Finished Night Stands with Crappy Photos

Here's an update on my latest rehab project:

 

This week I took a little time to transform these dated nightstands, which if you remember, cost me $15/pr:

 

 

To these:

 

 

 

The tops were warped, chipped, and stained. I cleaned them thoroughly, then used 2 coats of CeCe Caldwell's Natural Chalk and Clay Paint in Seattle Mist that I purchased in Falls Church at Stifel and Capra After that, I coated everything with a water-based top coat for protection. I distressed them ever so slightly around the sides and edges so that it wouldn't seem traumatic when life happens to them (and it will).

 

I know most of us wanted to switch the handles out for something contemporary for my friend's more modern tastes. However, the 2 inch spread of the holes made it really, really hard to find replacement knobs, so I decided to stick with what we had. Hopefully the glossy white paint will work with my Arnebya's décor. If not, I'll sell them on Craigslist and keep looking.

 

The drawers were grimy inside so I cleaned them and lines them with gray and white scrapbook paper, secured by spray adhesive: 

 

I'll let you know if she likes them.

 

 

Tim's mom and Margaret are in the kitchen making gingerbread cookies, Tim and I will go out to a concert in a few hours, and Shadow is here at my feet. From my house to yours, I'd like to wish you love and peace this week.

Lowering the Bar (Cart) One Day at a Time

A couple months a go I found the skeeviest, stickiest, ricketiest cart imaginable at the thrift store for $5. Still haunted by a beautiful brass and glass cart that got away during my early days of thrifting, I snatched it up before any other lunatic could get her hands on its faux-everything awesomeness.

I quickly went to work scrubbing it down. Before long, I'd spray painted the wheel covers, the trim, and the cool woven sides a subtle gold. Gorgeous!

Next, I applied two coats of chalk paint in a creamy white to the shelves and the sides. All was right in the world until I woke up the next morning to this on both sides:

Ugh. Yes, I knew there was sticky residue there. Yes, I know I should have cleaned it off with something stronger than Dawn, but hello, if that stuff gets grunge off of a duck's feathers in an oil slick, I thought it was adequate for this situation.

It seems like a previous owner must have applied contact paper to the particle board sides at some point. After pulling it off and finding the sticky sides were collecting all manner of dust, debris, flora and fauna, the owner likely pitched it on the donation pile.

The paint was so peel-y I'm sure it would come off easily. A little sanding? No big deal. I probably could have done it with my fingernails. Except I was SO OVER IT by this point. Every time I sat down to watch HGTV and its numerous home makeovers involving glass tile, "open concept living spaces" and "man caves," the bar cart taunted me, nearly blocking the path of my remote.

Contact paper? I mean, who does that?

Oh yeah. My mom.

I know I've told you the story of how no sooner had our brand new white fridge been delivered in the mid-80's, than my mother covered it with a faux bamboo contact paper. A year or two later she "updated" it with a wooden plank contact paper design. VERY realistic.

Mom knew that she just couldn't look at that bright white fridge surrounded by our lovely dark brown (!) appliances ONE. MORE. MINUTE. She was a take-charge kind of person who didn't over think things. Case in point, which you may recall: When she wanted to paint the wainscoting in our dining room late one night, and she had no one to help her move the china cabinet, she just painted around it. It stayed that way for 10 years, and no one suspected a thing.

She wanted it done.
She got it done.
And it was good enough.

A sweet teen aged girl came to stay with us for the month of June. Every few days she'd ask me about the cart as it sat in peeling glory on a piece of cardboard in the family room. When was I going to finish it? What were my plans for it? I had no real plans unless it involved the woodpile.

Finally, I rolled its chipping butt into the laundry room and tried to forget about it.

I mean, what did I need with a "bar cart" anyway? Unless you were in Key West with me for spring break 1991, you've mostly likely never seen me consume a mixed drink. So if drinking is not really a big part of my life, why was I so eager to have a little drinks station set up in my living room?

Was it  my obsession with Mad Men? But by last (ugh) season, Don Draper/Dick Whitman's drinking has surely not been something to be celebrated or emulated.

Was it my dear departed mother's Waterford decanters, packed away for decades in basement after basement as we've moved houses? It's not as if they ever had liquor in them anyway. I grew up in a dry household, so my mom (yes, she of contact paper fame) filled the decanters with food coloring to make them look extra k-lassy.

I was close to throwing the cart back in my car and re-donating it (no shame in that, right?) when I got together with our teenage friend this past week. I hadn't seen her since the end of June. "So, how's the bar cart coming along?"

Oh geez. I'm in a funk. I don't feel like sanding or painting. It's already so shoddy that I'd never be able to sell it. It reeks of my failure and shame.

I wanted to have a better answer the next time she inquired about the cart, so I asked myself, "What Would Margaret Whiston do?" Then I drove to Home Depot and inquired as to where they kept the contact paper. I had three choices: Faux Granite in light peach, floral with grapes (!!!), or textured black "leather." I went with the black.

Last night I slapped that stuff up right on top of the peeling paint, bumps and all. I kind of like it, and I kind of hate it.

Tonight, my empty decanters have a place to sit. I also put my mom's brass turtle ash tray there, as a nod to the woman who taught me that sometimes good enough is good enough. At least for a while.

I think that's a mighty good life lesson.

Get 'er done.

Midweek Musings, In List Form

1. I can not seem to finish a single project these days. Everything I'm working on has one little detail missing. Yet do I finish it before moving to the next thing? Of course not.

2. Irony alert: I am fixing up classic, sturdy, vintage furniture to sell so I can make money to re-do my daughter's room with items made primarily of particle board.

3.When hammering the lid on a can of primer, you first might want to move your daughter's brand new comforter and fabric ottoman out of the way.

4. If Joe Kennedy was indeed as driven and ambitious a father as depicted in "The Kennedys" I feel sorry for all of his children.

5. Lo and behold, Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes are 100% believable in the roles of JFK and Jackie. I would not have believed this had I not seen it myself.

6. I do not see how the Kennedys had the time and energy for all of those extramarital affairs. I mean, I know they didn't cable back then, but it just sounds exhausting.

7. Watching a miniseries on Netflix can keep one from completing projects.

8. Speaking of projects, when someone cuts wood for you at Home Depot, be sure to measure it before you take it home. Aargh.

9. While I now admit that the Pump2Fit is a waste of time and money, rolling paint on a ceiling, while tedious, is good for those cafeteria-lady arms.

10. As I picked up some new propane at Home Depot today, I realized I am ever so grateful to be part of a propane cylinder exchange rather than a needle exchange.

What are you musing over today?

My Latest Hang-up

I've been feeling noticeably unproductive and un-crafty lately, but a quick lee-tle project today has put a spring in my step.

I repurposed a thrift store bulletin board that I had previously spray painted black, topped with fabric and added a little trim to. It was languishing in my basement gift wrapping station because frankly, if something can't be thrown in a gift bag, I'm not that interested in "wrapping" it.

A change of location to this vanity nook in the bedroom, and now I have a fun place to display my necklaces, tangle-free. I used cute push pins with typewriter symbols on them that I already had.

I am so excited! From the collection of vintage jewelry boxes also on the vanity, you can see I have no shortage of space to hold jewelry, but I just love this fun and funky board!

Do You Sea What I Sea?

Why pay the big bucks for Pottery Barn's beautiful coral?


When you can take some seriously UGLY faux coral from the thrift shop ($1.95)



Spray on a little Heirloom White paint



And bring a touch of the ocean to your home?



Can you tell I wish summer would come?

May your day be cheap and chic!

Linking to Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage!

So the Thing That Separates Me From Fred Sanford is What?

My name is Anna See and I have a problem with CHAIRS.


Today we will take a tour into the seemy underbelly of the See household to discover just how many chairs I've accumulated over the years. Prepare yourself for lots of dog hair, Legos, bad paint jobs, bad judgment and even worse photography.


Note: no dust bunnies were harmed in the making of this blog post.


I would like some lovely new chairs. They should be comfortable and stylish. Slipper chairs from Target, perhaps?

The problem is, this house is already full of chairs. Chairs seem to seek me out wherever I go. You may have already read about these chairs I found in the trash and fixed up:




They have two buddies--adirondack chairs-- chipping away in the yard and a few more "finds" on the back porch which, thankfully, can not be seen too clearly in this photo.

The suede chair I snagged out of the trash and spray painted is suffering right now. Her legs have started to separate from her body. Not sure what to do about that.

And you remember my thrift store dining room chairs. I bought 7, but only 5 survive. Not the most comfy things, but I LOVE how they look with their fresh coat of heirloom white.

But there's a lot around here I haven't shown you. The 6 Ikea dining chairs I got for $3.00 each are scattered around the house with various slipcovers and degrees of dog hair. They are comfortable and versatile.


I want to stain or paint the grungy legs of the ones that are in the kitchen, but I haven't gotten motivated to do it.

They can also be found in my office and our bedroom.

Also in the kitchen is this bench. It's an old church pew. It used to be in the front hall of my home growing up. My mom would hide her Tab and Coke behind it so we couldn't drink it. Now I use that same space as a pseudo-pantry. It's probably the only piece of furniture in the house that is safe from a can of white spray paint.

When I think of getting a nice built-in window seat here, with drawers underneath, I can't bear the thought of getting rid of this bench. This is where you will find Shadow perched (!!!!) waiting for me to get home from work.

"Pantry" view:






Then there is this elephant in the room, the dining room to be precise. Remember how I told you my grandparents were furniture people? Well, in addition to the broken settee and chair I have waiting for a new home in the basement I have this huge chair in my dining room, one in my bedroom, and a corner chair in my upstairs hall, all from the same Victorian furniture set. That pea green upholstery from the 70's is a terry cloth towel, I believe.

Wouldn't they look fun and funky painted a dove gray with black and white and hot pink upholstery? But that still wouldn't make them any more comfortable.

There's also the one that represents my first foray into spray painting and recovering furniture using a staple gun. This one is hanging out in a corner, looking for a new home.

Then we have these 2 wing back chairs. When I was growing up they were green and gold velvet. I had them covered in denim about 15 years ago and they could use some sprucing up again. Silhouette pillow courtesy of my super-creative friend Theresa. Every Thanksgiving my parents sat in these at either end of our really long dining room table.



What about my mom's little cane chair next to her antique desk? I remember her sitting there in our old house paying bills and writing notes on thick correspondence cards-- all January Jones-like with her blond hair and housecoat. Later, this became a good spot for me to sit and talk to boyfriends on the phone until the wee hours.




Do we dare venture upstairs to the top of the house?

This dainty chair was used by the smallest relative each Thanksgiving. I was the youngest, so that was usually me!



What about this one in Jake's room? It is huge AND uncomfortable, but for some reason we all love it. I'm mad at myself for getting rid of the slipcover my grandmother made for it in the 50's. Darn. How do you like all the crap on it? Keeping it real.

In fact, I'll admit that there's no way we could possibly SIT on all of the chairs I'm showing you, given their varying degrees of uncomfortableness (?) and disrepair, but they do make good holding areas for stuff.

Guest room time. This old chippy wicker rocker was on our screened porch growing up. It's the chair I rocked (and rocked!) my daughter in when she was a baby.



I love this armless rocker in the basement. Unfortunately, it got punctured in the moving van (by another chair!) and has a hole in it. My grandpa tried to talk me through how to re-cane it before he died, but here it sits. It was in my bedroom growing up.




Any tour would not be complete without a peek into the creepy unfinished basement area:


A favorite platform rocker from my Dad's parents. It needs a new arm.

Yes, those are stacks and stacks of other chairs. I do believe these pictures clearly illustrate the dangers of having storage space. Thank God I don't have a garage.

So, I guess it's beginning to become clear why there are no new Target slipper chairs in my future. I really do want fresh, stylish furniture, but I can't help but be drawn to the Charlie Brown aspects of hand-me-downs and cast-offs. I feel like they can be redeemed. And if not by me, then by whom?

Which may explain why I did not hesitate before picking this up at the thrift shop on Thursday for $2.00.


Yes, I know, Tom is a saint.

Potential Pitfalls of Shopping Curbside?

I don't have any new projects to show you right now, but I thought this comic strip captured the not so lovely underbelly of my favorite way to shop. I'll be sharing it with other dumpster divers and thrifters at A Soft Place to Land.

I'm sure garages are overrated anyway.

And for those of you who like before and afters, here are some of my curbside and thrift shop finds from elsewhere on this blog:

buffet

suede chair

dresser turned console

assorted dumpster dives

dining room table and chairs

dining room table and chairs

black bedside tables

More than Enough

So I went to my favorite thrift store today because holiday Mondays mean 50% off everything. It took me 20 minutes to find a parking place, and once inside I couldn't navigate the aisles because of all the people. Now I'm not easily dissuaded when it comes to finding a bargain, nor am I at all squeamish-- all my clothes are used, and a lot of my furniture comes from the curb-- but I just wasn't up to it today.

Not enough carts, loud music, too many people jostling against each other, plus lots of coughs and sneezes. I felt like I might as well go ahead and inject myself with a case of the swine flu just to get it over with.

And for what? To load up on more clothes I may or may not get around to wearing, or another cute thing to paint and figure out where to put? Even after last month's yard sale and big thrift store donation, I still have too much stuff. When I saw the checkout lines snaking around the store, I put back the pants I'd found for Jake.

I left empty handed once I was able to squeeze my way to the door.

I could tell that for a lot of people, being at the store today was NOT about the thrill of the hunt, but instead about the necessity of clothing themselves and their kids. I hope today meant a great chance to find things they needed that will make their lives easier in the months to come. Perhaps what I left behind will be exactly what someone else needed today. Although knowing me, what I left behind was probably something like a 4 foot tall gold birdcage.

My shopping trip became a reminder to count my blessings. A bargain is fun, it's eco-friendly, and it helps my family financially, but it is not a necessity. Why not? Perhaps by virtue of where I was born, or a job, or education, but certainly not because of any great things Tom and I have or haven't done.

And for this I am grateful.

p.s. For those readers who are pray-ers, I'd appreciate prayers for my daughter as she starts a new school tomorrow for 3rd grade! Thanks!

Before and After

Thrifty Decor Chick is having a Before and After Party today.

Here's my contribution:

I found this old buffet at the thrift store for $24.00 and threw it in the back of my minivan. It had green paper stuck to it and lots of scratches.




Two coats of white paint later, and I now have a great storage piece for my laundry room turned office. In the picture below, the furniture looks microscopic, but that's just the angle of the photo. The buffet is more than 5 feet long and my desk is almost 5 ft. The desk is a yard sale find from my childhood, painted white.

My laundry has moved into that little closet you see in the corner. While I would love to have a big laundry room, I love having an office more. And since my kids share this computer, I like that it is right off the family room. Adding the french doors and hardwood floors has made it seem all the more office-y. My husband made me a big bulletin board (3 ft x 4ft) out of wood trim and I covered it with linen fabric.

I hope you enjoy it. If you like Before and Afters as much as I do, check out the other contributors at Thrifty Decor Chick.

Also featured on: Southern Hospitality and Between Naps on the Porch.

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