Vintage Suitcase Table

I've been admiring all the things out there on Pinterest made from vintage suitcases, so when I saw a suitcase at a garage sale that was cute and clean and in good condition, I snapped it up.  Then it sat around in the garage for a while, waiting for inspiration.  In the meantime, I was still garage sale-ing and going to auctions, where I found a rusty metal stand.  I'm not even sure what it was used for, but when I was looking at all the things accumulating in the garage, I noticed that the stand was about the size of the suitcase.  Hark!  It was the perfect size for the suitcase!

I sanded down the rusting metal stand and gave it a fresh coat of brown Rustoleum spray paint.

I attached the suitcase to the stand by drilling 8 small holes in the upper corners of the bottom on the suitcase, and then used those plastic zip ties to attach the suitcase to the stand.  It came out really secure and sturdy.  Then I kept looking at for a few days, thinking something was missing.  It was too plain and was lacking some pizzaz.

I looked for some old travel labels or old stamps, but couldn't find anything I liked, so I looked in the scrapbook section.  I found some beautiful paper and cute travel related stickers.  I affixed the paper to the top of the suitcase with spray adhesive, put stickers on randomly, and then gave it three coats of polyurethane on top to seal the paper.  Perfection!

Brass Lamp Makeover

I found these two heavy, real brass lamps at a garage sale.  Two for $5!  What a deal - but they were dull and dated and had no lampshades.  I needed some lighting by the bed, so I decided to give them a makeover to match the nightstands I posted about earlier.

I started by using a 120 grit sanding sponge, which worked really well, even molding itself into the small grooves.  Then I used steel wool, then sanded again the spots that were still heavily tarnished or still too shiny.

As you can see, it took some elbow grease, but eventually I was able to remove the tarnish, and the finish, and get it down to pretty much down to the raw brass.

Then, using the same Valspar blue spray paint I used on the wooden nightstands, I gave the lamps two coats, allowing them to dry over night between coats.

I purchased two shades at the same Hotel Liquidators in Dayton (Ohio) - for $2.79 each, and I have a custom look for my bedroom that was super inexpensive!

Hotel Furniture Liquidator Nightstands

After traveling in our RV for a year, we recently moved into a condo.  We had put most of our major furniture pieces into a storage unit, but needed some new nightstands.  I had a certain "look" in mind to match my beach-y themed bedroom.  Naturally, I couldn't find what I wanted at a reasonable price, so took it upon myself to make them.

There is a hotel furniture liquidator warehouse here in Dayton, Ohio.  If you have one near you, they are a tremendously affordable resource for basic furniture pieces like tv stands, chairs, desks, nightstands. lamps, etc.

hotel liquidator store

you have to look carefully, but some pieces are like new, others, not so much

I found these two nightstands - for only $20 each:

I wanted them to be blue and white, so I took the handles and drawer fronts off, and then sanded everything, first with 220 grit sandpaper, then with 320:

Remove the drawer fronts

Then sand and wipe clean

Using Valspar spray paint in white, I gave both nightstands three coats of paint.

I taped off the tops and gave them three coats of paint.

And painted the drawer fronts blue:

The gold handles I painted white, with the same Valspar paint.  What is nice is that spray paint now a days have multiple uses and the same paint + primer can be used on wood or metal.

The tops of the nightstands had a pretty wood-like veneer that Noel liked, so I left the tops the way they were, figuring if I didn't like it I could always go back and change it, but I like the way they look.  Here is the finished product:

The lamps were originally heavy brass lamps I got for $2.50 each at a garage sale.  I re-finished those as well with the same blue paint- with the shades purchased at the hotel liquidators as well for $2.47 each.  I'll post that project in a future post!