Bad, Bad Blogger!

Yeah, hmmmm, four months since I've posted anything. I'm hanging my head in shame. I am in the midst of lots of new projects though so I'll be back soon.

Off with their doors!

In theory, I like our white cabinets. They're easy to keep clean, they keep the kitchen looking bright and airy and I don't have to worry about the cabinet stain clashing with the wood (ok, laminate) floor stain. But the downside is those cabinets are a sea of white. With no suble variations in color/texture like wood, all that white gets to be a bit dull.

While browsing some wonderful blogs the other evening, I came across this kitchen update. In her third picture, you can see an open cabinet above the microwave. Perfect! A lovely and inexpensive way to break up all that white.

So the cabinet doors came off this morning. One problem though. The huge cord from the microwave.

It's not really finished yet but I think I like the concept. I stuck some things from around the house up there to get an idea of which I like better - decorative things or baskets. I'm leaning towards the baskets since they get bonus points because they would really hide the microwave cord. I need to measure the space though and get a couple that actually fit. I also like the idea of still having the storage space while bringing in some color and texture. Once I get it finalized, I'll post an update.

Br{ass}

Yeah, I hate brass, can you tell? ;). But, despite my feelings towards the "maybe someone will think it's gold" finish, our house is loaded with it. Brass doorknobs, brass hinges, brass light fixtures in the halls, laundry room, walk-in closet and panty. And one big, old brassy light fixture in the kitchen. I hated it so much that just a few months after moving in and several times banging my head on it, we swagged it off to the side, about as close to the ceiling as we could get it. Sadly the "out of sight, out of mind" trick never really worked. It just looked even worse hanging in such a weird position. So, almost nine years later, in the interest of making some thrifty changes and learning to love what we have, we start another ode to spray paint.

First slip on some shades and look at the "before". (Confession - this isn't really our fixture. I had to snag it off of a building supply site. I was so swept up in the moment of changing this thing that I forgot to snap a proper before shot. Bad blogger!)
It's Brasstacular isn't it?
Now take a look at what a can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint can do. Oh my gosh, it's a hundred times better. I think I could make it look even less builder grade if I switch out the ribbed glass shades (are they called shades?) for something different.


Now I just have eight brass ceiling fixtures to spray paint from the halls, pantry, laundry room, etc. And then there's the little matter of the chrome (yeah, chrome, not brass) "hollywood vanity" lights in the bathrooms. No amount of spray paint can help those things . . .

a changing table with a new identity

Oh I so love paint. It's wonderful how a few coats can take a former bland changing table (which technically was originally sold as a kitchen cart and has spent the last few years stuck in a closet storing odds and ends) . . .




A cabinet that has tons of practical storage potential . . .

To something much, much better looking and oh so useful for some additional kitchen storage.

Beside the paint, I changed out the wooden knobs for silver ones stamped with a fan pattern for the sweet price of $7.16 from the wonderful land of Target. Since I already had the black paint, this transformation only cost me a couple of hours of time (spread out over three days) and the cost of the knobs.

Yep, I definately love paint :)

***Oops, I should probably mention that in addition to painting, I did sand the heck out of this thing. I guess I'm so thrilled with the finished version, I forgot about that extra work that went in to it. So make that a couple of hours painting and a couple of hours sanding.

With a little help from some spray paint

You know how sometimes you find a decorative item and love the shape/design/price but the color is wrong? Yeah, I do that a lot. I found this over the weekend. $2.99, only in white. It's pretty enough but I wanted it in black.

No problem with a can of spray paint. I used Fusion spray paint for plastic. It promised no need for sanding or priming. Yep, less steps and instant gradification - sign me up! I even got it at a craft store with a half-off coupon.

So here it is after painting. What's that? The shape changed? Yeah well it's possible that this originally white piece, also $2.99, fell in to my hands at the store along with that first piece ;) Gotta love a bargin.

So what do you think? Should I add some metallic to it? I've heard wonderful things about Rub-n-Buff. A little silver or a toned down gold on the highlights might be just the thing to finish these off.

Framed keys

When Ben's grandma was moving, she gave me these keys. She said they had belonged to Ben's grandpa. I just love old keys so I was happy to have them. Having a story behind them makes them even better.

It took a while to figure out exactly what to do with them though. They've hung on nails, been tucked in an apothecary jar for a bit, but mostly they've just been shuffled around for the past year. Not anymore though. The frame is double matted so it's deep enough for the keys, the background is a sheet of scrapbook paper and the keys themselves are attached to a scrapbook journaling card using foam adhesive squares. And I used things I already had in the house so it took no time at all to put together.

How did I not know about unbleached cotton?

I have a sweet table that's been passed along to us. If I remember correctly, at some point it was Ben's grandma's. It's definately showing it's age and is fairly beaten up and could use some painting or refinishing. Depite of that, I like it's shape and detail and it fills an empty spot in our living room nicely. Some day I'd like to rework it but the "to do" list is so long already.

To cover up some of the damage, I started out looking for burlap to make something like this. But then I spotted unbleached cotton. So casual and I love the texture of it. For $2.48 a yard, it was perfect.

So here's the sneaky part of the project - no sewing, just an iron and some hem tape. How easy is that!


So this runner cost a grand total of $3. I think I'm going to add a ribbon boarder to the ends. I'd love to add some fringe but the cat would chew it right off. It does cover some of the damage but you can see how uneven the finish is and some of the dings. It also looks like it's in desperate need of dusting - not sure what's up with that. I do dust. I swear :)