Goodwill Hunting:)

No, not the movie....I was Goodwill hunting today and found this cutie-pie buffet table for such a steal! I have been wanting to redo one of these and the stars must have aligned for me today because it was ready and waiting for me when I arrived to the furniture section of Goodwill. Finders-keepers!

It was definitely in need of some Chair-ity tlc and I was excited to load it up and take it home. Now, I know that most of my redo's have been white with dark stain....but there is a reason for that.

#1, I like the way that combination of colors looks together, and #2, I am commited to using up all of my materials that I have already in my home before I start spending money on new paint colors!:)

So...I hope you don't think that my buffet table is boring, but here she is. It was a 1 hour redo! Woohoo!

Change-a-roonie

Sometimes I ask my husband's advice on paint colors or fabrics...with these ottomans, he chose the original baby blue that I painted. After they dried, we both decided that they needed to be changed back to white.

Immediately after repainting them and then posting them on craigslist, they sold! White it is!!

After repainting those babies, I got started on my next project of the day...the very nice sofa table that was ANOTHER donation:) Such a blessing.

Here are the before and afters...I hope you like!

Another project checked off the list!

Pull up a seat, take a load off your feet

I was lucky enough to have these really cute ottoman pieces donated to me! As I was working on them however, I decided that they could serve a dual purpose as stools for children to use as well. (I'm tempted to use them in my classroom!)

After tightening up the loose screws, adding a little paint, and recovering the cushions....I think they turned out super cute:)

I bought one yard of fabric, and then used my other materials that I had around the house to fix them up!

The stools came to me with a light pink fabric and a dark wood base.

Although they weren't bad looking, I wanted to make them a little more exciting. I added a light baby blue color on the base, and used a gray/cream fabric:)

These will bring me one stool/ottoman closer to my goal for chair-ity!

Old School!

Unfortunately, Will Ferrell does not make a cameo in this "Old School" posting:) We're talking about an old school chair that was donated to me today from someone in the Wings of Hope Hospice family.

The chair came to me with rusted hardware and legs and scratched up wood. After a little "Chairity" TLC., sanding and staining, here is the final product!

                                                                             Before

 

After

My Chairity time has been limited lately because I have been spending a lot of time with family, working my summer job with my Dad, and starting my Master's classes. There will be more to come soon!!

The Tortoise and the Chair

The story that I'm referring to is actually called The Tortoise and the Hare.... but I have been a little "slow moving" this week with furniture (like the tortoise), however, this chair was a fast project (like the hare)!!

This piece of furniture was donated by my family in St. Joseph, MI. I am continuing to be surprised and humbled by how many friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers have offered to donate to the Chair-ity cause. Thank you!!!!!

Hopefully the sale of this chair will follow the speed of the hare, not the tortoise;).

One step at a time, one chair at a time, another day closer to reaching my goal for Wings of Hope Hospice and becoming debt free!!!!

The Jackpot!

Last week one of my furniture buddies informed me that he had hit the jackpot. He was tipped off about a hotel near Battle Creek that was trying to get rid of all of their furnite (for free) so that they could move forward with their remodeling.

Unfortunately, for Chairity's sake, I am not at a place where I can store a lot of furniture...so I was unable to go along and help load up the goods. I was, however, happy to hear that my friend was going to be able to inherit all of this furniture and benefit from the sales!

This buddy of mine was kind enough to sell me this desk that he picked up from the hotel for a very low price. I am so bummed that I didn't get the original "before" picture. It used to have a reddish top that looked almost like plastic. I sanded and painted, and sanded and painted, and then painted a little more....and this is what I came up with. I also ended up staining the wooden legs:)

I bet that if Justin Bieber saw this desk, he would want to be my "boyfriend". Just thought I'd throw that in there;)

I'm one piece of furniture closer to my goal in helping Wings of Hope Hospice!!!!!

We've hit the BENCHmark:)

As a teacher, I am always setting new goals to ensure that my students make their reading and math BENCHmarks.  It only seems appropriate to say that I think I've hit the furniture BENCHmark tonight!

Earlier this evening, I happened to drive by a garage sale and I found this bench listed as $15. After a little bartering and some "small talk" I was able to drive away with it for just $5. Booyah!! (As my husband would say:) )


Before a little "Chair"-ity TLC, this is what it looked like:

I think the final outcome turned out well....the fabric is a little wilder than I'm used to, but I thought I'd live on the edge a little and go with some brighter accent colors. Honestly, I'm just so thankful that it only cost me $5 because in the end, I will be able to donate more money from my profit toward Wings of Hope Hospice!

Here is the final outcome. It looks cute in my house, but it would probably look cute in yours too! If you are interested in this piece, feel free to email me at kristenpenni@gmail.com or post me a message!

 

I know it doesn't seem like much, but in just one week, I've progressed 11% toward my donation goal to Wings of Hope! Your kind words have continued to motivate me. Thank you!!

The Ugly Deskling

Tonight...I turned a stained (and a little dated) desk into a beautiful white swan:) Here are the before and after pics. Thank you to Amal for the donation!!

Popularity of Chairity

I am sure that there are many bloggers out there that get hundreds, if not thousands of hits on their blogs everyday. I feel like I'm winning something everytime I see the number of visitors has increased!!  Does my dork-o-meter rise if I say that I was overjoyed when I saw how many hits that I had within my first 24 hours? :)

Through word-of-mouth and the lovely internet, a family in Portage heard about my desire to help with donations to Hospice. I was humbled to find out that they want to donate some pieces of furniture to me this week that belonged to a family member who was supported by Hospice. How cool is that?!?

This is just the beginning of a wonderful path ahead.....Baby steps toward my goal....

Here is my newest flip of the night---after a little distressing and a new seat cushion I think it's ready for a new home!

40 Down, 460 to go!

As noted in the post above, I've already made my first sale! Because my primary goal is to follow in the steps of Dave Ramsey and pay off debt as well as give back to the community, I will be not only making donations to Wings of Hope Hospice with each sale but also taking footsteps to becoming debt free.

Things are already headed in the right direction...

Interested in making a donation of your own? It's simple! Click on the Contact tab and email me so we can make arrangements.

Welcome to Chair-ity!

There's no denying that I am a "bloginner"...I have never blogged before so I thought that now would be the ideal time to start! A new chapter in my life is beginning that involves getting my hands dirty, setting goals, networking, creativity, and best of all--- having the opportunity to provide funding for Wings of Hope Hospice patient care.  Read on to learn more about my new adventure...


I have always had a knack for fixing things and refinishing old pieces of furniture. When I'm not busy teaching my 4th graders, I find myself LOVING the times when I get to scoop up a super deal on furniture through Craigslist or at a garage sale and making it my own. So, I had an idea.......


For the last few years, I have had the opportunity to volunteer at a Wings of Hope Hospice benefit auction for Wings of Hope in Allegan, Michigan. I have been floored by the amount of support that people were willing to give for this wonderful cause. One of the reasons that Wings of Hope is able to provide care to anyone, regaurdless of their ability to pay if they are underinsured, is the amount of money that the community comes together and donates to them.  

Donations from people like you and I allow Hospice to give quality care to people who deserve to be comfortable during the last phase of their life. It is estimated that it costs Wings of Hope Hospice around $150 per day, per patient to cover medication . While some of their patients have insurance with hospice benefits, Wings of Hope will cover the cost of individuals who may be underinsured anyway.

Here's where Chair-ity comes into play. As a teacher, I have not been able to donate much of my salary to this wonderful cause but I think that I've figured out a way that I can help! I am taking my furniture refurbishing hobby and DONATING a portion of my profits from my furniture sales to Wings of Hope Hospice!! I am going to start with a goal of being able to donate $500 by December.

I made my first sale last night and my first customer was thrilled to be helping out our cause! Thank you to Emily L. for your Chair-ity purchase! :) :) :)

I will be posting pictures of my furniture flips and keeping updates on my progress toward my goal of $500. If you know of anyone who would like to help me, help Wings of Hope Hospice by donating furniture to Chair-ity, feel free to contact me!