Thrifted China Cabinet {Before & After}

One day, nearly a good two years ago, I happened upon a china cabinet in my favorite Richmond thrift store, Fantastic Thrift.  I was immediately drawn to its Hollywood Regency style with its pretty little faux bamboo details.  So we're clear, it's actually not a high end piece of furniture--it's more of a pressed wood and not really solid wood, but nevertheless I thought it had potential, and it was only 50 bucks.

Now, I do not always think it fitting to paint over wood.  However, in this case, there was really no other way.  There was literally a chunk taken out of one of the corners (seriously I think it may have been from a dog or something?  so gross)  and the back of the piece had a little hole in it too.

I used some wood filler to try and rebuild the gnawed off corner.  I didn't really do an awesome job. 

After a good priming.  Normally, when I use a 'paint and primer in one' product, I don't do an initial priming coat.  Given that this piece wasn't solid wood, I thought it could use all the help it could get.

I debated about what route to go with painting it.  I thought about doing a bright glossy color.  I considered covering the back with some pretty paper (this store has lots of beautiful options!).  In the end, though I stayed pretty classic, and I really like how it turned out.

I apologize for the glare in the photos, but I didn't know how to avoid it!

The transformation of the hardware is maybe my favorite part of this project.  It looked as though they were brass, so I did a quick test to see if they were solid brass or brass-plate.  All you need to do to determine this is touch the piece to a magnet.  If the hardware sticks, it's brass-plate; if not, it's solid brass.  In this case, the knobs and ring pulls were solid brass and the hinges were brass plate.

This is what the hardware looked like originally.

To clean up these diamonds in the rough I soaked the hardware in Brasso for a couple hours.  I was a bit alarmed when I returned to see what had transpired...

After (too much?) soaking, you can see how the hinge's brass plating had worn off.

But after a little extra elbow grease, the solid brass pulls looked fantastic!  I love the patina.

Since I needed to fake the brass look with my hinges, I sprayed them with this, and it is quite hard to tell that they're not real brass!  Centsational Girl has a great post about testing for brass, cleaning it, and faking it with spray paint.  Read that here.

After their paint job.  

I ended up choosing to cover the back of the cabinet with some black and white houndstooth fabric that I already had.  I really like how it reads neutral, yet still adds a bit of interest.  The combination of the houndstooth, the black paint and the brass hardware just seems fitting too, given my obsession love of Downton Abbey and all things English :)

Adding fabric to the back was very simple.  After measuring and cutting my pieces, I just sprayed the back of the fabric with a spray adhesive (available at fabric stores) that could be repositioned if needed.

Humor me with one last before and after picture, because it really is so satisfying :)

Since I already had some of the supplies on hand, the total cost of this project came in at well under $70.  Now, if we end up moving to Europe this summer like we're hoping (I hope to have more details to share soon!), I can't promise I won't trade this guy in for a legit antique, but for now, I'm quite happy with it :)

*post edit:  I forgot to mention that I painted the inside of the lower half a happy color, just for a little fun surprise!

Our Chandelier

I fear you may be growing very tired of seeing these images of my dining room.  This would be understandable.  However, in the interest of encouraging others who may benefit from my experiences in making relatively simple and inexpensive changes, I'm going to tell you about our china cabinet and our chandelier.  Today, the chandy.

First, I would like to remind you of the situation when we first moved in.  I really wish I had taken a better shot that could give you the full effect of the offensive light fixture with which we were greeted when we moved in.  Key to its offensiveness was not necessarily its generic style (though this did not excite me), but the fact that it was hung completely off center in the room and the chain from which it was supposed to hang was literally all wrapped up and tangled so that it barely hung at all!  It wanted to be a chandelier but it was being treated like a flush-mount :)  Truly I tell you, an assault against beauty.

I knew I would need to do something to replace this sucker, and of course I wanted to minimize my costs.  {However, light fixtures are things you can take with you when you move, so if money allows I say go for something nice that speaks to you, even if you're a renter!} As is the case with most of my little projects, I simply copy other people's ideas :)  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

All that to say, my chandelier is the Maskros from Ikea, but it started out looking quite different from the way it does now!

I first read on Jenny's blog about how she cut down the little flowers (they're made of paper!) and painted the whole thing.  Countless others have also done this and many have put their own personal touch on theirs.  The only difference between what I did and what Jenny did is I spray painted mine (with Rustoleum's Metallic Antique Brass), I didn't cut my flowers down quite as much as she did, and I didn't glue the little clear cups on the flowers.  Once I'd gotten everything sprayed, I convinced Philip that we needed to anchor a little hook in the ceiling so that forthelove, the fixture could hang above the center of our table.  Amen and Amen.

For 40 bucks (it was on sale when I bought it) plus the cost of some spray paint, I am more than pleased with this guy.  I love the scale of it, and I really like how the modern style acts as a nice counterpoint to my traditional furniture.

I looked around and found a few more images of Ikea's Maskros for your viewing and inspiration pleasure.

Such a fun, whimsical touch in a nursery!

This looks amazing (and hard to do?).

via

A fun hack with an ombre effect!

Incorporating a Bit of {Faux} Fur

A couple people have asked about what's on the back of my dining room bench.  It's simply a faux fur throw rug that I picked up at Target on clearance for 20 bucks.  I grabbed it knowing I liked it, but not sure of where it would go.  Once I got home, something about the lines of the table and the bench, combined with the wood made me think this little friend might be right at home there.  I really like how it softens and warms up the space and brings in another texture.

I don't see mine on Target's website (it was a while ago that I saw it in the store), but good old Ikea sells a similar product.

Ikea's Faux Sheepskin

I guess I've jumped on this faux fur bandwagon because I've also thrown some into the mix on my sofa.

I posted a pic of some pillows on Instagram (I'm @abworthington) and some folks asked about them, so I thought I'd share my sources here as well.  The cream pillows with the jute trim are from Ross, as is the blue geometric pillow (a David Hicks La Fiorentina knock off :)  and the ikat pillow (yes, I moved it from the dining room and decided I like it better here :) I made from fabric purchased several years ago.  You can buy it by the yard here.  

I actually found the throw at Target too (this is funny to me because I don't generally tend to buy a lot from Target's home section).  It's part of their Threshold line, which has really impressed me. (unfortunately I can't find it on their website either, I think it was part of their "holiday line" :(  I personally think the trick to incorporating inexpensive pieces from mass chain stores is to use them in small doses together with unique and/or vintage pieces that you can't find in five stores in one city :)

Faux fur throws are everywhere, but I've yet to see another one that I like for even close to 30 bucks.  I would tell you if I thought this one was cheap and underwhelming, but I do not.  I love it and it is SO WARM and get this--it's machine washable!

They say fashion and design mimic each other right?  Well, look what I found (for $20!) at TJ Maxx last week!

Let's just say I was giddy.

Anyone else into the fur trend?

The Story of a Table

Several people have inquired about my kitchen table in this post, so I thought I would share the story of how it came to be mine.

A little over a year ago, I was perusing Craigslist (as I often do).  Months before I had been on the search for a particular type of pedestal style dining table, but my search had been fruitless, and I had mostly left the matter alone.  We had a perfectly nice table that was being loaned to us by Philip's parents.  Even still, I had the term 'table' saved on my trusty little Craigslist app, and I would peruse it from time to time, just to pass the time (perfectly normal, right? :)  Well, one fine October Sunday I happened to notice a listing under the Antiques category for a pine table.  It wasn't the best picture, and the table was sitting in a dirty old garage, but I knew right away that this table and I needed to meet.  Especially considering that the seller was only asking $125 for it!

I quickly placed a call to the seller and was thrilled to learn that it was still available and that I could come to see it the next day!  I was beside myself with excitement and spent the next twelve hours or so requiring very little food or sleep on account of my nerves (I will leave it up to you to decide if you think this is an exaggeration or not).  Then, the following evening, I removed the car seats from the back of our Honda Pilot, thanked my hubby for the fact that he was about to face the dinner hour (read: the witching hour) alone with the kids, and set out on the 30 minute drive to meet this little gem.

My drive took me through beautiful country roads leading into the rural part of Mechanicsville, VA, until I finally arrived at a long driveway that took me through the woods to a beautiful old home owned by a very lovely couple (don't worry--I had my taser in my purse in the event this couple was not so lovely!).  The Mrs. was an artist and the Mr. enjoyed creating furniture as a hobby (come to find out we had a mutual friend in Richmond who is a furniture-maker; such a small world--love that about Craigslist!).

He showed me the table, and it was love at first sight.  She was made of pine, had great Parsons style legs, and she was big!  Could seat eight people, I imagined!  Icing on the cake was when I found out the table was used in a Henrico elementary school back in the '70s (there were even little paint smears to prove it)!  Ah, a vintage piece with a story--does it get any better than this?  I explained to the seller that I had $100 cash and that I could write him a check for the remaining $25.  Then that fine gentleman told me not to worry about the remaining $25!  Amazing.

I brought my new little treasure home and stored it in our garage so I could clean it up and seal the wood since it was raw pine (unfortunately the product I researched for accomplishing this didn't work well and you can now see lots of olive oil spots all over our table...this was very distressing to me, but I'm trying to embrace it for the character it adds?).

I cleaned her up and had to get my kid's approval of course. (pictured in our old house, oh how tiny my babes were!)

The moral of the story is of course that Craigslist is your friend.  If you do not already, you must get to know dear Craig.  He will not let you down, all you need is persistence and perhaps the slightest tendency towards OCD :)

Now, who's coming over for dinner? 

Dining Room Drapes

Thanks so much for all the positive feedback on my Dining Room post!  I said I would share more about the different parts of the room, and I thought I'd start with the drapes.  First, I thought I'd share my thought process.

Custom drapes are lovely.  Really lovely.

Ashley Whittaker via

However unless I were to sew them myself (admittedly not actually that hard) and happened to come by dozens of yards of fabric I loved for really cheap (this is far harder in my opinion), they would cost a lot.  Suffice it to say, it just didn't make sense for me to go that route, especially since we'd only be living in this house for one year.  So that left me with ready made drapes.   While it is possible to find pretty printed drapes, I felt safe going with a solid panel, and I like the nice, clean look they give.  I figured I could always customize them a bit with some trim, which is exactly what I ended up doing in my dining room.

I purchased some inexpensive Ikea linen panels ($50 for a pair of linen panels is a steal!)  and used fabric glue to attach trim to the leading edge.  I must give a huge shout out to the lovely Christina over at Full House for the heads up on this trim.  Heritage Trading Company sells all sorts of pretty trim on eBay for cheap!  It was a happy day when I got this package in the mail!

I was inspired by Nicole at So Haute's tutorial for tweaking the top of the drape so it too appears more custom.   I wanted to mimic the look of a pleated drape that hangs below the rod with rings sewn on, so I chose not to thread the drape through the rod (which would be ok, and I've done it before), like it was designed to be used.  Instead, I purchased some packs of rings from Lowes (or Home Depot?  can't recall) from which to hang the drapes.  The catch is I didn't really want to use the clips, so I cut off the clips from the rings with a wire cutter.  {Have I lost you yet???}  I then used a pack of pins to thread through the back layer of fabric.  I hooked these on to my rings, and I rather like the look :)

Here's a picture of the back of my living room drapes which I installed in the same way.

They say design is in the details, and this was one step that I really think made my inexpensive store-bought curtains look a bit more custom.

Lastly, if you are curious--my curtain rods are actually not curtain rods at all!  They are made from plumbing hardware bought at Lowe's.

Again, for me I was motivated by a desire to keep costs down, but I have to say, I like the way the plumbing hardware gives a somewhat unexpected industrial finish to my dining space.  I can't recall exactly how much I spent on these, but it was not much.  And the great thing is I was able to fully customize the size because the kind folks at Lowes (or Home Depot) will cut the pipes for you right there in the store at no charge! Fun times!  If you are interested in using plumbing hardware in non-traditional ways, there are a myriad of ideas available on Pinterest.  People have done all kinds of things with it!

"Dining Room" Introductions

If you're anything like me, you love seeing pictures of other people's homes.  Sure, magazine spreads are inspiring and beautiful, but there's just something so interesting and fun about seeing the inside of a real person's home.  Maybe it's the voyeur in us?  Or maybe it's that when we do so, we can learn so much about a person.  I suppose thinking that way can tend to make us feel like there's a lot of pressure on making our homes as close to perfect as we can get.  I'd like to think it's actually quite the contrary.  It's not so much the "perfection" but really the character that our homes and the things with which we choose to surround ourselves have that make them unique and interesting, regardless of how perfect they may or may not feel.  

With that said, I thought I'd share some pictures of our dining room.  I'm choosing to call this my "dining room" when really, it's simply an eat-in kitchen.  But dining room sounds far lovelier, so we'll go with that :)  I'm planning to share more about the different things in this room soon.  

For comparison's sake, here's where we started back in August.  

And just so we're clear, this was the situation a few moments prior to my little photo shoot :) (consider yourself fortunate that you aren't able to see the dried up bits of roast beef leftover from lunch littering the floor!)