Sunday, October 30, 2011

The red cabinet!

A few months ago I acquired a piece of furniture from a friend who was moving out of state. It was an antique kitchen hutch that she had painted red... now, in case you don't know, I hoard red kitchen accessories. I am obsessed. Spatulas, kitchen timers, pans, trashcans, dishes you name it. If it's red I am instantly more attracted to it. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to take this hutch off her hands!
But my main reason for falling in love with this cabinet (aside from the color)??
THIS:
 I.  Love.  Skeleton.  Keys.
She was in pretty rough shape when I first got her:
Don't mind the kitty!
The cabinet was super old and I'm not sure my friend had much experience refinishing furniture, but she tried her best.  The paint was a bit streaky and we knocked it around a little bit on the way out of her second floor window (yeah, that's right.) and up my stairs.
It was also missing the original hardware. No big deal right? Wrong.
The cabinet had the original lock boxes for the top two cabinet doors only.
The ones for the bottom were missing. Impossible to replace.
The holes for all the handles were drilled for a size that no longer exists! I scoured hardware stores, antique stores and the internet (where I only  found some mismatched handles for $40... PER piece.) Finally I had to give up and bite the bullet. I purchased some handles in modern sizes and drilled each of the holes out 1/4 of an inch to accept them. While I was at it, I drilled some holes for handles on the top and bottom doors to fit some cute knobs I found.
Another strange issue:
The one coat of paint dried tacky for whatever reason so all the liner paper embedded itself into the shelves!
There was also a strange little metal drawer part that needed some TLC. 
Still can't figure out it's originally intended purpose. 
My guess is breadbox?
A little bummed that the plates were painted.
First step was disassembling the whole thing piece by piece. I took all the doors off and drawers out and started priming the inside of the cabinet... I had a genius idea for it (if I do say so myself)

Aurora helped. At least she thought she did!
My genius idea? Painting the inside of the cabinet white! I thought it would brighten up the whole thing and showcase the dishes a little bit better... looks stark in this picture. Just wait for the doors...
So... after scraping the paint off of the lock plates I added all my hardware, gave her a third coat of shiny fire engine red enamel, caulked the glass windows, added some magnet catches to all the doors (they had a tendency to open on their own haha) and re-located the two lockboxes from the top to the bottom doors (to keep out prying little fingers). When I was all done... my sad little hutch looked like this!! : 


Those little glass things are drawers, by the way. Three are missing.
Also impossible to replace.
Thinking of gluing painted tiles over the holes, but that can wait until I finish some other projects I have on deck. 
At least I can store my dishes somewhere pretty now!!

Now here's a little refresher... BEFORE:


And.... 
AFTER:

TA-DA!!
Not to brag... but... well, I'm awesome at giving new life to furniture. I'll post some of my other pieces soon! 

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Our weekend: A trip to the Modern Diner!

I'm still in the middle of my painting project and making Aura's Halloween costume so this weekend was pretty tame for us. We did, however, go out for brunch at a new spot this weekend! With two of the best brunch places within walking distance, it's usually pretty hard to pry me out of the neighborhood. This weekend we decided to try something new and take the 15 minute (gasp!) drive into Pawtucket to the Modern Diner. It's a place I'd driven by and heard about a million times. Kind of strange that it took me this long to try it... Just the look of the place alone should've reeled me in much earlier!
Awesome, right?
I was pretty excited that we got to sit in the dining car part instead of the restaurant attached to the back... the inside was just as neat as the outside!

Aurora wore her first Halloween shirt and ate a whole big pancake all by herself! (Save the one or two bites that were soaked in butter)


That's all I've got for you... hope everyone else had fun this weekend! The rest of this week will be filled with more painting and Halloween planning so I may be a little scarce, but I always check back for comments and to visit other blogs, and of course I'm cooking up a good Wordless Wednesday! Halloween pictures coming soon too!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Our weekend: (a little late) Birthday party and tons of work for mommy...

This weekend/week has been super busy! I took on a big painting job for my landlord to make some extra money (Aurora's birthday is only 5 weeks away!!) and I drastically underestimated how long it would take me. The nice part is I can work while she's in bed for the night because the job is in our back hallway! Plus I benefit from it being repainted since I live here. It's definitely a win-win, just hard work, but that's okay too since I haven't seen a bicycle or the inside of a gym in longer than I'd like. If all goes well it will be just the first of many projects I can do for her, which will make Christmas less stressful too. On top of this I've been planning a playlist for the next time I DJ at the bar... it's the week of my birthday so I'm being selfish and playing nothing but Prince songs. Trouble is narrowing down the hundreds of songs to which ones I want to play, and then narrowing THAT list down to songs that people will listen to for three hours. I have high hopes. Plus it's a pretty good soundtrack to all this work I've been doing. 
On top of all that? We had a very important birthday party to go to this weekend! Two of my closest friends had a 2nd birthday bash for their little man, so of course we had to go! If you're curious you can see more pics of their adorable family HERE.
Here's your photo fix:
Waiting for the bus... that was a full 25 minutes late. 
Aurora playing with the birthday dude! (Check out his awesome hair!)
She loved the spatula from his kitchen...
Maybe a little too much?
We had a great time, I was glad we were able to get there, even though we were a little late due to the bus.
So what did I bring to the party?
H. has tons of toys (as you can see) and I wanted to give something a little more personal. So, I decided to make him a picture! 
I took this already adorable "Aw" inducing photo:
And with some creative photo editing, a canvas, some monotone magazine scraps and a ton of Mod Podge, I turned it into this:

I was pretty proud of this one... It was an idea I was kicking around for Aura (may still do it, not going to lie) I worried for a second that maybe it was a little cheesy to do for someone else but they loved it!

Ok, now that everyone is updated... back to painting!! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Our weekend: Hometown visit, Autumnfest and Columbus Day Italian Feast!

This weekend we headed up to my hometown (it's only about a half hour away) to visit my roommate/bestie's mom (Nana Poo) for her birthday and attend Autumnfest which is becoming a yearly tradition for us. We went last year but Aurora was still on board the mommy train, so technically this was her first Autumnfest experience. My hometown is very hard to explain... but suffice to say there was lots of people watching, including some 'Juggalo' kids painting each other's faces with zombie/mime/clown paint. But, the clam cakes were nice and hot and there were some fun booths to window shop at. The weather was gorgeous and there's something to be said for the comfort of nostalgia. Still, a quick trip to buy an iced coffee reminded me exactly why I'm so happy to have moved away! Put it this way... you wouldn't think ordering a simple coffee would involve several people shouting would you? Me either.
Here's some pictures!!
Aurora tried on this cuter than cute giraffe hat which Nana Poo bought for her!
(don't mind the clam cake crumbs!) 
She thinks those people are funny!
After we left the fest we walked a few blocks to roomie/bestie's parents house. They have a HUGE dog, I didn't get a picture of him but these pictures of Aura with his toys should give you some perspective:
Hanging out in the bucket of dog toys.
and now having a bottle with a dog toy on the dog bed. She loves dog beds... it's weird.
 It was a very full and fun day and Aurora slept like a champ when we got home.
Today was the last day of our local Italian heritage Columbus Day feast in the Italian section of town so we headed down for some awesome traditional food and a little mingling... plus, we couldn't waste another bright sunny day. I'm sure they'll be in short supply soon!
All dressed up and ready to go!
An  a cappella group preforming outside
Had to get  a sausage, pepper and onion sandwich and some spumanti.
and washed it down with an iced latte and a canolli. 
Oh and I have some other amazing news! After two months of trying and countless different cups:
Aurora learned how to use her sippy!! 

How was your weekend?

Monday, October 3, 2011

Our weekend: Teething (again), oatmeal baths, overalls and 'Auntie-Poo''s birthday!

This weekend I've been pretty scarce. Aurora is cutting two back teeth simultaneously and, while she's taking it like a champ, she has been clingier than usual and not sleeping as well, so mama time has been limited. This isn't to say nothing fun or eventful has happened! Here are a few highlights:
Teething = Diaper rash = Long oatmeal soak
Long bath = learning to splash... A LOT.
Her 1st overalls (I think only babies should wear them!)
She learned how to climb into Scoobie's bed!! (Poor Scoobie.)
She wore her new bib from the art festival!
...and she FINALLY decided to trust me that a frozen washcloth would help her gums...

This weekend was also my roommate/bestie's birthday. We call her Aurora's Auntie Poo (long story)...

For her birthday:

Aurora stole her necklace...
...and I made her this awesome cake! (She loves skulls & crossbones)
I was pretty proud of that skull and crossbones cake... it's made out of cupcakes so you can just pull it apart! I think it would be a really fun kid's cake for a pirate party! I almost got busted while I was frosting it though because she surprised me by coming home early from work! I had to hide it in the back hallway until she left again!!

So that was our weekend... how was yours?
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