A Little Elbow Grease

Park Bench

2009-08-04T02:57:00.000-07:00

I bought this park bench almost a decade ago. It's had one make over already where it got painted and the legs resprayed. I leave it outside all year whic his why it was in need of a 2nd makeover. Luckily, it just needed to be sanded and not stripped. The old paint came right off with a palm sander. I had dismantled it and left it in the garage and got yelled at for starting another project and not finish it it. Thanks to my Dad who was visiting and likes to keep busy, he stained it for me while I gave all the metal a coat of new paint. I'm sure with the stain, it will be easier to touch up in the future since it won't flake off. I'm thinking that this winter, I will find a place for it in the shed.

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Candle Holder

2009-07-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

I bought this candle holder for $2.00 years ago. I had sprayed it with a textured paint for reason or another. Since I had changed the colour of my decor years ago, it had been hiding in a box in our storage room. I decided I either needed to do something with it or give it away. I don't particularly like the texture but since I was pressed for time, I decided I could live with it. I spray painted it black and bought a bag of polished stones from the dollar store.

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Little People - Jacob & Sally

2009-06-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

I bought this little guy as a Thank You for my son's Day Care lady when she decided to close her day care. I thought it was so cute and jsut perfect since the little guy was waving Bye! I liked it so much that I bought myself one and got the matching girl. I had them sitting on my porch and whenever Evan's friend Bradley came by he would always talk to the little people who he named Jacob & Sally. Over the course of the winter, they got scratched up in the shed and since I'm not a pastel person anyway, Sally & Jacob got a makeover. Since we're often away, I decided to put in artificial flowers so that I wouldn't have to bother my neighbour to water them. I was relieved to find that I had some leftover flowers from the wreath I had made.

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Today's Thrifty Treasure

2009-05-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Okay so it's Thursday & Not Monday BUT I just started my blog yesterday and found out about Southern Hospitality's weekly challenges today. So here is my Thrifty Treasure. It's a garden hose holder. Someone in the neighbourhood recently moved and left behind some stuff they didn't want to take with them. I liked the design of the holder and scooped it up. Since we are not in need of a hose holder, my challenge is to come up with another use for it. If you've dropped by my blog and have any ideas please let me know. I was thinking of spray paining it black and using it as a blanket holder but I'm not really sure where in my house I could hang it. Here is another question for you ... it has a Plastic Coating on it ... before I spray paint it, do I have to try and get it off or do I spray paint over top? Do I need a special kind of spray paint? Thanks for dropping by.

Roadside Find

2009-05-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

I was walking my son to the bus stop today when I noticed a pile of stuff. There were 3 dressers that looked in reasonable shape and although I knew I was going to get an ear full from my husband, I ignored the voice in my head and the minute Evan was on the bus, I ran home to get my truck. I loaded the 2 small dressers in first and then took 2 drawers from the 3rd dresser in the hopes it would still be there my second trip around. My thinking was "Who would want a dresser with a bunch of drawers missing?"

Since I had to get the dressers out of the foyer before my hubby saw them, I cleaned one of them up and stashed it in my room. I won't get a chance to refinish them any time soon ... we'll see if he lets me keep all 3 of them.

I'm not sure why this dresser has a hole in the front ... I'm thinking I may have to see if I can take the doors off and just use the cabinet since it kind of looks weird with the hole and I'm not sure how I could fix it.

The dressers could definately use some re-finishing but one of the dressers matches perfectly with the bookshelf my mom scooped up for me years ago that I haven't got around to doing yet either.

In this photo: candle holder (garage sale), trinket box (garage sale), chair refinished by my dad (garage sale), lamp (garbage), lampshade (made by my mom), mirror (given to me by one of my aunts that I spray painted gold), bookshelf (found by my mom), mirrored tray for my perfume

(garage sale)

Hello Fellow Reinventers

2009-05-13T12:05:00.001-07:00

I started this blog today in the hopes of motivating myself to get some of the half started projects I have laying around the house done.

Friends, Neighbours & Relatives know that if they have something to give away, they simply have to offer it to me since I can't say NO to FREE! I'm in the process of decluttering our storage room that is currently packed with boxes from floor to ceiling and my thinking is that I need to get rid of some stuff or figure out what to do with it.

I decided to name my site A Little Elbow Grease because I have lots of stuff around the house that still have some life left in them, they just need a little TLC. Stay tuned for some projects by moi!