Midcentury Modern China Cabinet Update

I purchased a Midcentury Modern China cabinet a few years ago for $100. It wasn't my first choice, but it was in my price range so I decided to make it work. In my opinion this piece was not rare or made by an in demand manufacturer so I didn't feel like I was committing a sin changing it. I felt like all my china and barware blended in to the cabinet and my collection didn't get the attention it deserved. Here is the dining room shortly after new wall paint.

I knew I wanted to leave the piece as original as possible, but somehow make it a little more dynamic. I contemplated wallpapering the back and decided I wasn't THAT desperate for a project. I finally settled on painting the inside of the piece. I purchased a few quarts of mistinted paint from Ace Hardware and found the perfect complement for my dining room's color palette. I decided to take a chance and paint the inside of my china cabinet. Here's a peek of the mid project mess...

Rather than go all in and potentially ruin the piece; I opted for painting the ugly backside of the cabinet. The backside had a rough texture and was stamped with production dates, I worried the paint may not camouflage well. After two coats of paint and 24 hour dry time I replaced the backing piece and secured it with new nails. Once the piece was put back together I chose my favorite pieces and put them on display!

Laundry Room Redo!

My last house had a huge laundry room. It was amazing! I could actually keep dirty laundry in the laundry room because there was so much room to spare! The house my husband and I purchased November 2013 has a laundry closet with bifold doors. Doing laundry actually felt depressing. Take a look at the before...

I wasn't lying when I said it was pretty depressing. Ultimately these items were my inspiration for the final product.

I didn't want to move the washer and dryer all over the house so I decided to tackle this project one side at a time. After disconnecting everything and taping off the trim I started painting. I chose 'Let's Have a Party', one of the new colors from the OPI line by Clark & Kensington.

It took FOUR coats of paint to get adequate coverage. I nearly ran out of paint but somehow I finished with a few drops left. I had a few accessories that I decided to repurpose but I also wanted some sort of storage. I decided to look at Goodwill and found this metal tiered storage rack for $2.99!

I decided to take it down to bare bones and gave it a quick spray of white paint. It is now the perfect place to store Downy balls and dryer sheets!

I knew I wanted a countertop to take advantage of having a front loading washer and dryer. This turned out to be the biggest challenge of the project. My husband ended up building the countertop. My only contribution was applying paint. I used Rustoleum Satin Black paint I had leftover from another project. It covered well in two coats and is tough enough to withstand constant wear. To hide the hoses and outlets I placed three Magnetic Bullet Boards along the backsplash of the countertop. The project took most of a weekend, but I ended up loving the end result!

Side table redo!

Some people bring home stray animals. I bring home abandoned furniture from the thrift store. There is something therapeutic about turning something ugly into something beautiful. This piece was a doozy...I actually haven't been brave enough to bring home something this ugly before. I actually paid $5 for this, but I consider it a worthwhile donation to my local SPCA. Here it is in a sad state of BEFORE...

This thing was dirty. I had to clean it five times before all the grime disappeared. Thankfully it didn't have any funky smells, it was just filthy. The sticker residue came off easily with a little bit of Goof Off spray. After it was clean I waited 24 hours for it to dry. Because this project was small I decided to rattle can it. I always use Rustoleum 2X coverage painter's choice. For this project I used Gloss White. Because this piece was already a light color I achieved ideal coverage with two coats. I decided to paint the inside drawer a bright cheery blue for a little pop of color. A few hours and about $10 later, you would never believe it was so ugly before!

Dining room chair redo!

While looking for a new dining room set I stumbled upon a near mint MCM dining set for $100. I had to convince my Mom and Stepdad to drive me to Middle of Nowhere, North Dakota with their truck. Turns out that was a six hour roundtrip. The last half of the trip was pretty tense because I was terrified the chairs were going to fly out of the pickup bed. We didn't bring near enough tie down materials. Lesson learned=ALWAYS bring extra tie downs. I knew I didn't want to touch the bones of the piece but I definitely wanted to update the chairs in some way. The upholstery was not original so I didn't feel guilty changing it up. I had never tackled upholstery before, but my husband decided he was up for the challenge! It turns out upholstering chair seats is incredibly easy, ANYONE can do it! All you will need is a screwdriver to remove the seats a few yards of fabric, a good pair of scissors and a staple gun. We began by removing the seats, set them down on the fabric and then started cutting. We followed up by pulling the fabric taut and started stapling. Our results were surprisingly successful considering how non technical our technique was! It really is THAT easy.

Thrift find Thursday!

It's been many months since I made a blog post. I have a lot of time on my hands now that I am no longer working outside of the home and the weather is a bit harsh for my hobby of choice, photography. I decided it's about time I get my blog up and running again, and there is no better way than to dive in head first. Luckily the break has given me a while to accumulate a big stockpile of items for Thrift find Thursday. :)

Today's item isn't anything of real value, there was just something about this piece that made me need it. Well, that and it only set me back fifty cents. I think what I like about this piece is that it is charming. It's something someone painted by hand and it has an undeniable pin up vibe, plus I had the perfect place for it on the bookshelf in my office. :)

Jean Paul Gaultier at Target!

I can't say I love every piece in the collection, but there are a few items worth checking out! I will definitely be taking a peek in person next week!

Go see it for yourself!

Really, Mattel????

While roaming the toy section in Wal-Mart I spotted these Barbies. I was so excited and I loved everything about them until I saw the little quotations above their heads. I don't know I was so disappointed and offended by these quotes. The quotation over the teacher's head is 'I chalk it up to my Ph.D. in fashion' and the Nurse's quote is 'Get new shoes and call me in the morning!'. I was so mad, really irritated that Mattel thought those quotes were even remotely funny??? Perhaps, I am being overly sensitive, but I thought we had come far enough in society to know that women are JUST as smart as men and in my opinion those quotes are absolutely patronizing. I don't know why they couldn't have just done these reproduction Barbies and left me with the impression that they were smart, successful women with college educations? Is it really that much to ask Mattel? Readers, do you think I am being oversensitive????