Furniture Revamp

 I was very fortunate that my mother wanted to pass on this lovely hutch for free.  It has a lovely antique quality.  It fit beautifully in her home.  She has a very eclectic and antique-y style.  She is a retired interior designer and has a beautiful home.  I, however, have a much more contemporary and non-eclectic style.  So, I decided to revamp the hutch to fit in with what I have (and kept my fingers crossed that Mom doesn't hate it!).

Here is the before picture, and please try to ignore the very, very messy garage in the background.  The upper glass doors were already removed for travel, so they are not shown in this picture.

Now, drum roll, here is the after:

I think it cost me about $35 to redo this, including all of the hardware.  I just bought some white paint (obviously) for the outside, a turquoise (Turquoise Bay at Ace Hardware) for the inside, and new knobs, pulls, and hinges.  I already had primer on hand.

Here is a close-up of the inside of the upper part.  I just love the pops of red with the turquoise.

And I stuck pretty true to the knobs that were on the original piece...the glass was just really yellowed so they needed to be replaced.  Very classic looking, I think.

I went a little more contemporary on the pulls, though.

All in all, I am super happy with how this project turned out.  It makes a beautiful addition to our home and gives me TONS of extra storage.  Also, it is an interesting process refinishing old furniture...when you get in there and see all of the stuff prior owners have done.  All of the nicks and nails...it makes you wonder about them - who they were, when they were, etc.

Have you had any successful furniture refinishing projects.  If so, give me the link or email a pic.  I am always inspired to see other peoples decorating!

Pinterest Fever

There has been a lot being said about Pinterest in the blogosphere of late.  Now I know why.  It is an addiction.  I may soon need to enter a 12 step program.  So, here's the deal...you know how you come across a tutorial that you love and you save it in your favorites toolbar along with a hundred other tutorials that you love...then you never bother looking through them because it is overwhelming?  Then Pinterest is for you!

You can categorize all of those different "favorites" along with an image from the website...so you have a visual of all things at once.  How genius is that?  Here are a couple of examples that I have been playing with today.

This is on a pinboard of mine called "Things I Vow to Make."



The next one is my pinboard called "Good Food."  Strangely, there are mostly sweets on there.  Hmmm...




So, you can see that there are photos and links so when you are choosing your next meal, project, purchase, puppy, whatever, you can see them all side by side.  Amazing!

Here's the thing with Pinterest, you can only join by invitation.  If you would like me to invite you, please leave a comment with your email address or send me an email at littlebeanworkshop{at}hotmail{dot}com.  Don't blame me when you become an addict though!