Guess What This Glitzy Console Table Used to Be!

I'm back! It has been a crazy, exciting, busy, and overwhelming week. I had no idea when I posted my tire ottoman last week, that a week later I would be chatting with people from Iowa to India, responding to magazines, learning more about the tire recycling initiative than I ever thought I would want to know, and starting a product line.

Through all of that, I just had to finish my latest "That Was A What?!" project. I'm starting to believe that the best full body massage has nothing on the sheer sense of relaxation I get from sanding and painting a piece of wood (as long as I don't start sweating...I hate sweating). So, anyway, a few months ago (okay, several months ago--I recall a Christmas tree being in the corner) I decided to do a wall of black and white photos.

I love how it brought that blank wall to life, and I did it on the cheap, so I love it even more (Dollar Store frames, custom mats from online, Walgreen's photo printing). As much as I loved the way it turned out, I still felt like something was missing. I thought about installing some can lights above the photos to light the wall, but that would require cutting and electrical stuffamajig. So, I settled on lamps. Only problem was I needed something for the lamps to sit on. I needed a CONSOLE TABLE!

The wall where I have the photos leads from the family room into the kitchen, and with the couch floating in the middle of the room the walk space is pretty narrow, so I needed a skinny table. I searched online and fell in love with this table by Restoration Hardware:

But, the price is listed at $1195-$1395. Yes, thousands. No, I don't think so. I do love it though. And the top of the table reminded me of some closet doors I had in my first college apartment. Could I, would I, should I...make the console table out of closet doors???

I could and I did! Wrote a story 'bout it, wanna hear it...here it go (yes, that's my homage to Calhoun Tubbs, In Living Color, circa 1992):

1) Headed over to this salvage door place in Midtown Atlanta that I pass every week on my way to White Provisions for the best shrimp po' boy in Atlanta. Got a set of bifold closet doors. The sales guy said $35, I said $25. I was thinking more like $10, but $25 is still less than $1195-$1395. They were too long, and hollow, but the guy offered to cut them down to the size I needed, added wood pieces to fill in the hollow gaps, and sanded the ends back down. So, I guess I got my $25 worth.

2) Went home, sanded those bad boys down, primed them, and painted them gray. They looked really dull, and I could just hear them telling me, "Nikki, we want to be fabulous, we want to shine, darling!" So I grabbed the bottle of Valspar Metal and Patina glaze I had left over from another project:

Those doors knew I was about to do something special to them! I could tell they knew they would never be the same.








They ended up like this:

3) For the legs, I went on Craigslist and started searching for those curvy, chunky legs that are on the Restoration Hardware table. After finding nothing by the description of "curvy, chunky legs" (at least nothing that I wanted anything to do with...happily married, thank you very much), I did some Googling and learned that they're called balustrades. So, I went back to Craigslist and searched for balustrades, and Plah-Dow! A guy had a porch railing with eight balustrades he was selling for $35. Of course I said, "$35! Good lawd, that's a lotta money." But he wasn't budging and $35 divided by 8 comes out to be only $4.38 per balustrade, and $35 is still less than $1195-$1395, so I got them.

4) Took them home to my man and asked him to pry the balustrades from the rail. Here they are free from bondage--sanded, painted and glazed:



5) Time to put Ms.Thang together!

Liquid Nails went on top and bottom of each balustrade.

6) And here she is all put together:

7) And a few shots with her all dressed up:

I love the imperfections in the corner leg!

Can't have any unsightly lamp cords showing.

Fancy, Fancy!

















And that, my friends, is the story of how closet doors became a console. So, whaddya think?

Oh, yea, here's the cost breakdown:

Doors-$25
Balustrades-$17.52 (I used 4 at $4.38 each; 4 left for another table or something)

Total: $42.52! Sure beats $1195-$1395.

Now, whaddya think?

Another Tire Saved from the Landfill

Home Attire^TM has launched and is open for business! If you're not so crafty and would rather buy a fabulous tire ottoman already handmade by yours truly, visit my store at www.homeattire.net.

Here's a sneak peek at what you'll find in my store:

Here's the story of how Home Attire came to be:

I wouldn't call myself a tree hugger, but I do take reusable bags to the grocery store, I've switched all my monthly bills to paperless emails, and I always, always, turn the water off while I'm brushing my teeth. Every little bit helps. But let me tell you, this last project I just finished is going to skyrocket me straight to recycling queen status!

I turned a tire into an ottoman! And not just any ottoman. It's  the kind of ottoman that you just want to sit and stare at for at least two hours with a glass of cold milk and a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies while your husband sits across from you nodding in amazement and approval.

I've been eyeing this ottoman for at least two years:

But, it's $522.99, and that's on Overstock.com (regular price $706). I wasn't trying to spend that much on an ottoman Especially when I know that if I think hard enough I can make it myself. After staring at my wish ottoman, I noticed that it looked a whole lot like, OMG, a tire. BINGO! I would make the ottoman out of a tire! Here's how it went down:

1) Jumped on Craigslist.com and searched for free semi-trailer tires (I wanted my ottoman to be a nice, round, full figured girl who isn't afraid to flaunt her curves). Found a company that sells used tires that had literally a mountain of tires they wanted to give away. Headed right over and picked my tire from the bunch.
2) Took her home and washed her up to remove any grease and grime.

This blog has been interrupted to bring you the following announcement:

Due to overwhelming interest, the rest of the story has been assigned to the blogosphere vaults. Why?  Because the Ottire^TM will be hitting the market soon! After the completion of my indoor air quality science research that's currently underway, and some U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission stuff, an entire line of Ottires will be available for purchase through my online store, Home Attire^TM 
at www.homeattire.net.

If you really, really want to feel that rope between your fingers and you won't sleep until you know the personal joy of transforming a tire for youself, all the original steps are here:

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/home-attire/how-to-turn-an-old-tire-into-a-fabulous-one-of-a-kind-ottoman/ebook/product-20603065.html

NOTE: The instructions are $2.99 and are in PDF format.

And here, if you want the instructions on Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Fabulous--A-Kind-Ottoman-ebook/dp/B0095OPNNQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348424514&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+turn+an+old+tire+into+a+fabulous+one-of-a-kind+ottoman#

NOTE: The instructions are $2.99.

EXTRA NOTE in case you're saying, "I sure hope this will be worth my $2.99": The instructions will show you how I made the ottoman and are pretty self-explanatory. I don't go in to detail with exact placement of each piece of rope or how to hold the screwdriver at the perfect angle to drill in screws, but if basic directions and pictures are enough for you to get the jist of a craft project, then the book will be perfect for you.

For all my Front Porch Friends in Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico, Australia, London, and South Africa, who can't get a Home Attire ottoman because, you're right, shipping is ridiculous -- hope the links above help.

We now return you to your previously written blog already in progress:

 3) A final double trim around the edges and done!

Can you believe she used to be a tire?!         

I love her!

Don't you just want to hug her? Tell me what you think of my tire ottoman.

The Pedestal That Wanted to Be a Bench

There it was, sitting in our garage for almost two years now. The pedestal that we inherited when we bought our house. I must explain that we bought the model home in our neighborhood a year after the builder had gone under. So, when they left, they left behind all sorts of builder stuff -- extra doors, windows, hardwood planks, and the pedestal (actually two of them). It had acrylic boxes on it and was used to hold marketing material. It looked like this:

My husband kept threatening to take it to the dumpster, and I kept insisting that I had plans for it. And I did, I just didn't know what they were yet. Until...I stood looking at the empty space at the top of the stairs at my sister's new townhouse! Just like that, it hit me. That space needed a big, chunky bench, and the pedestal living in my garage, if turned on its side, could be a bench! In fact, I believe it wanted to be a bench. After all, you know how people are always saying they don't want to be put on a pedestal. But everyone loves a good bench!

So, I went to work! That pedestal is some kind of heavy! As solid as it is, it was covered in laminate. I did my Googling on how to paint laminate furniture and landed on Lindsay's blog, Living with Lindsay. Her instructions were perfect and her supply list simple. The Zinsser Bulls Eye Primer she suggested worked like a charm. Best part, no sanding needed!

I did two coats of the primer then followed up with a lovely grey that I had mixed at Lowe's. The can of paint I bought was actually a light blue and was on the return rack for $3.00, so I just asked the paint guy to make it grey. He added a few drops of black, gave it a few turns and after a couple tries, I had the perfect grey! I went over to Home Depot next, got a 6x6 post, had it cut in to four, 12 inch pieces for the legs, sanded them (to get rid of splinters), primed them, then painted.

And here she is now in all her glory:



(She's pretty sturdy, but her legs will be attached with L brackets later.)



I love how chunky she is!

I made a wall tapestry to hang above the bench to top it all off. You can see it in this picture:

It has a real art gallery-type vibe!

And the final gem...



I blinged out one of the bench ends to cover the holes that were there!

And there you have it! The story of how a pedestal became a bench. I'll call it a "Pedebench." Ah-ha, the perfect seat for home done pedicures!

Total Cost for Custom Bench (including paint, stain, wood, and bling): $28.00

Hoop Dreams $16 Custom Window Treatments

To say that my son loves basketball is the understatement of all understatements. My little guy literally went from dribbling baby food down his shirt to dribbling a basketball down a court. Every day on the way home from his nanny's house he would stare out the window pleading, "Please see a 'gasketball' goal, please see a 'gasketball' goal." When he would spot one, he would throw his head back and shout, "'gasketball' gooooooooooooal!"

So, when it came time to give him a big boy room, the theme was a given...all things basketball. 10 years and four houses later (we've moved a lot), his room still reflects his love for the game. For the window treatments I wanted a topper look, but not just a regular topper. I wanted a topper made from basketball jerseys!

I'll pause here to give you your first "Get to Know Nikki Factoid." 

We'll call them Nikki's Knibbles & Bits.

Nikki's Knibbles & Bits #1: I can't sew at all. Not even a little bit.

With that bit of information, now you can understand how my desire for a basketball jersey topper had to be as simple as simple gets. I headed to Ross and lucked up on a heavy duty metal drapery rod, then to my local Conway store where I found a rack full of identical boy's nylon basketball jerseys marked down to $1 each!

Using the arm holes as rod pockets, I simply slid the jerseys on the rod, mounted the rod and voilà!
Six $1 jerseys and a $10 rod later, I had the ultimate b-ball lover's  window treatment and one happy little baller!

Score, wouldn't you say?