Faux Locker Baskets

I’ve been waiting for some locker basket to come my way for the bench in my “mudroom”. I was in Walmart picking up some white spray paint when I saw Hammered Finish spray paint. Hmm…that got me thinking. I had seen plastic baskets before like this….

What if I used the hammered spray paint to make it look like galvanized metal…

$5 for the spray paint and $3.50 for the basket it was worth a try.

Not too bad..I held it up to my real galvanized metal bins and it looks pretty close. Just don’t touch it!

I have these little metal book plate things in my scrapbooking stash. I’m going to print out a number and attach it to the basket.

 

Of course I just won an auction on Ebay for some real locket baskets I had bid on awhile ago, but these will do until they arrive….

Paint Transformations

I got out the can of spray paint again…I had to try out Kimba’s spray painted glass idea. I was too excited to do this project I didn’t stop to take before pictures. So here are the afters….

  

This was a little glass jar I got at a yard sale for 25 cents.

The little jug bottle I got at a yard sale for 25 cents and the other bottle I got a Michael’s it was 99 cents then I used a 50% off coupon. It has a little cork but I forgot to put it in for the picture.

This was an old coffee tin my mom had just gave it a coat of spray paint and used rub on letters to spell out recipes.

Faux Mudroom

Once again my house is small so I have to do without a lot of the "luxuries" that many of you have. I'm very jealous of all of you that have a mudroom! Alas, I had to make do with what I have and created a "faux mudroom"

The idea started when I bought this buckboard bench at AC Moore. I got a really good deal on it. At the time I bought it they had a 50% off 2 items coupon. The way the coupon worked was that they took 50% off the highest priced item and then 50% off the next highest priced item. They took the discount off the bench and then it was still the highest priced item so their register took the discount off the bench again, so I got a $100 bench for $25!

Then I found this coat rack at an unfinished wood store for $80 and used a 20% off coupon.

One step of this process was to finally get rid of the bead board to nowhere. I have no idea why it just stopped but it has been driving me crazy. I've tried many things to cover it up but nothing seemed to work in that space. So I started by cutting into the railing where I wanted it to stop and prying it off. Then I covered it all up with the venetian plaster that I had originally put on the walls (I don't know why I didn't think about doing this when I had worked on the walls in the first place).

Then I added beadboard and some moulding and gave everything a coat of my leftover black cabinet paint.

I got the bins at Ikea this past weekend. (the camera is crooked not the shelf)

 

I’m looking for locker baskets for these three spots.

We’re eventually getting new countertops and they are going to extend a little longer than they do now so I left a little of the railing up to stop where the new countertop will stop which will be even with the upper cabinet.

Head over to Between Naps On The Porch for some more before/after projects.

Kitchen Cabinets

I added cabinets to my stove wall awhile ago, I bought them from a salvage store so they didn’t have much size choice. It was bugging me that they were a different height than the cabinets on my sink wall. Then along comes Layla from The Lettered Cottage and her cabinet moulding tutorial and my problem was solved.

Just don’t look too closely at the ceiling I haven’t touched it up yet. Ignore the stupid pull chain for the light too.

Here’s a reminder of what the other cabinets look like. I’ve uncluttered them a little though.

Soon I’ll keep the dishes out of the sink long enough to take pictures of the whole kitchen.

A New Addition

To our home's decor that is...

I picked up this up at Anthropologie yesterday. Isn't she cute??

Here she is in her new home on our kitchen wall.

I've never been in that store before but I'm definitely going back! They had so many cute knobs and hooks. Makes me want to change out my kitchen hardware or refinish a new dresser!

A Homemade Island

I made this island for my kitchen awhile ago. It started as an old console table that I got at a yard sale for I think $10. I (err, I guess I should give hubby some credit) started out by cutting either side of the top so it wasn't so long, my kitchen is small so you might not need to do that. Then I got a piece of plywood at Home Depot and it was already cut that size, I also bought 4 bun feet there. I screwed the bun feet into the plywood then screwed the table onto the plywood with the bun feet. I painted the whole things red and distressed it by sanding some of the edges (my cat has since distressed it more by using it as her scratching post). I bought a piece of butcher block countertop from Ikea and screwed that onto the cut down table top and added a bathroom towel bar on the side. Walla, you have a "new" kitchen island.

Head over to Sanctuary Arts at Home for more trash to treasure ideas.

10 Minutes To A Room I Love

I've been following the Nester's series 10 Minutes To A Room You Love. I thought I'd show my kitchen. It was more like 5 minutes...I added a lamp to the countertop.





The countertops were already decluttered since I can't put anything on them because they are almost nonexistent and I haven't figured out how to add seating or more fabric since I don't have a table in there. I am going to add pillows to my dining room chairs though. The sink was fabulously shiny until I had to fill it with sippy cups so I won't show you that mess. I loved how the Nester had a mirror above her sink and since I don't have a window above mine I thought I'd copy that idea. I was trying to think if I had a mirror hidden in the basement I could use, but no luck. Then I was trying to decide which store I should visit to look for a mirror when I walked into the kitchen and remembered I had a dish rack on my wall above the sink! I was so disappointed but there is nothing I can do about that situation. I am the dishwasher so I need a place to dry the dishes and the countertop next to the sink is only 18" wide. Oh well, maybe in my next house. I love all the ideas and I'm definitely going to use the master bedroom and bathroom tips when I get around to "remodeling" those rooms.

The top of the refrigerator

My Kitchen (part 2)

Ok so I finally finished my kitchen cabinets. It was more work than I thought it was going to be and I was stressing to get them finished in time for my girls birthday party. I am sooo happy with the finished product though!

I only have one pic to share. I now have to get out the ceiling paint to touch up my black roller marks. Oops! I am a horribly messy painter, but I only ruined one pair of pants this time :-) I'll have to dig up the pics of my kitchen when we bought the house and I'll post before and after pics of the whole kitchen soon.

My Kitchen

I bought two cabinets at a salvage store for $10 a piece. The doors didn't match each other or my other kitchen cabinets but I thought it would be easy to find other doors for them. Well, turns out they are odd sizes so I'd have to have custom made doors which would be around $100 which is more than I wanted to spend. Yesterday I was on theletteredcottage.blogspot.com and there was the answer to my problem! I looked at pictures of her kitchen and she had door less cabinets! She added a little moulding around the openings to make it look intentional, added baskets and other pretty stuff. I'm headed to Home Depot to buy moulding and I'll post pics of the finished product.