Yellow china cabinet

Sometimes I have no plans for the day, but then I find a new piece of furniture or a project around the house comes up and I am busy all day. 
On Friday I drove home from work and a few doors down when I turned on my street I saw someone had put a china cabinet on the curb, so I hurried home and told Chris, of course he rolled his eyes and said yes he had seen it, but had hoped someone else would have picked it up before I saw it.  Wow he knows me too well.
So we get in the car and drive down and he helps me get it.  We have recently downsized cars from a mini van to a small SUV, and Chris had hoped that would mean no more chance of big pieces of furniture coming home, but as this was on our street I could just drive on back home with the trunk open.

I will say the cabinet was not a fine antique, or in perfect condition.  One of the doors on the bottom was broken, but I still liked the style and size of it, and I knew even if I couldn't make it work I could at least give it away to someone else who could use it.

The green was not bad, but in searching google images for "painted china cabinet" my favorites were the yellow ones, so I went and bought a sample can of pretty yellow paint.  I decided to leave the inside green for now, I thought the books and china looked good against a dark color.

 

To solve the broken door problem I just took out the panels (they were just thin plywood), as the bottom shelves I wanted to use for book shelves anyway and I didn't mind it being open.  I could get more glass panels made later on.

 

Trash to treasure, I think so!  Not bad for just $6 for the little can of yellow paint and a days painting.

 

This is my second free china cabinet, I also have this one I painted gray.

 

The one little china cabinet I paid for is more space for collecting.

 

I'm thankful for a patient husband who puts up with me for bringing this junk home, usually he is surprised with the way things turn out in the end.

 

 

New table and fabric

I've been wanting a round table for the kitchen for a while now.  A friend was selling a solid maple one, so I got lucky!  It also came with 3 leaves, so if we ever have a lot of people over we can extend it to make a much bigger table!

I may get some different chairs, or paint these ones....

Another project I've been thinking of is turning my old coffee table into an ottoman, so a little money spent on foam and quilt batting and fabric, so now I have a brand new coffee table / ottoman:

I had too much fabric, so my office chair got a makeover:

as did this other little stool:

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been about 5 months since I last posted here.  I had a few new home finds and changes to share though.

Just this weekend I found this little china cabinet, already painted and stained in an antique style finish.  I changed out the knobs to these from Anthropologie (on sale $2.99 each)

I gave away my big book shelf to a friend but I love this little piece and can change out the pieces depending on what I want to display.

We bought this old printers tray a couple of months ago to display some little collections of my grandmother's thimbles and other little pieces.

Also I painted the french doors to my office.  They were stained a dark color, but they were a bit too dark with the new wall paint, I like them a lot better now.

my art / family picture wall is a mix-match of things, but I like every little thing up there

my other china cabinet with some of my blue fiestaware and other pieces

and this dresser moved downstairs and is good storage for more china pieces, board games and linens

another "baby ben" clock

and another recent find, the "persimmon" fiesta ware cups from GOODWILL!   This persimmon, turquoise and gray are my favorite colors of fiesta ware, but I have some yellow, green and other colors too, I really love it all.

and I bought these new lamp shades from Pottery barn with a Christmas gift card, I love them too.

New, very pink find

Last week on facebook I noticed this dresser for sale.  It was already super bright coral pink, but needed some work as it had been used as a tool chest by the owner; Jen from Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture.  She was auctioning it off and I was lucky enough to have the winning bid - $40.  It really was a great deal, it has 9! drawers and only one of the drawers needed some work re-attaching some wood to the back.  She even gave me some extra paint, so today I cleaned it off and touched up the paint, and then gave it a clear coat of poly to protect the paint.

I added some wallpaper to the drawers for the final finishing touch.

It looks great in Kate's room with her blue walls.

 And it is a perfect match to the New York picture that was already hanging in that spot.

Lots of storage and lots of space on the top for all the stuff that girls gather.

I brought in this low coffee table I wasn't using downstairs anymore and made a bench seat for when she has friends over.  We already had this quilt too and see some of the squares are also a perfect match for the new dresser.

I finally gave in a few weeks ago and let her get a poster, her beloved One Direction, and this is about as good as it gets for a made bed.

Kate's other green dresser is a very similar style and it is now in her closet for storing clothes.

linking here

Finished Office and Living Room - new paint

I think I am finally done with painting!  My downstairs rooms at least.  I'll just share all these AFTER pictures, if you want to see the rooms before you can read these posts about the green desk

or this one has some pictures of both rooms.  The color was not bad, but just beige, so I was ready for a change and it needed fresh paint as that was a flat paint that showed every little mark.

Here is my office, painted Behr Dark Ash on the top, and Benjamin Moore Simply White on the bottom below the chair rail.  I LOVE the way it turned out.

I found this color online and it has been on my pinterest board for a while (see this picture).

I keep craft and scrapbooking supplies in this dresser:

And the plastic drawers are not pretty but they don't look too bad on this shelf.

I got a few of these white frames from IKEA for $1.99 for a few favorite family pictures........

 With my Mum (I'm in the backpack) and one of my Dad when he was young.

and pictures of my grandparents....

I love the color against the white crown molding.

And this new white curtain rod (also from IKEA).  These curtains have moved around the house in a couple of different rooms but I think they look good in here.

And the living room got painted my favorite light gray - Valspar Seashell Gray.

I'm trying the chalkboard hanging vertical, I read somewhere that hanging things this way makes the ceilings seem higher, not sure if this is true, but I like it this way for now! 

I like Kate's little quote and artwork better than my 'tree' I had as a temporary filler.

and my globe "collection" (I guess 2 counts for a collection, right?)  The little one is a bank so it's actually in use to keep that spare change.

And my other bigger collection has moved back to the family room (this room is also painted Seashell gray)

I love it all in here and the blue-ish fiestaware looks good with my blue dresser.

Emmy is happy she can nap in peace without painting or furniture moving going on around her....

The knitted blanket I bought at a flea market / thrift store in New Zealand last year.

See the cute stool the lamp is on?  I bought it from a blog "friend" Pamela who lives close by.  If you haven't already visit her blog From My Front Porch to Yours.  She is very talented in furniture painting and decorating.

 The blue chest and pillows have also moved back here to co-ordinate with the other blues in the room

Have you been painting or moving furniture lately??