Kitchen Hutch Makeover {Craig’s List Find}

I am jumping right to the “After’ for this, but after months of searching, I finally found the perfect piece for my kitchen on Craig’s List. It was perfect in size, look and best of all–price, it was only $30!!! It had been donated to a church, and it was even relatively close by, I couldn’t get there fast enough to pick it up.

I have been looking for something like this since before Christmas, so #1 Craig’s List lesson learned– have patience and the perfect piece will eventually appear-and maybe even for a bargain price of $30!

Once I got it home, I unfortunately discovered that it had an unappealing odor (perhaps even from smoke) as well as the lovely, typical, thrift store/mildew smell. After some google research, I tried every tactic I found that would supposedly eliminate the smell–leaving it in the sun for a few days, cleaning it well, wiping it out with vinegar, using odor blocking primer and sanding it very, very well.

It smells perfectly fine now, so something worked.

I chose the paint color Benjamin Moore’s Silver Bells, a nice pale gray. I wanted to coordinate the hutch with my white cabinets but have it still feel like a furniture piece. Ideally, I would have used chalk paint, but there aren’t any retailers here at the Beach, and  unfortunately I completed the project just before my visit to Janet’s store. Chalk paint would have certainly saved quite a bit of work.

I also wanted to use chicken wire to add interest, which was one of the reasons I was happy to find a cabinet that already had glass doors (and easy-to-remove glass at that). I wasn’t sure where exactly the chicken wire would go, until my son accidently broke one of the glass inserts for the side.  I may even eventually replace all the glass with the wire because I love how it looks.

The hardware on it was already perfect, and its even has a light in the top section if I ever want to use the fixture. It adds some nice (and needed) storage to our kitchen, and for $30 plus some paint, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by! I am finishing up the workroom today–stay tuned, its coming along great!

XO,

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Posted in Before and After, Home Inspiration, Kitchens | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Chicken Wire Display Frames–Farm Chic Decor!

I love chicken wire…it just kind of fits with my whole flea market/thrift store vibe that I have going on in my house.  I’ve seen all kinds of darling uses for it lately, too:

From CountryLiving.com

This is my own house--see that cute chicken wire basket in the background? TJ Maxx!

I’ve also seen so many cute display frames that other bloggers have made to show off photos, hair bows, holiday decor, and the like.  I figured it would be easy enough to try my hand at making one, using a frame that I bought at the thrift store.  I popped out the picture–which was actually a kind of cute and retro kids’ picture, so I mailed it to Amy in case she can use it in her little girl’s room–and kept the white, distressed frame exactly the way it was.

By the way, I bought my roll of chicken wire at Home Depot.  It was in the same aisle as the chain link fencing.  The smallest roll was about $8 and I only used a teensy bit, but I figure I’ll make something else with it one day.  Or, I’ll build a chicken coop!

I didn’t buy tin snips (aka aviation shears) because I decided to use my pruning shears instead.  They’re almost on their last legs, anyway.  I simply cut out the chicken wire to fit the back side of my frame, using the shears, and then used my staple gun to secure it in place.  Watch out for that chicken wire–it’ll scratch the heck out of you!

My picture frame came with the little screw-in hooks and a wire on the back for hanging, already, otherwise that’s exactly what I would’ve added to hang this one the wall.

I used tiny clothespins (I bought them at Hobby Lobby) to hang pictures, business cards, etc on my new frame.  Much cuter than a bulletin board, I think!


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Now, here’s a cute alternative from my super-crafty friend, Megan.  She let me photograph her new (old) home in 2010 when she hosted a Christmas open house.  You can check out her awesome style HERE.

Meg found a great old window shutter at the Cameron antique fair in Cameron, NC, and decided to give it new life as a photo display in her daughter’s room.  Here’s what she started out with:

And after a coat of spray paint, some pom pom trim, and a couple rows of wire, here’s what she wound up with:

How’s that for fun?  And instead of using chicken wire, like I did, she used the screw in hooks and a couple of rows of wire, strung horizontally, to create a totally different look (see below).  How cute and creative!

You really could use almost any trim you wanted to jazz this up…

Thanks for sharing your creativity with us again, Megan!

…And thanks for stopping by.

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