over it once with sandpaper. I used only a 150 grit sandpaper although because I was trying to strip paint, I could've used a more coarse paper. I decided not to distress the desk (although it would've looked awesome!) because the finish of the desk wouldn't have gone with the finishes of the other furniture in the room I wanted to put it in. Plus I was really lazy and I needed to finish it because I had guests coming.

I also had some helpers. . .

My hubby helped fix the broken leg and my baby helped by entertaining himself while we worked.

I love hot glue! I personally believe that hot glue will fix anything! To fix the desk leg, 1.we hot glued it to the desk so it would stay in place and 2. we attached the leg onto the desk with skinny finishing nails. It was important to use the skinny nails instead of thick nails or screws because it could 've damaged the desk further and made it harder to cover the cosmetic damages.

Here's the paint that I used. It's our leftover housepaint. I would rather use paint I already have then buy new paint unless that paint is in the clearance aisle*;) (I also used this same paint to redo my guest bedroom headboard)

I'll be posting this one up. . .someday!

I covered each area of the desk in several thin layers one after the other. For example, I did the top of the desk, then the left front, then the right front, then the left side, and finally, the right side and then I started again. By the time you get to the top of the desk again, it should already be dry and you can start all over. It seems very time consuming but actually, it went really quickly. Several thin layers of paint is better than 1 or 2 thick layers. The thin layers dry faster and cover better.

 Here's the hardware that I wanted to use on the desk. I got it off an old dresser at my mom's when I went back to Hawaii in March. I would've brought the dresser back to AZ with me (cuz my mom was gonna chuck it anyway) but I couldn't fit it in my bag*;(

whaddya think? I may not even use these because it won't go with the decor of the place I'm thinking 'bout putting it. Oh well, we'll see.

Stay tuned to see where I put my desk. . . .here's a sneak peek!

Brandi-Lee