Hutch Tranformation

On Monday I related our absolute luck in snagging this hutch for a mere $15 at a community garage sale.

What I failed to disclose was that it was in pretty sorry shape (and it weighed a bloody ton), which helps to explain the $15.00 price. Even though I was told this beauty was a family heirloom, it had been in storage for sometime, and apparently a foam mattress had be kept on top of it. Over the years the foam from the mattress adhered itself to the hutch, leaving a lot of this in its wake.

Unfortunately, this piece has a thin veneer, so sanding it down and staining it was not an option. Enter my weapon of choice: a flexible putty knife.

I carefully (this is the operative word) used the putty knife to scrape off as much of the mattress material as I could without also scraping off the veneer or damaging it. I was still left with a lot of fuzzies like you can see below, so I needed a second line of defense.

I tried using a terry cloth rag soaked in Murphy's Oil Soap, but that did not have enough teeth to it, so I moved on to one of those green scouring sponges you use to clean stainless pots and pans. I really saturated it with Murphy's so it was nice and damp, and then again gently scrubbed. Wouldn't you know that it lifted the fuzzies without damaging the veneer? At this point I might have shouted in glee. 

With all the fuzz crud gone, it was time to remove the hardware and polish it up, as well as clean the hutch so that I could try to restore it to it's former glory with some Howard's goodness. 

First I used a handheld brush to get rid of all the cobwebs and creepy crawlies. Then I wiped it down with some Method Wood Polish and I let it dry for about a half hour. 

While the hutch was drying, I busted out some brass polish we had on hand and polished up the brass hardware. Here it is before. 

And I forgot to snap an after pic, so here it is all shined up on the hutch. 

Next it was time to bring in the big guns: Howard's Restor-a-Finish and Feed-n-Wax. 

I followed the directions for both products, but basically you wipe the Restor-a-Finish on with a soft cloth, let it absorb for about a half hour, and then wipe off any excess. Then you seal in the newly vibrant finish with the Feed-n-Wax by again applying with a soft cloth, waiting at least 20 minutes, and then buffing away the excess. 

After a few hours of elbow grease, the hutch was looking all shiny and refreshed. 

I liken my handiwork to good plastic surgery; she still has some character marks in the form of drink rings and a bit of broken glass, but she looks good for her age. 

I think that these battle scars lend her some history and show that she has been loved. It also makes me not worry so much about the wounds she might endure here with two stupidly big dogs and future kids running around. So while we only have plans to switch out that broken glass for tempered glass in the not-too-distant future, we might change our minds about all that charming character and paint her one day. Who knows. 

For now I am just dying to finish up texturing the dining room so we can paint, move her into position, and style her up with all our wedding china and crystal. 

SCORE!

How far can $35 get you these days? One article of clothing? A cheap-ish dinner? A movie for two plus a pit stop at the snack bar? How about a hutch, decanter, cheese dome, pair of crystal candlesticks, a magazine holder, cookie cutters, AND 9 books? Yep. That sounds about right.

This weekend was our town's community garage sale. Let me tell you, this might just be my new favorite day of the year! Move over Thanksgiving and our anniversary, there's a new day to celebrate!

The community garage sale is an event around these quiet parts. Any house that wants to participate can by donating a small fee (I think it was around $10-15 dollars), and then on the appointed day (the last Saturday in July) those who want to unload some stuff and make some cash just hold a garage or yard sale...along with everyone else on the block. Our street was definitely grand central. People parked in front of our driveway and everyone was walking around with their finds.

We didn't participate because we sold/donated everything we didn't want when we moved, which was okay by me since it allowed me I hit every sale on our street. Oh, and then I made my way over to the other side of town to see if I could score some more. So um yeah, I ended up going to *literally* every garage sale. It's a problem people.

Armed with $100, I snagged some serious loot for way less; $35 freakin' dollars got me all of this:

Crystal candle sticks, $10 for the pair.

Cheese dome, $1.00.

Decanter, 50 cents!

Lands and Peoples vintage set of books that I hope to turn into art, $1.00.

Mid century modern umbrella holder(?) that we are currently using to stash commode reading material (too much info?), but could use to corral yoga mats or blueprints, $5.00.

And drumroll please, the crown jewel of the garage sale gems...a mid century hutch that I practically stole for, wait for it, $15.00!

Amazing. I am still pinching myself that I got a mid century hutch, and for $15 no less. I had been looking for one since we moved, and I was willing to pay a lot more, so I feel like I hit the lottery.

Ryan, who was skimming the ceiling, humored me as I ran about the neighborhood, making runs back to the house to drop off my wares and do a happy dance while exclaiming, over and over again, that it was the best day of the year. Man, it's a good thing he's not excitable, or I might just have had an aneurism.

I am still not sure where everything is going to go yet since the house is a bit torn apart. But once I find a home for everything and style the hutch (which will live behind the dining table, of that, I am sure), I will let you know.

In the meantime, I will share our plastering progress and a couple transformations as the week progresses.

What did you do this weekend?

Painted Bookshelf

 After a couple setbacks, namely not being able to upload pictures for Monday's post and being clueless about reassembling furniture, I am back with an update on this guy. When we first met, he was black.

Not bad, but a little too sleek and not our style.

First I primed him with a water-based primer since it was solid wood, not laminate. (I skipped the sanding step because he was in really good condition. Smooth finish with no knicks or scrapes.)

You can see it was an imperfect coat. My goal was just to white out the original black paint. But it was hard to maneuver around all the ladder-like pieces in the back, so I decided to take it apart before applying two coats of semi-gloss white paint; I was concerned about the least amount of brush strokes showing as possible.

Once apart, it was time for two coats of semi-gloss white paint. I used Pratt & Lambert Designer White (right off the shelf), since I already had that on hand from a project at our old place. I applied two coats to the side showing, waited 24 hours until I was sure the paint was dry, and then flipped it and applied two more coats to the side that was originally face down.

In all honesty, it could have used a third coat, but I am not sure it will stay white and I was feeling impatient.

Then I waited another 24 hours before putting it back together. Here's where I ran into trouble. After grunting and sweating, trying to screw tiny screws into awkward corners, I ended up with this.

It might be hard to tell from the photo above, but the shelves were sloping down, which pretty much ensured that anything I put on the bookcase would slide right off. Not exactly what I was hoping to accomplish.

It turns out that I had attached the shelves to the L-brackets incorrectly. I had the L-brackets upside-down, making the back of the shelf much higher than the front. See the pic below to get a sense of what I am talking about.

When the hubs made the discovery (yep, I couldn't even figure out what was wrong), I was so tired that I had to give it another 24 hours before attempting to amend the mistake, which incidentally looks like this.

But amend I did. And today the bookcase stands tall and proud with perfectly flat shelves.

The moral of this story is when something seems harder than it should be, there's probably a logical explanation. In my case, the shelves would topple over like dominos while I was trying to attach each new shelf. Instead of stopping to think about why this was happening, I sat with the shelves between my legs to keep them from falling over and scuffing my paint job. I kept thinking, "Man, this is hard," but I pushed through, and it took about three times as long to do it wrong as it did to do it right. I hope I never make this kind of mistake again, but if it involves assembling furniture, I just might - especially if I don't get a manual!

Anywho, now all I need to do is move the shelf into it's new home, the guest bedroom, and style it up with Ryan's books and whatever objects I can find laying around. Sounds like a good Thursday project.

Until then...