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!

Sprucing Up

A Fresh Start 

On Friday night I was heading upstairs to go to bed at about 10:30.  As I was turning out the lights down stairs, my guest / main floor bathroom caught my eye.  The hunter green walls (leftover from the previous owner) and I had a stare down. I just stood there, contemplating the better, brighter colors that I could put in there to make it seem more like me.  And then I remembered that I had some leftover Dolphin Fin grey from my guest bedroom remodel last fall.  I looked at the clock. I looked back at the green. I looked back at the clock.  I looked back at the green. And then I took off light switch plates. I removed the shower curtain. I relocated soap dispensers and bathroom rugs. I got to work. I didn’t mess with taping it off.  That takes too much time and never really works for me. So I free handed it. I cut out the edges. I rolled the middle. I cut out the edges again.  I rolled the middle again. Fortunately, most of the wall space in that bathroom is either mirror or tile, but there were lots of little difficult spaces to make up for it (i.e. behind the toilet). Finally, around 2:30, I finished, took a step back, and I silently celebrated my victory over the boyish hunter green with a soft, neutral gray. 

 Before

 After 

I know, I need something to hang on my wall. I'm contemplating my options.

Here is a shot of the rest of my bathroom.  Not much paint on that side of the bathroom, but now you get the full picture.

Sometimes, even in the middle of the night, you reach a breaking point and just can’t take it any more. I fought the green and the grey won.

I normally despise bathroom mirror pictures, but the majority of this post is about a bathroom so I took one anyways. This is just proof that I am a messy painter. And that my hair is not going grey. It's just paint. Promise.

My Own Little Corner of the World

I’m a little behind on the whole plant flowers, update your outdoor space, get ready for spring thing. Remember, I was scared of my patio for a while after my crash with the concrete. Last summer, I did a patio remodel, though, so I have been excited all winter long about getting my patio back to that. Last spring I painted the concrete a refreshingly bright, neutral concrete color. Because I didn’t sweep it all winter long and just let leaves sit on it, plus the fact that the entire thing is shaded, the concrete is now a nice shade of greenish grey.  Ew. One of my friends saw a picture and said “Oh, I like the green concrete. That’s cute!” Yeah, sure. Let’s pretend that was intentional…

Anyways, I planted my flowers and pulled my weeds and even planted two little cherry tomato plants, courtesy of my boss’s garden leftovers. Despite the green concrete, I love it back there. I love to sit on the glider and read. I love to eat dinner out there after work since I finally have sunlight hours to enjoy again! Last week I even dozed off on the glider. It probably isn’t the best idea for me to fall asleep in random places like that due to my history, but it happened. And I liked it.

Speaking of garden plants, my parent’s have a real garden again this year (because my sister and I begged them to). So guess what I get to do when I go home to visit? Hoe.

At least this weekend I will get to go home and enjoy some of the veggies.  Our squash and zucchini are in! 

Remember how I mentioned eating fresh blackberries in my last post? Recently I was explaining to a coworker that I had gone home and was "so excited because our blackberries are in".  To which she replied, "Blackberries? Really? I thought you were an iPhone girl."  Welcome to 2012, Emily. Next time I discuss blackberries, or apples for that matter, I should clarify whether I am referring to a fruit or an electronic. Here's a hint, though. I'm usually talking about the fruit.

Deck the Halls

This weekend I decked my halls and my walls by taking on quite a few projects. On Friday night I thought it would be a great idea to clean and repaint all of the baseboards and trim in my entire condo. Then on Saturday I repainted my guest bedroom. Painting always takes way longer than I expect. Move furniture. Tape Walls. Trim out the edges. Roll the walls. Trim again. Paint half of the walls. Make a late night trip to Home Depot to get more paint. Paint the rest of the walls. Remove tape. Touch up trim and ceilings. Make a trip to Lowe's to get the right kind of paint for the ceiling. Touch up ceilings again. Move everything back in. Phew. Plus, between the first and second coat I decided to touch up my walls in the rest of my condo. I was rather ambitious. But I was inspired recently when I went to a friend's house who had a gorgeous grey in her living room. Grey is the new neutral. Didn't you know? I knew. That's why last winter I painted my spare bedroom a dark grey. 


For a long time it looked like this. 

Boring. Empty. Leftovers.

So then I went with a deep grey. I liked it for a while.

Rustic Suede

But then when I saw my friend's pale grey I realized that my Rustic Suede needed to go. Plus, paint is one of those things where we say "If you don't like it, you can always change it. It's just paint." But do we? I rarely do. I don't want to succumb myself to going through that every weekend. Painting tables and chairs and picture frames? Fun. Painting walls? A job. I'll be honest. My thighs hurt. I'll go ahead and call that my workout for the month -which says more about me than the job, I think. 


So I knew needed a new color, but I get so overwhelmed in the color swatches in the Paint Department. I mentioned my plans to my coworker (who knows every paint color that exists - painting is literally her hobby) and she immediately mentioned Dolphin Fin by Behr. I googled it and liked what I saw. Home Depot didn't have a swatch, so I went on faith and bought it without ever seeing it. She was right. Dolphin Fin is a winner.

 Before

After

It is so much brighter and makes the room seem larger and calmer. So glad I painted it. I kind of like to do things like that by myself sometimes. It makes me feel independent. That's right. I'll paint my walls whenever I want and do whatever color I want. But half way into it when my 5'3" self had moved the ladder - three feet at a time - around the perimeter of the room close to fifty times, I began wishing that I had conned my sweet mother (who can roll the top of the walls without a step stool) to come help me. But I did it by myself. Through the night. I had to finish. I knew that I was having people over at 6:30 Sunday night - it was my week to host our Thurch small group. Looking back, I'm really glad that this was the case. If I hadn't been under pressure to finish, my condo would still be a wreck. I just kept trying to convince my 4 am Paint Covered Self of that. I finally got everything finished and decked the walls with my grandmother's mirror (free+white paint) and a few painted yard sale frames ($5 total+white paint).

Before

After

Befores:

Afters

So I wrapped up just before people started arriving. Perfect timing. And of course, while we were standing in the kitchen the biggest spider that I have ever seen fell or jumped or something right in the middle of us. It was huge. Silver dollar sized. And all body. Not one of those skinny, leggy kinds. I have never seen a spider that large, much less in my condo. I'm glad that I look like I have an infested home. Great. Why can't things like that happen when I don't have company over? Oh, I know why. Because then there wouldn't be guys there to kill it. View me any way you want just as long as you kill my spiders.

I'm glad I took a leap of faith with the Dolphin Grey. Here's hoping I don't change my mind again any time soon.

Putting Pinterest to the Test

I have been doing a lot of Pinterest pinning lately, further fueling my recent obsession of redoing items and making crafts. Well, not all crafts. Fabric scares me and my drawing skills leveled off in third grade. But paint? Glue? Combine? Sure. I’ll give it a try. I have tons of projects on my “To Try” list, but I thought I’d start my Pinterest test with an easy one. And trust me, this is so easy that I am almost embarrassed to blog about it and call it a “craft”. But if I can blog about a mattress, surely I can blog about a centerpiece.

Fall Centerpiece

I found my inspiration for my fall centerpiece from the blog My Heart’s Desire via Pinterest. I don’t normally decorate much for any holiday except Christmas, but this year I thought I’d add a touch of fall to my dining room area table.

Supplies

I stopped at a yard sale on Saturday and found this vase. $1.

I picked up some popcorn kernels, navy beans, kidney beans, and green split peas at the grocery store. $3.

I rummaged through my closet and found a forsaken candle.  Free.

Process

I ran the vase through the dishwasher to wash off the “yard sale germs” and then started layering. I dumped in navy beans, then kidney beans, then… oops. I was almost full and had only put in two types! Heavy hand. That is a mistake I won’t make again. I had to dump all of the beans out onto my floor, sort them into their corresponding piles, and then start over. I felt like I was in Kindergarten. Resorting those stinkin’ beans took forever.

A Hill of Beans

I started again by layering lightly.  

Then I stuck a candle on top. 

Wow. That was (not) intense.  I’d like to say that it was easy peasy, but that’s just corny.

Final Product

Taa Daa.....

Yes, my table is always set. Recently my friend’s daughter came over for a visit, saw my table, and said “Oh! Are we having a tea party?!” No. No tea party. But here is my secret. I don’t have a lot of cabinets. And most of the ones that I do have are over my head and really hard to keep organized since I am 5’3”ish.

High Cabinets

My table is set out of necessity, but it totally works. Plus I think that my table would just seem so empty without them.

Speaking of Cabinets...

Thinking about painting your cabinets? I often get asked how I painted mine. Well, I didn’t personally paint mine so I can’t tell you how to do it, but if you are looking for some encouragement, just know that I love them painted. Mine started out as a light brown oak judging by the insides.

Previous Color

I would have been terrified to paint them, but the previous owner was much braver than I and painted them with a high gloss black. I must admit that the high gloss shows fingerprints and have to be dusted fairly regularly, but I happen to like them shiny. When I moved in I added the hardware (which was purchased in a ten pack at Target. Nothing fancy.)

Hardware Makes A Huge Difference

Now they are perfect.  


I have just lit a pumpkin candle. Now my kitchen looks and smells like fall. I must toast pumpkin seeds asap.

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.