I am so excited about this! I am kicking myself because I didn't take before and after pictures, but the thought of putting it on my blog didn't cross my mind until I had it all taken apart. oh well, live and learn.
I bought this CHEAP-O card table set at Walmart about 7 years ago, so lets just say it wasn't covered with the greatest of materials. 2 years ago we used it to set things on when we had a yard sale, and it sat in the sun all day, in June. It has never been the same. It got a big spot on it that actually melted somehow, and it got sticky. I could never wipe the sticky off, so I just never used it, or if I did I threw a sheet over it.
I decided it was time to either re-cover the top or throw it away. So I decided to be optimistic and see what I could do. I went to Jo-Ann's and bought a heavyweight plastic to cover outside furniture for $3.99/yard and picked out a fabric to put under it. I am a little obsessed with like zebra print, so that's what I went with for this project. Why bother if you don't love it, right? The fabric was $6.99 a yard. Of course, I never pay full price for fabric. Between my mailers, emails and smartphone app, I always have at least 40% off coupons. So I got 1 yard of each fabric and went to town. My card table happens to measure 32" square so a yard was all I needed.
This is the end result! I LOVE it
So all total, this cost me about $5, and my table is again useable. Also it's super cute. My husband is going to roll his eyes SO BAD when he sees the zebra. This makes it even better me feel a little bit sorry I chose zebra, but only a little. Hooray for up-cycling!
I bought my son a kid-sized card table and chairs that were left outside and are looking pretty sorry. I can already envision a little spray paint for the frame and re-covering the chairs and table top for my daughter. But I guess I'll wait till she's at least crawling ;-)
What have you saved from the trash lately?
It's been a week. A whole week of no soap, shampoo OR conditioner. I have to say, I LOVE using only baking soda on my body. I feel much cleaner and my skin feels very soft. I think the part I love most is that it does take a little bit longer to wash, and it's very mildly exfoliating, so it feels like a little treat or getaway when I take a shower. This is good for my sanity. I have been using it on my face as well and I feel like my skin looks better, and when I get out of the shower I don't have that "my skin is shrinking off my face" feeling I do after using soap. WIN!
I'm still a little bit on the fence about the baking soda/apple cider vinegar regimen for my hair. I was warned though, that there is a 2-4 week adjustment period so I am continuing on in my crunchy journey. At first my hair felt like straw, but noticed that it felt less straw like when I went a day in between washes, instead of washing it everyday. On saturday I was frustrated with my scarecrow hair and close to giving up, but I washed it that night and when I woke up Sunday morning and it was dry, it was SO SOFT! This is giving me courage to continue on. I thought it would be static-y but it hasn't been so that's great.
Some things I have learned:
1. Wash every other day, not every day, so your hair has time to balance out how much oil it's making.
2. the squirt bottle idea doesn't work as well in practice as it does in theory. We ended up using the paste I made for our body soap on our hair as well, it works much better.
3. Concentrate on your scalp and roots with the baking soda, use less on the ends. At least for my hair. It is long, and the ends is where it feels straw like, the hair closer to my head feels amazing.
So it's been a good experiment so far. It's been fun having my husband do this with me. The kids will totally freak if we make them do it I think!
Sarah at My Merry Messy Life also has a recipe for a body butter that she uses as lotion as well as hair cream on her curly hair. I think I'm going to make this too, and see if that may be the missing component for my ends. I'll let you know how it goes!
Has anyone else tried this? What do you think?
