Upcycled Computer Armoire!

My daughter loves tinkering with technology: iPhones, iPads, computers, etc.   When I take her to our local library, she often bypasses the children’s books section and heads straight for the educational computer games.  Not one to stifle a girl’s thirst for learning, I found some great educational games at home for our laptop.  Unfortunately, our laptop wasn’t designed to withstand a toddler’s excitement – just ask letters “F” and “E” on the keyboard.  So I had the bright idea to resurrect our prehistoric tower computer in our basement.  Problem was I needed an armoire to hide the monstrosity when not in use.

For months, I was on a craigslist stake-out for the perfect armoire.  Perfect Armoire = close, cheap and would fit in our vehicle.  I hit the jack-pot!  Less than 2 miles away and they were giving it away!  It was free!  It does weigh 900lbs. according to my darling husband.  Getting it in the car and then out was no small feat, requiring two able-bodied men.  Thanks again Travis!  The armoire will remain in its current location for the rest of time!  I heard about this for months! 

On to the actual project, this actually required little work. 


Before pics:

Materials:

Leftover Paint

Painter’s Tape

Paint Brush

Sand Paper

Drop Cloth

The great part about this armoire is that it was bare wood.  No stain or any finish to sand off.  So no prep work at all!  This really was the jackpot armoire.

Steps:

1.       Insert drop cloth under armoire.  This was a task.

2.       Decide on paint color.  I mixed some old paint colors together for some new shades and  
          tested them on the back of the armoire.  I was really trying to decide between white and
          blue.  Blue won!  So, it became a color that was a mix between my kitchen and my
          bathroom!

3.       Painted armoire.  I painted the outside, the face of the file drawer and the face of the
          keyboard tray.  I taped off the rest of the keyboard tray and the drawer to keep the paint
          neat.  I also taped off the bulletin board.

4.       I wanted a distressed look so I took some sand paper to the edges and corners. 

5.       The end!  I still have some organizing and additions planned for the inside so more post to
          come but I think it came out very nice so far!

Voila!

After pics:



Stay tuned for more upcycling on the inside!

Upcycled DVD Case!

It’s time to share our first Upcycle Project for 2012!  It’s a small project but we have more we’ll soon be sharing!

We needed a dvd case to hold those dvds that come with the blue ray combo packs.  That way, we can keep the extra dvds downstairs (no blueray player) and the bluerays upstairs.  Also, if we ever buy or borrow a portable dvd player for a trip we can just grab our new dvd case for the car!

So, we had this very old case from our old tower computer software disks.  The function was fine but it needed some sprucing.

Materials used:

Old Computer Disc Case

Scraps of Self-Adhesive Fabric

Scraps of Contact paper

Double sided tape

Strip of Ribbon

Goo Gone

STEPS:

I had some leftover self-adhesive fabric pieces from a previous project; maybe I’ll post that project later.  It’s sort of like contact paper, only fabric, I had never used it before this past project.  I also had some scraps of plain contact paper and some ribbon left over from other projects.  (I save too many scraps, it’s a mess!)

First, I cut and arranged the scraps of fabric to cover the case.

Then I carefully removed the backing and applied the fabric as straight as possible.  It’s not too difficult to work out the creases once you have it on and it peels off easily for repositioning too.  I folded the extra fabric over the edges. 

Then to cover up the uneven folds on the inside, I cut contact paper and applied it. 

Since I was using scraps of the self-adhesive fabric, I had an overlap on the front that looked a little weird.  So, I used a ribbon to cover it.  I used some double sided tape on the ribbon to make sure that it stayed in place.  I also tucked the ribbon under the contact paper on the inside too. 

Voila!

I also had to clean off the cd pockets.  They had stickers with old program information on them.  I used goo gone and they came right off. 

You could add a flower or a bow to the front to make it even prettier.  I didn’t because I have a 3 year old that would probably think it was pretty too!

So, now we have a dvd case for downstairs!  No more random cases stacked anywhere and we get to keep more movie options downstairs!  All for the low, low price of $0, Nothing, FREE!  All scrap materials!  I call that a successful Upcycle.  It went from unused, to useful and pretty.  Saved from the trash, literally because my husband had it in the trash!   I showed him!

More Upcycle projects to come shortly!  Check in again soon!

Welcome to Upcycle Extreme!

We are thrilled that you stopped by Upcycle Extreme, a blog dedicated to Upcycling items and recycling used pieces to something more useful or more beautiful and to saving money without sacrificing too much!


We are Tracey and Drew, husband and wife team on a mission.  We are both working parents in the suburbs of Maryland, smack dab between Baltimore and DC.  We have a beautiful little girl; she is 3 years old and she is our little princess.  A lot of our mission comes from what we want for her.


Our mission is simple: 
Don’t buy anything new in 2012!  (maybe NOT so simple!)


Why?  You ask…


The answer is three fold.

1.       To save money.  – Like many other families right now, times are tough.  We want to avoid times getting even tougher.

2.      To Upcycle and Recycle – We have a family and we don’t like the idea of perfectly good items being thrown in landfills.  We’d like to do our little part for the environment.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

3.      Because it’s Fun!  We like the satisfaction of taking something free, used, or unappealing and turning it into something beautiful, decorative, or useful.

Our Rules:

1.      We will not buy anything new for ourselves in 2012.

2.      We will shop at thrift stores or try to find items for free for our projects.

3.      We will fulfill our need for décor changes and organizing by upcycling, repurposing, or somehow utilizing used items. 

Caveats:

1.      We need to keep our day jobs!  So if we need something for work, we will buy it. 

2.      We can’t imagine a year of not buying anything for our little princess.  So, she doesn’t count.  Although, we will continue to look for used items for her too when she needs something.  Since she was just spoiled to the tenth degree over Christmas and her birthday, which is just before Christmas, she shouldn’t need anything for a long while.

3.      We will need to buy replacements.  For instance, if our toaster breaks for the 4^th time, I will have to buy a new toaster if I can’t find an acceptable used one.  It’s not always the best choice or even possible to buy used for certain things, but that is rare and we will buy used whenever possible.

4.      We will need to buy supplies for our projects.  Maybe a tool here and there but we will have to be very selective.

5.      Groceries, of course!

Even with these exceptions, if we can do this, we are AWESOME!  Don’t you agree?  And we will save bundles of money.


Thanks for stopping by!  Please check in again soon!