Back on the horse...

... err back in the garage, especially with this nice fall weather!


I want to get this thing done, so I can use it in my kitchen until I find the right hutch.  Having my utensil trays full of silverware on my kitchen table is juuuust not the look I was going for after all.

Here's what we're gonna' do:

-We're taking out that mirror [Holy 90's]

-I am going to add some beadboard wallpaper to the back, painted in a cream/sand color

-The glass shelves we may replace with wood, again painted in that cream/sand color, unless once the rest is painted the glass is not too heinous.

I have some nice cream wallpaper with a pattern of french sayings and fleur de lis that I'll paper the inside of the bottom with.  That will really clean up the inside, and is easier in my mind than painting the inside.

Can you see it?

Update:

So it turns out the mirrored back was actually 3 pieces of mirror.  I now have 2 long mirrors, and 7 more years back luck.  Buuuuut what else is new?

With 2 more days of work on this monster here is what it looks like now:

detail of some distressing

This was yesterday after I went a little nuts with the sander

And here it is today after another coat of black, and priming the inside with Kilz.

I am hoping tomorrow is warmer so I can finish up the black, and start the sand/cream inside.

What have I done?

So, I sold my kitchen hutch yesterday.  I'm thrilled someone likes it, and happy to have the cash.

But I miss it!  Look at this blank hole in my kitchen!!!

I had no idea how much that thing 'made' my kitchen.
Let the hunt begin.

The Butlers Pantry

We do not have a huge kitchen.  It certainly beats the small galley we had in the 'old house', and I am no gourmet, so it's fine for us.  When we built the house, keeping in mind our kitchen was a bit smaller than those you see on the market, or on those renovations shows, we added the Butlers Pantry.  It was also in keeping with our desire for this house to appear to be an older house.

As does happen with housebuilding we reached a point where our wallet was saying ouch, and some things were coming in way, WAY over budget [$20k well, anyone?] so we started cutting things out.  The cabinets in the butler pantry were on that 'we'll do it someday' list.

Now I am glad it worked out that way.  I wrote in a previous blog about the Architectural Salvage place where we bought a majority of the items in our house, Green Demolitions.  In building this house searching for bargain finish items is a habit I've not been able to shake even though it's mostly finished.

So one day while checking Green Demo I spotted these cabinets, called to get measurements, and bought them sight unseen [ok I obviously saw a pic, but not a detailed one].

When we went to get them hubby was worried they were not what I was expecting, I looked at them and was ecstatic that they were beyond my expectations!  They are custom made, solid pine with the most amazing details.

Here are pics of the install:

I put up beadboard wallpaper on the wall as a backsplash and painted it to match.  Then we bought some  crown molding to finish them off:

See the little turn peg under the glass door?  

Each door has one of those, and a groove where they pass over to age the cabinets.

The the right of the cabinets is an Ikea wardrobe we use as a closet.  *Someday* I will have a freezer right there, and a pantry closet, so the closet can be a closet like it was supposed to be, not a pantry like my builder decided it should be.  Apparently, in his mind, blueprints are merely a suggestion.

And then came the accessorizing, even though, yes the cabinets still need leveling, and a toekick and the ceiling needs to be repainted:

What a great place to display Grandma C's china pieces

Stallion ad from 1805

Miscellaneous equestrian art

WEEEEEEEE!  Why do horseman enjoy a 'crash and burn' so much?

Are you sitting down?  The cabinets, including the granite counter, were under $400.

They were finished with a pickling finish [you can get an idea of the finish if you look at the back of the inside of the uppers].  I covered that with the dove grey paint, and I had to putty some holes, and of course we added the crown molding, some trim, and the beadboard wallpaper [a roll of which goes a Loooooooong way].  I would guess all totaled, we came in well under $500.

SEE why I love Green Demo???

It's been SO LONG!

What a couple of weeks it's been!

I had that head cold, sinus thing that was going around, and then had to get out of bed to help with the First Annual Charity HorseShow for Equine Rescue Resource, the rescue for whom I do all this furniture.

The show was a smashing success, with the perfect turnout of competitors and enthusiasts, and the incredible work of volunteers that made for an incredibly fun day.

I was placed at the Auction Table, where I was just amazed at the array of items people donated
-Hay
-handmade soaps
-Breyer Horses
-A chance to get a custom art work
-Vet services
-A Handmade wooden saddle stand
-Pilgrim statuettes

And of course yours truly had to have items there as well.  I planned to sell the dog bed there, and not only did I sell it, but to a lady who has had just the most harrowing year this year with her horse.  To think that something that I made put a smile on her face, is just the ultimate compliment!

I also, as I ran out of the house at 6:30 that morning, started grabbing anything that wasn't nailed down to sell.  Including the cow pictures from my kitchen wall.

They're back because though I got oodles of compliments on them, no one bit.

I have meant for so long to print the other Fair pictures I took this year, and I think I'll hurry and get those ordered and framed to sell at the next show

Our Fearless leader, in the midst of all that she had on her plate in the last weeks, actually stopped in one of the less savory towns in our county when she spotted a table in a garbage heap she thought I could use to make into a dog bed.  It is SO PERFECT!!!

Can you see it?

And look at the detail....

I'm adding some feet, some finials [after I cut off those feetlets that were covered in a brass thingamabob], paint [of course] and bedding....

Here's the question, what color?  I'm seeing a shabby chic distressed off white simple 4 poster.  

But then to do some color combination that would highlight and play off that greek key design would be cute.  

It could also become a canopy bed.

As always your ideas are welcome.

NEXT!!

So I've been searching Craigslist for a new project- something that sorely needs a makeover, but also something uber cheap, cause I have not sold much in the last month.  I wanted something in which to display more of those boxes and boxes of my grandmothers china in.  I found this baby last weekend, drove an hour to pick 'er up, and started right in.  

Of course, before I took before pictures.  I always forget before pictures in my excitement to dig in!

Previous projects I've worked on as the urge struck me.  Most times I'm so driven to see my vision materialize that I spend a lot of time on it and forget to keep track.  I also decided, upon seeing just how much room she takes up in my garage, that she is WAY too big for the Dining room, so just like *that* she's a resale project.   Apparently I can see a 'distance' to a fence on horseback, but eyeballing a furniture item and figuring just how much room I have in a room?  Not so much.

Base before-ish [I sanded before remembering to take pictures]

Top, true 'before'

During, a coat of primer and a coat of red applied:

A coat of black, or two

Dry brushing on some more red

Ok so where was I?  Oh yes, I am at day 3 of dry brushing on red... Thursday it had too much red showing, yesterday not enough.  My goal is to be done with it Sunday.

This is only the second thing I've done black, and I was sold on the idea from the minute I saw it... and now am wavering.  What do you think?  Would it have been better to go Antique white on it?