Pantry Re-Do

First though, I have to share my mini plants.

Look mom, it's not English Ivy!  I picked up this sweet little vintage dish this weekend while thrift store hopping with some friends.  I knew immediately I wanted to use it as a small planter, I just didn't know what I would plant.  Then I discovered these guys over by the cactus section; I'm loving this little grouping!  Fingers crossed they're happy in their new teacup sized planter...

Now on to the pantry...  When we moved into this house a little over a year ago, we were met with some interesting challenges.  One of the biggest challenges that we still face is the issue of storage.  We moved from a relatively roomy apartment with walk-in closets and spacious cabinets to an older home with closets the size of an airplane lavatory and minimal cabinet space.  We have cabinet space for our cookware and dishes, but that doesn't leave a lot of room for our food.  So we improvised and made a makeshift pantry out of the small coat closet in between the living room and kitchen.  

The closet didn't have shelving (or a door), but some cheap plastic shelves were a quick and affordable temporary fix.  They weren't meant to stay a year, and I'm embarrassed to admit that they did.  But stuff came up with the house as it often does, so other projects took precedence over pantry shelving and this project kept getting bumped to the bottom of the list.  

And then we adopted Kenny.  

Kenny very quickly learned where the food lived, and it was just within his reach.  The day I came upstairs from the basement to discover that he had unearthed a box of powdered Jello mix from the pantry (and enjoyed his discovery all over the house) was the final straw.  We tackled the pantry build-out on Sunday, and I couldn't be more excited with the finished product!

Check out all that awesome storage!  We opted for L-shaped shelving to help maximize the space.  There are also two shelves that run the width of the closet towards the top: one is existing and the other we installed.  They're the perfect spot for my platters and other serving dishes that aren't used every day.  For the doors we re-purposed bi-fold closet doors.  We opted for these because they provided us with the height we needed for the door (it's not standard door size).  I didn't want them to slide open like traditional bi-fold doors because we'd lose a couple precious inches of access to the pantry.  So we separated the doors, and padded them out individually to give us the width we needed.  
Being able to access and see everything has made a huge difference and it almost makes me look forward to going grocery shopping just so I can come home and enjoy putting away the groceries!

And rest assured Jello mix will never find it's way into that pantry again - doors or no doors.

The Lauren Table Revisited

When we last left off with the Lauren table I was in the process of stripping the top because I didn't love the way she looked.  

She was cute before, but she wasn't making my heart sing.  I received a request to stain the piece, and since I had no clear vision for the table, I was happy to oblige.  

Here's how Lauren looked before: 

And here's how Lauren left us yesterday ready for her new home:

Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with this little table when she came to us.  She had a great shape, which I loved and I was hoping the painted finish would highlight her curves.  I didn't go with my gut the first time around, which is ultimately what led me to strip her and start over.  She didn't pop.  Now, she makes my heart sing, and she's loving her new home!

Now a brief list of things I've learned since Sunday:

Lesson 1. Oak is a hard wood and in order for you to achieve the stained look you're going for you will ultimately have to paint on the stain.  You will not realize this until you have already stained the piece five times.  And you will speak on this as though you know it will actually work, when truthfully you have no idea.

Lesson 2.  When someone you work with tells you they're going to bring you something old, but they're not going to tell you what it is, you just say "Yes, please!" because it's bound to be awesome.

It's not every day you come home from work with a antique shoe stretchers.  I love everything about this lovely pair - especially the His and Hers element since one is more dainty.  The contrasting mediums of the hard wood and the industrial metal provide such a rustic, raw elegance.  Now I just need to figure out what to do with them.  I want them to serve a purpose (beyond stretching shoes).  

Sure, I imagine they'd make some pretty cool home decor, but you can't just have antique shoe stretchers sitting on a table.  The same person who gave me these has also told me repeatedly it's bad luck to leave shoes on a table (seriously, this happens a lot), so I imagine the same applies to shoe stretchers.  In short we're going to try to re-purpose them.  Stay tuned.

From the same person who provided the shoe stretchers, check out these awesome frames:

I love the idea of a frame collage on a wall, and these guys along with some others I've got stashed in the basement would look great.  But then again, when you've got this guy framed and ready to hang, that gives you reason to pause:

So. Cool.

And lastly, Lesson 3.  Hoodie weather is often times accompanied with gross, snotty funk that leaves your throat scratchy and your face achey.  This is often blamed on The Change in Weather.  The first round of seasonal cold symptoms is abound and I had a sneeze attack so severe this morning I spilled my coffee. 

With that I'm calling it a night!  

Wait, Are Those Our Nightstands?

Happy Hoodie Weather, y'all!

I'm not one to put my dogs in clothes, but this little guy shivers if the temp dips into the low 70's so this weekend his little red hoodie (which luckily still fit) helped take the chill off.  He belongs in a J. Crew catalog!  Hoodie weather served as a good reminder that consistently cold weather is on it's way and all those wonderful potted plants I worked on this summer will need to come inside.  Which is why when I saw this sweet little plant stand at an estate sale this weekend I grabbed it!

  

Sunday was a busy day that had me up almost before the sun.  Since bringing home our new (to us) lamps for the bedroom, the state of our nightstands was killing me.  I kept saying that when I had the time I'd paint them but the thing is I'll never have the time unless I make the time, so today was the day.  Here's how they looked this morning before I took them downstairs.

Frito was very concerned about why and where I was taking our furniture.  

Since we currently use these nightstands, I wanted to try to wrap them up in one day.  By the time Terry woke up and came downstairs I already had a coat on each.  "Wow, look at those cute little tables!" was really how his observation started and was quickly followed by "Wait, are those our nightstands?"  He was almost as concerned as Frito.  He relaxed considerably once I assured him we weren't rehabbing them to sell them, we were rehabbing them for our own purposes: to have nicer looking nightstands.  Plus, I can't very well preach about giving well-loved but dated furniture a face-lift with a little paint and love when my own furniture looks like crap.  

The pictures aren't the best because painting took a better part of the day so it was dark when I brought the end result back upstairs, but here's the finished product! 

I'll try to take better pictures when the room has a little more natural light, but I'm happy with them!  They're grey with black hardware - Terry was equally impressed and mentioned they made the new lamps look better.  Since the lamps were the motivation for the facelift, I'm pleased with his assessment.  

The other motivation for my nightstand makeover is this new (to us) mirror!  

This beauty was gifted to us by a client who no longer had a use for it.  It's stunning beveled glass framed in solid oak.  The client and her husband purchased this mirror when they bought their first home 30 years ago.  At the time they didn't have a lot of money, and this was their first, official, nice piece for their new home.  I'm touched by the gift, especially given that Terry and I are currently at a similar point in our lives.  I can't wait to give the mirror a second life on our bedroom wall.  Today I stripped and bleached the frame.  Up next:  grey stain!  

Friends of Quincy

To those of you that may be new here, and may live on the other side of the country (Hi Dianne!) right before I headed to Las Vegas we sent one of our custom pieces off to his new home.  Remember the Quincy desk?

Well tonight, Quincy got some new furniture friends!  The client who helped bring Quincy to life found some other pieces in our basement she was interested in having customized and tonight they went to their forever home.  First up, the Quincy Mirror.

This is the only piece of this custom batch that I don't have a Before picture of, and I'm really sad that I don't.  We liked this mirror because the framing detail was similar to the trim detail of the desk.  What we didn't like about this mirror was the frame itself.  It was a dark, yellow gold with almost black embellishments and looked like it would have been better suited on the set of Three's Company.  So I used the same silver finish I used on the desk trim and now here it is.  Since the finish I used was a glaze, the final product had a subtle antiqued look and took on a pretty cool patina with the hard yellow underneath.

Next up, the shipping crate.

This piece came to us from the neighbor of a friend who received it when he had some tools shipped.  You can see the various airport codes written in Sharpie on the sides.  The whole piece was raw and strong plus it had some awesome hardware.  So what did we do?  

We stained it with a Mahogany finish!  And check out that hardware:

What I love about this piece is all of the contrasting elements.  It's still raw and rough around the edges but the stain softened the overall appearance and gave the crate an almost velvety appearance.  The finish is dark, which contrasts nicely with the metallic hardware.  The client's husband was excited about having a masculine piece so I'm hoping he loves it as much as I do.  

And lastly, the coffee table:

I picked this piece up back in May, at a church rummage sale that my mom made me get up WAY too early to go to.  I loved the legs and the tiered top of this funky fellow.  And here's what he looks like now:

 
Pardon the swan in the background and check out that bad-ass coffee table!  This is such a fun piece, now that it's gone the basement looks a little darker.  We used a gloss finish on this guy to give him a classy look because he's a classy guy.  And those legs!  So cute.

This was such an awesome bunch of furniture, and each piece has a distinctly different feel to it, which I love.  It's so cool to see this stuff take on a new life and go on to a good home!

Lane Cedar Chest Restoration

This project is another one of our custom jobs that we just delivered yesterday.  A gorgeous mid-century modern Lane cedar chest that needed a little bit of loving.  Here's what this lady looked like when we picked her up:

The client wanted her restored as close to her original state as possible.  She was missing some trim pieces and some hardware.

Her veneer was chipped in places.

Her top was scratched.

She just needed a hug and some love.  The client was great and really worked with us to prioritize the repairs.  Since this chest will never be exactly the way it was 60 years ago, it was important to come to the project with reasonable expectations.  The client told us what her biggest issues were with the chest, as well as what her priorities were for the finished project.  She wanted to try and match the stain and hardware as best as possible while replace the missing trim and patching the veneer.

So first we brought her home (the chest, not the client) and stripped and sanded her (again, I feel it's important to stress the chest, not the client).

We had to be careful in sanding the scratches out of the top to not actually modify the top itself.  this requires a lot of patience and knowing when to say "when".  I'm glad I let Terry do it.

Then we ordered the replacement hardware along with a new router bit to create a new trim piece that matched the existing trim.

The hardware came with it's own set of issues.  Finding hardware that was an exact match proved impossible.  We pursued several avenues, including contacting Lane as well as reaching out to metal-workers who create custom hardware.  The hardware is always up to the client, so in this case she understood and knew all too well the hardware woes we were up against.  She knew the limitations and was prepared to compromise.  We selected a couple samples we thought would work with the chest, and she chose her preference from those.  While we didn't love the finish of the hardware, the shape was complementary and on par with what we were looking for so we modified the hardware finish with my favorite go-to resource for sprucing up hardware:  spray paint.  I happened to have a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze on hand and a light spray helped provide the hardware with the darker finish you'll see in the "After" picture.

Next up, veneer patches!

Like sanding the top, this required a lot of patience.  And again, like sanding the top, I'm glad I let Terry do it.  We purchased a sheet of cherry veneer and cut and scored until the pieces fit snugly.  Once in place, Terry filled in the shadow lines with some Minwax cherry-colored putty.  Two coats of stain and poly were applied to the chest, the hardware was attached, and the chest was ready to be returned back to it's owner.

And now here she is:

And how about those veneer patches:

Flawless, if I do say so myself.  Oh yea, and let's check out the top:

Gorgeous!  What was really awesome about this piece was watching it come back together.  We'd never seen the way it was supposed to look.  We were just working from clues left by the piece and at the guidance of the client.  Our projects normally take on a whole new appearance when we're done with them.  Since this was a true restoration project it was like putting a puzzle together.  And since we had no idea what the piece originally looked like, it was like putting a puzzle together, but without the added bonus of pulling out all the corner pieces first.  

Here's a run down of the before/after pictures one more time.      

This is such a cool piece of furniture, she totally deserved all the love she received.  It was a team effort between us and the client, which always helps us achieve an end result that will make us all happy.  Now she'll live another 60 years looking fierce and fabulous!  

Lamps & Leaves & Scotland Forever

Now that it's Almost Fall (seriously, that should be a new season.  Almost Fall is when you need a hoodie at night but still wear a tank top during the day without being cold.  Almost Fall could also be known as The Weather in Southern California All The Time) it's time to break out my Fall (or Almost Fall) candles.  Nothing in the world makes me happier than the smell of this:

Bath & Body Works candles are my candles of choice.  I'm going to say something pretty controversial here so brace yourselves; I think their Fall fragrances are the best candle line they offer.  

I just lost like, a dozen readers by saying that, I totally know it.

Anyway, I'm a little OCD about my Fall candles.  I have to start with Leaves in September through part of October.  Then I transition to Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin through the remainder of October up until Thanksgiving.  That's when I switch over to our Christmas fragrances like Fresh Balsam and Frosted Cranberry.  They burn until Christmas and then lastly we wrap up December and into January with Fireside Marshmallow.  Fireside Marshmallow segues into Lavender Vanilla and by then it's early Spring and I can start with my floral fragrances. 

I know, I have a problem.  But what's worse - there's a NEW candle I like called Autumn.  How am I going to fit Autumn into my candle schedule?!  This might be keeping me up at night and I might be embarrassed to admit that.  

Candles aside, we picked up some new lamps this weekend.  I'd been in the market for some new lamps for our nightstands but hadn't found any that I loved.  Then I found these guys, and they were the right price (free!) so I figured I'd see how they look.

I kind of love them!  I'm going to look for some new lampshades (remember how I am about lampshades...), and the lamps are kind of as big as our nightstands, but I like that.  They're simple and their size doesn't allow for a lot of bedside clutter which I loathe.  Now the nightstands are begging for a makeover of their own, so they're on my list to get to sooner than later (after staining our coffee table and buying a new sofa...).  I can't decide between a light gray or a dark, graphite color (for the nightstands - not the sofa, but those wouldn't be bad for the sofa either!).  Also please note the Kenny photobomb in the lower right corner of the picture.

He just couldn't stand it and decided he needed to help demonstrate how the bed works.

 
 Well of course, we can't have one dog on the bed and not the other so Frito needed to get in on the action.

And this is what our bed looks like almost all of the time. 

Speaking of Kenny someone had a run-in with the paint I've been using on a coffee table I worked on tonight.

He'll make a great William Wallace when they remake Braveheart.  Alba gu bràth!  

Don't tell him we're Irish.
   

How I Spent My Labor Day Weekend

Happy Almost-Fall!  

The windows are wide open tonight and I'm blogging from my satellite office location (commonly referred to as our backyard).  It's so quiet without the AC providing the soundtrack to a beautiful evening.  One of our clients sent me the above pic of some beautiful yellow mums in one of our flower pots and I love it!  The color of the flowers complements the pot, and vice versa.  Who says flower pots have to be boring, I'd much rather provide an enhanced stage for flowers to literally come to life!

We all know how I spent my Memorial Day weekend, and Labor Day was pretty much the same.  The only difference?  All the stuff we worked on this weekend already has a home!  It's cool to see how far we've come just over the summer.  I remember spending Memorial Day weekend with a knot in my stomach wondering who in the world would want the stuff I was working on, and if my time spent in our basement over a long holiday weekend was all for nothing.  I was missing the beach and cook-outs, and the official kick-off of Summer and for what?  I may have been the only one at the time, but I loved every single piece.  That's what kept me working in the basement then, and that's what keeps me working in the basement now.  So again, I traded the beach and cook-outs and the official end-of-Summer celebration for my basement but it's worth it because I love and believe in every single piece.   Well that, and people would be pretty pissed if I didn't complete their stuff on time.

To start we wrapped up Jackson's brother who has already left us to join Jackson as a nightstand.

Speaking of Jackson, we received several requests for him.  And while he may have already been sold we do have several other little tables on hand; here's one I customized for someone who may have missed out on Jackson but instead was able to get her own unique piece! 

How sweet is that little lady?!

We put the finishing touches on some of our other out-going custom work, which I'll post pictures of as soon as their rightful owners see them first!  We also welcomed a few new friends to the basement.  I will post pictures of them once we complete everything we're working on now and re-organize.   

In spite of the furniture frenzy I did manage to sneak in some cooking.  This is not a food blog, so don't get too excited but these pictures were too delish not to share.  

Panna cotta for a friends birthday:

I promise there's panna cotta under all the berry deliciousness!  Also, drink in the office-chic backdrop.  That staple remover totally enhances the flavor.

And we grilled:

Spicy sausage with grilled zucchini, sweet peppers, and onions.  The veggies are from my mother because would it kill me to eat a vegetable once in a while?  And would you look at all that color! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go put on a sweater.  I'm happy to report my satellite office is a little chilly!