Have you ever had an ah-ha moment?! As an artist and entrepreneur, I find myself getting several… every single day. How do I know which ones to take seriously and which ones to let go?! That is the hard part. This can sometimes be overwhelming for many artists and entrepreneurs, but that is where focus and vision come into play. If I gave in to every single idea I had, I would either be A.) completely broke B.) completely tired or C.) go completely insane. I don’t want to be any 3 of those! I want to continue to love what I do. So, if I get an idea and I can’t make it happen right away, I will write it down in a notebook and sometimes, the idea never travels further than between the lines on a white piece of paper, but for me, that is enough, and I have come to be okay with that, for most ideas. Sometimes I will come back to an idea 1 year later and make it happen as well. Then sometimes, there is an idea , or an ah-ha moment like I mentioned above, that I see so clearly in my head, that I have to jump up at that exact moment and make it happen. These potato bin end tables, are one of those ideas.
I have had these old wood potato bins for about a year, they have traveled to two different homes with me as I’ve moved, and have been used in about 6 different rooms for different purposes, like shoe boxes in the porch, stacked 2 high for shelving in my daughters room, set next to each other to make a bench, put together for a coffee table in the basement, or filled with toys. None of those ideas, although neat, felt like they were how the bins were to be given a new life. They were meant for something more.
I took the bins and jumped into a project the day after the idea was visualized in my head.
I stripped the old paint off of the back side of the bins, which would now be the top part of the end tables.
Once most of the paint was stripped, I sanded down the tops so they were smooth.
I painted the bins in a beautiful green, called ‘Preppy Green’ (the same green I also recently used on a desk makeover ) ,
Next, I used a brown stain + polyurethane from Minwax , called Minwax Polyshades in Espresso brown to lightly go over every side of the bins. This worked great as the stain stuck in all of the imperfections of the bin, showing off their age and history and giving them a more antique look. I stained the new tops of the bins with 2 coats of the same stain to give them a unified look and make them be viewable as actual end tables, not just potato bins, and for a bit of sophistication.
I am completely happy with how they turned out, and even more ecstatic that the vision I saw so clearly in my head, is now in my living room and I can look at them every day, knowing I DID IT and I brought my vision to life!
Below are the after photos, I hope you like them as much as I do!
Thanks for reading, for more inspiration from Anchored Way, visit me over on Facebook!
~Kelly
DIY + HANDMADE + VINTAGE 