Countertop with Paper Bags

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So I Got some paper bags, yea from Trader Joes and tore them into small pieces and then I crinkled them up...

Then I dipped them in a mixture of glue and water and squeezed them out and layed them out on the counter... oh and I did a light sanding on the counter before I started.

Then I wanted to add some color so I took some water colors and smeared them around..

And this is what it looked like while it was drying..

Then I put a bit of metalic paint, just for a bit on  interest...

Then I put Satin polyurithane on it, about 4 or 5 coats

And this is what it looked like

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I ended up changing to whole color of the kitchen afterwards... and might change it again, but not yet

I did add a few things to it at inconspicuous places...

This one was still wet when I took the picture

Texturizing my ceiling!!!

  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150310048790706

So I am seeing if this works.... I was texturizing my ceiling and my friend took this video....

 One day I had an idea to build a table of old barn wood and here's how it went....

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I got the wood and pulled out the nails.....

Then I set it out so I could see how big i wanted it and what would fit on it....

I connected the end boards from underneath, it isn't very pretty but it is very stable....

Then I went to sanding. 

I started with some white putty to fill in some of the holes but I didn't like the look of it.... 

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so a friend suggested I use black putty, it was much better.....

Then I got my side pieces to cover the bottom ugly part and to add stability....

Then I got my legs ready......

Then I put it together.  

I took the pieces to my friend to put a coating on it, he's a professional and it looks better than what I could have done.....Then I put it together.. I did paint the hardware black so they wouldn't show...

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Here it is in my kitchen, it did take a couple grown men to get it in the house as it is really heavy. I put my mom's old chairs around it and love it.

Here are some more before and after pictures of my house redo.....

Here is the before of the fireplace......

I finally put up a mantle, in time for Christmas.  It is a very simple one, but I like it.  I also wired in the sconces, they were a brass but it didn't match so I spray painted them black and the next step is to spray paint the gold fireplace.

Here are the sconces lighted up, they are so pretty and turned out so much better than I could ever have imagined.  I got them at Restore, the best place ever!!!

In the begining was a house.... it is my first house.  I had never realized what I could really do until I had my own home.  I had done small things in the past and I worked in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina and learned a lot from the faithful who went there to help rebuild and I owe a lot of what I have done to them and also my friends who have helped me here with some of my bigger projects.

The house was built in the late 60's and it showed....

The frist thing I wanted to do was make a half wall and open up the kitchen....

 

Then I sheetrocked and texturized  painted and then my friends came over and put the counter-top on.  We used a Glulam, a beam, for the countertop.  You can also see that I painted the cabinets and the other thing you can see is my ceiling.  I took down the popcorn ceiling and retexturized it with a knockdown technique, which I will talk about later.

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Then I dug around in my friends trash pile of wood that had been outside for a long time and found wood to put underneath my breakfast bar.  All I did was lightly sand it and the put varethane on it.  And I sanded then put a coat on the countertop and repeated it about four times.

You can also see that i put the cabinet doors back on.  I'm not content with my kitchen colors so I am in the process of redoing them, but that will be later.

The other thing you can see in this last picture is that I pulled up the carpet and painted the floor.  I will keep throw rugs on the floors until I can afford to put wood flooring down.