Changing Table to T.V. Stand

 Recently we purchased a t.v. but we needed something to put it on.  I was thinking about the pieces of old furniture, etc. I have and remembered I still had the kids' changing table so hubby hauled it out to my 'work area' in the basement and I began re-working it.

 

I had to make some minor repairs and since I wanted to only use one of the drawers, I had to remove the drawer guides for the other two.  I also drilled holes in the back for the cords.  A few coats of Pure White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and I was ready to move on to some of the other details.

After a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax, I lightly distressed the entire dresser.  

A few years ago my daughter was in India and she brought me a bag of hand-painted, porcelain drawer pulls.  I've had them in a decorative bowl but I knew they would be perfect for this piece.  I had already removed the old hardware and filled the extra hole with wood filler.  I decided to just line the drawer with scrap booking paper.

My goal was to spend little or nothing on this piece so for the shelves, I used old fence boards I had gotten on Freecycle.  I cut them and then sanded the edges lightly.  I wanted to keep this simple so they are just laying in there and can be removed if we want to move the stand. They are all different looking and slightly warped but I really like the look they created (and did I mention they were free??).

Now do you know what has given me the MOST trouble on this piece?? Finding containers/baskets that would fit on the second shelf! The opening with the boards is only 4" tall and 15" deep.  Seems like it would be simple -- but every basket I looked at was 4.5" tall!  Finally, I found these trays at Michael's on sale and I like that they were already lined with a color of paper that perfectly matches my living room!  So my total cost for this t.v. stand . . .  $24.00 and THAT was for the trays.  I still would have rather had baskets and I may keep a look out for some -- what do you think? Baskets or bins?

I'm super happy with how this turned out and even more so that it holds so many memories of changing little bottoms on top of it.  My how time does fly . . .  Do you have a favorite 'conversion' project?

Magnetic Verse Holders

Recently I was asked if I could come up with a craft for our church's women's retreat.  The theme was "Women Seeking Joy".  I have a ton of scrap wood/fence boards so I wanted to find something using that which would keep costs down.  I decided that cut into small pieces, the wood could become a magnetic verse holder.

 I printed out the theme verse ahead of time on scrap book paper.  The ladies applied the paper to the wood using Mod Podge and then distressed the edges using small pieces of sanding foam included in their kits.

 I chose twelve different Bible verses on "joy" and printed them on card stock.  The ladies were able to choose from an assortment of stamps and ink to decorate the verse cards.

 By adding the ribbon and paper flower as well as high-powered magnets on the back, all of the ladies were able to create something they could use and enjoy in their homes.  I enjoyed making these so much that I'm thinking of making more to sell in my Etsy shop.  You could use these to hold note paper, grocery lists, photos and of course, your memory verses.  Now to find the TIME to create more . . .