Refinished Cabinet

Well, in my blogging lapse I had forgotten all about updating you on my cabinet refinishing project. I know you were all waiting on pins and needles.  Well, wait no more my friends. 

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I explained it in a previous post back in September of 2012. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(This picture reminded me that I need to touch up the old screws with the new color.   Also, the reason they don’t line up perfectly is because our crazy floor is *that* uneven.) Also, sorry this is in bold…it won’t let me “unbold” it.  Crazy computer.

It’s definitely not perfect…at all.  But I *love* the way it turned out – and I *love* the way it looks in my house.  It gives that wall a homey, comfy vibe – which I love.  I got to decorate it at Christmas and that was really fun! 

I am really proud of how it turned out. It was a SERIOUS labor of love. Judd didn’t believe me when I said that we could revamp that cabinet and turn it into something beautiful! Well, needless to say, I turned him into a believer! Although, I have to admit, he and I were both sick and tired of spending all of our free time working on it by the end. We finished it just a little before Thanksgiving. So it took us from September to November. With a newborn. Ha!  The hardest part was, by far, the sanding.  We sanded for a solid month.  We used stripping gel which made it easier, but it still took a long time to get in all the crevices.  There were lots of places that had to be sanded by hand and those took a while.  The painting actually didn’t take long at all.  We got a cheap paint sprayer and in about an hour I had the cabinet painted – inside and outside.  The doors took less time than that.  Then I cleaned the hardware thoroughly and spray painted it.  I loved the old hardware and couldn’t find anything like it – so we soaked it and scrubbed it until it was clean enough to paint.  I love the way it turned out.  Judd added the feet (from Lowes) after I stained them.  I stained the top in 3 coats.  *sigh*  It was a lot of work, but we feel like it was worth it. 

It’s decorated now like the “after” photos above.  It still needs some little knick knack type things but I’m trying not to buy the first thing I see so that I know I get what I want.  I know I want some old books to make the lamps taller.  I’m also thinking about some kind of pottery for a knick knack.  Any suggestions? 

The mirror and lamps came from consignment shop in town.  The mirror was actually a picture:

So I tore the paper off the back, took the picture out, spray painted the frame (the same color as the cabinet hardware) and had mirror cut to size.  That project took me about 30 minutes total.  The lamps were originally brass and were spray painted silver but I bought them that way…no work for me! 

It holds SO MUCH stuff.  Everything that I had in my china cabinet now fits on the top shelf.  So I’m basically using it as extra cabinet space to hold large platters, decorative kitchen/dining items, etc.  My china is also in there stacked up. 

So there you go.  The last project I’ll ever take on….HA!  Not really, but after I finally finished I vowed not to start another one for a long time!    I welcome any suggestions for decorating it! 

My Favorite Projects

I started thinking last night how much I enjoy doing a good project, and the proud feeling that I get afterwards, especially if it’s DIY.  I love it.  As a friend on Facebook said, “Pinterest makes me want to burn my house down and start over!” HA!  While I certainly don’t want to burn my house down, it does make me want to do more little projects that make a big difference in a room!  So I decided it would be really fun to share my favorite projects, and see yours, too!  Please leave a link to your favorite DIY's in a comment!  (We were doing a McLinky, but it wasn't working!)    Maybe your projects will be the next thing I decide to do!

Without further adieu, here’s my favorites:

1.  I can’t put up favorite projects without talking about our house renovation project.  It was not DIY (although I did design everything!) but I have to list it.  It was the biggest project we’ve ever done and it definitely took a lot of time and work, and I am SO proud of it!

Living Room Before & Afters

Kitchen Before & Afters

We did a lot more than just that – and you can see the renovation from beginning to end by clicking HERE.

2.  My red dresser.  My mom bought me a furniture set at a garage sale when I decided to move to Starkville to be close to Judd.  It was just regular honey colored wood.  The furniture moved with us when we got married and we painted it an onyx color from Benjamin Moore that was supposed to be black, but had a bluish tint to it.    Sorry I don’t have any pictures of that color – they’re all on my other computer.  When Amelia took over the guest bedroom in our new house, I decided to move it to an empty wall in the living room – and paint it red!  I’m in love with it.  It’s definitely in my top re-do projects.

We took the mirror that came with it off and got a different one and changed the knobs.  I love it.  It adds a wonderful pop of color to my living room!

3.  Caroline’s Striped Nursery.  We worked our tails off.  We’ve since moved, but that room will live in infamy.  

4.  My Earring Organizer.  Easy-peasy.  Seriously.  It’s a decorative bulletin board and some sewing pins.  I made it the day I came home from the hospital with Caroline.  Yeah, it’s that easy.

Simple, simple.  And cheap!

5.  My Sewing Room Organization Wall. 

Pegboard, peghooks, & dowel rods.  I love it.  My stuff is so much more organized.  My ribbon is where I can see it.  My thread is where I can get to it easily.  My hoops are all where I can get to them.  Everything is within reach.  We really just got it finished a couple of weeks ago…that’s why my corkboards are empty.   I also LOVE my “Sew much fabric, sew little time” decal. 

6.  My chalkboard painted jars.  I love them.  They add some color to the room and they were fun!

Please notice, I still have not purchased chalk.  I can never remember chalk.

Find the tutorial for these HERE.

7.  My picture gallery wall.  If you don’t think this is a project…try doing it!  I had to put them all out in the floor and arrange them 5000 times to get them the way I wanted.  Then I had to decide which pictures should be b&w and which should be colored.  Then we Judd had to hang them all and make them straight.  It was a chore, but I love the way it turned out!

8.  My closet dividers.  They keep my shirts in my sewing room SO much more organized.  I love them! 

Find the tutorial for these by clicking HERE.

9.  My cheapo lamps.  I found some lamps in the clearance section at Walmart that I loved, but I hated the color.  One can of Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint later, I had this! 

. 

10.  My bookcase.  My mother-in-law always has whatever you’re looking for in her shed.  I asked if she had a bookcase, and I got my choice of three.    I am so thankful!  I painted it blue (it was hunter green) and promptly took the books from all the random drawers and cubbies in the house and placed them on my bookshelf!  Now they’re all nice and neat!

If you think your eyes are playing tricks on you, they’re not.  It’s a little crooked…not perfectly level…but it holds the books just fine!

So there are my favorites.  I would LOVE to see your favorites.  They don’t necessarily have to be DIY but that does make it a little more fun!  You can list just one (and it can be a tutorial!) but you must place a link in your new post showing people that you linked up here so they’ll know where to come find more! Just put this link in your post somewhere...

http://juddandkacie.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-favorite-projects.html

So – show me your projects & tutorials!

Closet Dividers Tutorial

I am in no way a really crafty person.  I want to be.  But I really stink at it.  Most of the ideas that I get are totally stolen from someone else.  So I’ve been redoing my sewing area (it’s not right to call it my sewing room since 3/4 of the room is Caroline’s playroom and I really get one long wall, but I digress) and my awesome mother-in-law just happened to have a round clothing rack from department store that closed.  She dug around in an old shed and found it and gifted it to me!  It was like Christmastime! 

Sorry for the pic quality…phone camera!

My shirts have been a source of discontent for a while.  Everytime I think I have a brilliant idea about how to store my shirt inventory, something about it doesn’t work out like I plan.  I tried a large cabinet with cubby holes that my super handy hubby built me, but once stacked it was impossible to see what I was running out of.  I tried the rubbermaid tub drawers, but I had so many shirts that I needed 4 gabillion tubs…and let’s face it…those things aren’t cheap!  Then the shirts just stayed in the bags and sat on the desk until I could figure something out.  Hooray for the clothing rack!

Well obviously I needed something to divide (if you will) the shirts on the rack.  Now, I live in a pretty small place.  The nearest Hobby Lobby is 2.5hrs away in either direction.  The only place around to shop for things of that nature within my actual town (that is actually 15minutes away…ha) is Walmart.  Unfortunately, Walmart around here isn’t really crafty-friendly.  Don’t get me wrong, I find lots of things to waste money on in Walmart…but for things like awesome ribbon, fabric, etc. I have to travel well out of the confines of my town.  SO…since I am entirely too impatient to order them online and have to wait for 5-7 days for something to arrive because I cannot bear to pay a crazy amount of money for someone to ship something to me quicker, I come up with alternate ways of doing things.  Get on with it, Kacie.  Sorry.

I scoured the internet for closet divider tutorials.  All of which turned up pretty blank.  You either needed the plastic dividers already or you needed to use the “door hanger” version, which wasn’t what I was going for. 

If you are impatient and have few to no crafting stores around you…or you’re just really cheap…these are for you.  Because they are super cheap.  I’m talking, I spent $1.88 on these, and really didn’t even need to spend that much.

What you need:

1 cardboard box  (Size depends on how many you want to make.)

1 pair of sharp scissors or a box cutter (I already had this.)

1 marker (Obviously, already had this.)

Some pretty scrapbook paper or fabric if you prefer (I already had this.)

Spray adhesive or a glue stick (I already had this.)

Label Maker (I put this because it’s what I used, but you can totally just write it with the above marker I mentioned.)

Two round things, different sizes…one large, one small.

Straight edge.

Time.

That last one might be your hardest thing to come by.  They really don’t take too long.

First, take your two round things (I used a pot lid from Caroline’s play kitchen and half of a plastic easter egg.  Get creative, folks.) and trace around them on the cardboard, putting the larger thing on the outside and the smaller on the inside.  Don’t fully join the circle.  Make a “C” shape.  If you’re a good freehander, just do that instead…I am not.

 

Using your box cutter or your scissors, cut the “C” shape out. Use this one as your template for the rest. 

Spread them out over the cardboard box.

Stack them up nice and neat…or don’t, it doesn’t matter.

Using a marker or pencil or whatever, place your cardboard “C” on the backside of some cute scrapbook paper or fabric and trace your shape.  You need to do this twice, once for the front and once for the back.  Since you’re doing this on cheapo cardboard, I suggest you flip your “C” shape over and keep the correct side with the same tracing so it matches better.

Cut out your scrapbook paper “C”

Using your spray adhesive or your glue stick or whatever you chose, spray the “C” cardboard piece and place the paper (or fabric) down on top of it and press it firmly.

Do the other side the same way.  Trim up the edges if your paper didn’t fit just perfectly. 

Make a pile.

Take your label maker or your marker (if you don’t have a label maker…go get one…it’s so fun to label everything in your house.  Oh, that’s not fun to you?  Well you’re missing out my friend.)  and put your sizes on your divider.  Since the cardboard gives a little bit, just give it a slight bend and stick it on your rack.

Since you’re being cheap and using cardboard, know that the cardboard edges will show between the two pieces of paper.  But let’s be honest, this is going in your closet only to be seen by your children, your husband, and yourself – so don’t beat yourself up over it.  Your husband will thank you for spending less than a Sonic large Diet Coke on the entire project.  Mine did!

These are great, especially for new baby closets.  Their stuff is so tiny and it’s hard to tell one size from another…not to mention they grow out of their clothes so quickly!

So all of you cheapos with no Joann or Hobby Lobby near you…you’re welcome!

As a sidenote, Squiggle Stitch is going to have a giveaway when our FB page reaches 300 fans!  Invite your friends, please!