HUGE DIY Project Coming Up!

The Florida division of Best Bet Design is starting work this week on a huge DIY Project! Here's a small hint of what we'll be dealing with!

I publish 3 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

Bargain Bench Makeover Part II

You may remember last week, I left off with this picture of the bench I am making over by repainting and adding a cushioned seat:

So after removing the hardware, painting and measuring a piece of foam for the seat, I went to work with my fabric and upholstery nails (available at most hardware stores: cost 97 cents), starting at the back of the bench. I folded over the edge the material to have a smooth edge, and nailed upholstery nails at each end and in the center.  I used a yard of fabric at a cost of $3.97.

Because the upholstery nails are short (probably ¾ inch), it was easier to make a pilot hole for the upholstery nail using a regular nail, which was a lot easier to hold onto and hammer into the wood. Don’t make the pilot hole too deep…stop hammering just after the nail begins to hold. 

After the pilot hole was made, I simply removed the nail, gathered up my fabric, poked the upholstery nail through the fabric, then lined it up with my pilot hole and tapped it in.  I repeated this process around all the inside of the bench seat, making sure the nails were set well inside the lip of the bench to be sure the lid would close smoothly. 

As I was working, I realized I would have to change the color of the hardware because I didn’t feel the brass was going to go well with the new color.  Since I was going for a beachy look, I decided to paint the hardware white, which would add a nice pop on the sides and tie in to the white in the fabric.  I probably used 25 cents worth of spray paint on the hardware.  I even painted the faces of the screws by pushing them through the newspaper so they would be upright.

When the paint finally dried (takes a while here in Florida!), I reattached the hardware are stood back to admire my latest project!

Total cost of this project was $29.94.  I feel the need to add a little something to this project, so you may see this bench again!

I publish 3 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

Bargain Bench Makeover Part I

I picked up this bench a few months ago at one of my favorite thrift stores. Cost me $9.00. I’ve been using it in our laundry room to hold our beach bags and beach towels. Since we try to make it to the beach at least once a week, it’s handy to have all those items in one place for a quick getaway!

First I removed the hardware which I stored in a Ziploc bag for safekeeping. Hate having to look for a missing screw!  Then I sanded the bench lightly with a fine grain sandpaper, wiping it down with a rag as I went to remove the dust.  I needed a clean surface to be sure the paint would adhere properly. 

The spray paint I chose is called Sunrise/Matte, which is a paint and primer in one.  I wanted something to brighten up the laundry room’s sandy colored walls and white trim.  In order to avoid dripping, I kept flipping the bench so the surface I painted would be flat or horizontal to the ground.  Each side took 2  coats to cover smoothly.  I used a can and a half of spray paint for a cost of about $6.00.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t spray paint the top of the bench, it’s because I had something else in mind for that!  I wanted to make a cushioned bench seat, so I measured and cut a piece of foam rubber to fit on the top.  I had this foam from an old mattress we had. I save everything…you never know! My guess the cost to buy a piece like this would be about $10.

Come back next Wednesday to see how I finished this up!

I publish 3 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

Bargain Bathroom Stool: A DIY Thrift Store Furniture Makeover

This week we'll show you how Anne created a neat seat for her bathroom. The total, including materials, was just $7.00!

Here's the blog post she wrote for us:

I found this stool at my local Goodwill for $3.99. It was quite sturdy so I made an executive decision to invest in it. It just needed a makeover so it would look fresh and new in my bathroom!

I cleaned the base with soap and water to remove the dirt and grunge. Then I used a screwdriver to remove the yucky rubber gasket that was used to support the staples holding the old fabric to the stool.

The gasket pretty much fell apart as I worked, so I used a small cat's paw to remove any tacks that were left behind. I also pulled off the old rubber feet since they were dried out and cracked. I picked up a replacement set of 4 for $1.99!

I didn't bother to take off the old cover since the fabric was still in good shape and would make a nice sturdy base for the  material I was going to use to recover the stool. So I took the stool outside and spray painted it with a primer and then a paint called satin green apple. I let the paint dry between coats and checked to make sure I had covered all edges. The cost of the paint in this step was less than $1.00!

After the paint dried thoroughly I put on the new rubber feet. Then it was time to work on the material for the seat. I had a small leftover piece of one of our most popular fabrics. I laid it out on the floor to check that it'd be big enough to cover the seat.

Then I went to work with my staple gun. I stapled as close to the metal underside of the stool as I could, carefully gathering and stapling material as I traveled around the base of the stool.

This is what it looked like after I finished stapling around the base. It reminds me of a flower!

Because I didn't want to see the  metal band around the base of the stool I continued to staple the material on the inner part of the metal band, again gathering material as I went along, particularly at the top of the legs of the stool to create a puffy look.

Once that was done I trimmed away all the excess material from the underside.

I stood the stool upright to check that my work was neat and clean. I was very happy with it!

Now, for about $7.00 and an hour's work (not including paint drying time), I have a one-of-a-kind bathroom stool!

Like this fabric? We have a few items left in our shop that feature this print.

I publish 3 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

Ironing Tip: Use Distilled Water

This week's tip is a quick one. Use Distilled water when you iron. This type of water is free of minerals that can clog up your iron (with iron, for example!). It also helps keep fabrics nice.

My house has hard water and although we have a water softener, I still opt to use Distilled water in equipment like my iron and humidifiers. 

At just $0.88 a gallon at Walmart, it doesn't break the budget, either!

I publish 5 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

How to Price Items on eBay

I sell items on eBay from time to time. They are usually vintage pieces or collectibles that are mine or a friend's. Many times, I have no idea what I'm trying to sell! eBay is both a great research tool and sales portal.

Try typing a description of your item into the search box on eBay.com. I'm looking for old milk bottles.

The results will return anything that's currently for sale.

Nice, but it's even better to know how much things have actually sold for. There's a filter on the left that can help you with that!

Looking at existing eBay listings is good for more than just pricing. Other listings can help you determine dates, product numbers, and more criteria that will help your item be found in search.

Happy selling!

I publish 5 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

Easy DIY Kitchen Window Valence

This week's DIY post is from Anne. Read on to find out how she spruced up her kitchen!

I finally decided to make myself a valance for my kitchen window. I was undecided about the pattern and color for a long time. I love blue (my boyfriend isn't crazy about it). To further complicate planning we have an open concept living/dining/kitchen area, so I have to avoid any extreme changes in color and blend.

Since I already had a blue kitchen floor mat in front of my sink, I chose a muted blue pattern for my valance. I made this valance twice as wide as it needed to be to get the nice scrunching effect you see, and used a tension rod to go between the cabinets.

Too easy! It took about a half hour to measure, press and sew, and viola I had a nice pop of color. So subtle in fact, that the boyfriend hasn't noticed it yet!

Here's a peek at a valence Laura made to go with the wrought iron accents in her former kitchen.

I had some fabric left over after making my valence, so I sewed some place mats and cloth napkins. The fabric was vintage so what's in stock in our Etsy shop is all that's available.

cloth napkins | place mats

Shop Best Bet Design on Etsy

I publish 5 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.

How to Remove Stubborn, Stuck-on Wallpaper from Unprepped Drywall

Last week, in the second post in our #FarmhouseFriday series, I gave a photo tour of the wallpaper in our 1850 farmhouse. Wallpaper lends a certain charm, but because this particular wallpaper was faded, stained, and peeling, it had to go.

There are lots of wallpaper removal tutorials online. Most of these involve a steamer and easily peeling sheets of paper from the walls. That's great... if the person who applied the paper bothered to prep the walls first.

That didn't happen in our case! Plus, we were dealing with wallpaper on a ceiling. It wouldn't be too safe to steam right above your head.

After a lot of experimentation, we found the following tools to be essential for wallpaper removal:

• Spray bottle of diluted fabric softener
• Spray bottle of diluted vinegar
• Wallpaper scorer
• Paint scrapers of assorted sizes
• Drop cloths
• Ladders
• Persistence
• Patience

Master Bedroom (with Wallpapered Ceiling)

The first room we tackled was the master bedroom. I remember spritzing the wall with a mixture of fabric softener and water and tentatively scraping those first few times. Would we damage the walls? Would this work? Should we just leave it alone and paint over it?

Things moved super slowly, but as time went on we started uncovering more and more drywall. Yes, there were some dings along the way, but nothing a little plaster couldn't fix later on.

Sometimes the wallpaper came off in neat strips about a foot long and a few inches wide. Other times the most that could be removed at a time was a few inches long and a couple inches wide.

The worst part was the ceiling. By then, I'd moved on to scraping in other rooms so Joe (my husband) could work on the ceiling. It was tough work to bend and reach at the same time. Although I think sanding all of the patched spots later on was even worse for him!

Because this room was so much work, we had to take frequent breaks to work on other rooms instead, just to get away from it. Despite being the first one we started, this room was the last one we finished.

Former Dining Room (with Chair Rail)

The next room we started seemed like it had once been a dining room - there was a chair rail all the way around. This one seemed like it would be sooo easy because some of the wallpaper was already starting to hang off in sheets. We were soooo wrong in this theory. Sure, the seams had loosened as the glue dried out, but the middle was absolutely stuck on. And there was a lot of damaged sheetrock around the windows thanks to a previously leaky roof.

This room took tons of scoring. Because of the type of wallpaper or glue, the fabric softener was not as effective. This is where we switched to spraying on a mixture of vinegar and water. This room also took a lot of scoring prior to scraping.

Luckily, it this paper did come off in fairly large pieces, but there was still a lot of scraping to be done.

Small Bedroom (the Fun One)

I almost considered leaving the wallpaper on the walls here. It was the least offensive in terms of pattern, and wasn't too stained or torn. In the end I decided it would be better to just deal with it all while the house was empty of furniture.

This room was fun because of what we discovered under the walls. A former occupant had used a crayon to draw several things... 

At first, one drawing looked like a dinosaur walking into a cave (but as I continued scraping, it turned out to be Kilroy).

The name of a high school team and some scribbled out boyfriends, as well as a frog, followed.

This room had the newest wallpaper and was the easiest to remove.

The Corner Bedroom (with 3 Layers)

The corner bedroom was yet another one I considered leaving alone. Initially we just planned on doing the master bedroom so we wouldn't have to fall asleep staring at stained wallpaper each night. That would drive us crazy! But as we moved along, we realized we wouldn't want to do this process with furniture around. It was easier to maneuver the drop cloth and ladder around an empty room. 

We knew this room had two layers of paper. This was clear in a spot where the top layer was torn. The room also had a stuck-on wallpaper border around the top. 

Partway into scraping the first wall, I discovered that there were not two but THREE LAYERS of wallpaper. The oldest was a gray background with yellow roses. Now it wasn't super old, because this room was sheetrocked rather than having walls made of lath and plaster, but it was still pretty old. And it did not want to come off.

This room was by far the most frustrating, maybe even more so than the wallpaper on the ceiling. By this point we were over wallpaper. But this wallpaper was not over being stuck on the walls. It took forever, lots of scoring, spraying, scraping, and repeating. Little by little we got it done.

And we all vowed to never apply wallpaper again, because nobody should have to go through this tortuous process!

I also felt really agitated by the scent of vinegar for a while. I mean, I smelled like it for more than two months straight. It took some time to get over that!

I publish 5 new blog posts each week! Check out the schedule. You can also click on the link below for blog updates.