Re-Finishing and Re-Purposing a Microwave Stand

A little while after we first moved in I went on a rampage of trying to find some supplementary tables/ stands for the house because we were severely lacking in this department. We had no where to put remotes, books, lamps, etc. in the house which for me, when everything needs a place, but there's no place for it to go, is very frustrating. I found this nice wood microwave stand at the flea market J-Town Mall of Vendors for $15.00 with the intention of re-finishing it. I bought the materials for the project but just recently got around to doing it.

I cleaned the table and sanded it down. Then cleaned the dust and sanded again. And again. Once I did this, I conditioned the wood as was recommended (but maybe not necessary).  I bought the dark walnut stain from Lowe's.

After one coat, I learned a few things about stain. Drips dry fast, and it's very hard to stain a shelf like the one in between the top of the table and the cabinet well. But I persevered and sanded off the drips and added another two coats. Now it has evolved into a perfect TV stand for our bedroom.

Sorry!

Okay so if I have talked to any of you in the last 3 months, you have heard me complain about my busy-ness. It's all good busy-ness but nonetheless still busy! Sorry I have not updated this in awhile but I do have some things to update on and I will try to do it all this week. I'll update you on our grass situation (we now have some! yay!), painting the guest bedroom, fall crafts, and some other little projects and purchases here and there that we have worked on.  I enjoy chronicling the things we do around the house so I hope you haven't missed this too much (or maybe I wish you do) because we are planning big things in the next couple of months once it cools down.

One of my favorite things about our house is our fireplace and the mantle. Seeing as it is getting into Holiday season (can you believe it???) I am practicing my decorating skills currently as a baller on a budget.  Today I made some letters spelling out "FALL" using scrapbook paper I already had, a stencil, and dollar store frames.

I think it turned out pretty fun for $4.00.

I also bought the leaves ( a package of 50), all 3 pumpkins on the mantle and the scarecrow on the left of the mantle for $1.00 at the Dollar Store. The black material hanging is pinned in with push pins and I bought from Michael's yesterday for 1.15 because it had holes in it. Which I thought was PERFECT for a Halloween look.  The scarecrow on the right is from Dollar General and was a whole $2.00 and the lanterns I got when we first moved in.  It will look even more fun at night when I turn those lanterns on and the dim lights shine. I still feel like there may be something missing from this though. Some height maybe? I'll get back to you if I figure it out. :)

I love being crafty which is why I love Pinterest! I got the idea for the FALL letters there but I was able to customize it on my own and for cheap! I am planning on making a bunting with the letters Happy Halloween to go across the black material. If not though, I"ll probably add some other "spooky" element sometime in the next couple weeks in anticipation of Halloween and I figured after, I could leave most of it on the mantle, take the black down and add something turkey related. Ouila! Fall decorating! Hope ya like my festiveness. I'll be back with more this week!