Over a year ago, Peter and I bought a hutch at Salvation Army and refinished it, but for some reason, we never blogged about it and it’s been floating around in my head ever since. This happened so long ago that I actually had to dig my old computer out of a closet to get the pictures to write this post, but we figured if we were going to write about it, then we ought to do it justice. Right? Right! Maybe this will refresh your memory.
Okay, so around the time that Peter and I found the hutch, our kitchen/dining area was looking a little pathetic. Since we’re taking a trip down memory lane, I’ll show you our bare and messy mess. (Yes, messy mess is a technical term–in case you were wondering.)
Pretty bleak, huh? If you’re too depressed to go, I understand, but for those of you who can muscle through, look at the huge blank wall and giant stack of stuff on the desk against it. Peter and I saw the hutch and decided that we needed to hide some of our clutter.
The best part about this project is that we were so ridiculously clueless about refinishing furniture. (Not that we’re oh-so-knowledgeable now, but I do feel like we have learned a thing or two.) The buffet had a really glossy coat over it so we knew that we needed to sand it down, but considering that we were just painting over it, we did get a little over zealous with the sanding.
We thought that in order to paint something properly, we would have to strip the old paint entirely. Please don’t laugh at us. We really were clueless. After sanding, we primed the hutch with Kilz and painted the whole thing brown. I tried to clean the hardware. I think this mixture was vinegar, salt, and flour, but even after soaking in this ick, the hardware still looked gross so we spray painted it silver.
The insides of the drawers were also gross.
So we lined them with a shelf liner that we found at Target.
Finally, we replaced some of the drawer tracks, so that the drawers would function.
Here’s the after.
I love the delicate little legs and the lovely trim on the bottom. I definitely think it’s better than the before. Don’t you?
A couple months ago I found the perfect ornate mirror at a thrift store. I had been looking for one for a long time, knowing that I wanted to turn to use the frame with a chalkboard and finally this one showed up in my path. It lived untouched on our fainting sofa until Saturday, the day before out engagement photos, when Peter and I decided we wanted it to be a prop. Of course, I swore I had a before picture and of course I don’t. Arghhh. I’m going to blame the fact that we were running around like crazy people.
The picture of the back of the mirror will show you the original color.
I removed the red ribbon and the screws from the back of the mirror. If you want to turn the mirror into a chalkboard then you can fit a piece of wood to the frame or you can just use the cardboard. I opted for the latter. Spray the cardboard and the frame with primer.
Follow up with the color that you chose for the mirror and chalkboard paint for the cardboard. The main reason that it took us so long to get around to this project was that we were’t sure what color we wanted the frame. We should’ve just done it since we can always repaint, but we were back and forth between a statement color, silver, trying to silver leaf, or white. I think this is a great choice for us for now.
Here’s the final product.
And here it is in action.
These are the sneak peak from our fabulous photographer Mary Sledd. If you’re in the Austin area and looking for a photographer I definitely recommend her. When I get a bit more time I’ll write more of a review.
What projects have you been putting off for awhile? Is there anything that you think would really motivate you to move forward with them?
Peter and I are finally both feeling better. We’re pretty behind on returning emails and phone calls so if you haven’t heard from us in a bit, we’re sorry and will get back to you really soon.
The bathroom project is being dragged out much more than I ever thought it would. This is partially due to us getting sick and being really busy and not have time to knock out as many tasks as we thought we would and partially because we keep finding other things to fix. About a week and a half ago we had to call a plumber to fix a leak mostly because both the knobs outside and the knobs under the sink that turn the water off no longer worked. I’m all for trying things ourselves but without the ability to turn off the water neither of us were going to attempt it. So on we go. I can’t wait to get to the accessorizing part of the project, but after painting the bathroom closet we submitted to the fact that the actual bathroom really needs a paint job as well. The previous owners decided to use a flat paint and it left the walls looking like this.
See all those tiny cracks?
And because the main readers of this blog are my dog-obsessed soon-to-be -in-laws, I will show you all this photo. Peter and I went over to our friends’ house for dinner on Saturday. In addition to cooking us a fabulous dinner, they invited our Poms over to play with theirs. Here is a group photo of the dogs with Anita and Peter working to get them to all stay still. Ours just look like black little smears. The concept of not moving is way too hard for them.
So much fun!
How was everyone else’s weekend?
When Clay and I decided to refinish his dresser it was in pretty sad shape. There were dents and scratches all over and, as you can see in the picture below, one of the handles was missing and one was mysteriously upside down. Strange.
After our attempt to stain the beat up dresser failed, we decided to hide all of our mistake with paint–but first we wanted to challenge ourselves in one more way. The pulls that Clay found to replace his old ones required holes that were wider apart than the originals. Instead of searching for pulls that fit the preexisting holes, we decided to patch the old ones using Elmer’s Wood Filler. The process was simple. Fill the holes with putty and let them dry for 2-8 hours (huge window, I know). We left them overnight just to be on the safe side. After the putty dries, you sand off the excess until only a smooth surface remains.
We also did this with some of the major scratches and dents on the outside of the dresser.
After two quick coats of paint and the not-so-quick process of re-drilling holes appropriately sized for the hardware, Clay’s dresser had a brand new look.
I think the handles were meant to go on the other way but Clay preferred having them look like they pointed at one another. Overall, we’re really pleased with the way that it turned out. The dark color balances the curves of the wood making it feel more masculine. It’s definitely more suited for a guy’s room.
Written on October 15th, 2009 by Peter2 comments
My parents bought these end tables right after they first got married in 1977, the year of the first Star Wars film. We decided that they needed some updating. The form of the tables–their basic lines and structure–were pleasing, and we also liked the glass on top, but we wanted to find some way to unify the whole thing. My darling fiancé had the idea to wrap the bottom shelf in a fun patterned fabric.
{Unfortunately this is the best picture that we have. It’s really more a a during photo.}
The first step was preparing the wood, which meant sanding off 30+ year old stain. I’ve done this with an old desk my grandparents gave me. Not sanding furniture that you want to fix up is a big mistake, because skipping this step makes you miss out on the beautiful texture of old wood, which is what furniture used to be made of before the days of Ikea. Sanding the furniture made me closer to it in some strange way, like I was connecting to it on some empathetic level. This experience all sounds very poetic, but the emotion involved was likely the result of delirium caused by the 100+ degree heat on our back porch, in addition to the fact that we did not own an electric sander. We now do.
We then primed the tables with Kilz and painted each one with an eggshell color in satin finish. I learned I do not have the delicate touch required for painting tables. Four years of art school down the drain.
We took the cool and quirky patterned fabric that we found at The Common Thread, and covered the bottom shelf. After securing the fabric using our staple gun, we reinforced the shelf from beneath with metal brackets and screws.
We are really pleased with the results. It has changed the entire feel of the room and has made it lighter, with a fun splash of color. The tables are more unified as objects now, because looking through the glass is actually an engaging experience now, as opposed to before, when the bottom shelf was a dingy, woven wicker. Most importantly, it was fun to work together on imagining and then crafting objects from our space into things that no one else has. Even if we had unlimited income, I would still want these tables in our house.
Look how great it looks next to the shelf we made.
Théo thinks he did all the work.
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