I'm sure by now you've seen those DIY nail polish cabinets/shelves that are all over Pinterest and every other site remotely connected with beauty. Some are made of foamboard and others are made of wood. Lulu decided that she needed one, so Gus and I worked together to give the girl what she wanted!


I looked at several different "plans", discussed the size and other particulars with Lulu, and then came up with my own version. Gus was the grunt labor - cutting all of the wood and doing all of the painting. One thing I wanted to add was a removable back piece that could be covered with fabric. That way Lulu would have the option of changing it up a bit.

Gus didn't have any fancy tools when we made this (although he got a cool Ryobi table saw for Father's Day, so future projects will be easier!), and we wanted to spend a minimum amount of time sanding/finishing, so we spent a little more to get higher grade wood. Of course, that translated into a higher cost. My point is, you could probably make this for less than we did if you don't mind sanding.


What we used:
3 - 8' pieces of select pine (smooth) boards
2 - 8' pieces of molding (just a little wider than the thickness of the boards)
1 - 2' X 4" piece of finished 1/4" plywood
1 - 30" X 40" piece of foam board
1 yd. 45" wide fabric
Repositionable spray adhesive
Various wood screws and finishing nails
Paint (we bought a sample of Behr at Home Depot)
Tools: drill, drill bits, hammer, saw, sandpaper, wood glue


Once all of the boards were cut and the ends sanded, Gus painted them. Then came the fun part of evenly spacing them! We lined up the 21" boards against one of the 25" boards, adjusted them until they were spaced evenly...


then marked the placement.


Gus drilled pilot holes for all of the nails...


and then nailed the shelves in place.


Next, we measured, cut, and sanded the edges of the trim for the front of the shelves. Not only is it decorative, but it's a little taller than the shelves, so it makes a "lip" that will help keep the bottles on the shelves. We attached the trim with wood glue and three tiny finishing nails.


Next, Gus did the finishing work - countersinking all of the nails, filling the holes, then sanding once dry.


Since I wanted Lulu to be able to easily change the background fabric, we had to design a way to slide the fabric board in and out, while keeping it fairly snug between the back and the shelves. I found some square dowels at Hobby Lobby that were just a bit thicker than a sheet of foam board - perfect! We used wood glue and finishing nails to attach a dowel to each side and the bottom of the cabinet, keeping them flush with the outer edges of the cabinet - then we painted them.


For the back of the cabinet, we used a piece of birch plywood. We put the cabinet on the plywood, traced the shape, then cut it out. Once we made sure it was the right size, we sanded the edges and painted it.


For the removable fabric insert, I used a piece of white foam board. To get the correct size, I measured the open area on the back of the cabinet - the area between the dowels. The foam board had to be slightly smaller than this so that it could be removed, so I cut inside the measured lines.

I cut a piece of fabric to fit, adding 4 inches to each side so that it could be folded over the edges. I sprayed the foam board with repositionable adhesive, and applied the fabric, folding the edges to the back and applying more spray adhesive to hold them in place. Then all I had to do was slide the fabric board into the "pocket"!


I can't believe I can't find the picture of Gus showing how to remove the fabric board! So sorry!! But here is the cabinet with the fabric board in place.


Love, love, love this fabric! Found it at Hobby Lobby!


Lulu loves her cabinet - and she liked the fabric so much that I went back to buy more so that I can make matching pillows!


Ready to make one now?


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Chalk paint, chalk paint, chalk paint. It seems that not a day goes by that I don't hear or read about someone doing a project with it. And yes, I felt a little left out since I hadn't tried it yet. I wanted to buy Annie Sloan paint, but alas, there are no local stores that sell it, and I'm too cheap to pay $10 to ship a little pint jar. So, I researched making my own, until I found a "recipe" that looked like it worked - then I did a little nightstand makeover...


The recipe I used came from How To Distress Furniture. I chose this site because I liked how they compared different ways of making chalk paint - and it looked like they knew what they were doing with it. I opted for the Plaster of Paris version:

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Do you have some wrought iron furniture that has seen better days? Gus is back to show you how to make it look good-as-new!


(This post may contain affiliate links which were added to make it easier for you to find the items. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you). You are free to use the links or not - if you do, I thank you!)

We have a wrought iron bistro set that sits on our front porch. It's about 7 years old, and even though it's pretty sheltered from the weather, it needed a little facelift.


Three easy steps is all it takes! First, he used a wire brush to remove any rust and loose paint. Then he washed it down and let it dry. Once it was dry, he painted it with Rustoleum Hammered Finish spray paint in black . That's it. So simple, so easy - and yet it makes a such big difference!


Check out the before & afters!


It looks just like it did when we bought it - all for around $7!

See that cushion? I recovered it myself and you can read my tutorial here!

I'd love to see your makeovers! Share them in the comments!

How many of you have a little table that has seen better days? Maybe it's in the attic or the garage or still in the house - because it's perfectly functional, just not as pretty as it was when it was new. Well, Gus has a solution for you! A makeover for your table that's easy-to-do and costs under $5!


I bought two of these tables about 8 years ago when we lived in our old house. Hey, I was going through a Margaritaville stage. Don't judge. <grin> We brought them with us when we moved: one went in the basement for Buddy's laptop, and the other went in the garage for Gus's crap important manly garage stuff.

I had been looking for a plant stand to put on the front porch, in the corner by the door - but the cheapest one I could find was $40! My cheap crafty side wouldn't allow me to pay that much for it when I knew we could create something for much less. Gus and I discussed how we were going to "cover" the top and eventually decided to go with wood.

What we used:

• 1X2 furring strips from Home Depot (2 - 6' pieces @ $0.97 each)
• Gorilla Wood Glue, 8-Ounce 
• Minwax Polyshades stain in Espresso Satin (already had)
• Behr paint (already had)
• Rust-Oleum Hammered Metal Finish Spray, Black, 12-Ounce
• Stanley 15-Inch 9 Points SharpTooth Fast Cutting Saw
• hammer, short nails, tape measure, pencil

Gus worked on the legs of the table first - he scuffed them with a little sandpaper, rinsed them off, let them dry, then painted them with the black Rustoleum paint.


Here's the obligatory shot of Gus a shot of Gus cutting the furring strips to size:


Obviously, the amount of wood you need and the length of the strips will depend upon the size of your table. Our table was 13.75" square. Gus cut four pieces of wood and filed the ends with a wood file/rasp. Then he positioned the strips like this - and glued and nailed them into place:


Yes, I realize that the diagram is flipped from what the picture shows, but you get the idea!


The rest of the wood was cut into strips that covered the frame - so we measured the frame and the wood strips to determine how many we would need. It turned out that we needed 10 strips (15.5" long), and there would be a little space between each one. Again, after they were cut, Gus used the rasp on the cut ends to smooth them out a bit.


He put the end pieces on first, and then worked his way inward.


Each piece was glued and nailed into place - don't forget to position the pieces first so that you can make any adjustments before they're attached. We didn't sand the surface because we wanted a rougher, weathered look, but you can certainly sand it if you want it to be smooth.


Doesn't it look great? And it was QUICK, EASY, AND INEXPENSIVE. Love those words!

Now it's time for the finish. We decided to do "weathered' wood, just like for the weathered wood frames we did in the kitchen. As a matter of fact, I used the same stain and paint.


First, I sprayed the wood with a little water, because I didn't want the stain to penetrate too deeply. Then I brushed a light coat of the stain onto the wood and wiped it off immediately. I wasn't careful - some spots were dark, some were light - but I wanted it to be like that. Obviously, if you are just staining it, you'll want to be more careful with the application. You could just use paint, but I would make sure it was some type of exterior paint if the table will be outside.

Immediately after staining, I applied some of the watered-down grey paint. Again, I brushed it on, but I let it sit a little longer than the stain - then gently wiped it off, leaving a little paint behind.


Perfect! How cool does that look? I love it!!! If you want to see how we stacked the flower pots, you can see the tutorial here.

Are you ready to give it a try? Or have you already done a table makeover? Tell me about it!

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