Project Gallery
Hi, I’m Serena! My mission with this blog is to inspire you to decorate, improve, and maintain your home using paint, power tools, and thrift stores. When I bought my old 1973 four years ago, we had no furniture and no skills when it came to taking care of our house. I walked around for weeks feeling uneasy and overwhelmed about trying to turn this old house into a cozy, pretty home that my family could be proud of. Over the years, I have taught myself how to paint, strip, and refinish thrift store furniture, as well as how to use power tools and how to remove toilets, put up crown molding, and other home improvement projects. As I learn, you learn. My goal is for us to transform our home together while flexing our creative muscle. (Find out more about this blog).
If you’re new to DIY, be sure to check out my Getting Started With DIY page.
And remember to enter your name and email to subscribe so that you can get 5 free ebooks, printables, and checklists delivered right to your inbox as a “thanks” for subscribing!
Most Popular Projects!
Right here you’ll find my most recent DIY projects! Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel where you can find the video tutorials that go with each project!
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- BEFORE: $10 French Provincial Makeover
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- BEFORE: DIY Playhouse Makeover
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- BEFORE: How to Build a DIY Fire Pit
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- BEFORE: Bar Cart Makeover
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- BEFORE: Mid-Century Modern Dresser Makeover
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- Natural Wood Table Makeover
Dressers and Side Tables
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- BEFORE: Thrifted China Cabinet
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- BEFORE: Ugly French Provincial Dresser Makeover
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- Mid-Century Modern Dresser Makeover
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- BEFORE: I Saved This Ugly Dresser!
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- I Repurposed a Toddler Bed Into a Potting Bench!
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- AFTER: Mid-Century Modern Dresser
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- AFTER: MId-Century Modern Dresser For Son
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- AFTER: Ombre Mod Dresser
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- Turn a Jewelry Box into an Organizer for Craft Materials!
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- $50 Thrifted Buffet Makeover!
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- Glue Fabric to Wood Bedside Tables
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- AFTER: 3-Toned White Washed Dresser
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- AFTER: Thrifted Upholstered Headboard
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- BEFORE: Vintage Sewing Machine and Cabinet Gets a Makeover!
Typically I love white bedroom furniture. It just looks so fresh! But these projects below are definitely not white! Ombre is always a fresh idea, too. Why not try lining some fabric to the front of your nightstands, like I did below? Upholstered headboards are always a great design feature!
Desk & Shelves
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- Natural Wood Drafting Table Makeover
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- 1980’s Desk Gets a Makeover!
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- Salmon Vintage Vanity
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- Turn a Changing Table Into a Big Kid Desk
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- Bookcase Hack with Added Built-in Storage on Top!
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- French Provincial Desk Makeover
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- A Mod Podged Book Shelf
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- Vintage Drafting Table
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- Leather-Top Chalk Paint Desk
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- DIY Desk Makeover from the Thrift Store
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- A $5.00 Kid’s Desk Transformed
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- DIY Card Catalog
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- An Ombre “Dumpster” Desk
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- Cheerful Bookcase Makeover
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- A Green & Gold Chalkboard Desk
Room Makeovers
I have to admit that I always have trouble finishing a room in my house. I started my 30-Day Room Makeover series where my readers and I commit to transforming a room in our house in 30 days. It’s hard! But with a deadline and a group of people working on their rooms at the same time, you’d be surprised how much you can get done! We usually do outdoor makeovers in the spring, a “June Room” makeover in the month of June, and a Naughty or Nice November room makeover for the holidays! Considering signing up to join us for the next 30-day room makeover challenge!
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- BEFORE: Formal Living Room
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- My Pretty Soft Pink Laundry Room Makeover!
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- Pretty Master Bathroom Makeover
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- Basement Office Makeover
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- Boy’s Bedroom Makeover
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- Master Bedroom Makeover
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- Ultimate Kids’ Bathroom Makeover – Navigation Themed
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- My Reading Room In-Progress
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- An Outdoor Patio Makeover
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- My (Previous) Master Bathroom Makeover
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- My Thrifted Craft Room!
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- Dining Room Makeover (In-Progress)
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- 1970’s Kitchen Goes Bye-Bye
Chairs
Reupholstering a chair is intimidating. Especially if you’ve never done it before! Check out this video I did (7 Tips for Easy Chair Makeovers) to help get you started:
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- BEFORE: Chromcraft Mid Century Modern Chair Makeover
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- BEFORE: Reupholstering a $60 Wingback Chair
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- AFTER: Mid-Century Modern Chair Makeover
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- AFTER: Vintage chair makeover!
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- BEFORE: $25 estate sale bench makeover.
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- BEFORE: Outdated Orange Bench Gets a Makeover
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- Before & After: How to Strip a Chair
Craft Projects
Every now and then I like to roll up m sleeves and get a lil’ crafty. My most popular craft is How to Make a Gift Box From Scrapbook Paper! You can watch the video HERE.
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- DIY Window Privacy Screens
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- Turn a Knife Block into a DIY Crayon Holder
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- Repurposed Leather Belts
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- How to Make DIY Picture Frames With No Power Tools
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- Tablet Holder For Your Wall
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- How to Make a Gift Box With Scrapbook Paper
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- DIY Wood Backpack
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- Make a DIY Journal Notebook With Scrapbook Paper
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- DIY Tablet Holder for the Car
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- How to Make a Drawer Organizer From Scrapbook Paper
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- Feeling Unbalanced? Make a Wheel of Life
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- The Cutest DIY Car Emergency Kit
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- Make Rustic Wall Art From Pallets
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- Make a “Family Love Jar”
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- DIY Foot Scraper for Soft Feet
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- Thrifted Bucket Turned Gift Basket With Glued Fabric
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- DIY Scrubs in Pretty Jars
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- How to Make a Craft Gift Basket
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- Painted Shower Curtain Hooks
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- Turn a Wine Box Into Knitting Kit
Tables
Tables are my favorite kind of project! You can paint them, strip the top, decoupage paper, add custom tiles to table tops…so many options! See some of my table projects below!
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- Custom Tiled Table Top
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- Natural Wood Table Makeover
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- I Repurposed a Crib Into a Patio Table
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- Eat-in Kitchen Table Makeover
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- Dining Room Makeover (In-Progress)
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- My $5.00 Thrifted Coffee Table Makeover
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- Thrifted End Table Makeover
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- Hand-Painted Table From Dumpster
Lighting
Who doesn’t love an awesome lamp?? They bring light into a room and help set the tone. Make your own DIY pendant lamp by following this video tutorial:
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- How to Glue Paper to a Lamp Shade
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- BEFORE: Walkway Lanterns Repurpsoed
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- A Spray Painted Lamp Shade
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- Paint an Old Ugly Pendant Light
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- A $10 Thrift Store Lamp Makeover
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- How to Make DIY Pendant Lamp
My Most Popular Articles
I don’t do just projects. I also write articles! There’s plenty here to enjoy! My favorites are: 10 Questions You MUST Ask Before Buying a House and 10 Comebacks to Rude Insults About Thrift Stores! 😉
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- 10 Questions You MUST Ask Before Buying a House!
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- 30 More Questions You MUST Ask Before You Buy a House
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- What To Do When You Can’t Find Anything Good at the Thrift Store
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- How to DIY When You Have NO Time and NO Energy!
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- Stop Thinking You Have an Ugly House!
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- 5 Tips for a Cheap DIY Bathroom
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- 5 Bad Decorating Mistakes to STOP
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- 10 “Come Backs” to Rude Insults About Thrift Stores!
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- 5 Best Digital Photography Sites & Tutorials
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- How to Shop Estate Sales
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- 3 Things a Husband Should Never Say to a DIY Hoarder
Home Improvement Projects
Whether you want to paint a brick fireplace, put up crown molding, or remove or install a toilet, there are a lot of home improvement projects you can do yourself. Paying professionals to do these projects adds up! The more you can do yourself, the more mone you save. Check out these home improvement tutorials!
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- How to Paint an Old Brick Fireplace
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- How to Install Crown Molding
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- How to Fix Big Holes in Drywall
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- How to Remove a Toilet Yourself!
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- How to Install a Toilet Yourself
For the Kids
Doing projects for kids is so rewarding! It gives you an opportunity to be even bolder than you normally would with your own pieces of furniture.
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- A Nautical Play Sink
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- A Kid’s Play Kitchen Stove
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- Turn a Wooden Wine Box Into a Knitting Case
My Favorite Things
Sometimes it’s a paint sprayer. Sometimes it’s a steam cleaner. But these things get the job done in half the time!
(I participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites).
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- My Favorite Paint Sprayer!
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- My Favorite DIY Clothes
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- My Favorite Jigsaw!
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- My Favorite Paint Brushes
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- My Favorite Wet Tile Saw
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- My Favorite Steam Cleaner!
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- My Favorite Lamp Kit
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- My Favorite Thing For Changing the Color of Door Pulls
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- Download: The Ultimate Materials Checklist
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- My Favorite Paint – Annie Sloan
Beverly Vingil- Christ says
Serena, sorry are there lessons children can take on installing Vinyl floor plank.
Sally Jones says
I sincerely LOVE everything you create and publicize on your web site. Please keep it up! I have followed you since I found you and have grown to love you and whatever you create. Just keep it up, so I can keep recycling my “junque”.
Ron says
Very nice site. Entertaining and light hearted.
Heather says
I found your blog today and you do lovely work! I just wanted to tell you that I share your feeling of “orange” furniture! Make like Elsa and just “LET IT GO” folks!
Serena Appiah says
LOL, I know, I just can’t do orange furniture. One of my best friends, she LOVES orange. Every time you see her, she’s in an orange shirt. Her living room wall is an orange accent wall. I don’t think she has orange furniture, though, surprisingly. LOL
Antoinette says
Watched the videos of your upholstery classes again.
Just the kind of encouragement I needed to get started on my chair.
I have a day off today and it is sunny and dry so here we go.
Serena Appiah says
How did your chair go? I’ve started taking upholstery classes again and I’m fired up to finish my chair, too! There are 3 other people in the class so it’s hard fighting for the teacher’s time, but it’s better than trying to do it on my own! 🙂
louise bell says
Luv ur work i have been doing similiar work for 20 yrs keep going thrift ideas anything worth painting and fixing take care.
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Melody says
Loving the blog! I have a challenge for you. Surely you need a drop station! You know, that spot where the family leaves the coats, scarves, backpacks, work computers, handbags, umbrellas, shoes, garden boots and gloves, the trowel needs a spot… It needs to be affordable, pretty and have lots of hidden storage spots. I hope you do it, because I don’t have a clue!