It's Almost Like I Have Time To Get Stuff Done
I vaguely remember it. The memories whisper in the corners of my mind. The evidence is all over the house.
There was once a time when I enjoyed buying junk furniture and making it awesome.
Then along came Alexis and she carried with her a giant black hole that sucks up time. As she's gotten older, I have slowly managed to shrink that black hole, to the point that now I have about an hour per evening to do something. Anything. It might be hanging out with Alexis, but it might be a return to the glory days or cheap furniture acquisition.
Just because I wish I had been blogging when I did this, let me just show you my most favoritest furniture redo. It started out as a horrific pine entertainment center that was marked down at Hills when the store was closing. It was so hideous that it was still there when prices were slashed to 75% off. When I was done painting and staining and painting and gluing, it ended up looking like this:
Sexy, no? Check out the details:
I love that thing.
What I didn't love was this thing:
That is a china cabinet that we bought many moons ago at IKEA. It was an As Is purchase that I hated, but knew that it could be made into something better. Oh, and when I say "many moons," I mean I can't even blame Alexis for the fact that it wasn't painted. I think it may have taken me 10 years ...or more ... to get around to it. Maybe. GET OFF MY LAWN. WHIPPERSNAPPER.
While you're getting off of my lawn, take Cody with you. When he was a puppy, he did this to it:
Apparently, ugly IKEA furniture tastes good because he chewed the crap out of that thing.
Anyway, I can finally say it has been given a new life. While I may eventually beat it up some more (to make it look even older), I'm pretty happy with where it's at right now.
The first thing I did to it was beat it up. No, seriously, I took a hammer and some nails and gouged and poked and banged until it had some really fun dents. Then I dug up some acrylic paint I had sitting around and gave it the once over.
Isn't it lovely? Heh. That was just a primer coat. It's red and black and splotchy because I was intentionally screwy with the paint. I knew you wouldn't actually be able to see the base coat, but the personality of it would show.
The next thing I did was coat the entire thing with the bright white paint we had sitting around. It was a $5 dented can of Behr ultra white, meaning it wasn't the color I would have liked to use, but it was here and it had almost no value to me. I used some crackle effect junk before putting the white paint on, so it wound up looking like this:
I left the inside black because the goal was for the inside to just sort of not exist. I want whatever I put into the cabinet to be the star of the show, and for the shelves to just go away.
It was a little too ultra white for my taste at that point, so I went over the entire thing with a tan sort of paint, wiping the majority of the paint off as I went.
Here's the before the "staining" with the tan paint:
And here's with the tan paint on it:
(The sides are still ultra white in the pic)
And here's how it looked after I wiped most of the tan paint off:
It just sort of muted the white a bit and added a little bit of character. Then I took an electric sander to the whole thing, wearing off the paint on some edges and otherwise "flattening" the china cabinet.
So then I had this on my hands:
I had one last thing left to do. One MAJOR thing. You know how IKEA furniture has that crappy laminate stuff on the back? That stuff that doesn't really take paint? I knew better than to fight with that stuff, so I went a totally different route.
I wallpapered it.
Isn't she lovely? For the record, the lights were inside when I started. The husband did that part years and years and years ago. Oh, and don't tell The Twitter you have discovered a love for wallpaper. Twitter is VERY anti-wallpaper and will FLIP OUT.
(Suck it, twitter. I told you I knew what I was doing. ;-) I'm still trying to figure out which room of the house I could wallpaper, by the way. Seriously. Go ahead and flip out over THAT.)
So that's the final product. A purdy, beat up, old looking cabinet that has sexy wallpaper on the back.
Now I just have to get the rest of the dining room to catch up with the "new" cabinet.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Reader Comments (24)
That's hawt. Can you come to my house, with all your free time, and do my laundry or something? That would be swell.
;)
That's awesome! I have a tall unfinished shelf that I have had for at least ten years that has been on my to do list since day one. Still unfinished. One of these days. I love love love the wallpaper. I'm inspired. I'm gonna do that shelf. Um. Soon.
Best use of wallpaper ever. In fact, I like wall paper as an accent. And, really, I like wallpaper that I don't have to remove myself. So wallpaper the shit out of everything you own. Just don't sell me your house. And we're good.
But really, I'm jealous. I don't seem to have a brain-to-hand talent like this and I am in awe of what you have done.
Also, HILLS!
I don't get it.
I have no issue with that use of wallpapper...carry on. It looks great!
You were awfully shy on the Twitter about not saying that the wallpaper was not actually for, y'know, walls. And I'm fairly certain that your motivation to now wallpaper some, y'know, walls is partially just to give said Twitter a heavily wallpapered obscene gesture. Which I, of course, strongly endorse.
Seriously though, it looks great.
Nice job. And acceptable use of wallpaper. Cagey, you are.
I was almost one of the Twitter flipper outers. I HATE wallpaper with the fire of a thousand suns because of all of the removing of it that I have done over the years. BUT that cabinet looks awesome! If I only had a quarter of your vision and creativity.
OMG, I'm exhausted just READING about the multi-multi-multi-step process! I wish I had the talent to look at something ugly and just know how to make it beautiful.
That. Is. Awesome. I like wallpaper that makes stuff look cool. Good job. When are you coming over to assess the DIY-ness of my house?
in case i don't tell you enough, i am in awe of your creativity, talent and determination. you are one hell of a woman.
GAAAWGEOUS!
I love it! That wallpaper is gorgeous. And for the record - I am not anti wallpaper. I'm anti-hanging-my-own-wallpaper, because it will inevitably end with Ed and I killing each other.
When it's time to do your dining room, I'll be happy to come over and help gouge it up with a claw hammer.
Color me shocked! As I was reading and looking at the photo's I was gagging. I should have know NOT to doubt you! You have neve let me down. Bravo on the out come of your cabinet. You are one brave young woman! It is beautiful and would sell in an instant! It goes with your furniture perfectly. :-)
Does Alexis ever watch you do these magical things? I can see her doing what you are doing one day with as much as she loves art and such. What a team you two will be. BTW, love the wall paper and the lights just set it all off.
I love it! Good work, mama!
YOU are awesome. That is all.
Damn, girl. That's awesome.
Holy sweet Hannah! Is that ever gorgeous!!! You totally missed your calling as a furniture restorer/interior decorator/landscaper. Seriously....it's beautiful. I wish I had the creative mind to look at something and SEE what it could truly become.
Love the wallpaper. I love wallpaper too! Screw twitter :)
Holy crap! What the...? How the....? You are a freakin' NINJA! I try to do this crap and it turns out like ass on a stick. You have skillz!
I am totally on team wallpaper all the way. Love it.
I LOVE the wallpaper on the inside. awesome idea.
Please come make me a grown-up house. I will bake and cook and watch the girl-child and do all of the assistant-y type things you need. Because that? That is crazy beautiful.