Daily Prompt: teach your bloggers…

Daily Prompt: Teach Your (Bloggers) Well http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/daily-prompt-teaching/

I’ve never considered myself very good at teaching other people how to do stuff. I do it, well, just because I do.
Example: I was a competitive swimmer for many years and still enjoy swimming laps to relive stress & energy. My husband said to me one day, “I hate swimming laps, because I don’t know how to breath, teach me.”
I looked at him like he was a foreign creature, “wtf do you mean, you don’t know how to breath?!?”
After much discussion, I was still confused, so we went to the pool and as he was swimming he tried to turn his head and he sucked in water. Hmmmm, I can’t help you, I just breath. Lol

So teaching my “readers” anything is out of my wheelhouse; but maybe I can inspire someone.

One of my favorite hobbies is upcycling ( taking something old & ugly and turning it into something awesome).
I’m constantly on swip-swap sites, at garage sales, thrift stores & digging in bulk trash on curbs for anything I can turn into something cool.

Here I started with this hideous piece of furniture. This was left in my home by the previous family (I don’t blame them! & actually there were 2).

I started with the wooden storage unit. I used an electric sander to remove the varnish & first layer of paint.

Then I cleaned the storage unit very well to remove any dust from sanding.
Then it was time to paint, I actually used eggshell white, house paint (that was also left by the previous family). 2 coats of paint was all it needed.
I finished the top off with a coat of clear sealant/varnish.

The baskets were easy to transform.
I wanted them grey, but couldn’t find the “right” shade, so I decided to use “primer” spray paint…. The color is beautiful.
I sprayed them a couple of times, wicker can be tricky because of all the nooks and crannies, make sure to change the angle of the baskets often, to get good,even coverage.

I removed the leather pulls before I started to paint. After the baskets were dry, I replaced the pulls with these unique knobs I found at Hobby Lobby.
(You need a drill for this part to make a hole for the knobs)

Easy & Fun!

Now get out there and make something old, new again 🙂