One Man’s Pie Chest

I love remodeling furniture, so when I recently stumbled upon an unloved, but gorgeous pie chest at an estate sale, I was really excited to take it home, clean it up, and make it my own. 

Before

This piece is from the late 1800s / early 1900s. The middle-aged man that I purchased it from mentioned that it had been passed down from his grandmother, but he wasn’t sure of the ownership prior to that. Back in the day, women would place their pies in a chest like this to let them cool.  It has narrow shelving – the perfect size for a pie plate. The open air front allows the pies to cool, while netting behind the woodwork prevents flies and other creatures from bothering the pies. The inside of the piece was painted bright blue for the same reason - because it is a common school of thought that blue paint repels insects (which is why a lot of porch ceilings are painted blue).

 Before

Before

When I purchased the antique (for something like $50) a couple of pieces of the front woodworking were broken, the screen was torn, the paint was chipped, and it was just plain dirty! But I knew how beautiful it could be! Because one man’s pie chest is this woman’s treasure.

 

I took it home, cleaned off the layers of dust, primed the entire piece (it took several coats to cover that blue!), and ripped out the screen. I fixed the cracked woodworking by using dry wall putty to hold the pieces firmly together before repainting. I’m sure there’s a better way, but it’s what I had and it worked – you can’t even tell it was ever broken.

 

When it comes to projects like this, I am very fortunate to have a close friend whose hobby is painting. She can rattle off paint colors off the top of her head as if she were listing the names of her best friends. She’s that good. In fact, she’s the one who had me paint my guest room in Behr’s Dolphin Fin. So we went to Home Depot together and she set me up with the perfect yellow to compliment my Dolphin Fin – Martha Stewart’s Egg Yolk. I was worried it would be too bright, but once again she was right. I painted the outside of the piece in Egg Yolk and painted the inside in an ultra white paint.

 

I removed and spray painted the rusty hardware with Rustoleum’s Brushed Nickel for metals – one of my all time favorite DIY items. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken off the hinges, stripped them of their original paint, and spray painted them as well. Instead, I painted over the white with yellow and have had to do a couple of touch-ups due to the latex paint not adhering well to the metal. Live and learn.

 

Because the shelves are removable, I knew that I wanted to do something unique on the backing. I saw a tutorial on Pinterest for using wrapping paper and double sided tape as backing for book shelves. I was certain that it would be difficult. But surprisingly I found the perfect wrapping paper at the first place that I looked, cut both pieces of paper perfectly on my first try, and paper stuck very easily with the tape! It was super easy!

 

I used my photo coasters to hold the paper in place while I measured and cut.

 

Oh, and I didn’t replace the netting with anything. I like the look of the open piece. And I don’t have a fly problem. Nor do I bake pies.

Before:

 

And here is the finished product:

 

I have added my “new” piece to my guest room to use as a dresser / open storage piece for my guests and will probably add some picture frames and treasures along the way. I’m happy with the way the room has turned out with the addition of my Egg Yolk yellow accents!

The Guest Room

 

To see how this room has changed over time, view this post.

 

So much better and brighter now!

 

The best part of the guest room? Tonight one of my very best friends in the whole wide world is coming into town to stay in it!

Love the One You're With: Patio Remodel

Behind my condo I have a sweet little patio with a world of potential. When I moved in it was kind of gross and the closet was more than a little bit scary. The first summer I was here I never even went back there. It was pretty much an unusable, unattractive space. However, this past summer my project has been to overcome my fear of dark closets, creepy spiders, and manual labor. I spent several weekends overhauling the outdoor closet, planting flowers, mulching, pulling weeds, decorating, painting concrete, etc. I guess I should have mentioned that it is just a patio – there isn't even any grass to take care of (fortunately)! I can’t imagine how much time it would take to maintain a yard! I have a hard enough time remembering to water the fern!

The Closet

My first project was to tackle the outdoor closet. I know that most people try to make the before pictures look really bad so that the after pictures look even better (i.e. women with no makeup, acne scars, and 30 pounds overweight are suddenly Miss America when they get new contacts). I didn’t have to try. I literally found it this way. Rods hanging down. Holes in the walls. Kind of creepy.

Before

After mopping the walls with bleach, patching some holes, painting the walls and ceiling, refinishing the concrete, and building a shelf by myself  (so heavy that I had to carry it from my car piece by piece) I now have a functional outdoor storage space!

After

The Floor

The floor of the closet was really gross. I hate the look of stained concrete.

Before

I wandered the aisles of Lowe’s aimlessly looking for something to do to the concrete. And then I found concrete spray paint. My saving grace! Or so I thought. I proudly came home and sprayed the entire floor. Well, since there were staining spots on the concrete (and large white paint blobs from my ceiling and wall adventure), the spray paint basically just made the floor look wet. It didn’t cover anything. See my Middle photo. (You know... the mistake between the Before and After).

Middle

While concrete spray paint would be ideal for a solid colored surface like a bird bath or a flower pot, it is not efficient for actually covering blemishes – only for changing the color. So I went back to Lowe’s (fortunately just a mile down the street – because everyone knows that every home project requires at least one lengthy trip to Lowe’s and at least two quick follow-up trips). This time I got Valspar concrete porch paint. I tinted it with something like English Tea Time or English Breakfast Tea or something classy like that. I then used an incredible technique that I invented on the spot. It went something like this. Open can. Pour contents of paint can onto floor. Smear around with a roller. It worked! And it looked so much better. Not perfect, but my skills were honed on the actual patio floor remodel later in the blog.

After

Voila. Functional Closet.

Patio

The next weekend I tackled my patio. 

My garden gnome - Peerpon - came with the house. He is named after Babette’s gnome on Gilmore Girls – my all time favorite show. However, Peerpon was an ugly shade of greenish-gray. He is now red so that he will match my cushions.

Before

After

I purchased these grungy concrete apples at a yard sale for $4. They are now red, too.

Before

After

I successfully painted the concrete floors with “Weathered Concrete” tinted Valspar porch paint. My dump and roll technique worked very well. If you have smooth, shiny concrete floors (like the Sam’s Club floor) paint would likely peel or chip off. If you have rough concrete (like a sidewalk) the paint soaks right in and doesn’t chip. And for some reason Porch Paint smells exactly like homemade strawberry freezer jam.

Before

 After

And here is the final patio! I spent so much time out there this summer. So glad I invested a couple of weekends on these little projects. It makes it so much more enjoyable!

Worth It.