Transformed Hutch

I picked up this hutch from Craigslist for $12, that's what it was advertised as, not $10, not $15 a whole 12 bucks.  Great right?  Except it wasn't too long before I was thinking $12 may have been too much.  Ya know when sometimes free can be too much.  It was pretty broken, the doors were definitely unusable and I couldn't get it in my head how I would fix it.  

So my husband had to come to the rescue.  He actually explained what I should do, but in the end he had to just get out there and do it, well I removed all the doors, then he had to removed middle piece of glass, and wood in between the bottom cupboards.  Then we filled and sanded and filled and sanded.  

We removed the back, it was also damaged, and got some bead board and stained it.  I painted it black, distressed it, put the original handles back on, and added the iron brackets (my moms idea) don't they just make it?

In the end I think it made quite a transformation, you can hardly recognize it, right?

Here it is before...

Here it is at the Cottage

  

By the way I'm using some of the pieces we broke off to make chalkboards and stencil words on, yeah I'm the ultimate recycler, Lol.

Thanks so much for stoppin'

                                                                                     Katie

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Common Ground

"Inspired" Little Desk



post by Katie

Hello again,

I thought I would share a little desk I finished recently for the Cottage.  This was part of my feat to clean out my garage.  It's been sitting there for months. 

You see she had no character with her plain skinny legs and basicness, I had to figure out how to give her some.  So I decided on stencils.  I remembered seeing a feather pen on one of my Cricut cartridges, so I thought perfect for a desk, along with the word "Inspired".  I was definitely inspired and got it done in no time.

This is after I painted and distressed, but basically what she looked like in her before state...

and here she all dressed up at the Cottage in her pretty little gray stencils...

and Just a few close ups...

                                                              Thanks for stoppin'

                                                                               Katie


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Common Ground

My "Free" Gallery Wall

We are having a sale on wall decor this weekend at the Cottage so I thought I would offer up some inspiration, because I don't know about you, but I can't seem to be able to do anything without some inspiration.

I just finished this wall this week, I'll walk you through the process.

My first thought was I didn't want to spend much if any.  I will say though I have quite a hoard collection of wall, etc. type decor.  I really have yet to hang anything on my walls, since we moved in(I won't say how long ago that was), also I have a corner in the garage of stuff to finish for the Cottage.  

If your super organized and don't have your own hoard er' um collection.  There is still hope for your walls.  My humble advice is look around your house, well wait if you have the cash then head on over to the Cottage and we'll fix you up.  If your like me and the decor budget is pretty small then I'd advise you to look around your house first.  I had all the frames I used I just painted them to go nicely with the other elements. 

Actually the first thing we did(I have to include my husband on this part) is to make the picture ledge.  We used a pallet that's been sitting around for months(I kinda feel like I might be giving the wrong impression of our home)anyway I used this tutorial on how to disassemble a pallet and this tutorial on building a picture ledge, although I'm not sure my husband really needed a tutorial, but if your on your own, then these are great.  

Free so far.

Next I had those awesome frames in my stash from a garage sale last summer.  

So here we are so far...

I knew I wanted three frames under the bottom shelf.  Those were actually mirrors I picked up at a garage sale one was broken, the other two were on my bathroom wall.  I just replaced the mirrors with pictures.

I had the other oval frame still in my car from a thrift store trip a few days earlier.  I'm not sure what it is made of it's not plastic but not really wood it's super light.  I thought it had a good shape and it was $1.  I painted over the original gold paint it in our Cottage white.  I got the "M" for my birthday from my sister in law(Shannon for those of you who visit the Cottage often)

I've noticed antlers on Pinterest lately which is so ironic because my husband is a hunter and we've argued all these years about using them as decor(shh I kind of love em there). 

I knew I wanted something oval between the shelves there, so to my stash I went, chalkboard also inspired by Pinterest.  

And here we are again...

I don't know how to explain how I came up with the lantern on the hook, process of elimination I guess (meaning I knew what wouldn't work) and remembering I saved that hook, also I'm sure seeing something like it on Pinterest(have I said I'm slightly obsessed with Pinterest).  

I also must say the whole process happened over several days.  I guess sometimes I have to wait on inspiration.  I wish I could just think something up and make it happen in a day, but it just doesn't work that way for me.  

The frames inside the larger frame was kinda funny.  I first thought "ya three frames, but hmm they need to be square", not oval, not even rectangle, I don't know why my head works like this, anyway, then I remembered I have small square wood frames(seriously I'm not a hoarder).  I'm actually not loving that part so it will probably change at some point.

The deciding on pictures can be a little difficult.  Of course you have to keep it even to avoid comments like "there's more pictures of her then me".  I have in the past taken pictures to Walgreen's and copied them, or had them printed in a different size to fit a frame.  This also works if you want all your pictures in black and white.

So after a little tweaking, painting and cricuting(I'll talk about that in a min)...Here is the finished product...It was pretty fun to do, and actually completely free(not that everything was free in the first place, but free this week when I just didn't have the cash, and wanted some pretty).

Oh ya I got the piece of drift wood at the beach this weekend, thanks to my husbands suggestion.  I think he's starting to get me.

I also had the key it's just from Tj Maxx.

I made the subway art vinyl on the Cricut it took awhile to plan it out, but I love the words.  I got my inspiration from this, blog post, except I couldn't make out all the words, but I would have had to shorten it anyway.  

Are you a little inspired?  I hope so.  If you happen to be near the Cottage all wall decor is on sale this weekend.  We have lots of one of a kind mirrors, clocks, chalkboards, frames, and more to build your own gallery wall.

Thanks for stoppin' by

                                                                                      Katie

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Petite Hutch

Well after the death flu, four kids with chicken pox, a milestone birthday(I'm not saying which one), and a little holiday called Valentines Day, I'm back.  

Here is my latest project and it's for the Cottage, so if your interested, (and you live near) you can see it in person there.

I picked it up from Craigslist, and the lesson learned on this one is, ask measurements before you drive 45 miles.  I don't normally drive that far for a piece of furniture, but we needed a hutch at the Cottage.   I felt like this one had some character, and the price was pretty good, until I seen it that is, It was much smaller in person. She wouldn't budge on the price, (well honestly I don't really try that hard, bargaining is not my strong point, so I guess if you see me coming, you know you'll probably get the better end of the deal).  Anyway we had driven that far so I felt like we had to buy it. I'm actually not sorry though,  I think it turned out pretty cute.  It's all one piece, and it was pretty easy to transfer back and forth.

I took the back off so I could paint it in a different color.  I used Paris Gray, and painted the rest our Cottage White.  I had to paint the handles also, because you can't remove them, then put the original glass knob back on.

It looks like a drawer there in the middle, but it's actually a kind of tray, (I forgot to get a picture with it open), I've never seen one like that.

Here it is before...with the back already removed(almost forgot to take the before picture)

And after...

Thanks for stoppin'

                                     Katie

Kitchen Cabinets Makeover

This is that BIG project I was talking about, Yeah, kitchen cabinets.  I know It's not like the first kitchen cabinets ever painted by a housewife, but this was pretty major for me.

What a project it was though, it really did take over my life for about two weeks, and I still can't believe we did it.  I mean it's not like you can say "oh well if I mess it up I'll just paint over it"
kind of thing.

First I'll introduce you to Sunday and her husband Chris, so I'm not saying my friend and her husband through the whole post. 

Sunday talked for months about me painting her kitchen cabinets. I was able to waive it off for a few months, but she just wouldn't take no for an answer, so after a lot of persuasion, and promises of dinner for my family every night(I know right).  I pretty much moved in and painted her cabinets.

I'll quit going on and on and just get to the pics, that's what it's really all about anyway, right.

So here's the before...typical honey oak cabinets with pretty much no character, other than that it's a pretty adorable kitchen even before.

here are the naked cabinets...Chris and Sunday removed all the cabinet doors...

and I painted them in the garage

They also sanded and Chris added trim to the cabinets and drawers to make them look like panelled doors, if you notice in the before pic the original doors have rounded edges, so he had to fill all the edges with wood filler, allot of work I'm sure, but I think it made all the difference.

He also added bead board to the sides of the cabinets and peninsula

An applique on the faux drawer in front of the sink

we primed with a good paintable tinted primer

She wanted two toned with the bottom cabinets black and the top cream, (Pinterest inspired of course)...and so drum roll please here is the final result...

The shiny new fridge doesn't hurt.

She added new silver handles also.

We also painted the inside of her pantry door with chalkboard paint, just keepin it organized...

This kind of project is not for the faint of heart, it was almost two straight weeks for me about six hours a day, but that is only the painting, Chris and Sunday did all the prep, first emptying the cabinets, moving the appliances, removing the doors, sanding, all the extras and trim.  I think it was about a month without a kitchen for them. 

All in all it was actually pretty fun, but part of me just knows they are sitting at home going "what are we gonna do now we can't just replace them all".

 I also have to mention she made me and my family dinner every night I was there, (I wish I had taken pictures of that) I know that was almost worth it on it's own, Thank You Sunday!

All the paint and materials were purchased from Miller Paint in Oregon City, I don't think they are everywhere, but if you have one near you, they have the best quality paint, we get most of our paint at the cottage from them.  (and no I'm not being compensated, they just have great products).

                                                                       Katie





Would be "Million Dollar" Desk into Charging Station

post by Katie

I'll get to the million dollar part in a minute.  

First I'll convey my reasons for purchasing this adorable little drop down desk.  

For one Cords are taking over our house.  We needed a solution for all our charging devices, it was getting out of hand.  Family of six equals allot of little devices that need to be charged, phones, ipods, laptops, ereaders, cameras oh my.  I also needed a solution for an empty wall, I've been racking my brain to figure out the perfect piece of furniture for.

while I'm not sure if this is the perfect piece for that spot, I know it's a brilliant solution for our charging apparatus dilemma, The brilliantness actually came from This Post, I found on Pinterest.

So I headed over to Craigslist, and there are actually a few of this type of desk to choose from.  I ended up deciding between this one and one closer to the actual inspiration, that one was more like a dresser with drawers on the bottom, well while more storage is great, and I chose this for it's character. 

here it is before...

and the inside(sorry for the awful phone pics)

I'm loving white and wood right now, so I left the drawer in it's original state, it was really the only part that was still in pretty good condition.  

It works perfect for it's purpose.  This was the problem...right there on the kitchen counter(that's not even all of it)

and now...all hidden

We made a hole in the back for the power strip cord, and I think I'll mount it there somehow

I went ahead and finished the wall above with some things I already had and some additions I got from the Cottage

I had the wood frames...here they are before...

a little white paint and here they are now...

Most of the white dishes, the basket, and the little tool box are from Goodwill, or other thrift stores.  I got the Cricket out and added some numbers.  And there you have it, actually it really inspires me to keep going and maybe conquer some more walls and empty corners.  

Now for the million dollar part. So I can't be the only furniture re-doer that day dreams about finding hidden money, stuck behind a drawer or hidden underneath an old piece of furniture.  

So when my husband and I removed the little compartments so it was easier to paint, this worn, brown envelope falls out...

I know, that would be your first thought too right?  We finally found the piece with the hidden money.  I think I even said "it's the million dollars" ya he laughed at me.

It was actually a bank statement and cancelled checks belonging to a Mrs. Jane Hill from 1949, who was apparently staying at The Plaza Hotel even, well The Plaza Hotel in Ohio anyway, which must have been where the little desk resided.  

We may not be able to quit painting furniture and retire millionaires, but it kind of gives my cute little desk a story.  I think I'll just keep the envelope hidden in there.

Thanks for stoppin'

                                Katie

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