The 50 Week China Cabinet Makeover

There really isn’t a solid reason why, but this china cabinet took me 50 weeks to finish. I wasn’t feeling a big creative push when I started working on it, and I think at the time we were transitioning out of an antique store we were in. I.e. I didn’t have a big need for additional inventory. Regardless of why, it actually took 50 weeks from start to finish.

Here it is “before”…

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As always, a little repair work was needed before painting.


//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsSo there are a few things that lead me to believe this is from the 1920s – 30s. I think it has some definite Art Deco elements like the original handles on the bottom, the feet, and the trim work. (And who said I don’t use my degree on a daily basis?! Those Furniture History classes come in handy more than I ever thought they would.)

So after 50 weeks, here is the after.

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Obviously there was a color change. I made my own “chalky” paint from scratch using Benjamin Moore’s Danville Tan. Painting was necessary mainly because of the repair work needed. I also changed the glass on the front. I created a “mercury glass” type of finish instead of clear glass. There are lots of methods for creating mercury glass if you search for it on Pinterest. It’s not my first time doing this technique, but a word to the wise: Just like a crackle finish will never turn out the same way twice, mercury glass will never turn out the same way twice. Let’s just say I thought long and hard, was definitely sure it was what I wanted to do, took some long, calming breaths, and said a prayer before I started it.

I’m happy the “mercury glass” turned out well!

It would have been fine without the mercury glass finish, but it didn’t seem quite complete to me without it.

The handles on the bottom are unique. I’m all about using the original hardware whenever possible.

Here’s the before and after…

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What a big difference! I know it’s hard to tell from the pictures how big this is. It’s only about 64″ tall, which is on the smaller side for a china cabinet. That’s typical for the time period it’s from though. I can totally see this being used as anything from bathroom storage to a bar or bookshelf.

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsUntil next time…

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Soft Aqua Dresser

Another new dresser! I don’t know why I’m so bad about showing these off to everyone once they’re finished. I’m really going to try to be better about that.

Here’s a small dresser that I picked up a while ago. As always, it needed some repair work. I don’t tend to paint quality wood furniture unless there’s something wrong with it. I do make exceptions for “ugly” furniture that needs a makeover though.

I usually try to paint furniture in neutral colors so that more people will be able to use them. But I have this one particular blue color that I love to use. It’s a custom color that I make. I make my own “chalky” paint. There are recipes galore on Pinterest.

I’ve had a hard time capturing the true color in photos. I like to describe it as the perfect, soft aqua/blue/teal color.

I’m happy that I was able to keep the original hardware. It still looks great, and it’s usually higher quality craftsmanship that what is currently available.

This is fairly small, just 35″ tall. Perfect for a guest bedroom or even bathroom storage.

I also just finished an Art Deco era china cabinet that I’ll post about soon. I seriously started working on it 50 weeks ago – almost a year! I’m glad it is done.

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Dresser Makeover, Hardware Too!

Sometimes I forget exactly how many pieces of furniture have come and gone through our hands. It doesn’t seem like that many until I start scrolling through the files on our computer. It’s a lot, y’all. There’s a lot of learning and hands-on experience that have resulted from doing so many pieces, but from time to time I still come across problems that need to be solved.

Here’s a dresser that I just finished. Sorry, I don’t have a great before picture, but it’s the one on the right. It was blah, painted brown, and nothing to be desired. It’s wood, but the wood was painted over with a brown color. Not sure why.
I decided to go with gray and blue. I’m holding off on the “after” picture because I want to talk about my hardware problem first. I may have mentioned it before but ALWAYS, for the love of Pete, ALWAYS count the hardware before you buy it. Why? I promise you that you WILL spend more on new hardware than you did on the piece. And I also promise you that you won’t be able to find new hardware that matches up to old holes. Trust me.  So anyway, I counted the hardware, but failed to notice that some of it was damaged. Take a look:
Pretty brass hardware (y’all know it’s back, right?) with some faux tortoise cabochon type thingies. Except, some of the cabochons were broken and some were missing completely. First of all, let me be completely honest: The cabochons were ugly and plastic-y feeling. But I would have TOTALLY left them on there if they had all been intact. Not gonna lie – I would not have spent a dime to replace them. 
However, that wasn’t an option. I played around with several things, but I ended up coming up with this:
I married the old, original drawer pull with a new, pretty knob. And….I love it. But wait, there’s more. The next problem? Screws. Yep, turns out it was annoyingly difficult to find screws that worked. I got some blank stares at a local hardware store, and one morning I had two employees at Home Depot finally help me put together something that worked. I needed 8 screws exactly, but…
Instead I got 7 plus this screw ^ that someone didn’t turn into a screw. (Another trip back to Home Depot.)
Ok, finally. Here’s the after:

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The hardware certainly wasn’t an issue I anticipated, but I think it completely transformed the piece. What do you think?

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Barn Wood China Cabinet: Before & After

I like refinishing hutches. I have a whole folder on our hard drive dedicated to before and after pictures of hutches that we’ve done. They are straight forward, and they sell really well for us. (BONUS!)

So I don’t know why it is that we hate china cabinets. But both Ken and I do. Somehow those simple doors on the front that officially make it a “china cabinet” also turn it into a project from hell. I also have a folder dedicated to before & after pictures of china cabinets. I hope I don’t ever have to add another picture to it. I don’t want to say, “never” but, I never want to refinish another china cabinet again. Unless it’s free. And unless I’m doing it for myself.

Ugly, ugly!

Here’s the before of the latest china cabinet that we’ve redone. It was next to free because the glass shelves on the inside were gone. Buying it we knew we’d have to invest in the expense of replacing them, but we know a guy. 😉 Not really. We know Ace Hardware. They sell and cut glass.

Now, this is the point that I also have to point out the missing pane of glass on the right. I wish I could blame that on the kids. But that was an adult in the house. And not me.

The other pane came out and some chicken wire went in. Because chicken wire definitely goes with what we had planned for this.

Yesterday I posted about how we came upon the jackpot of barn wood. Check out that post (here). Before we even started on this china cabinet we knew that we wanted to add some of the barn wood to it and change the look completely. This is where I get on my soap box and proclaim, “Please do not throw out furniture. Find a way to reuse it. Invest in quality furniture to begin with and you will never need to replace it!”

Ahem, without further ado, the AFTER:

This took over a week to complete. Seriously, it did. With prepping, cutting wood, installing wood, drying wait time, painting, drying wait time, sanding, curing wait time, waxing, hardening wait time, installing chicken wire, and new glass shelves it was a FULL WORK WEEK. The wood is priceless. It cannot be replaced or replicated. This is a one of a kind, truly unique piece. And since I’m never making another one (never say never?), there is only one opportunity to get anything like it from us!

Now THAT’S a makeover! Completely different.

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsHope you enjoy the before & after. If you’re local and you’re interested in purchasing this, please use the icons at the top to contact us. Facebook is the best way!

Update: This piece has sold and is no longer available,

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Barn Wood: The wood that almost wasn’t.

The area we live in, a suburb of Atlanta, has changed a lot in the past 25 years. Like, a LOT. It’s not the same place it was when Ken and I grew up. There aren’t many open fields left. It’s mostly businesses and neighborhoods and concrete. And more people. And it wasn’t. Before.

Atlanta is known for having the native-born people far outnumbered by the transplants. But we’ve lived here our whole lives, and we know a lot of other people that have, too. So this story is for them. And us. But I have to start from the beginning:
Fort Daniel isn’t just the name of an elementary school in Gwinnett County, and Hog Mountain isn’t just the name of a road (or two). Fort Daniel was an actual military fort built in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries on Hog Mountain, which was the southern boundary of the Native American hunting grounds.  This area is approximately located on Scenic Highway and in between Old Peachtree Road and Gravel Springs Road. The fort was rebuilt in 1814, but there is some speculation as to whether it was completely rebuilt from the ground up, or rebuilt using the existing structures. For our purposes, it just matters that it’s old.
Recently a barn-type structure located near our home was being demolished. A sign invited anyone that wanted to take whatever wood they liked. And so, being us, we started the process of removing wood.  During our visits there to load up our truck, we talked with the landowner, Mr. Boyce, a few times. He was having the structure removed so that his two sons could build their homes there. Someone was supposed to come demolish the building and haul it away, but those plans didn’t work out. And, it turns out, this wasn’t just a barn. Mr. Boyce bought the property 25+ years ago, and he was told that at some point in time someone had moved one of the old barracks from Fort Daniel there, and it had been used as a storage barn ever since.
Ken carefully removing pieces of wood from the structure. At one point he was balancing
on a rotten tree stump to get the perfect pieces for me.
This wood that we got, is, at youngest, from the early nineteenth century. Each piece of wood is stunning. On the sides that were exposed to the elements you can see the faint, original green color, places where a “newer” (which may be decades old, as well) whitewash color shows. Mostly there is the much sought-after silver gray color. On the back, the sides that were not exposed, the wood is rich and brown. It is a color that you can only get with time, and a lot of it. This color is enough to move you me emotionally.
This is my favorite piece of wood that we got. Isn’t it beautiful?! I’m saving it for something special.
We’ve taken some of the wood that we collected that weekend and added it to a china cabinet that we’ve customized. The wood looks weathered and beautiful, but don’t mistake it as fragile and brittle. This wood is rock hard and strong. It has lasted a very, very long time. This wood is our history. It’s special. And it was almost trash.
Here’s the china cabinet! I was trying to avoid my reflection, so you have to see it from an angle. 😉
Ready to be filled with special things!
Ahhh! THIS WOOD is a dream!
This piece is currently available and can be seen by appointment. Use the icons at the top of the page to contact us. 
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To learn more about Fort Daniel, Georgia, visit these websites:
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/fort-daniel
http://www.thefortdanielfoundation.org/History.htm

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Duck Egg Blue Dresser

Hi Friends!

I recently rehabed a Bassett 4 drawer dresser. This came from an estate sale about a year ago.  Since we sold several pieces in a short amount of time, I had to get it done. No more procrastinating on this one!

Before

The top needed some TLC, so painting was the only way to go. This sucker is solid wood. Medium sized, but oh so heavy!

Add that TLC we talked about, along with some Duck Egg Blue (which is sort of green) chalky paint, some special artistic detailing, and we have a much prettier little thing. Don’t you agree?

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After

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Awww! I loooovvvvve this one! Hope you do, too.

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Reclaimed & Repurposed Window Frames

I finally got some more window frames listed onto Etsy. Selling stuff on Etsy is super time consuming, so my online shop gets neglected. My space in the The Old Hardware Store is full, so Etsy is feelin’ some love this week.

These can be used for soooo many different things. Hanging jewelry, sunglasses, keys, photos. Use them for bridal or baby showers to display photos of the bride & groom or mom & dad-to-be when they were babies. You can even use them to hang gift cards for a group gift to the teacher from her class.

For your viewing pleasure, some of my favorite pics:

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Belle & Beau on the Dixie Highway 90 Mile Yardsale

Nothing says “family time” like packing up the kids and dog and heading out to spend the entire day yard sale hopping. Oh, who am I kidding? I forced them to go, all of them. But since I put in almost 5 hours sitting at the ball field for soccer tryouts this week, I figured they could spend 5 hours in the car while I worked had fun searching for inventory.

Diesel’s first time coming “picking” with us, and he did great!

My friend, Kimberly, told me about the Dixie Highway 90 Mile Yard Sale a while ago. But unfortunately for me, it always conflicted with other plans. I was on the fence about going right up until the time we pulled out of the driveway. It’s a really long drive for us to get there, and there is never a guarantee you’ll find anything good. In fact, I was worried we were going to drive all of that way and get rained out.

First things, first. In my world of yard sales, people set up at 8:00 and “early birds” show up at 7:45. With traffic, we ended up not getting to Adairsville (one of the cities on the 90 mile stretch) until 10:30, and people were just then starting to set up. Not sure what that was all about, but I’m glad we got a late start. I would’ve been all huh? and wuh? and “this is a bust.”

Our 9 year old played “photographer” today. And I love seeing the day through her eyes! Here are a few of her pictures. At the bottom you can see a picture of some of the things I ended up buying.

Sweet iron bed. The guy insisted it was a “twin” but I knew better. Smaller than a twin! He wanted $75

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Loved this.

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Some very cool bottles here. We must be on the right track!

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We ended up buying all of the insulators here.

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 Here is a small portion of what we ended up getting:

Insulators, camera and case, skates, dolls, milk glass tea sets – one for iced tea and one for hot tea. etc, etc

Best deal of the day: the insulators
Favorite find of the day (that I’m keeping!): jadeite sugar bowl with holly leaves on it. Everything else is for sale.
Should’ve skipped on: antique scale (not pictured)

We had fun and will definitely do it again!


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Before & After: Painted Wood Hutch

I’m so thankful for Spring. It really makes a big difference in my motivation. When it starts to really get cold again this fall, I’m going to give myself permission to forget about painting furniture until spring comes again. No expectations for myself to work in the cold, blah weather means no guilt for not accomplishing anything.

I’ve had this hutch in my garage. (We keep our cars in the driveway and our furniture in the garage. Don’t y’all?) I hadn’t planned on what I was going to do with it, but I got a burst of energy and motivation this week to just get it done.

Seriously. Ugly, right?

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsI think what I disliked about this the most is that there was no visual interest in the wood. I’m not against wood furniture, but this one was just like a big blog of orange-y stained wood. And the doors. Tragic. This isn’t a giant piece. I’ve been lifting and lugging it around all by my petite flower of a self. (I really hope you read that with sarcasm.) But it is a piece of furniture that will be extremely useful to someone. Not me, though. No room in the inn.

Much better. Much, much better.

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsNow there is some visual interest. I left the surfaces unpainted that would get the most use. You can see a similarly dramatic difference in a before and after picture of me in makeup. #redhead

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsI’ve put some of my jadeite and jars on it so you can visualize what it would look like in use.

Hope you love it!
XOXO,
Abby

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Painted Desk Makeover!

Hey Y’all!
Just a quick post today to show-off a project that I just finished. I haven’t painted much furniture this winter, or as I like to call it, “The Long Unmotivating Season of Gray and Cold.” Who wants to paint furniture on days where naps, coffee, and books are so much more enticing?

 

I picked up this dainty desk at an estate sale. At first glance I thought I’d have to repair the legs. It turns out the hardware was only loose, and it just needed a little tightening. I wasn’t so lucky with the packing tape removal. I’m guessing that the drawers had been taped shut at some point to keep them from opening during a move. Unfortunately, I think the tape had been left on for at least ten years. Long enough to get good and petrified! Hours of tape removal, y’all. Hours.

I don’t know why kids feel inclined to carve into wood. This one had “I love Renee” carved into the side. I can only get so irritated, though. My own Samantha carved “I love you” into some end tables. It was the first thing she learned to write and she wrote it everywhere. Who can get mad at “I love you”?! I mean, PRESH!!! That girl is full of love.

Found some fab knobs. You can find them here:
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Dug up some paint from my stash in the garage. Mixed up some of my special recipe chalky-like paint.

And voila! Shabby chic. Dainty. Feminine. Perfection. Love.

On another topic, happiness is finding a bag of jelly beans that you forgot you had. True Story!

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor. 5:17

XOXO,
Abby

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