thrift store finds :: a SIMPLE diy :: bar stool makeover

It’s the dead of winter here in Michigan (and the rest of the country.) Except you, South Florida, we see you and all your sandy beaches! So, what’s a girl to do when surrounded by frigid temps and frozen tundra? Besides binge watching Netflix and eating far too many carbs, my choices usually involve reorganizing closets or painting something.

I opted for the latter 😉

Our master bed and bath rooms are on the hit list for updating this coming Spring. But until then I’ve been trying to infuse a little light and life into their otherwise pretty boring existence. The wall that our bed is on is the shortest wall in the room. That California King we all dream about just ain’t happening over here! (Though with having kids who have mastered the middle-of-the-night scary stare and ninja, bed-hijacking moves, upgrading in mattress size is something I think about daily.)

That short wall leaves us about 14″ on either side of the bed. Not a lot of room for standard nightstands. So I looked up my BFF, Pinterest, and went searching for solutions. Behold! The bar stool turned nightstand makeover!

Seriously. Such an awesome fix. If only it had been my idea originally!!

Living one street over from a thrift store is both a DIY dream, and total temptation nightmare. I want to stop every.single.day. ( As a refresher, we’re in the middle of a No-Spend month around here. So this post is a confessional. I cheated.) The stars aligned and I *happened* to stop in on a 50% off furniture day. The next thing I knew I was loading 2 bar stools into my van, and planning out their imminent repurposing! And it only cost me $7…that’s a cheat I can handle. I basically walked out with DIY gold for less than a Panera Bread ‘You Pick Two’.

I raided my leftover paint stash and settled on Behr’s Polar Bear white for the bottom half, then waffled between a dark walnut stain for the tops ( my go-to farmhouse style pick) or painting the tops a beachy seaglass color. I ended up going with painted tops for now, using up some SW Sea Salt from our main bathroom redo. Definitely a coastal vibe and I couldn’t be happier!

The Pinterest tutorials I’ve seen show how to make shelves using thick twine over the bar stool rungs. I’m not completely sold on that idea yet, so for now I’m just enjoying having somewhere besides the floor to put a book or my cell phone. And I can always add some type of shelf later on!

 

So what about you? Are you doing any fun home projects to beat the winter boredom or blues?