the ReFab Diaries

I'm really fond of old school desks ... maybe it's all those stories I was told by my mom/aunts etc about "naughty" boys dipping girl's braids into ink wells and things. And my high school still used old wooden flip-top desks (with aforementioned inkwells still in place and long-ago student names carved into the wood).

Apparently Ashley over at A to Being Creations feels the same way about these desks and thrifted this one (antique chair included) for $15!  But when, after spending hours stripping the desk itself, she found lead in the top panel, she did this. A plexiglass top and eye-popping green paint. I LOVE IT. I want one now. Go get the details...

Back in January I compiled a post on book folding and mentioned that my own attempts (pictured below) had been inspired by a long-ago issue of Budget Living Magazine. In June I was asked to please share the instructions from Budget Living. I couldn't find them. Of course. And then, the other day, there they were!  Folded (!) at the bottom of a box of old catalogs and things I've been storing. So I've done my best to share them ... and make them usable:

Ok - it's another filing-cabinet refab. But she did it with book pages!! And you know me and book pages. And it looks amazing ... right? Complete how-to at The Space Between

I've seen this simple paper-rolling technique used everywhere. But I'm blown away by this clock! Perhaps it's the way Brandy's combined colors? Head to Repurpose Relove for a great, step-by-step tutorial. 

Happy first Monday of July but...what happened to June? And half of 2012? Tick-tock, tick-tock. So... guess what the theme is this week? No, not clocks. Guitars! I got my first kid-sized acoustic guitar when I was 8, a not-quite-full-size and an actual teacher when I was 11 and I've had some version around ever since. I never trashed a guitar (I was a flaky, eccentric singer-songwriter). So, I'd never thought about repurposing the various bits and pieces of one until I found Stringcycle and saw what could be done with used-up strings. Since then, several posts have been brewing. They all go live this week. 

The first - turning a trashed guitar into a clock! Clock mechanisms are cheap and easy to find - I say this with confidence because I once churned out book clocks to make extra money. This dramatic transformation from My Repurposed Life is a lot of fun and I'd love to see a version done with book pages!  Please note that the clock face is an old CD. Note too the guitar picks used to frame the clock. Guitar picks will be a focal point this week!  Get the whole tutorial here. (Via Handmade Spark) 

Fubu-color-wonderous! This awesome upcycle from Sam of Little House in the Big D makes me want to run out and find a metal filing cabinet.

Look ... look again.  A pop-tab curtain?  How freakin' cool is that?  Get the how-to here ... (via decorhacks) 

So... I've been a little lazy about my home tour. But this week I actually got around to taking pictures while the light was good.  So here's a bedroom project!  I'm not really a headboard person - I think the wall works pretty well.  But I do like the idea of making the wall above the bed a feature of some sort.  Especially if it's the wall you see from the room entrance.  We have very little color in this room - the walls are a green we love. Pretty much everything else in the space is wood (furniture) or natural fibers in neutral tones.  So I had no idea what I wanted above the bed. Consequently, the space was empty for a while.  Then one day we happened upon these place mats at CB2... yup - they're place mats.  They were on clearance, of course.  Since they don't really lie flat, they were never going to make very good place mats.  But I loved the wood.  

Mirrors created with some version of a plastic scoop / spoon ... they're a theme this week.  Apparently these orange scoops come from a brand of formula.  They look like something we got in cans of powdered juice when I was a kid ... one scoop of the stuff into water and you had a neon orange drink.  Wow ... yum (!)  Complete how to here.  

This eye-popping chandelier is created entirely from plastic water bottles.  Visit Oh Happy Day for the completely tutorial.