Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Saw it in a magazine!


This mommy is tired! I don't get enough sleep (my own fault, though, because I find it hard to lay down and go to sleep). I work a full time job and have a two year old, and then there's this furniture business I do my best at working on!

So this is a personal project I've been working on....
I had this in the kitchen

I mean I like it, but it just wasn't working... The middle drawer was for a trash can. Obviously for a single person. Or a bathroom? LoL. Our trash would never fit in there. And the two cabinets at the bottom always seemed to just sit there. I wanted something we could actually use. Is that too much to ask? I want beauty and functionality. 

So I sold it.

I was going to build this big cabinet to replace it. I wanted it to have various spaces shelves so that I could put even the tallest of my kitchenware on it. 

I went to Lowe's and priced lumber for my project. WHOA!!! Over a hundred dollars?? For a bookshelf?!? Um, no. And then I was on the prowl for something already built! 

We have a local "yard sale" group on Facebook where you can luck up on some great deals. The very next day after my Lowe's trip I did just that! A lady posted a china cabinet for sale for $60. The glass from one of the doors was broken but that was ok...I could figure that out or replace with chicken wire 

This was the ad


I didn't know if it would work, I thought it may not give me the space I was looking for. But I went to see it anyway. Stacy runs a local auction also, and it was in the warehouse of that building. When I saw it in person it was huge! An inch below 7' tall, just like I wanted to build mine!

About 200 pounds later, my brother-in-law and "nephew" and sister brought this monster in the house... It was HEAVY!! 

It's also very....brown. Not for long. I planned to paint it white to match the other cabinets in the kitchen. 

I was reading my monthly subscription to Country Living (September 2013 edition) on my Zinio app and lo and behold... A tiny picture on the page was this:


It's nearly EXACTLY like my cabinet!
Ok, so there are a couple differences, but they're small things... The doors are more decorative, there's molding on top to make it more decorative than mine, and the one in the magazine didn't get the little decorative pieces above the shelf. Besides that they are really just alike! The magazine says its a 1930s china hutch.
Here's mine again


Check out the hardware on it! It's even the same ;) 

I've got to show you the handiwork of the galvanized aluminum of these drawers, too.


This is the inside of the drawer, see how perfect?


And the underside of the drawer. Look how the metal is bent in place and nailed. I am impressed with how perfect it is on the inside of the drawer considering this!

That is so cool ;)

What a great buy!

I'm already in the process of painting it white... I've mixed chalk paint and am painting as I can!


I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the back of the shelving. I'm thinking fabric, scrapbook paper, or maybe even burlap with a cute stamp? What do you think?

More to come!






Saturday, August 3, 2013

The little table

So there's this great little table I bought from my picker. It's a super dark wood. It's actually beautiful even though it has some scars. But I wanted to dress it up a bit.


You can't really see the blemishes in this picture but trust me, they're there.


See them now?

Since its summer we wanted to play up some beachy colors. So I went with blues and tans. I had read up on acrylic paints and decided that would be the medium I would use. 
I taped off a square about an inch and a half inside of the outside edge using painters tape. 

I decided to paint four different colored squares.

Gosh! Why can't I ever remember the "during" photos??? I promise to do better!

Sheesh! Well anyway, I just painted my different colors in each square. It took a few coats to fully cover each area. Once each layer was dry I stepped back to look at my handy work and felt that it just looked too "harsh" or stark might be a better word? 

You know...that feeling you get when a piece just needs something. So I mixed some dark brown acrylic and water for a wash. I went over each square and just kind of dabbed it on with a paper towel until I was satisfied with the results. 

And here it is, finished:


It's such a pretty little table! I've had people come over and when I'm showing off some of my work I always say, "and I painted this". They say, "what, this?" and point to my table. I'm like yeah! Then the usual response is, "I thought that was tile!" And that, of course, makes me feel like a queen!