Before and After

These past two weeks have been full of re purposing projects.

And I just realized it was all for Lauren!

LOL

Lucky girl...

Lauren loves this jean skirt, but it was just getting too short.

Since the waist still fits her, I just added a new piece of darker denim at the bottom to lengthen it!

I also added a heart patch on the back to add a little cuteness...

:o)

I bought this pair of jeans two or three months ago and was really disappointed when it took Lauren no time at all to go through the knees! She is such a tomboy...

I just got out some denim scraps, cut them into hearts, and ironed them onto the knees with fusible web.

They looked kind of bland, so I added a little something...

I hand embroidered some coloured stitches around the outer edges to add some colour!

They look super cute on!!!


This shirt is a hand me down from Lauren's big sister Alyssa.

Well, I made it into one anyways! It was in Alyssa's bag of clothes that she grew out of, and since it would be years before Lauren fit in it properly (she is six, Alyssa is thirteen!), I made a couple adjustments and additions to make it fit!


Old shirt from Alyssa

+ another shirt kicking around the scrap material box

= major cuteness for a six year old!

It is almost long enough to be a dress, but not quite. So Lauren wears it with some brown shorts and voila!

New outfit!
Just in time for the warm weather we are enjoying right now...



This dresser has been in my radar screen for a while now. It still needs to have the drawers fixed with some up to date glides, but it stores well!

I wanted to strip the top of the dresser for Lauren's redecorated room, and I forgot to take a photo of it before this one.

It was all white.

:o)

Funny (or not) story stripping this dresser:

I grabbed some dish washing gloves to apply the stripper with, because it is the safe thing to do.

Ten minutes after starting up, I experienced SEVERE burning on my hands!!!
In a panic I ripped the gloves off my hands, flinging softened paint all over the floor (look at it -- anything is an improvement! lol), and saw my hands were completely covered in hives!

I had forgotten the gloves have latex in them, which I am allergic to!

Oh well, lesson learned.


Here is the dresser all done.

After frying the skin on my hands, I found out I didn't have quite enough stain to finish the job beautifully on the top of the dresser.

But I really love the way it turned out, since Lauren's finished room will have a vintage vibe to it, and it looks like the top has been worn.

I also refreshed the white paint with another coat.

Last on the list was Lauren's night table.

This was her original one...

An old footstool!

I looked around craigslist for a while, but couldn't find anything I loved.

Then I remembered I had this table in my closet!

Once again, I didn't remember to take a photo until after I started.

It is an Ikea table, one of the few quality things we have purchased from there, several years ago. It is a folding one, in unfinished wood. Not sure on the wood, but it is definitely not pine -- birch?

Anyways, I stained the top and painted the bottom white to get this:

I really like it a lot!

And I have plans for that light of hers... stay tuned for that one!

:o)