Free Refurbished Cabinet

the after version

I answered an ad on craigslist for this cabinet. They were asking $25 for it, and it needed some sanding and some paint.

The above pics were all included in the ad, showing that it wasn't in perfect condition.

I was fine with a fixer-upper, so I arranged to pick it up. However, when I got there I found that the cabinet had fallen apart when they pulled it out of their basement. As a result, they offered it to me free, if I wanted to try to put it back together. I figured the worst that could happen would be that I couldn't make it stable again, so I took it home with me.

This is what it looked like when I got it in the work room at home. Pretty sad, huh?

Here it is with the legs glued and screwed back on and the bottom hinge glued and clamped on the left hand door. I also screwed together the crosspiece (it was broken in two) and then glued and screwed it in place between the legs.

I sanded it a bit, but left a lot of the bigger scars. I primed it with a gray primer, then put white paint on top of that. After distressing the edges I applied a paste wax. I also spray painted the handles with oil rubbed bronze spray paint and reattached them.

The cabinet is an old tv cabinet, and the wood frame in back is removeable, with space above and below it for ventilation and cords. I pulled off the old black fabric and hot glued some fabric from my stash to the frame. After putting the frame in place, I stapled the bottom edge of the fabric to the edge of the cabinet (I didn't want the space open).

Doesn't it look like a whole new piece of furniture?

I  love what a little elbow grease can do!

I wanted a cabinet to hide this mess:

 Yes, that's our modem and router, in a pile on the floor. Very attractive.

This cabinet is just right for getting that stuff up off the floor:

I had originally planned on putting some of our games in the cabinet, but then I realized that since the cabinet is right by the back porch door (where the grill is), it would make a great place to store our grill utensils. Eventually I want to have an outdoor cabinet for that, but that is not anywhere near the top of my list right now. I still need to find some containers to hold and organize everything, but I think this will work out well.

Doesn't it look so much better? And the entire project was free, since I had the paint, wax, and fabric, and the cabinet ended up being free also.

And can I just say that I have met some of the nicest people through craigslist? I sold some file cabinets to a lady who homeschools and has adopted kids, and the lady who gave me this cabinet also homeschools and has adopted kids. It's so fun to randomly meet people who have a lot in common with us.

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party

Losing kitchen cupboard space

Vickie made a comment about losing valuable cupboard space in the kitchen. We did consider the loss of cupboard space, but ultimately came to several conclusions:

1. Most of the cupboard space we lost was being used for food storage and paper goods storage.
     - the food storage got moved downstairs once we got the food storage shelves organized
     - the paper goods storage could easily be stored in several other places: above the fridge and in one of the remaining cupboards that had also had food stored inside

2. Some of the space was used for our pyrex dishes.
     - after moving all the food storage items downstairs, I had room for the pyrex in one of the cupboards above the counter

3. There's a massive waste of space above the fridge (see above pic).
     - we'll be building a cupboard with a couple shelves above the fridge to better organize the stuff currently stored there and to make room for a few other things.

4. I will probably build a simple open cupboard to place on the wall between the bay window and the door.
    - if I do this, I'll put my Fiesta ware in the cupboard. The rainbow colors would work well in an open cupboard. Not sure how easy it would be to actually get dishes in and out of it though, since it's above the counter and I'm short. Thoughts?

5. The cupboards are poorly designed, like most I've seen. I have plans to add pull out shelves at various heights in all the lower cupboards and the pantry. This should allow for a much more efficient use of space in the cupboards and make it easier to find things without having to pull everything out of the cupboard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since our kitchen isn't overflowing with storage, taking out the hanging cupboard has forced us to be more efficient with what we put in our cupboards. Do we need it? Do we use it regularly? Can we get rid of it?

Physical Therapy

I haven't talked about my running lately. That would be because I haven't been running :(

After the half marathon my physical therapist re-evaluated everything: watching my gait, comparing left leg strength to right leg strength, etc.

The verdict? I'm very right-dominant, and that's causing a lot of problems within my body. The inequality in the muscles perpetuates problems in my gait, which leads to injuries, which leads to inequality in the muscles.... It's a never-ending, vicious cycle.

So I had to stop running while we focused on strengthening my left leg. I have exercises to do every day and I roll my legs and hips with a foam roller. I'd really like to start running again, but I'm being good. No February race this year, and no March race either, unfortunately. But looking at the big picture makes the frustration worth while. I was foam rolling before the half, and my shins didn't bother me. After 12+ years of shin problems, I'm willing to do just about anything if it means I can run pain free. Being patient and doing my exercises will help me reach that goal.

I've been good and resisted the urge to go running. I have skied twice, but I've been very careful and skied very conservatively so I wouldn't risk an injury. I get to try running for a few minutes when I go in for my PT session this week. Hopefully that will go well and I can gradually increase my mileage.

I finally figured out where to set up my bike trainer- I need to have a place where I can leave it up. I had thought about the basement work room, but since I still need to build our bookshelves, I wouldn't be able to leave it up, which would decrease the likelihood of me actually using it. Then I realized that there's room in the guest room. It'll mean carrying the bike up a flight of stairs, but I won't need to take it down again right away. In any case, I plan on spending some time on my bike soon. If I'm careful about my form, it should help strengthen my leg also.

I can't wait till I can start exercising again in earnest!

Sunday Funny

Meet Little Miss Sunshine's friend, Nanny.

This is waaaaay late, but I found these pictures and just had to share them :)

Our stockings hanging above the fireplace: Mr M, myself, LMS, and one for my sister who spent Christmas with us. Do you see the little red one hanging next to LMS's stocking? She decided that Nanny needed a stocking too, and it needed to hang with everyone else's (I'd originally hung it off to the side).

Nanny on Christmas morning with her stocking. I put the candy in and LMS put the penny in.

Nanny is also wearing a sweatshirt that was originally on another stuffed animal.

Apparently Nanny got cold :)

Creative food storage

Our food storage shelves (purchased from IKEA) are currently in our basement workshop room. Someday we'll have a storage room just for food and such, but we're not there yet. In the meantime, I finally have a central location to put our food storage- it's no longer scattered among various kitchen cupboards and boxes in the laundry room. Now I can see at a glance what I'm running low on. So nice!

 

The problem with sharing the space is that whenever I cut wood sawdust gets EVERYWHERE. I tried draping a dropcloth over the shelves, but it was way too long and made it hard to get to anything on the shelves.

So I cut three dropcloth panels to size and stuck them to the shelves.

I used the existing hems in the fabric so the only raw edges are at the top, covered by the velcro.

I had 20' of sticky-back velcro that I've had for awhile, so I used that. I hate sewing sticky-back velcro because it gums up the needle and makes the thread break, which is why I still had 20' of it in my stash.

So I used staples. I used my staple gun to staple one side to the shelf and I used my regular stapler to staple the other side to the fabric.

The top edge of the drop cloth panel.

I added a couple tabs to hold the panels together along the edges- I just stapled those as well.

It's not the prettiest job ever, but it made use of materials I already had (the velcro and the dropcloth), it decreased my stash of stuff, and it works great. Can't beat that!

Snow day

Sunday night we FINALLY got some snow! YAY!

I thought the sun coming up behind the snow covered trees the next morning was very pretty.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon LMS and Mr M broke out the sled and did a few runs down the little hill in our yard. She tried to run and jump on the sled, just like daddy did.

And she crash landed towards the bottom. Love how she's all sprawled out :)

~~~~~~~~~

Snow on the bench, starting to melt away :(

The snow didn't last long- it was 70 degrees on Thursday, so it didn't stand a chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~

And since we're on the subject of snow, here's a self-pic of LMS and I on the chair lift Wednesday after her ski lesson. She's learning a lot and getting more confident each week.

Updated sling bookshelf

I made this bookshelf for LMS a year and a half or so ago (here it is in her old room).

But I decided it needed a bit more color before I finished her new room.

I mod podged some polka dot fabric to the sides, which gives it a bit of pop against the white beadboard.

A quick and easy spot of color!

Lamp for LMS's bedroom

When I finished LMS's nightstand, I also finally finished a lamp to sit on top of it.

The lamp started out looking like this:

The lamp and shade came from Lowes. I looked at Goodwill, but the thrift stores in our area are very hit-or-miss when it comes to finding what I want when I want.

The shade was off white, so I covered it in a thin white fabric. Remember the ruffled wall in LMS's last room?

When we moved, I saved the fabric and ruffle - can't let it go to waste! I used some of the ruffle on the top, bottom, and back seam of the shade.

Cute, quick, and easy.

Nightstand for Little Miss Sunshine

I finally got LMS's nightstand built- almost a year after we moved into the house.

I followed this plan from Ana White. Love her site! The only change I made to the plan was to add 6 inches to the legs so it would be tall enough for LMS's bed. If she ever gets a shorter bed we just have to chop off the bottom parts of the legs and it's still completely useable.

I thought I took pics while I was building it, but I can't find them, so you only get pics of the finished product.

I found cute knobs at Hobby Lobby and painted the whole thing with white chalk paint (so easy to use and great coverage!).

All set up in her room. I think it makes the room look more finished and put together.

LMS is excited to have a nightstand to pile all her "important" stuff on :)

Kitchen Demo

We had this hanging cabinet in our kitchen that divided the kitchen from the eating area.

Mr M always had to be careful not to konk his head on it, and it made everything feel small and cramped and closed-in.

So, last weekend while Mr M was at drill I decided the cabinet had to come down. (we'd discussed it and were agreed that it would happen, just not when it would happen)

So much better. The light will probably get reinstalled since we can easily lengthen the pendants.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

While doing the job myself wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, I do like the results :)

The four cabinets came down with a minimum of problems, except the third one, when I forgot to double-check that all the side screws were out before removing the top screws. That didn't work so well and that's when one of the glass pendant shades shattered. Other than that, though, it all went pretty smoothly.

After taking them down from the kitchen, I carried them downstairs and installed them in the laundry room for some much needed organization and storage.

Now that the cupboard is down the mismatched lights are much more obvious. I wasn't sure how to make it all look good, but after looking around a bit online, I think I found the best solution. We'll put can lights in the kitchen itself, lengthen the pendant lights, and change out the hanging light above the table. That light needs some more thought though- it's centered in the middle of the room, but since the walkway from the side door runs through the room the table is not in the center of the room. We'll probably hang a hook above the table and hang the light from that, if we keep a hanging light- haven't decided on that one yet.

There's lots more we want to do in the kitchen, but we've made a good start. I love how much more open it feels, and it's hilarious watching Mr M duck to avoid the cabinets that aren't there anymore :)