Crib Repurposed to Best Big Kid Bed Ever

If you know me, you know I hate spending money and I love giving old things new lives. Being frugal requires more creativity, but the pay off in the end is much more than money still in your pocket, it is a feeling of accomplishment. Today I am going to share how you can move your little guy or gal into their "big kid" bed without giving up your freedom as a parent. (That's right, still have him/her closed in for naps and bedtime---can I get a hallelujah?)

How to Make Furniture Farmhouse chic

After buying an old handmade wooden cabinet for $25 that obviously had a history, I did some research before transforming it and giving it new life. I learned a few things about true farmhouse furniture that I found helpful in determining the new look this piece was gonna get, and I wanted to pass those lessons onto y'all!

Fixer Upper Inspired Old Gate Wall Art

The other day someone on Craigslist was giving away lots of free old fence sections. I loaded up several panels in my trusted stow-n-go van, and then saw that she also had an old gate! She let me have that too and I knew it needed a second life. In the end I found that it was super easy to give it that second chance, thanks to HGTV's show "Fixer Upper".

EASY and DELICIOUS Gluten Free Biscuits and Cornbread

Two great recipes in one post using the same flour mix...

Woohoo for you! Another "two fer one" post. Since I am still in the throes of Fall Festival planning and creating for our church's upcoming activity (posts to follow), I am posting another gluten free (GF) recipe post. Using the flour I mentioned here you can make these two recipes in no time. Here are the two recipes:

Easy and Delicious Gluten Free Bread

I know I am normally into furniture redos or wood crafts, but Mimiberry Creations are things I create right? So today I wanna share a game changer for all of you gluten free (GF) people. EASY DELICIOUS GLUTEN FREE BREAD! All of those words typically do not belong together, but like I said, it is a game changer. It only takes 2 minutes of your time, and in 2 hours you will have a home filled with the smell of fresh baked bread.

How to Paint Perfect Lines AND Fix Water Damaged Laminate Furniture

 

AND

Thanks to a cheaply built rolltop desk that I got for free off of Craigslist, we get to learn TWO valuable furniture redo tips today! Painting straight and perfect lines can be an aggravating nightmare, or a peaceful walk in the park with a tip I learned from a fellow blogger. Laminate furniture is easy to find, but hard to find in great shape. Water damage wreaks havoc on this cheaper material, but that damage can be easily rectified! Here's how:

From Cupboard to Chalkboard

Have any extra cupboard doors lying around? You can find them everywhere. Updating your home you can have leftovers or use the old ones you are replacing. Sometimes you can even ask Home Depot or Lowes to give you one or more when they change out their displays. Plus there are a ton of free pieces of furniture on Craigslist that can have their doors removed. With a cupboard door you have an easy to make chalkboard. Just paint on the perfectly flat middle surface and you already have it framed! Only 3 things needed and so cheap and easy to make. Here's what you need to do...

How to Use Fabric to Dress up your Furniture

Have you ever used fabric as an accent for an all wood piece of furniture? Not for upholstery, but to make it even more "Wow!"? I hadn't until I had an "uh-oh" that needed to be strategically covered up and paint wasn't doing the trick. Fabric to the rescue!

Easy and Cheap Wicker Chair Update

I love wicker because it makes me feel like I am at the beach. Well, not really. Living in Colorado a mile higher than the beach definitely has it's own look, but wicker I still love (hubby and I both grew up in CA and love that beachy feel). However, most wicker isn't the color I like and so after buying the pair off of Craigslist (pictured above in the Before picture), I knew it needed to be changed. Plus, looking at those hideous cushions I knew I needed to change those too. Thankfully I had a way to update the color easily (and in less than an hour), and found a way to update the cushions for $10 and with a staple gun!

Furniture 411

What is Furniture 411 and how can it help You?

The birth of Furniture 411 is thanks to friends and family who gave me the idea that this FREE service would be super helpful. Creating is a blast, but creating alone often ends prematurely. Blogs and other "how-tos" are invaluable, but sometimes you just need a quick personal answer regarding your specific project to move past a roadblock in your creative process. Furniture 411 is here to provide YOU all of the help you need when any of those roadblocks come. Read on to find out how help is just a click away.... (or click here to go straight to the help)

Mid Century Modern Dresser Makeover

Boy, this project was a doozy! Lots of learning involved, and lots of new products tried and tested. I tried stripping for the first time...that's a tough job... and you sure feel dirty when it is all over (get your mind out of the gutter...I am talking stripping layers of paint people!) I used TSP for cleaning for the first time and I have to say I am a believer. And I tried re-doing a piece of history for the first time and it was fun! Read on to see what this beauty looked like before, as well as what it took to look snazzy.

Tiffany & Co Inspired Hutch

Painting things White

If you follow me on Facebook or have looked through many of my before's and after's, you will see a trend. I would say that 90% of the time I choose to "paint it white". There are many reasons why I choose to paint many of my furniture pieces white, and I figured I should explain myself. In the end my explanation might make your creative decision process a little bit easier too!

10 Things to Help You Redo Furniture Like a Pro

Let me start off by saying that I am far from "pro" status. Someday I would love to be at the "pro" level, but for now I have learned a lot in the time that I have been redoing furniture, (from some individuals who I would consider "pros"). Whether it is through trial and error, great lessons taught to me, or through countless hours of research, I have compiled some products/things that make a world of difference in the quality of your finished product. What is even cooler is that all of these products ALSO make your job EASIER! Win win in my book. So let's get started with my top 10 favorite things...

Part 2: Pallets to Picture Perfect

Read on for how to put your pallet wood together to create cute AND awesome, and rustic, and chic, and (well you get the idea) projects.

Part 1: From Pallet to Picture Perfect

 

Did you know that you can jazz up your home's decor for free? There are so many places you can pick up free pallets and instantly you will have wood with character just begging to be made into something. It isn't that difficult, so read on and see how you can step up your decorating for next to nothing!

Garbage Day Trunk Makeover

Boy do I love projects that cost me a dime! This trunk/chest/who knows exactly what it is called came to be when a friend called me one morning and told me to save it from the "trash man". I love when friends are on the lookout for me, it makes me happy on so many levels. Anyway, I went to the wrong neighborhood at first, and once I realized my error I raced over to this house and pulled up as the trash truck was too! AHH! Blessing in disguise though.

"Fixer Upper" Inspired Farmhouse Hutch

Don't you love when things turn out better than you thought they would? In life I would say that that is a rarity.Well whenever I see a piece for a good price and have some makeover ideas immediately run through my brain, I think "I GOTTA GET THAT!" And then once I pick it up I doubt myself and worry that I made a mistake. That kind of happened with this oak hutch.

Pretty Buffet Makeover

I am excited about sharing the transition of this buffet because it truly looks soooo different than how I got it. An acquaintance from my church was moving out of state and so graciously asked if I would like to have her parents' old buffet from when she was growing up. This brown (poo) beast was probably considered beautiful in the 70's, but in today's trend of fresh and light, it doesn't really fit in. I could write a whole post on the many ideas I had for this buffet when I first acquired it, but thanks to family and friends those (horrible) ideas were laid to rest. My sister Megan, who really needs to start a blog on decorating cause she is seriously gifted, shared a picture she had taken in a parade of homes that she said I had to duplicate...

Chalkboard Dresser

So I am almost embarrassed to admit it, but the above "poo-brown" dresser has been sitting in my little boys' bedroom for a couple years now in all of its fugliness. Here I have had so many dressers in and out of my garage that turned out awesome, and I kept my boys with a hideous dresser. I know what you are thinking, "What kind of mother are you?!" Well I finally showed them some love and re-did their dresser (not like little boys care what their dresser looks like though....let's be honest, it is for us mom's right?)

Antique Style Desk

It's always fun when you find a piece that has good bones about it for $30. When I picked up this heavily lacquered desk from the seller he acted surprised that I really wanted it. Right then and there I thought, "Why am I not talking this guy down from $30?" But then that inner voice said to me,"Give it up, it is a great price already. Pay him his money and get on your way." So I did and told him I would be re-doing it, which somehow seemed to make him feel better. If only he knew what hideous things are on Craigslist (and the outlandish prices the sellers try to charge for them).

What is nice about pieces that are pretty ugly in the first place, is that it isn't hard prepping them for a transformation, or coming to terms that you are going to transform them.

Easy Dresser Makeover

One of my favorite things to do is look at others before and after dresser projects. There are so many different styles of dressers and so many creative people out there. I have a long list of ideas on my Furniture Redo board on Pinterest to help my creative juices start flowing when I see a piece that needs some love and attention.

DIY Hidden Lego Play Station

This was one of my most exciting projects to date, and that is saying a lot. I think it was so exciting because it was unique (never saw the idea on Pinterest before) and it would make my four boys happy (much happier than the play kitchen I made). This was a relatively easy project and it cost me only $80...$65 of that being for Lego Baseplates...dang those puppies are expensive!! Wanna know how to do it yourself? This posting starts with a find from Craigslist and an idea...

Knocking off Pottery Barn

Oh Pottery Barn, everyone loves you. But unfortunately not everyone can have you because of your hefty price tag. Nothing like a little "elbow grease" to fix that problem. Put in the time and the effort and you can achieve a trendy, well decorated home for super cheap. The above bookshelves cost me $80 total ,and with two white bookshelves you could do something like a library or something like

Fun transformation from Old Entertainment Center to Play Kitchen

Wow, this was a lot of work. I have really come to learn that every project is going to take twice as long as you think and cost you twice as much money. This project seemed to follow that truth to a T, and then some.

Over a year ago I came across this adorable play kitchen from giggleberry creations found here.

I pinned it to my "Things to do if I ever feel creative" board on Pinterest (the board where most projects go to die since I use that board for the things that are awesome but look out of my comfort level), and thought that if I had a girl that I would make it.

Thoughtful Valentine Day Gift Ideas that are Cheap

February is quickly approaching and that means Valentine's Day is too! For those of you that love a certain someone and don't want to go with the usual box of chocolates or the expensive route of jewelry, here are a few ideas that Nathan and I made for each other in the past that anyone can do. The beauty of these are that they are almost foolproof and are all very inexpensive to do. Another big plus is that you get props for making something thoughtful that took you time to do...huge brownie points for me in the love category (and I know for many other women).

Woah it's been awhile!

Just like me keeping a journal, being an up to date blogger is next to impossible. I'd much rather create on a whim and get around to documenting the creations when I feel up to it. I also find that I am a pretty random creator. Most people find that they like doing certain things like painting, cooking, music and then stick to that genre. I get obsessed with one kind of creating and go crazy, and then get bored of it and go crazy with something entirely different, and then get bored, and go a whole different direction. The nice thing is that I have the ability to do this, not some boss telling me to do certain things by a certain time frame. In the end I do a project when I have an idea and the time to do it. Needless to say, since my last post I have done a lot of things to keep my creativity level of happiness up. Here's what has happened since:

I found this ugly beast at the side of the road, a few houses down from us.