Credenza

You may remember the army green credenza I purchased from Dixon Furniture mart. I have finally finished my work on this piece.

I removed a broken double drawer and replaced it with a shelf to hold my router and modem (along with my letter boxes of standard paper and cardstock that I often use in my printer.)

I painted the unit white and replaced the hardware with some cut glass knobs. Got a new white printer to go with the office decor and added a bubble lamp. I have always wanted one of these and never had the right place to use one.

My niece left a floor mirror behind when she moved recently. The frame was not in good condition so I removed it. I hung the mirror above the credenza with clear mirror clips.

Disregard the strange bald man in the mirror! 

There were rough edges at the "Top" and "Bottom" (now the left and right sides) of the mirror so I attached some small round mirrors to cover these areas and to give a bit more interest to the look.












I also added some $1.00 silver wall decals from the dollar store. I'm not sure if they will stay or not. Let me know - should the stay or should they go?

The Kitchen!

Before

Before

The Kitchen Plan Comes Together!

Check out the plans here.

I based my kitchen plan around my parents china from early in their marriage. The pattern is from 1955 and made in Lincoln, IL. So I am going with a somewhat 1950's inspiration to the room. 

Tea Towels with appliques
based on my parent's dishes.

Actually, the tulip platter is the only remaining piece from Mom & Dad's set, but several years ago I found it's sister platter on EBay and picked it up.
I chose a medium gray (Sherwin Williams' Dorian Gray) to paint the walls to give a good backdrop to the cream, pink and charcoal dishes. I also found some plain gray kitchen towels at Ikea and picked them up. I created an applique reproducing the china design for these.

Cabinets with vinyl cutouts
based on the dishes.

I also replicated the design in vinyl for the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets already had a black & charcoal colored hammered metal hardware which coordinated with the stylistic brush strokes of the leaves in the platters.

Peg Board

Next, I painted a peg board a pale pink and hung it next to the stove to hold my utensils. I always get my Color Guru on when deciding to decorate a room. This room spoke to me and said it needed pink in it. I have never used pink in decorating before but felt the room needed it. When I painted the walls I found the top of the cabinets had been painted the same shade of pink that I used on my pegboard at sometime in the past. The Guru obviously wasn't the only person who sensed that the room needed this color.

Microwave Cart/Counter Top by Dad

The microwave cart/countertop that Dad built for me has made a huge difference. I not only save the space from the existing counter where the microwave sat, but I also gained a countertop next to the stove. It doubled the usable counter space in my kitchen! Thanks Dad!




The curtains are made from a chevron patterned fabric in pink and two shades of gray. This photo also shows the shade of the wall color better than the other photos.
(I don't know anything about the other 47 shades of gray.)

Here is my Un -Handyman Tip of the Day. When you are trying to hang a picture, curtain rod, or in the case of this photo a shelf support by yourself try using some masking tape.

After years of frustration of trying to hold a screw, a drill and whatever I was trying to hang on the wall I came up with this system.

I mark the wall where the item needs to be placed and then tape in using low-tack masking tape. This allows me to have both hands free to hold the screw and the drill or screw driver. I put the screw in right over the tape. When done the tape easily pulls away from the project.

Kitchen Cabinet

BEFORE

For Christmas my parents purchased the supplies to build a cabinet that I want. Plus built it for me.I will put it next to my stove to create some counter space in my space starved kitchen. It also has a shelf to hold the microwave which frees up some other much needed counter space. 

AFTER

The cabinet is now assembled and useable. We will be adding trim and paint and we will be finished. 

I made dinner tonight and it was so much easier with counter space next to the stove!


Be sure to check out the Grand Plan

Bookshelf
I started planning a few weeks ago for the bookshelf for my Hollywood Regency meets Modern Design office for the new apartment.
I purchased a package of 4 Tim Holtz box corners from JoAnn's papercrafting aisle. They were bronze colored but I planned to spray paint them chrome. Before leaving the store I picked up several yards of a confetti dot fabric - a knit fabric with small reflective dots. In my case I went with silver.  Next I purchased two inexpensive bookshelf units from Walmart and all there was left to do was to put it all together.

I built the bookcase as described in the directions (actually correct instructions came with this unit - surprise!)
Before attaching the back cardboard that stabilizes the shelf unit I used my staple gun to attach the confetti dot fabric and stretched it across the open backside of the bookcase. I then trimmed it with a rotary cutter. This will probably cost me a new blade but it seemed the best option.

Glitzy bookcase with Christmas
presents for Mom & Dad.

Better get going
the ham dinners will get cold
if I don't get over there soon.
God Bless Us, Everyone!

After nailing in the back panels of the bookcase I stood it upright and screwed two of the box corners onto the cabinet top.
The cost for this project: Bookcase Units $27.00 each, 1 4-pack of corners ($5.00) and 5 yards of fabric ($12.00) bringing the project total to $71.00 or $35.50 per case. Well, time to go put together the second one.

From Sterling Tribune

Local Residents Report Strange Events During the Night

Sterling, IL - At 12:37pm last night police responded to a call from local Creativologist and curator of the Idea Collection at the Sterling Museum, T. Paul Payton.

"I was getting ready for bed when it started," said Payton. "I thought it was unusual to hear noises from coming from above - especially since I know the landlords have not yet rented the upper floor apartment." 

After a careful examination of the rooftop patrolman Rufus T. Firefly of the Sterling police force reported "There were over half a dozen sets of animal tracks probably large squirrels." But this seems to be a cover-up to prevent public panic. Other witnesses at the scene state they heard Firefly speaking with other officers saying "If those were squirrel tracks the squirrels were a big as cows!"

The following morning Mrs. Gloria Teasdale ran into Payton at the local laundromat. "I asked him how his Christmas was going and he complained that he was washing all of his socks. It seems someone had broken into his house, rifled through his sock drawer and filled his socks with coal - coal dust got all over everything. What kind of person would do a spiteful thing like this?"

All this reporter can say is that you better watch out - if you don't want to go around with black smudges on your feet you better keep your doors locked. And it doesn't hurt to keep a hot fire going in the fireplace overnight to thwart intruders trying to break in that way as well. 

My friends TJ & Sarah used this incredibly creative way of announcing their upcoming event!

Congratulations!

I got a bit of time to myself this week and was able to get some items accomplished -- or at least started.

It was warm enough today to work in the garage, so I did a rough sand on the credenza that I found a week or so ago. I also got the first coat of primer on it.

In the back right corner of the photos you can see a larger drawer standing on end. This is the drawer with some damage and will not be part of the finished design. I will be replacing the drawer with a shelf.

I was able to paint and install some shelves and made curtains for the bathroom.

My Dad and I went to Menard's today. For Christmas my parents are buying the supplies and my Dad is making a cabinet to hold my microwave and to give me some much needed extra counter space. Thank you Mom & Dad - Merry Christmas!